Chapter One
Prelude

"There are those who believe that life here began out there.
Far across the universe, with tribes of humans
who may have been the forefathers
of the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans.
Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man
who even now fight to survive, somewhere beyond the heavens!"
1978 Battlestar Galactica opening.

Assembled Colonial Fleet
Battlestar Atlantia

Aboard the colonial fleet flagship Atlantia, the assembled members of the Quorum of the Twelve – a war council that had existed since the beginning of the Human/Cylon war nearly a thousand years before. So named because each of the twelve colonies of Kobol were represented - sat in comfortable chairs around a circular table with chalices of ambrosia and food from each of the colonies in ample supply. Quorum President Adar, Commander of the Atlantia stood at the head of the table and raised his own chalice of Ambrosia.

"Noble delegates," he began, "I know you are all anxious to return to your ships before we rendezvous with the Cylon delegation, but I think it appropriate to toast among ourselves the most significant event in the history of mankind since the war with the Cylons began. I would like to raise my chalice to you, not merely as the Quorum of the Twelve, but as my friends. In this, the seventh millennium of our recorded history since the exodus from Kobol, the human race will finally find peace after nearly ten centurons of war, thanks in no small part to the efforts of each of you."

Battlestar Galactica
Launch Bay Alpha

As President Adar and the assembled members of the Quorum of the Twelve raised their chalices to toast the end of the war, Captain Kate Beckett (Call-sign "Athena"), Galactica's Wing Commander sat in her viper running the pre-flight checklist before lighting up its three engines and bringing her navigational computer online.

She could have assigned this reconnaissance patrol to a junior officer, but had accepted the training flight at Colonel Montgomery's personal request. Her wing-man wasn't just any nugget straight from the academy, he was Commander Victoria Gates' son, Zac.

It wasn't that she minded so much giving the youngest son of Galactica's Commander her personal attention in a training capacity – such pilot training was part of her job as Wing Commander - but whom she would be leaving in nominal command of Galactica's air wing in her absence.

On flimsy, First Lieutenant Richard Castle (call-sign "Starbuck") was more than qualified to command an air wing. He'd been a senior flight instructor at the Colonial Academy on Picon – her flight instructor, in fact, though she doubted he remembered - and until a yahren ago held the rank of Captain himself, the Wing Commander aboard Battlestar Pegasus under Commander Jackson Hunt.

But that had been a yahren ago.

Scuttlebutt aboard ship – nobody knew how Flight Control Officer Tory Ellis found out about such things – said that his marriage had fallen apart after Pegasus' last combat patrol when he'd returned home unexpectedly to find her in bed with her producer. Upon his return to duty, he'd taken to gambling and carousing among other infractions, culminating in a fist-fight with Pegasus' XO in Silver Spar Squadron's wardroom.

Kate had no idea how former Captain Castle had avoided a general court martial and a lengthy sentence aboard a prison barge, but he'd been demoted to First Lieutenant and transferred to the Galactica instead. An arrangement that had cost her a perfectly good exec, First Lt. Will Sorenson, who had jumped at the chance at a promotion and a command of his own.

Castle was – to his credit – an impressive pilot, with seventy-four Cylon raider kills painted on his viper and the only Colonial Warrior in nearly a hundred yahrens to be caught in the center of a Cylon pinwheel attack and survive. Outside of his cockpit, however, he was a hot mess. He took almost nothing seriously, nearly to the point of insubordination. He made her job harder and her administrative duties nearly impossible. In fact, Colonel Montgomery had been constrained to pull him out of hack so he could stand his post.

Somehow, though nearly all of the other warriors liked him and the junior pilots practically worshiped the ground he walked on. It was enough to drive her crazy, even though she privately found many of his escapades rather amusing. In fact, Montgomery liked to point out that she'd never had any fun until he'd come along. Not since her mother had died at the Battle of Proxima while she was at the Colonial Academy. Her father had taken her loss hard. Their relationship had only recently begun to heal in recent years.

Her ruminations on the current state of affairs were interrupted by FCO Ellis' voice in her helmet.

"Section Twelve, Launch Bay Alpha, stand by to launch fighter probe."

