(Author's Note: The following story is a prequel that can be read along with both my 'Battlestar Victorious' series and the 'Battlestar Hermes' series by The Wilky Bar Kid. This story will contain characters from both series.)

Thrill Week

Written by: Wes Imlay

Chapter One: The Beach Beckons

One Year before the Fall:

CAPRICA

Arthur Saunders sat behind his finely carved wooden desk and stared at the two people in front of him, keeping his face in such a way that the two men could not get a read on him. Oliver Bagby Jr. and Amadeo Galvani were here on behalf of the Colonial Finance Commission, the government agency formed to oversee the banking and financial institutions of the Twelve Colonies.

"I can assure you that these rumors you have heard about the bank are nothing but rumors. I think you are putting too much stock in the word of the First Caprica Bank," Saunders said firmly, hoping the conviction in his voice would sway the two men.

"I am sure you can understand our concern Mr. Saunders, allegations of insider trading are quite serious," Galvani said as he looked over the notes he had taken during this meeting.

"Then there are the charges of giving preferential treatment to your Caprican clients, you can see where President Adar would have concerns," Bagby said.

'Richard Adar can take his concerns and stick it,' Saunders thought to himself but knew it would be unwise to mention it.

"Thank you for your concern gentlemen, believe me these allegations will be proven false," Saunders stood and offered the men his hand, "Thank you for your time, good day."

The two men left the room and Saunders slumped down in his chair wondering who would make such accusations against the bank. His thoughts were interrupted by the opening of the door.

"Mr. Saunders," Aerona Eilwen, his secretary said as she stuck her head into the office, "your daughter is waiting in the lobby to speak with you."

"Very well Miss Eilwen, send her in," Saunders said as he stood up and adjusted his suit jacket. He had a feeling Melissa wanted something but it was just a matter of what exactly.

"Hi Daddy!" Melissa shouted as she walked up and wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

Saunders smiled at her, "It's great to see you, what can I do for you?"

"Well remember when the girls were talking about taking a Junius Break trip?"

Saunders thought it over, "Yes now that everyone is out of college for now you and your friends wanted to go to Canceron, am I right?"

"Yes! Helen looked into it, and the waves at Olwin Beach are perfect for surfing."

Saunders knew Helen Octavia, his daughter's best friend since her days in elementary school, he had an idea as to who else would be going along but he wanted to hear it first, "Who else will be going with Helen and yourself?"

"Megan Jordan and Jessi Payton, you know we always take these trips together."

"Hmmm…it's just that Canceron can be a dangerous place."

"Daddy! Any colony can be dangerous, this is about the beach and surfing. What could be so dangerous about Canceron?"

"Have you heard of the Basileus?"

"Come on, everything I know about them was in that movie that came out last year," Melissa pleaded.

Saunders knew the movie she was referring to, 'Jeremy Blake' was a movie about a young Ministry of Intelligence officer who infiltrated the Basileus in an attempt to bring down the crime syndicate. It was based on a true story of an undercover officer named Martin Granstrom that infiltrated the Basileus three years ago and whose actions led to the arrest of Levi Zeresi. The arrest of the eldest son of Lydia Zeresi, the woman who ran the Basileus, was a major news story and dealt a blow to the crime syndicate.

'Maybe I am being a little paranoid?' thought Arthur. Either way it didn't matter. His daughter's eyes were lit up like Colonial Day illuminations. She was determined to make the trip and so he grudgingly agreed. He never could say no to her. The result was a whirlwind blowing out of his office. Melissa had barely left the room when she was already on her cellular phone to Helen to confirm she would be joining them.

Arthur slumped back into his chair. 'That girl tires me out just watching her'. The fact of the matter was he was envious of her youth and innocence. She still had almost no worries in the universe and yet here he was with the threat of internal investigation looming over him. 'Oh to be young.'

Canceron appeared as a small round ball outside in the dark of space. The woman standing in front of the porthole raised her right hand up and placed her index finger and her thumb around it. She then proceeded to 'crush' the planet between her fingers. She despised this world. She could have had an assignment anywhere else in the Twelve Colonies and yet here she was at the planet she hated so much by her own choice. She had business there that she had yet to be concluded and that left an empty feeling inside her. It was feeling she could not ignore.

