Galactica-Trek I

[Iggy]

Galactica-Trek
By John L.R. Linde
(c)2002-2008

This story is a work of fiction, based on characters created by Glen Larson and Gene Rodenberry.

There are those who believe that life here, began out there. Far across the universe, with tribes of humans, who may have been the forefather’s of the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. That they may have been the architects of the great pyramids. Or the lost civilizations of Lemuria, or Atlantis. Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man, who even now fight to survive, somewhere beyond the heavens.

Chapter 1

The dreams haunted him. The man most people considered the most talented pilot in the entire fleet, and he couldn't catch the Cylon ship before it slammed into the Galactica's bridge. The spirits of the bridge crew stood over his bed, pointing accusing fingers at him. The most damning images were those of his father, Adama, and his sister, Athena, accusing him of failure. Failing to save them once again from the threat that would never end, not until they were all dead. Thirty-seven people died on the bridge that day. Hundreds more throughout the fleet, and Apollo secretly blamed himself. That had been eight years ago.

He awoke to the blaring claxon alerting everyone that the Cylons were once again attacking. It was the third attack in as many days. For over a year, he had slept in his uniform. He confidently strode onto the bridge.

“Colonel,” Apollo called out, “report.” Colonel Gylra looked up from his console. “Looks like four squadrons. Delta Class Raiders. Confirmed.” It wasn't the worst the fleet had suffered since fleeing the colonies. For a moment, Apollo was lost in thought, “Launch all Vipers. Activate defense turrets.” Within moments, the ships were in the sky, heading toward the mechanical threat. “Sir, all laser control stations manned, and operational.” Apollo nodded, “Positive shield, now.”

Apollo thought back to the time he was the leader of Blue Squadron, and how easy it had seemed to out-fly the Mark-I Raiders and their Centurion pilots. These days he knew, it was a challenge for their best pilots to even survive against the new Raiders. Even now, Dr. Bella was attempting to decipher the coding of a downed ship. It was no easy task. In the old days, Centurions had to manipulate controls to make the ship move. In the new ships, they merely interfaced and communicated with the ship directly through their central processors. In essence, the ship became an extension of the Cylon piloting it, and as a result much more lethal.

He felt helpless on the bridge of the Galactica. Something deep down was bothering him, the friends he had lost during their exodus toward a place he still only half believed existed. It was his father's faith that drove him to continue their journey. Adama was certain Earth existed, and that one day they would find it. He thought of those who had not survived this far, Boomer, Jolly, Starbuck, Serina, Athena, Greenbean, Colonel Tighe, and his father, whose vision he still pursued. How much longer he wondered, how many more would fall to the Cylons?

Captain Boxy angled the squadron towards the incoming Raiders. He whispered a prayer to the Lords of Kobol, as he always did before going into battle. He prayed against all hope that they would all make it home safe. Only a few more centons, and the battle would be joined.

The battle seemed to rage forever, though it only took minutes to reach it's conclusion. As the Cylons broke off their attack, Boxy again wondered why. Why do they attack, and then withdraw without gaining any foreseeable advantage? Granted, the Colonials had done well, and only lost 3 ships, but the Cylon force still had them outclassed. Why break off the attack? It almost seemed a familiar ploy, just to let the Colonials know that they were still the prey, and could be finished off at any time?

The question still bothered him as he landed his ship and turned it over to the maintenance crew.

Even as Boxy walked onto the bridge, he could feel the tension in the air. Everyone was on edge, knowing the Cylons could still decide to wipe them out at any time. "Father, can we talk a micron?"

Apollo had a feeling what was coming, so he motioned his son over to a corner of the bridge. "What is it Boxy?" "The attacks don't make sense. They engage us just long enough to take out a few pilots, then pull back. They have to know they have us outgunned. It's frustrating."

Apollo nodded, "Yes it is. And I think it's designed that way. They want to wear us down, and let us know that they can get us whenever they want. But they also know that we are searching for the lost tribe. They have no other way of finding them, if they even exist."

"So we are leading them straight to Earth?" This thought bothered Boxy to his core, the frustration was wearing on him and Apollo could see this. "So they can wipe out those people alongside of us? Those who weren't even involved in the war?"