"Acknowledged, Galactica, all three engines are hot and my board shows green," Kate replied, doing her best to put the idea of Castle in charge of her air wing out of her mind and hoped Colonel Montgomery knew what he was doing.

"Vector coordinates coded and transferred," Tory stated coolly, "acknowledge."

"Acknowledged, Galactica," Kate stated back. This wasn't her first patrol and the litany was entirely familiar.

"Core systems transferring control to probe craft," Tory stated, "you may launch when ready."

Both Kate and her charge kicked on their turbos and launched into the darkness of space. They formed up once they'd cleared Galactica's outer perimeter and soon the two fighters were vectoring away from the fleet.

"I forget how different it is out here away from the core systems," Zac Gates commented.

"This is nothing, nugget," Kate replied. "Once the war is over, we might be able to get back to deep space exploration. That's where the real challenge will be. Now, cut the chatter and settle in on my wing while we check out the first leg of our patrol sector."

Battlestar Atlantia

"Senator Bracken, my friend," Adar continued, waving the Senator from Libra into the chamber to join them, "this peace conference would not be possible without your tireless efforts. You have secured for yourself a place in the history scrolls."

"That the Cylons chose me as their liaison to the Quorum of Twelve," William Bracken replied, "was merely an act of providence, not skill."

"You sell yourself far too short, Senator," Adar admonished lightly.

A short time later – after a few more toasts to both Senator Bracken and the impending armistice with the Cylon Empire - the gathering began to break up. Some of the Commanders gathered to confer with Senator Bracken, eager for details on how he had managed to get through to the Cylons. The rest began to take their leave.

Commander Victoria Gates of the Battlestar Galactica and representative of Caprica stared darkly out the view port near where she stood, reflecting on the assembled fleet and the space beyond. Even a blind man could see that she was clearly unimpressed with the Senator who had drawn such praise from President Adar and the approval of the other delegates.

"I see this gathering is not a huge success with all of my children," President Adar noted. The term of endearment he frequently used because he was so much older than the other commanders did little to soften Gates' mood as it normally would have.

"What waits for us out there concerns me a great deal more, Mr President," Gates replied.

"Surely you don't cling to your suspicions about the Cylons?" Adar replied. "They requested this armistice. They even released the few prisoners of war they were holding as a show of good faith. They want peace."

"Forgive me, Mr. President," Gates retorted, "but the Cylons despise us with every fiber of their existence. For nearly a thousand yahrens, we have demonstrated our unwillingness to kneel before their empire. That we will fight tooth and nail to remain free of their domination. It was why they started this war in the first place. To them, we are a disease to be purged, nothing more."

"But they have come to see us differently," Adar explained. "Through Senator Bracken, they have sued for peace."

"Perhaps they have… for now," Gates responded, "but mark my words, there is more to this… armistice than meets the eye. I only hope we can find out what that is before it's too late."

**Author's note** This is my entry for CastleFicPromoter's Halloween Bash. For those of you who are not familiar with it, this story is set in the universe of the original Battlestar Galactica from 1979. It has a lot of differences, especially in dialog and terminology. Enclosed is a glossary of terms for your perusal:

Time units:

Millicenton: one second.

Centon: one minute

Centar: one hour

Cycle: one day

Secton: one week

Sectar: one month

Yahren: Colonial year

Centuron: Colonial century

Distance units

metron: One meter

micron: one second of time when used in a countdown, but also a distance unit of approximately a kilometer.

Expletives:

Frak: Fuck,

Felgercarb: Shit or bullshit depending on the situation,

golmogging also spelled gall-mogging (adjective).

Other terms:

Daggit: a canine–like animal indigenous to Caprica

Pyramid: card game similar to poker

Cubit: unit of currency represented by rectangular gold coins

Figures of speech:

Daggit dribble: a term used to condemn falsehood,

Daggit-meat: an expression of contempt

As always a heartfelt thank you to Lord of Kavaka for providing me with Cover art and especially to Cofkett, my long-suffering Beta. I sent her the first 3 chapters (a LOT even considering my usual M.O. of long ass chapters) all at once and she has performed flawlessly.

Enjoy