Her thoughts on the little planet in the window were so intense that she had failed to hear the footsteps of someone walking up behind her. The man stood beside her and looked out with her. He had a small printed message in his hand that was intended for her but he chose to withhold giving it to her until she was ready.

"You know," she said finally, "from here it is quite beautiful. It does have some incredible sights but its what you see when you really get down to it that it's all a lie. They certainly gave it the right name. It has a cancer that's spreading almost out of control eating away at the healthy parts."

"You always did hate this planet," said the man. "Sometimes you just have to sweep away the past and move on. You told me that, remember?"

"So I did," quipped the woman who found it amusing to have her own advice given back to her. "You have something for me?"

FASTSTAR EURYLADE

"Yes Major, from MoI headquarters on Picon."

Captain Keene Barron handed his superior officer, Major Galit Malka, the communiqué that had just been received by the communications officer. She took it and opened it. The message simply said; Report from human intelligence sources at Constellation indicates efforts are underway for major operation. Have team ready for deployment and possible ship-to-ship interception and retrieval.

Constellation was the MoI term for Canceron. Put simply the message implied that an operation was about to begin on or around the planet in the distance. Malka folded the letter back up and placed it in her pocket.

"There's nothing more?" she asked him mildly frustrated at the quite vague message.

"No Major," replied Barron.

"Very well then, make preparations for ship-to-ship intercept. Assemble the usual guys!"

Barron nodded and proceeded to carry out his orders. Although the message wasn't clear about what was ahead Galit Malka suspected that the Basileus were somehow involved. She thought it might be prejudice towards the organization that had been a thorn in her side for almost five years since that fateful mission to rescue the President's sister and niece. Since then it seemed like she had barely left the god forsaken crime infested colony of Canceron.

The Tiger-class Faststar Euryale was an illegal vessel operated by the Ministry of Intelligence in violation of the Articles of Colonization. Her twenty six crew lead by Major Galit Malka were waging a war in the shadows against terrorist groups, criminal organizations and pirate rings throughout the Twelve Colonies. For that reason the ship sat far off the normal shipping lanes to and from the Colony waiting for the orders to leap into action and then disappear into the shadows once the job was done with no recognition whatsoever. The crew was composed of committed individuals to say the least. They had to be for this line of work.

Some, including Malka, went so far as to be officially listed as dead!

AMARNA, CANCERON

The transport carrying Melissa Saunders and her friends landed at the Amarna Metropolitan Spaceport. The four girls were out of their seats and making their way towards the exit as quickly as they could manage. This was the first day of their week of good times to be had on Canceron and they had no intention of wasting a second of this trip. Waiting outside was the bright yellow sports car that Helen Octavia's parents had provided them for this trip. Helen's father knew Arthur Saunders from the First Cylon War. The two of them had considered going into business together but instead they went their separate professional ways. Helen's father run a shipping business out of Delphi on Caprica to, among others Canceron, and he had his office make the arrangements for renting the car.

Helen's parents had insisted that she be the only one to drive the car but Helen was not a particularly confident driver and so it was down to Melissa to drive. It was time to check into their hotel and then they would be relaxing on the beach and playing in the sea when they were not surfing.

The Dannika Hotel was the premier five-star hotel found in Amarna, only the best could afford to stay here. The four girls had the top penthouse suite and intended to make the most of it. As they settled into their room Megan Jordan found herself staring at the magnificent beach outside. In some way it was calling to her and she felt compelled to answer it.

"What are we waiting for?" Megan exclaimed as she looked back at her friends who were still packing away their things.

The girls got their beach clothes on and basked in the midday sun as they walked along the boardwalk. Amarna was a beautiful place. Everywhere there seemed to be a pleasant calm covering over every sight and sound they encountered. They saw a restaurant ahead that was called the "Kanani Grille" and it seemed like a place they could stop and get a bite to eat before they went down to the beach.

"I say we stay here all day," Melissa announced as the girls were brought their first round of drinks.

"All day and all night," Helen said as she held her drink up to add emphasis.

"That would be a mistake," a woman's voice from nearby said.

