Battlestar Galactica

The Second Fleet

Battlestar Pacifica Crew:

Admiral Pieter Finley (deceased)

Colonel Tillius Phineas (deceased)

Commander Jannus "Jann" Warryk (CO)

Captain "Leela" Six (XO)

Timeline

Season 2.5, Post "Razor", Pre "Downloaded".

Summary

What if not all Battlestars had been caught up defenseless by the Cylon Attack? What if the Civilian fleet that the Pegasus encountered had survived and found another Battlestar? What if the infected Baseship from "Measure of Salvation" had occurred earlier, and had been found by said Battlestar? And what if, months before New Caprica, the Fleet encountered a Second Fleet of human survivors? Welcome to BSG96 Pacifica.

Act I – DRADIS Contact

[Day 251 since the Fall of the Colonies]

[BSG75 - Galactica]

The Klaxon from the DRADIS contact alert sounded on the CIC as the voice of Lieutenant Gaeta was heard on the speakers aboard the Galactica.

- "Action Stations, Actions Stations. Set condition one throughout the ship. This is not a drill." - Felix spoke, and proceeded to repeat himself, glancing sideways to the XO.

Colonel Saul Tigh kept his eyes on the ceiling monitors, observing all the data that flowed as the machine got continuous readings from the bogeys that had just jumped in sensor range. From one of the doors, the old veteran saw Admiral Bill Adama entering the CIC.

- "Sit-Rep, Colonel." - The Admiral ordered.

- "A dozen of bogeys just appeared in DRADIS range. I have Kat and Hotdog on intercept course." - Saul replied.

- "Alert the Fleet to emergency jump." - Adama said, and turning to the Comm Station, he said - "Get me Pegasus."

Saul looked at his old friend and said:

- "You gonna send the kid to take them out?" - Tigh asked, with a smirk.

- "To delay them, until the fleet is ready to jump." - Adama replied.

The Colonel looked at the screen and said:

- "I'd say that junior is eager to take the fight. He's moving in already." - Tigh said.

Adama grabbed the phone, as he heard the voice of his son on the other side:

-==Pegasus Actual speaking. Get the fleet out of here, Admiral. We will delay them as much as we can ==- Commander Lee Adama spoke

- "Delay them, but don't take unnecessary risks, Commander" - The Admiral said - "Your ship is still repairing the damage from your last mission."

- "We will be careful." - Lee replied.

On the Ops Console, Felix turned to the Admiral and said:

- "Sir, I'm getting Colonial Transponders!" - Gaeta said, with a surprised look on his face. A feeling that immediately took over the officers in the CIC...

Saul and Bill eyes met, and the Colonel said:

- "Could it be again?" - Tigh asked.

Over the phone, Lee asked:

-== We're picking that up too. Could it be more survivors? ==- The Pegasus CO asked.

- "I don't know, but we're gonna find out. Hold your horses, Pegasus." - The Admiral said, hanging up and turning to the comm station once again - "Hold the jump."

On her station, Anastasia Dualla punched some buttons and contacted the fleet captains:

- "All ships, Galactica: Hold jump. Say again, Hold jump." - Dualla spoke.

She looked at the Admiral, and he spoke:

- "Ship to ship, Colonial priority one channel. Send hostile challenge and ID." - Adama said - "And put the reply on the speakers."

Saul looked at his friend, and with a shrug of his shoulders, he said:

- "Who knows, maybe we got lucky?" - Tigh said.

- "Maybe..." - Bill replied.

- "Attention unknown vessels. This is the Battlestar Galactica. Identify yourselves or we will fire upon you." - Dualla gave the ultimatum.

For a few seconds, everyone on the CIC looked expectantly at the speakers, until a feminine voice sounded on the speakers:

-== This is the Battlestar Pacifica to Galactica. Weren't you guys supposed to be a museum now?" ==- the voice asked, half-jokingly.

With a look of recognition on his face, Saul said:

- "Admiral Finley's ship?" - The XO asked.

- "Get me direct contact." - Adama asked, looking at Dualla.

He picked up the phone and spoke:

- "Pacifica, this is Galactica Actual. Authenticate identity with recognition codes immediately." - Amada ordered.

As he waited a moment on the phone, Dualla spoke:

- "I'm receiving their codes now" - She said, and with a smile on her face, she added - "They're authentic."

- "Galactica to Pacifica, your codes match. Admiral Finley, Thank the Gods that you're and Loudmouth Tillius are alive."

Simultaneously on the speakers and over the phone, another voice came:

-==Pacifica Actual to Galactica. I'm sorry, sir, but Admiral Finley and Colonel Phineas are dead.==- a voice that definitely sounded a lot younger than the Veteran Admiral

- "Who am I speaking to?" - Adama asked.