"None of us were around at the start of the war, and the Cylons don't care. Our only hope is that the people of Earth can help us. I can only hope that we are leading them to Earth. Because if we aren't, then it's only a matter of time before they do wipe us out. Or at least try to. With any luck, Dr. Bella will figure out a way to remotely disable the Raiders."

"Maybe we should go on the offensive, attack them for a change, they'd be taken by surprise. At least get that base star off our backs for a while." This wasn't the first time Boxy had suggested this, and he knew well the reasons they hadn't done just this.

"We don't have the firepower to take out a base star. Maybe once the new fighters are out of the testing stage, maybe then we can turn things around. But until that happens, or we find Earth, we have to do the best we can to survive." Apollo knew that his son was aware of all this, but maybe the young man just needed to hear it again.

Apollo smiled as a thought occurred to him, "You know something, you are starting to sound like my younger brother, Zack. We were on patrol at the start of the Holocaust, when we ran across the armada on it's way to the fleet. His ship was hit, he had lost an engine, but tried to get back. I had to leave him to warn Adama what was coming. He was killed just short of the fleet."

Boxy digested this new information. He had known of Zack, from talking to Adama, but he didn't know the details of his death. Boxy always had assumed he was lost during the fight, but not that he was the first casualty of billions.

[Iggy]

Chapter 2

Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. It’s continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life, and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before.

The dream still haunted him. Being taken aboard the Borg ship, and turned into Locutus. Picard awoke in a sweat, still hearing the voices of other Borg drones. He shut the memory out, and got ready for his duty schedule. Once in uniform, he strode out of his quarters and down the hall toward the turbolift. Guinan approached him from a side corridor, and asked for a moment of his time. Being rare that she asked for anything, Picard readily agreed.

"Jean Luc, I had a dream last night. It may have been a vision, perhaps not. It was fragments really, a battle in space, but not by anyone or anything we know. Strange machines, a desperate people, a convoy, searching for something." Guinan struggled to find words to describe the images she saw. "I'm sorry Picard, it's not easy to describe them, but I have a feeling this somehow relates to us."

"To us, how?" Picard was genuinely curious now, Guinan was not one to bring something up to him on a whim. She continued, "I'm not sure. It's just broken images and feelings." At this point a level of frustration weaned its way into her. She forced it out again. "I'll let you know if anything becomes more clear."

Guinan walked away, and Picard put this information in the back of his thoughts. He made his way to the bridge, but was again intercepted. This time by Wesley Crusher. "Captain, I just wanted you to know, I'm glad we could put the academy incident behind us, and I'm thrilled to be back aboard the Enterprise."

"Well Lieutenant, we all do make mistakes. It pleases me that you realized yours, corrected it, and most importantly learned from it. As starfleet officers, we cannot hide from our duties. That is a lesson you learned the hard way."

"Yes, sir." Wesley answered as they walked onto the bridge. Data turned from his position at Ops and looked at Lieutenant Crusher, "Welcome back Wes." Riker and Worf also greeted the newly appointed officer. Once the pleasantries were done, Wes took his position at Helm.

Worf's console beeped alarmingly, "Captain, incoming message from Starbase 209, urgent and scrambled." Automatically Picard said "On screen."

The forward viewer filled with a smoky image of the Starbase. A bloodied Admiral stumbled into view. "Attention, all ships in sec...." The screen garbled for a moment, then focused back in, "attack....(static).....repeat, we are under ....(static).....Borg....." And the screen went blank.

Picard had seen enough. "Lay in a course for Starbase 209, maximum warp! Engage! Red Alert! All hands to battlestations!" The crew braced themselves for the encounter they knew they might not survive. "Data, prepare shields and weapons configurations for dealing with a Borg Cube."

Commander Data punched several points on his console. "All systems adjusted for all known Borg defensive capabilities." Leutenant Crusher had a thought, "Captain, has anyone tried beaming an armed photon torpedo to the center of a Borg cube?"