"You know you shouldn't listen in like that," a man said in reply.

Melissa turned to see a young woman who looked to be about her age and a man who looked more like he was in his early to mid thirties. They were sitting at a table behind their stools at the bar. It seemed they weren't eavesdropping but they had to have heard them talking.

"When they're being that loud, it's not hard to overhear," the woman said as she took a sip from her drink.

"Excuse me, private conversation here!" Jessi Payton said with an annoyed and arrogant edge to her voice.

"Funny, I didn't think that passed for 'private'. Besides this is a 'private conversation' too," the young woman said as she did air quotes around the term 'private conversation'.

Melissa could feel the air turning distinctly sour. She knew her friends well and as such knew that they had a flair for attracting trouble. She didn't want to include in her first call home the fact they had been arrested for rowdy behavior in a bar.

"Why would it be a mistake to stay here?" Melissa asked, hoping to satisfy her curiosity and diffuse any further hostility.

"Let's just say that at night here on the beach there can be trouble from a certain group," the man said.

Melissa tried to get a read on him but his eyes were hidden by a pair of dark sunglasses and his face seemed to not give away any emotion.

"Let me guess, The Basileus," Megan stated as though she were a bored child hearing a lecture by a parent.

"As a matter of fact yes," the woman said.

"We've heard the stories, and even saw that movie about them," Helen explained as though she were some expert on the dangers of organized crime and had somehow rated the Basileus as quite low down the scale.

"That movie," the man said shaking his head "does not even do the Basileus justice. As bad as they may have seemed trust me they're worse. You'd be amazed at what they do here, think about it…all crime runs through them on this colony."

"It's true, there is something to be said about how powerful they are and the kind of trouble they have their hands in," the woman said.

"Right, like you're such an expert on them!" Jessi said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"We know them well…very well," the man said as he stood up and motioned with his head for the woman to join him. Each of them then took a seat at the left and right of where the girls sat. The woman sat right next to Melissa.

"I'm Lacey and this gentleman is my cousin Scott, we grew up here on Canceron and we know the Basileus better than anyone could hope to. We're about to leave, but just take our advice about the beach…it's a dangerous place at night. More dangerous than you can imagine."

"Well bye!" Helen said with a wave of her hand, Megan and Jessi followed suit. Melissa looked into Lacey's eyes after she had finished speaking. There was something about them that were screaming at her to take heed of her warning. Realizing that their efforts to dissuade the group were in vain both Scott and Lacey got up and left. Melissa sat there and for the first time wondered if they should heed the words of Scott and Lacey…whatever their last names were.

"Don't listen to them, they were just trying to screw with us," Helen took another drink from her glass and ordered a refill.

"How could they know so much about the Basileus?" Melissa asked, genuinely curious.

"They're probably making it up or better yet…" Jessi said before dropping her voice to sound more ominous, "They're from the Basileus!"

Scott and Lacey Tolan walked along the beach, for the most part the two cousins stuck to small talk but they knew each other well enough to know that there was something on each of their minds.

"A few more weeks and then I'll be going back to the Academy," Lacey said as she stared out into the ocean not focusing on anything in particular.

"Hard to believe you've already had your first year there Lace you've proven you're up to the challenge," Scott said, turning his attention to a sea shell his foot passed.

"It's what I've always wanted; it still seems daunting when I think about it."

Scott reached over and patted her on the shoulder, "You're up to it, and you wouldn't have been accepted if you weren't."

"My Scott, always there to reassure me," Lacey smiled at him, when she thought about it they were more like brother and sister than cousins.

"I hope we were able to reassure those four girls, they don't know what they're going to wander into tonight if they go to the beach."

Lacey shrugged her shoulders, "We can at least say we tried; besides you know we tend to stay out of the 'family businesses."

"Still though, I think I may try to use my contacts to keep an eye out for them just in case they're stupid enough to try something," Tolan heard the whispers of what the Basileus were up to. He stayed out of the crime syndicate's business as best he could though there were times he could be slightly pulled back in. The recent outing of the Ministry of Intelligence's war against the crime syndicate was his doing, the price he had to pay to enlist his Aunt Lydia's help in the rescue mission he led five years ago.

