Battlestar Argo
by AJ Mark
Part 33: Deadly Meetings
General Pakrov sat at his desk going over everything that he had. There were stacks of information that went beyond what he could even imagine. He thought about what had been going on with everything ever since the invasion of the Arbus. He was not sure if what they were doing was the best thing. He wanted to do his best and at the time the military council had seemed like a good things but now he was not sure.
“General,” his secretary said over the intercom. “A member of the council is here to see you.”
Pakrov sighed knowing what the man was here for. They had lost contact with the Argo shortly after he became commander of the fleet. Now they did not know where the ship was or why Commander Ares had decided to take the ship. The council member walked into Pakrov’s office without any permission which did not make Pakrov happy.
“General, I assume that you are working on the whereabouts of the rouge ship Argo and its commander, Ares,” the man said without so much of a hello.
“I don’t have the resources to conduct a search right now and protect both Centari One and Earth,” Pakrov said.
“The Arbus are not our true enemies general. Think about it, why would an intelligent race attack us. It had to be some sort of internal attack to play on our emotions in letting the military and space exploration get greater attention. It’s only obvious because of the military’s lack of involvement during the so called invasion,” the man said ruffling Pakrov’s nerves. “Now you are ordered to begin searching for the Argo at once.”
With that the man turned and walked out of the office leaving Pakrov behind fuming. He said several things in his native Russian tongue which would have made a sailor blush. With a sigh he pushed the button to get the captain of the Cheetah on the line.
“Captain Reliy here,” the voice said over the intercom.
“Captain, I’m getting pressure to have a ship look for the Argo. Do you think that you can look a little bit around the system,” Pakrov said.
“You mean look like I’m searching for the Argo without leaving where I am,” Reliy said wanting to make sure that he had the correct orders.
“Yeah, can you do it,” Pakrov asked.
“I think so,” Reliy said.
“Do it,” Pakrov said.
“Yes sir,” Reliy said as the intercom went dead.
Pakrov looked back down at the papers muttering again as he wished he knew what was really going on. There was a report of an ancient spaceship on Centari One that was somehow linked with Atlantis, the ancient Egyptians and another place that he was not familiar with, Kobol.
Then he also had to worry about the Arbus and what they wanted. He was somehow supposed to protect Earth from this alien group which he was not sure if those in charge took the threat seriously. During the invasion he had been handcuffed by orders from above. It had only been after the battle in space and a confirmation that military units in America were fighting back did he order the units under him into action. He had been the only Russian general to order his forces into combat. The rest had mutinied against their leaders. He just wished he understood what was going on.
*****
“Senator Sam, a word with you,” a voice said from behind Sam. He turned to see the President coming his way.
“Yes mister President,” Sam said.
“I just got word from that the Arbus wish to meet with us to talk,” the President said.
Sam’s eyebrow rose with that comment. He was a bit shocked that the Arbus had been in touch with them already. It was almost as if they knew who was in charge and who was not.
“I would like for you to go meet with them. I’ve talked with the military council and they are going to send all three ships to the meeting site,” the President said to Sam.
“Isn’t that dangerous,” Sam asked.
“Nope, we have everything worked out. The council assures me that this can be worked out peacefully,” the President told him.
“And if I heard correctly last the Argo could not be found,” Sam said. He recalled what he had heard about that. Commander Ares had recalled every Colonial back to the Argo and left. Sam could only hope that they had not returned to the Colonies.
“Yes, and they are in direct violation of a superior’s orders,” the President said.
Sam mentally rolled his eyes at that comment. The President had no power over them at all but very few actually knew that.
“They are also going to be charged with stealing government property along with anything else we can think of,” the President said.
“Not likely,” Sam muttered.
“What was that,” the President asked.
“You’re right,” Sam said. “So when should I get ready to leave and what ship will I be on?”
“You’ll be on the Tiger and you’ll meet with the representatives at a small planet that I’m told supports life,” the President said. “You’ll leave within the hour to get there on time.”
“Very well then,” Sam said turning to leave. He did not have a good feeling about this.
*****
Sam walked into the general’s office after being told he could go in. The general was sitting there with a lot of paper on his desk and looked like he was trying to understand a lot of it.
“Senator Sam, what can I do for you,” Pakrov asked.
“I was reading you’re reports on what happened during the invasion,” Sam said. What he had read had earned him a bit of respect with Sam.
“Did you find anything interesting,” Pakrov asked.
“Actually yes I did,” Sam said. “You wanted to fight back from the beginning and were told not to. Doesn’t that sound a bit strange to you,” Sam asked the general. He had talked with Ares a bit about this type of thing. They had both come to the conclusion that there had to be spies among the leadership.
“I don’t know. I’m not sure if anything makes any sense anymore,” Pakrov said.