"I don't believe anyone has. Their shielding would prevent such an attack." Picard thought the logic of this was sound, Data was about to prove him wrong. "Captain, if we were to send out a probe specifically armed with an ion pulse matching their shield frequency, it could disrupt their shields long enough to perform such an action. The timing would have to be precise, however, it could work."

Picard thought about this for a moment, he knew they had over 2 hours before reaching the starbase. "Make it so." He was willing to try anything to destroy those who had violated his very soul.

[Iggy]

Chapter 3

The Borg had come and gone. When the Enterprise finally reached Starbase 209, nothing was left. The entire Starbase was gone. Picard had assumed it either destroyed, or assimilated. "Captain, long range scans indicate no vessels in the sector." Worf informed Picard. The Captain had known they would be too late. "Scan for their ion trail, and set a course to follow them."

A few hours later, there was still no sign of the Borg ship. The Enterprise continued to follow them, but had yet to catch up. "Again, the bastards have adapted." Picard thought to himself, "They know the limits of our engines, and are outrunning us." He was brought out of his reverie by Worf, "Sir, long range sensors indicate two ships entering scanner range, closing fast. Sir, four more behind them."

"On viewer." Picard thought the worst, six Borg cubes, and all of them heading for the Enterprise. The image on the viewscreen allayed that fear. What he saw were two small ships, fighters perhaps. They were being pursued by four other ships, and they were being fired upon. Picard tapped his com badge, "Guinan, report to the bridge." This order surprised everyone on the bridge. "Helm, all stop."

Three long minutes later, Guinan strode onto the bridge, caught a glimpse of the viewscreen and stopped dead in her tracks. Picard looked over at her, "I presume my question has just been answered." Guinan stared at the battle on the screen, and reached out with her senses. In a somewhat distant voice, she said, "We must help them." Which ones, Picard wondered, and in what way? Despite the fact that he could justify breaking the Prime Directive on many occasions, could he justify it to kill entities he had no cause to? "Open hailing frequencies." Worf keyed open a channel, "Open, sir."

"This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation Starship, Enterprise. Break off your attack, and identify yourselves." Picard watched the viewer, as one of the two smaller ships was hit in the tail section. Data, without being told to, had scanned all six ships. "Captain, the two smaller ships are showing humanoid life signs. The other four show no life signs. The ship that was just hit has sustained major damage to its engines, and the pilot appears to be injured."

Well, at least Picard could get away with helping an injured pilot. "Beam the pilot to sickbay. Worf, take a security team, but stay out of the doctors way." Worf left the bridge, calling for an armed team to meet him there. No sooner did they have the pilot out of his ship, it was hit again and destroyed. The four larger ships swarmed against the now lone humanoid.

Riker had taken over tactical, and had locked phasers on the attacking drones. "Captain?" Picard turned to Riker, and knew what his first officer was ready to do. "Make it a warning shot, Number One." Riker touched the controls, and the Enterprise's phasers came to life, and hit one of the larger fighters in the engines. The craft spun out of control, and away from the battle. The other three ships turned their attention to the Enterprise, and began firing in earnest. Their attack was futile, as their lasers bounced off the Enterprise's shields. Riker fired the phasers again, this time destroying one of the attackers. The two remaining ships broke off their attack and retreated.

"What happened to the other humanoid?" Picard asked Data. "When the three attacking ships turned to attack us, the pilot took the opportunity to flee. I am tracking his course."

"Lay in a course to follow that ship, at a distance. We don't want to scare him into not returning home." Lieutenant Crusher keyed in the order, "Aye, Sir." Picard started for the turbo-lift. "Number One, you have the bridge. I'll be in sick bay."

Guinan followed Picard, and they both walked into sick bay together. As they entered, Doctor Crusher and her team were working on the pilot, with security standing far enough away to not be intrusive. Minutes later, they were finished, and Crusher motioned Picard into her office. Picard motioned for Guinan to join them. "Doctor, how is the pilot?" She sat down and sighed, "He'll be fine. But we have a little bit of a mystery." Picard's curiosity already peaked, went even higher. "Indeed, Doctor, more than you know." Picard explained the visions Guinan had. "Well, I can add this much to it, his DNA structure is identical to ours. If it wasn't for the uniform, and the ships, I would swear he was from Earth." At this point, a nurse came in and told them that the pilot was waking up.