President Adar's sister and niece had been kidnapped by the Sagitarron Liberation Army, and he was the first choice to lead the rescue mission. The plan had been to use his connections with the Basileus to procure weapon shipments that would serve as a cover for the rescue mission. That part of the plan had worked, but it would cause Scott to owe his aunt, Lydia Zeresi who was the head of the crime syndicate, a rather large favor somewhere down the road. When the Ministry of Intelligence began an illegal campaign of assassinating the high-ranking members of the Basileus, Lydia Zeresi called in her favor, and Scott became a confidential informant to the Caprica City Times. He leaked the information that would cause the MoI to abandon its plans to kill off the higher echelon of the Basileus.

DANNIKA HOTEL

The four of them had gone back to the hotel to change into their beach wear for their plans to hit the clubs and spend the night on the beach relaxing and doing whatever their minds could come up with.

Melissa changed into her outfit and as she was looking into the mirror she felt her stomach began to clench a bit, as though something she had for lunch did not agree with her. She leaned over slightly and clutched her stomach, wondering just what was causing her to feel a wave of nausea that seemed to be slowly coming over her.

"Hey girl, are you going to be alright?" Helen Octavia asked when she walked into the room and saw her friend.

"I should be alright, just something I ate probably. Don't worry about me, it'll pass…" Melissa tried to put a smile on but it took some effort.

"Alright, well we have a surprise that came here this morning!" Helen exclaimed with joy as though it was an early birthday present for her.

"Just what might that be?" Melissa asked as she tried to put away the sick feeling that had hit her.

"Do the names James Livingston, Garrison Brown, Raymond Sharpe, and Jarell Cashmere mean anything to you?" Helen asked with a sly grin.

Melissa's eyes got wide, "You mean they're here now?"

"They got word we were here and decided to use their break from college to come see us lonely women," Helen said in reference to the Junius Break the boys had from the University of Apollo on Caprica.

'Just great,' Melissa thought knowing that James David 'J.D.' Livingston would be here and she really felt sick. Suffice it to say she was going to have to put on a brave front and do what she could to not get sick in public.

FASTSTAR EURYALE

"A message just arrived for you Major, it's directly from Director Schwtizer," Keene Barron said as he delivered a recently delivered message. Adrian Schwtizer had been promoted to Director of the MoI shortly after the Valkyrie mission; it was his choice to unleash Galit Malka and her army of MoI agents on the Basileus.

"Thank you," she said as she took the message from him and started reading.

Attn: Major Galit Malka

Subject: Arms Shipment on Canceron

Major Malka, it has come to our attention that a large shipment of weapons is scheduled to be delivered by shuttle to the colony of Canceron. This shuttle is inbound from Virgon, and is scheduled to land of a freighter in the Marius Sea before being delivered to the Basileus at the docks on Olwin Beach. Intercept the freighter, and board with your party and confiscate the shipment. Deliver it to the docks and when there initiate protocol 187. No further requirement.

Adrian Schwtizer

Director of Ministry of Intelligence

Umquam in Tutela

The latter was the MoI motto: Ever on Guard.

Galit folded the paper and put it in her pocket, the freighter mentioned earlier in the report was the SV Valeriu, according to the technical specs the transport shuttle had a crew of fifty, but with her specially trained agents they would be more than able to take the shuttle and pilot it with a skeleton crew. This was her chance to enact more revenge, maybe even expel more of the pain that had stayed with her since that day on the SLA base when she had nearly died. She had recently had her last psych evaluation, and part of what bothered her was how the psychologist had described her, 'A weapon that could be malfunctioning badly'

OLWIN BEACH, CANCERON

The Canceron sun was beginning to set now, and along the boardwalk walked Scott and Lacey Tolan. The beach was becoming deserted now, as most people preferred to stay at the beach while the sun was out.

"What do you want to do tomorrow?" Scott asked his cousin.

"I don't know Scott, what do you want to do?" Lacey asked in reply.

"First this week is about you, you're the one who's going off to the Academy."

"True, but you are going back on deployment and Caprica will need you for its defense. So therefore, what do you want to do?"