“What I’m about to tell you can’t be repeated to anyone,” Sam said. “You will never be able to control the crew of the Argo. They do have their own mission.”
“They started all of this then,” Pakrov asked hoping that he was not going to hear what he thought the senator was going to say.
“No, but they are not from Earth. I’m sure that you’ve run across a name called Cylons in that stack,” Sam said watching the general nod his head. “They are another enemy that they were fighting. They came to us for help with that battle. It was just a large coincidence that the Arbus attacked when they did.”
“Then they might have headed back home,” Pakrov said.
“Maybe, but I doubt it,” Sam said.
“And with that stealth metal it will be very hard to find them,” Pakrov said.
“Right,” Sam replied. “I do have some reservations about this meeting though,” Sam said to him.
“I know,” Pakrov said.
“I do have an idea though,” Sam said running an idea by the general.
*****
“Commander, more signals coming from Earth,” Renee said.
“Have you been able to pinpoint the location,” Ares asked.
The Argo was just outside the orbit of Pluto as it waited and watched. So far the signals from Earth and back had increased ever since the Argo had left. Ares had a feeling that they were Arbus in nature and that the increase of signals meant nothing but bad news.
“We’re picking up another signal. It’s Senator Sam,” Renee said. “Compressed file being sent.”
Ares thought about weather or not he should open the file or not. On one hand he did trust the senator but without any real knowledge he did not know for sure. He finally called Weaver up from his lab. Once the doctor was up there they hooked up an Earth computer the transferred the file there. It would be separate from the rest of the ship in case the file was dangerous.
“Interesting,” Weaver said as he unzipped the file. “It appears to be a document along with several maps.”
Ares looked it over quickly then scanned the document. It did not take him long to understand what was happening. He looked at the Argo’s navigation map then at the times that were given.
“Set course for these coordinates maximum speed,” Ares said.
“What’s wrong commander,” Pratt asked.
“It seems that they are going to be meeting the Arbus for talks but Sam doesn’t think that it is a wise thing to do,” Ares said.
“Can’t say I blame him,” Pratt said.
“That’s why we’re going to check it out ahead of time,” Ares said.
The Argo turned in the direction of the meeting place. Its main engines powered up as it accelerated to its maximum speed.
*****
Sam walked to the shuttle on board the Tiger. It had been a couple of days since he had been told that he would be meeting with the Arbus envoy. It was something that he was not looking forward to at all. There were also several members of the military council along with him, General Pakrov and two other senators’ handpicked by the President.
He had talked a bit with the others just to gauge what they thought. Most thought that the war against the Arbus had happened by misunderstanding and that this talk would put things back on the right path. Sam was not so sure but he would go with it hoping that the Argo was somewhere out there waiting to intervene if something happened.
“Senator, the shuttle is waiting for you,” the pilot said to him.
“Thank you,” Sam replied. He then walked over to where his jacket was and put it on. This meeting would probably determine if the Earth was at war or not. He also had a bad feeling about the meeting. The entire space force here except for the Argo. With a deep breath he walked out to see what would happen next.
*****
“Commander, several shuttles have transferred from the Tiger and are making their way to the planet’s surface,” Renee said.
“Thank you,” Ares said. They had arrived not much longer than the Tiger and Cheetah but did arrive before the Arbus fleet. They had watched as the fleet had dispersed a bit behind different natural moons.
He had the Argo behind another moon that the Arbus were not using. He also knew a trap when he saw one and this was a trap. The ship was on yellow alert and ready to go to red alert at a moment’s notice.
Ares had enough time to go over everything with all the leaders on the ship to make sure that the battle plan was ready. No one was sure if the other two ships would help out even when the fighting began. It was something that they would find out soon enough.
“I want to know the moment when the other ships move out of their hiding spots,” Ares said.
“Yes sir,” the reply came. Ares was not worried about how his crew would handle the situation. He just had to make sure that when the Arbus sprung their trap that they actually attacked.
One thing he did not want to do was attack when nothing was going to happen. Now he only had to wait to see what the real plan was.
*****
Sam stepped off the shuttle on into a strange alien world. Beside him stood General Pakrov and one of the military council members. An alien shorter than he was and looking everything like many of the sketches of aliens approached him.
“If you would follow me,” the alien said in a tinny voice. He led them to a room where several chairs and a long table were. Sam could only think that it was for the meeting. A few seconds later the door opened and the rest of the group walked in.
Sam walked over to a chair and sat down in it. It was actually the right size for him which made his wonder about everything. There was something in the room that just did not sit well with him for some reason. He would have to wait to see if what he was thinking turned out to be true or not.
The other door opened and in walked in several Arbus people. Sam watched as they all looked around. There was something that seemed wrong about it all. Sam glanced around not sure he like any of this. A quick motion by several of the Arbus and the entire room became a war zone.