[Iggy]

Chapter 4

Boxy awoke, and thought he was dead. He was certain of it. He thought back to his last moments, the Cylon getting the lucky shot, his engines exploding, the shrapnel ripping through him. He noticed his uniform was gone, and he felt uninjured. At least being dead wasn't painful. He opened his eyes and closed them again, the light burned his retinas. After a moment, he opened them slowly, allowing his eyes to adjust to the brightness. He looked around, saw a very bright and clean room, as well as several people standing nearby watching him. They were dressed in strange uniforms, but were obviously human. He stirred and sat up. "Are you the Lords of Kobol?" They must be waiting to lead him to his judgement. They didn't answer him. Questions formed in his mind. While he was pondering the next one to ask, an attractive red haired woman walked in and up to him. She held a device of some sort over him, then she put it down, and spoke to him. "How do you feel?"

"A little disoriented, but otherwise fine. When will I be taken to judgement?" Boxy was sure he'd be allowed into the next level of existence, after all, he was here, wherever here was. He looked around again, and noticed his wingman nowhere to be found. "Did Klytus survive?" Boxy hoped his best friend had made it, but alone against four Raiders, it wasn't likely. The woman smiled at him, "Yes he did, and we are following him back to wherever you came from." Boxy wondered exactly what that meant, weren't the Gods all knowing? "What do you mean? Wherever we came from? Aren't you the Lords of Kobol?"

"I'm afraid not, you are onboard the USS Enterprise. We beamed you aboard right before your ship was destroyed." His mind reeled, could it be true? Was he actually alive? How did they rescue him? A million questions ran through his mind. Then he remembered, the strange ship that seemed to appear out of nowhere. "How did you..." He couldn't figure out which question to ask first. Apparently the woman sensed this, "Just relax, you are safe. Let's take it slow. I'm Doctor Beverly Crusher. What's your name?"

"I'm Captain Boxy, flight leader of Blue Squadron on the Battlestar Galactica." He prayed this wasn't some sort of sick Cylon trick, he had heard of human looking Cylons, meant to infiltrate the fleet. But why save his life if they are following Klytus back to the fleet? Unless he really was dead, and Boxy their only lead back. But no, the Cylons knew where the fleet was, the constant attacks proved that. What in blazes is going on? "Umm, could I get some clothes?" Two other people walked in, a black woman in robes, and a bald man. The bald man spoke to him. "I think clothes would be appropriate. Then we can talk. I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and we have much to discuss."

Someone else brought Boxy a clean uniform identical to the one he wore. Again he thought about the possible Cylon angle, but it still didn't add up. He noted that they didn't return his laser pistol. It didn't matter, if it was a Cylon trick, he'd never be able to fight his way out anyway. The bald man and the black woman led him to a very comfortable room, and told the escorts to wait outside. They sat around a table, there were small viewscreens arranged around the table, and a larger one on the wall. "Please tell me where I am." He ventured the request, hoping to get some answers.

"You are on the USS Enterprise, a Galaxy Class starship representing the United Federation of Planets. We beamed you aboard after your ship had been damaged in what seemed to be a rather unfair assault. Now, would you tell me who you are? And where you came from?" Boxy figured these people, whoever they were, had saved his life, and treated him well. So he might as well answer. "I am Captain Boxy. I am the leader of Blue Squadron of the Battlestar Galactica."

"Well Captain, would you mind telling me why you were under attack?" Ok, this is going to get complicated, should he start out by telling them about the war? Better wait on that one, start out simple. "Klytus and I were on a routine patrol. Scouting in front of the fleet for any Cylon activity. We must have stumbled onto a remote base, they sent up eight Raiders to jump us. We managed to get four of them before I got hit."

"We detected no life forms in those fighters. They must be controlled from the nearest base." Captain Picard seemed an intelligent man, it also seemed that although only a Captain, that he was in command of this ship. How could he not know about the Cylon Empire? "No, they are controlled by Cylon Centurions. Machine warriors that are intent on destroying us all." This last visibly shook Picard, what did it mean to him if he had never heard of the Cylons? At this point a chime interrupted their conversation, along with an announcement. "Captain Picard to the Bridge." Maybe he wasn't in charge after all. Picard stood, asked the black woman, apparently named "Guinan" to take him somewhere called "Ten Forward" and continue speaking with him. Then he excused himself and left.