"Oh look, it's our friends from earlier today and they have more company with them," Scott pointed out to the group that included the girls from the restaurant earlier as well as four men who they had yet to meet.

"Looks like they're not going to take our advice after all," Lacey observed as the two groups came closer to each other.

"Well if it isn't our two good citizens who wanted us to get away from here," Helen Octavia said once they got close enough to talk to Scott and Lacey.

"Hey baby, is this the one who threatened you?" one of the men said as he inched closer to where the two had stopped walking.

"Threatened who?" Scott asked, wondering what in the worlds had been said.

"I heard you threatened my girl," the young man said as he pulled Helen closer to him.

"Your girl needs to get her story straight," Scott said evenly.

"You're calling her a liar then?"

"I suppose I am whoever you are."

"The name is Jarell Cashmere, you would know it if you lived on Caprica."

"You assume I give a damn, that's cute."

"You're asking for trouble, you know that right?" another of the men added.

"Ray, don't go stirring things up!" Jessi Payton said to Raymond Sharpe before he could add more of his two cubits to the conversation.

"Truth is, you lay a hand on me and you'll regret it," Scott said to Cashmere in the same tone of voice he had been using the whole conversation.

"Is that right? Well what if I laid a hand on this sweet little number you have here with you?" Cashmere leered at Lacey who moved closer to Scott.

"Then you are really going to regret it," Scott said as he dropped his even tone and took on an icier one.

"Four of us and one of you…seems the odds aren't in your favor," Cashmere said in an attempt to intimidate the man.

"I've had worse, besides you do know where you are, right?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, we're on Canceron!" Cashmere said in exasperation as though he was talking to an idiot.

"Good, you did learn the Colonies in grade school. Did your girl tell you what our names were?"

Cashmere leaned in close to Helen who whispered something in his ear, "Yeah you're Scott and her name is Lacey, so?"

"Ah yes, we did not give our last names. That would be…Tolan, as in the Basileus Tolans. You might want to think about that for a second," Scott watched as his words took effect on Cashmere. It seemed the man knew exactly what the implications were but was stuck in the corner he had backed himself into in order to impress Helen Octavia.

Melissa watched this and felt powerless as to how to stop the situation from spiraling out of control. Though the more Cashmere and Scott stared each other down, the less she was able to focus on what was going on. The sickness she felt earlier seemed to have redoubled its effort to incapacitate her. She stumbled and thankfully James Livingston was there to catch her. She felt her stomach start to heave, and pushed him away as she stumbled forward and fell on her knees right in front of Scott Tolan. He leaned down to ask if she was alright and she would have answered him if she had not let loose the contents of her stomach directly onto the man's lower body.

The group stood stunned at the suddenness of what they had just witnessed. The youths had been so caught up in their own desire to party and enjoy themselves that they had failed to notice their ailing friend; the first one to make a move was Scott. The man simply patted Melissa on the shoulder before standing up to take his mobile phone out of the front pocket of his shorts. He calmly made a call to what sounded like a hospital then ended the call before motioning for Lacey to come over to him.

"Listen Lace, I just placed a call to Cygnus Medical Center. They're going to be waiting for our friend here at the Emergency Room. I want you to get her into my car and have her there as quickly as possible, understood?"

Lacey nodded and bent down to check on Melissa.

"Wait just a minute, we don't even know you!" Megan Jordan declared, suddenly feeling protective of her friend.

"I'll go with her, I want to make sure she's alright," J.D. Livingston said as he bent over to help Lacey assist Melissa to her feet.

"Good, the rest of you just wait here until I can buy me some new clothes," Scott said as he motioned towards a nearby clothing shop.

The other three couples nodded their understanding, and once both Tolans had left along with Melissa and J.D. they promptly walked away in a hurry to leave the scene as if to walk away was to cleanse themselves of their responsibility to their friend. None of them wanted their holiday ruined not even by a sick friend.

"I'm telling you, if Melissa hadn't have gotten sick I'd have taken that jerk," Cashmere said confidently, which earned him a long kiss from Helen Octavia.

"You'd have wiped the floor with him baby!" Helen said with a wicked grin.

"Don't worry Jer', we'd have had your back," Garrison Brown said as he walked up to slap Cashmere on the shoulder.