*****
“Captain, we have multiple contacts closing in on our position,” the scanner operator of the Tiger said to Riley.
“What, how many,” Reliy asked wanting to see how many were coming in.
“Scanner indicates six Arbus ships,” the reply came.
Reliy knew that this was not good but he had his orders to maintain his position and not do anything threatening. “Do we have contact with General Pakrov,” Reliy asked.
“Nothing sir,” the communications officer said.
“Then get me Captain Ben,” Reliy said. He did not have to wait long until Ben’s face appeared on the screen.
“I take it this is about the incoming ships,” Ben asked.
“Yeah, I’m not sure that I like this too much,” Reliy said. “I want to put up the shields just as a precaution.”
“Sounds good,” Ben said. “They haven’t done anything yet though. Would such an act be considered an act of war though?”
“I don’t know,” Reliy said. “Just the fact that they had so many ships hiding makes me wonder if this isn’t some sort of trap.”
“I doubt it,” Ben said. “Remember this is an alien life form. They might do things differently than we do.”
The line went dead cutting off the conversation. Reliy was still feeling a bit nervous about this. He considered his options quickly.
“Sound a battle drill,” Reliy said. “Call it a test once everyone is at their stations,” he told the crew. There was a moment’s hesitation before the red alert was sounded. People rushed to their battlestations which is where Reliy wanted his men.
*****
Sam had managed to avoid the first round of fire from the Arbus and worked his way under the table to where one of the Arbus was standing. He was busy firing and did not notice Sam by his feet.
With a quick jab he took the Arbus down from a standing position. The Arbus had dropped his weapon which took a lucky bounce right towards Sam. In a quick motion he picked it up and fired at the alien which slumped back down. Sam quickly turned his new weapon on the others in the room.
Sam was grateful that there were only three others and the firefight was over quickly. Getting up he looked around to see who else had survived.
“What the hell was that,” Sam heard General Pakrov say as he slowly stood up. He had his own weapon out and ready.
“Surely there was a misunderstanding,” another voice said. This one was one of the military council members. “There has to be.”
“Yeah, they want us dead,” Sam said. “For some reason they came in and tried to kill us,” he said picking up the weapons from the other three bodies. He tossed them to the general who caught one and handed another to the council member.
“Why would I want that,” he said.
“Now what,” Sam said ignoring the military council member and had turned to the general. “Any ideas as to how to get out of here alive?”
“We should probably get in touch with either the Tiger or the Cheetah,” Pakrov said.
“Or the Argo,” Sam said.
“The Argo,” Pakrov said.
“I sent the information out and I hope that Commander Ares got it,” Sam said.
“That warmonger Commander Ares,” the council member said. “That man probably started all of this,” he said waving his hand to the five dead men in the room.
“Here, either take it and come with us or stay here and you’ll probably be killed, you’re choice. Either way shut the hell up,” Pakrov said towering over the man while shoving the weapon into the man’s hands. “You type has put us in this situation in the first place. Do you have a communicator,” Pakrov asked Sam.
“Yep,” Sam said handing the general the small device.
“Good, let’s work on getting out of here,” Pakrov said.
*****
“Commander, Arbus attack ships closing in on the Tiger and Cheetah,” Pratt said to Ares.
Ares looked at the scanner. There were still no signs of battle but he had the feeling that it was going to happen any moment now.
“Red alert prepare to move out,” Ares said as the Argo went to battlestations.
“Weapons fire,” Pratt yelled.
“Move out,” Ares said right behind what Pratt said.
The battlestar moved out from behind the moon heading towards the battle that was forming in space.
“Sir, I’m getting an incoming message from the planet’s surface,” Renee said.
“Put it though,” Ares said.
“General Pakrov to Captain Reliy or Ben come in,” Ares heard the voice say.
“Captain Reliy here, what’s going on down there,” Reliy’s voice replied.
“I don’t know, they just started to attack us. Most of the envoy has been killed, we’re going to need a pick up,” Pakrov said.
“Don’t’ think so general, we’re under attack up here as well,” Reliy said.
“General, give us your coordinates, I’ll send a team down,” Ares said interrupting them.
“Commander Ares, I’m actually glad to hear your voice,” Pakrov said.
The coordinates were received. Ares thought about it for a minute then decided that he would send Troy and Bri to lead the team down to the surface. Because the two of them were already launched then the two pilots would fly cover for the shuttle.
“General Pakrov, is there any way that you can make your way to the landing site,” Ares asked the general.
“I don’t know but we’ll try,” Pakrov said. “If not we’ll try and stay here until a team can get here.”
“All right we’ll try,” Pakrov said as the communication went dead to the planet’s surface.
“Captain Reliy, what is your situation,” Ares asked bringing up the ship to ship communications.