As they walked the halls of the ship, Boxy was impressed with everything he saw. When they got where they were going, he noticed that they were no longer being escorted by the security team. Apparently they trusted him to some extent. Guinan offered him a drink, and they started talking about the Federation, but eventually got around to the Cylons again.

[Iggy]

Chapter 5

Klytus landed his Viper, and made his way to the bridge. It was now his sad duty to inform Commander Apollo that his son was dead. He found that once he got to the bridge, he needn't say a word. "What happened?" It was an obvious question, but not one he was fully prepared to answer. "We were jumped, eight Raiders. We got four of them, then some weird looking ship showed up. They got....they..." No more words would come. Apollo knew the Cylons had killed his son. Now he knew how Adama had felt when Zack was killed. "Tell me what happened after they shot Boxy down."

"The new ship distracted the Cylons, and I escaped." Klytus was clearly distraught. He and Boxy had been best friends since they were kids. "Where did you get jumped?" Apollo didn't want to draw this out, he knew the pain the young man was in. After getting the coordinates of the now exposed Cylon outpost, he let Klytus go back to his quarters.

Apollo debated how to deal with this new threat, could they skirt around the outpost just out of scanner range? Well, he had time to decide on that. Maybe they should attack, no, that was his anger and grief speaking. He had to keep a level head about him, or else they might all end up dead. It wasn't bad enough that they had lost over fifty of the two hundred twenty they started out with. Maybe, just maybe, they could use this to test the new Python fighters. In theory, the Pythons were faster and more maneuverable than the Raiders, and carried much more firepower. He decided to pay a visit to Dr. Bella's lab, and see how close he was to completing the prototype.

He walked into the lab, and was instantly greeted by Dr. Bella. Bella seemed to be quite excited to see the Commander, Apollo decided that this could be a good sign. "How is the Python coming?" The scientist took on a bit of a pseudo smugness, and announced, "She's ready for a test flight." That explained the mood he was in. "What are the current specs? What can she do?" Apollo hated being terse, but he was still bothered by Boxy's death. "Well, if everything works as designed, she's capable of near light speed, the laser generators are half the size of the Viper's, and emit an anti-proton ratio of 10 to the 50th power per cubic nanometer. The armour plating is rated to withstand three direct hits on each panel, and I decided to steal an idea from the Cylons," Apollo cringed at the mentioning of the enemy, "I've installed a cortex uplink into the helmet, meaning that with the flip of a switch, each pilot can improve the performance of the Python by thinking his actions. It is of course, optional, and would require some getting used to. For the time being, I'd recommend simply using the standard controls, until the pilots become used to the new fighters."

Apollo was highly impressed. "How soon can you have a squadron of them ready?" Bella thought about this, it had taken years to develop the prototype, and without even testing it, the Commander wanted a whole squadron of them. He knew it was a serious question, something seemed to be bothering Apollo, but Bella knew him well enough not to pry. "Well, I suppose if I can assemble a good sized crew together, maybe a month." Apollo pondered this, then asked another question, "How many can you get me in three days?"

[Adamido]

tl;dr.
wall of text, no pics.

[Iggy]

Wow..... easy to find.

Alright.... I've finally finished Galactica-Trek II.

Both files

I've included a link to both stories. They are best viewed in Windows Wordpad.

Take a look, read them if you want.... and drop me some honest criticism.

Don't worry, I won't ban anyone for honest remarks. Just don't be a douche with it.

[BinaryLife]

I'm about to go to bed or I'd read more. But I've always liked your writing. I look forward to finishing.

[Lost]

The story is good, believable from the point of view of the universes being merged.

Could you add more of the feel of their personalities to the characters? I haven't read your 2nd part yet but I noticed that they aren't the same from each section. I also think that Apollo would be a bit more pissed off, he was a very emotional fellow in the BSG series.