A couple walked past them, but the group did not pay them any heed. It was not until the man and woman came up behind them suddenly that they got the group's attention.

"Hey guys, where are you heading?" the man asked as he held out his hand for a handshake.

Everyone in the group exchanged handshakes before the woman spoke, "David and I were just heading down to the docks for some extreme sports." The couple had given their names as David Mattson and Alice Rosana.

"What do the two of you have in mind?" Helen asked.

"First we were going to this new paintball center that opened up in this old dock warehouse and then we were taking a shuttle up to the Asterion Station for some high-orbit extreme space-walking. You want to come with?" Mattson said as he flashed a charming smile that seemed to get through the girls' defenses.

"I don't know if we should," Raymond Sharp said, wondering if they should trust this couple they just met. They seemed to come on quite strong and this rang an alarm bell in his mind for a reason he couldn't quite fathom himself just yet.

"Come on, please! We promise it will be a thrill the likes of which you never had," Rosana said almost pleadingly.

The group huddled and after a moment of fast paced nattering in which nothing was seriously considered except for the potential for fun they made their decision to go.

"Great, just follow us!" Mattson said and along with Rosana they led the way to the Rutledge docks in the warehouse district of Olwin Beach.

FASTSTAR EURYALE

The Euryale was standing out of the way of the incoming traffic to Canceron, the hope was that they would be able to board the freighter and eliminate the crew quickly and efficiently. The cover of a Colonial Fleet vessel served to mask their real purposes until it was too late. Rarely would a ship try to turn down a boarding request from the military vessel, and that was something Galit Malka counted on in this case.

She dressed in her black battle gear, as always she would lead the strike team with Barron coming in behind her. His training as a Colonial Marine would be invaluable in this operation, and he knew the right crew to select for their six person fire team. Accompanying them would be Joseph Marshall, Armen Chertavian, Paula McElwain, Lina Balaconis, Robert Alistair, and Louis Cassani. These were former military officers who had been recruited by the MoI, and all had volunteered to join Malka's crew in the shadow war against crime and terrorism across the Twelve Colonies of Kobol although Malka had invested personal interest in targeting the Basileus directly.

The compartment the team assembled in was located near the airlock; they would stay out of view until a seal had been obtained with the freighter. Malka waited patiently to hear word that they would rendezvous with their target soon. She was not sure how patient she could be but she was giving it her best effort. The phone on the far bulkhead began to ring and she made her way over there quickly and picked up the receiver.

"Malka," she said simply.

"Major this is Lt. Gravina, I have received word from Lt. Furse that we will be approaching the target in the next five minutes," Lt. Carlos Gravina was the second officer of the Faststar, after Malka and Barron. While he was busy as Officer of the Deck, Tactical was covered by Lt. John Furse, a recent arrival to the crew of the Euryale.

"Thank you Mr. Gravina," Malka said and hung up the phone.

"What's the news?" Barron asked once Malka had set the receiver back in its cradle.

"We have five minutes until we intercept the freighter, do a final check of everyone's weapons and then prepare to board."

"Major Malka a Priority One message has arrived from Headquarters," Chad Teuton, the ship's communications specialist, announced over the room's intercom. Chad Teuton had served on the Battlestar Cerberus up until just over five months ago. He was a gifted communications officer which was why he was headhunted for this assignment.

"Thank you Mr. Teuton," Malka said and went to one of the computer consoles located in the room. What she read showed her just how valuable this target was to the MoI. The message stated: Fabius and Persephone known to be operating in area of Olwin Beach, intel suggests will be at docks tonight for weapons delivery.

Those were the codenames the MoI had assigned to none other than Drake and Caelie Tolan. The two were in their mid-twenties, and had been married for five years. They also ran the gambling, prostitution, and human trafficking rings on Canceron. They were considered a high-ranking target and should be disposed of if the opportunity presented itself.

Malka's thoughts filled with a violent glee at the prospect of taking these particular bastards down. She was an orphan since birth when she was left on the steps to the Temple of Artemis. In the orphanage she was just a number. She never felt like a person but rather a commodity or item and that was how these people viewed their unfortunate victims.

"Two minutes!" announced Barron to the team.