“We’re doing all right but I’m not sure about the Cheetah,” Reliy said. “Captain Ben suddenly started to act a bit strange.”
“Strange,” Ares said turning to look at the scanner. The Tiger was turning to engage the Arbus warships but the Cheetah had not done anything yet to show engagement. He tried several times to get Captain Ben on the line but was not successful.
“Get the landing shuttle heading on down with Captain Troy and Lieutenant Bri as escorts now,” Ares said hoping to get something out of this engagement. The Argo turned to engage the nearest Arbus warship hoping that its appearance would surprise the Arbus.
*****
“Bri, Nall,” Troy said over the intercom waiting for the two to reply.
“What’s up Troy,” they both replied.
“Nall, I need you to take over command of Green squadron. Bri we’re escorting in some ground troops to rescue what remains of the party in the meeting,” Troy said to her.
“No problem Troy, we can do that,” Nall said. “Do you want any help with escorting the shuttle down to the planet’s surface?”
“No, I don’t think that it will be that bad as long as you keep the fighters off our back,” Troy said as he banked his viper to line up another kill during the battle.
“I think we can do that,” Nall replied. The fight so far had been going in their favor but no one was going to risk anything until the battle was over.
“All right, the shuttle had been launched,” Troy said. “Follow me Bri.”
Nall and Jax lined up as well to help with the protection of the shuttle. A few Arbus fighters tried to make a run at the shuttle but the vipers flying protection quickly made short work of them.
Troy’s viper hit the atmosphere of the planet and he had to fly the viper a bit differently because of it. He did a test run over the area where the shuttle would land to see if there was any danger. Not seeing any he determined that the shuttle would land.
He landed his viper not far away from where the shuttle had landed and noticed that there was an additional viper on the ground. Watching as Nall got out of the viper he was a bit angry that Nall did not obey his orders. The other part of him knew that there was almost no way that their friend would allow them down here without him. Either way he really did not have time to think about it.
A quick look around and he noticed that there was not a lot of security personal in the area. Troy hoped that it stayed that way.
*****
Pakrov peaked out the door looking down the hallway in both directions. He quickly ducked back in when he noticed a group of what appeared to be soldiers turning the corner. He had seen a few of them and turned to see how many people were left in the group. There were two senators, one of the military council and himself that had survived out of ten people.
“All right, we’re about to get company,” Pakrov said. “Let’s get set up for them.”
The two senators found a place to hide where they could fire on the door as did the general. The military council member was still trying to argue about what was going on. The man refused to think that fighting was the way even though it appeared to all the others that the only way they would get out was to fight.
The door was blown open causing the group to quickly duck briefly before more shots were fired. Pakrov knew that at the moment they had the advantage because of the small entrance way it allowed a smaller force to concentrate its firepower while a larger force was confined to use a small area.
Pakrov spared a glance around and noticed that the military advisor was now on the ground but could not tell if the man was alive or dead. For now he was concentrating on the incoming aliens and making sure that they did not make it into the room.
The brief firefight lasted a few minutes before everything went calm again. Pakrov waited a few seconds to see what was going on. He motioned for the two senators to remain where they were while he slowly crept towards the door. With a quick thought he motioned for one of the senators to keep an eye on the back door just in case.
He reached the door and there were several dead aliens along with one injured one. While keeping an eye on the injured one he snuck a peak out of the door. The hallway was empty which was good news.
“It clear here,” Pakrov said. “Go check the other door,” he said motioning for someone to check out the other entrance to the room.
Sam decided that he would check it out. His heart was racing to the point he was sure that the others could hear it. He was also scared to death of what was happening at the moment. But he also knew that if he wanted to live he had to do all of this. He made his way to the door and carefully turned the knob. The door opened and he quickly stuck his head out.
He was grateful that there was no one in the hallway. Glancing both way a few times to make sure that he did not miss anything he finally called all clear. It was then that he noticed something strange. The hallway ceiling was much shorter than the other hallways. He could barely stand up all the way. If he jumped he would hit the ceiling for sure. With a shake of his head he decided to keep an eye out in case someone came.
“General Pakrov,” they heard Commander Ares’ voice on the communicator. The general answered to see what was going on.
“The battle is over up here, the ships were not expecting to be attacked it seemed. We did however lose the Cheetah,” Ares said. “Has the landing group found you yet?”
“Not yet,” Pakrov said. “But that may explain why we’re not under attack anymore. Hold on,” Pakrov said as he spotted movement. He ducked for a moment before seeing a flash of tan. “I think you’re boys are here commander,” Pakrov said as he spotted the lead group of the rescue mission.
Troy was glad to see that the group was alive, or some were. There were four still alive which was good news to him. Getting to the room had been relativity easy. They had encountered a few guards but nothing they could not handle. This battle was pretty much over. Now all they had to do was get back.
End of part 33