-==Commander Warryk, Sir. I'm the Commanding Officer of the ship.==- the voice replied.

Bill looked at Tigh, that said:

- "Phineas was the only other person I knew on Pacifica. I have no idea who this kid is." - Saul replied.

- "Err.. Sir?" - Felix Gaeta raised his hand slightly.

- "Yes, Mr Gaeta." - Tigh acknowledged him

- "Lieutenant Warryk was the Operations Officer to the Pacifica." - Felix informed - "We've met in Virgon last year on training."

The XO and CO looked at Gaeta and at each other, and Saul spoke:

- "Quick path to promotion when no one is above you?" - Saul suggested, with his usual wits

- "Welcome, Commander Warryk. I'm Admiral William Adama, and I'm in charge of this fleet." - Adama greeted.

A few more seconds of silence, and then more communication:

-==Admiral, Sir, is Admiral Cain of the Pegasus not in charge of the fleet?== - Warryk asked.

'Great, one of Cain's loyalists...' Adama thought for a moment, already foreseen the problems, and by the look on Tigh's face, he had though the same thing

- "Admiral Cain died a few months ago." - Adama said

-==Well, sir. That's a relief. Then I don't have to worry about placing her under arrest for the massacre and looting of the Scylla and the civilian ships that they found months ago then.==- Warryk replied

Adama looked at Tigh, that was a surprised as he was by the words that had just been spoken by the Pacifica's CO...

[An Hour later, on the Razor going to Pacifica]

Two Razors, one from Pegasus and another one from Galactica, both carrying their respective COs and XOs, were being escorted by A detachment of Vipers from Pacifica, as they approached the docking bay.

- "So, you gonna pull rank on the Kid or what?" - Saul asked, looking at the Admiral.

- "We will see. At least they kept the civilians with them instead of doing the same thing as Cain did." - Bill replied.

- "You know him, right, Mr. Gaeta?" - President Laura Roslin asked, from her cramped seat.

- "We had training together, Madam President, but it lasted only a month." - Felix replied.

- "Well, that's a month more that the rest of us had to know him." - Laura replied – "What can you tell about him?"

Gaeta noticed that Tigh and Adama were also waiting for his answer, and he said:

- "His family is from Virgon, I think, and... he was very good in engineering and electronics, and... he had a good sense of humor. Other than that, I don't remember much." - Felix spoke.

- "Well, he certainly has guts, coming here to arrest a Admiral in The Beast using this Valkyrie Class ship." - Tigh replied, as he saw the insides of the Docking bay out the window.

- "Either that or he's the most ingenuous officer in the Colonial Fleet, thinking that he would just show up and say 'You're under arrest' to a Rear Admiral and that was it." - Adama replied.

They felt the ship dock on the magnetic bay, as the Docking Station saluted them on the radio. There was something that Adama really felt uneasy with this whole situation. When Cain showed up months ago, she came to the Galactica and soon, despite her saying that she would not interfere with his command, she created conflict and almost executed Agathon and Tyrol. Now, he was walking a mile in her shoes, and it didn't feel comfortable, at all.

He didn't know the Commander of the Pacifica, and from the few minutes they had over the comm, Bill was sure that this guy didn't fit the standard Colonial Officer profile, and that could be a liability, something he certainly didn't need right now, but he didn't want to make the same mistake of his predecessor.

Noticing that he had left everyone on the Raptor out of his musings, as he heard the door sealing being released, he finally said:

- "And what did he meant by telling us to 'keep a open mind to the situation'?" - Adama asked to no one in particular.

As the door was lifted, and they stared at the officers lined up in the Hangar Deck, Adama wished that he had not asked that, as the Universe was giving him a hell of an answer...

- "Oh, my gods..." - Laura let it slip, in shock as she brought a hand to her mouth by reflex...

- "Frak me.." - Saul exclaimed.

Adama rose from his seat and out of the Raptor, to face dozens of officers, some of them, faces that he didn't recognize, but others, faces he knew all too well, repeated over and over again, in the copies of Cylons Twos, Threes, Sixes and Eights, scattered among the officers, all in Colonial uniforms, lined up as part of the Crew. Behind them, the Admiral also noticed a few Centurions, standing guard, and a pair of Raiders near the Vipers.

Feeling the hand of Roslin on his arm, he helped her come out of the viper, as the man right in front of then, with a Six by his side gave one step ahead and shouted:

- "President of the Colonies, Admiral of The Fleet, on Deck!" - Commander Jann Warryk spoke.

All of the crew, including the Cylons, saluted.

End of Act