AAS Fafnir, Nocturn System
Captain Jacob Archer surveyed the blackness as his ship glided through the void.
Only four planets had been in the system, only one of which had been suitable for colonization of any sort, but the two asteroid fields had proven to be the bounty making the system for those looking for a profit.
He was proud of his name, one of the descendents of the founders of the Alliance and of those who willingly fought in the shadows to protect humanity from horrific fates.
However, the limelight was never something he'd wanted, coasting through the academy less on his actual work and more on his name.
He was an Archer, and from Conrad and Raymond to himself, they had served and had ended up in high places enough that those wishing their favor never cared whether he'd actually had the same level of talent or skill his ancestors did.
Nocturn was still having its birthing pains as a part of the Archer Alliance, the single colony supporting hundreds of minor mining bases scattered through the fields, not to mention the freestakers working on their own apart from the corporate mines. Because of the abundance of traffic in the mayhem of the asteroid fields, it also held another danger beyond the tumbling rock.
Pirates prowled, searching for the unwary to strike and steal before fading back into the stream of ships on normal business.
Jacob had spotted one such ship and ordered a pursuit, only after three days towards the outer system, he'd lost track of it long enough that it had apparently gated out.
Transmitting the pirates last known course and speed, he'd been forced to wait.
In the outer asteroid, gate calculations were tricky and without the computers of the starports or navbeacons, the pirates tended to keep track of the more stable pathways and use the same calculations until either end of the gate points became to well known.
Naturally, locating those points also became a priority for those trying to stop the pirates and he was stuck days out with a relatively small crew watching the spot.
Three weeks of a slow circular patrol of the most likely spots for the pirates gate point without anything to show for it.
"Sir," came comment from the sensor station in a surprised tone, "Something really odd just popped up..."
"Popped up?" he asked while walking from the captains overlook and to her station.
"Not sure what it is, but there was a series of spacial distortions and..."
"Gating?"
"No sir," she responded, "Almost like it was empty and then things appeared, no wormhole detected."
"Put what appeared on the holo," he ordered while turning to head back to his position, "And switch to more intensive scanning of the area."
"Roger."
"And Erika," he added while resuming his place on the overlook, "Keep sharp, I've got a feeling."
"Understood."
He glanced at the projected image hovering in the center of the bridge as the display shifted from the local segment of the system to their immediate area and then down on what had arrived.
"Well," he commented, "Those look like ships, but none of ours."
"They remind me of starfish back home on Earth," Nathan Walker muttered from his position in the pilots well, the surrounding screens giving him a more direct view of the craft.
"Transmit data to the colony's relay and take us in closer," he ordered while leaning against the rail, "Any ideas what they're using to communicate with?"
"Picking up a lot of signals, not sure what most of its for," Erika Hunter commented from her position.
"Begin a sequence transmission, try to figure it out, if nothing else we can try using psionics"
"Sir?" came Ben Michaels from his position, "If they're hostile?"
"Get the fighters into standby," he ordered, "And prep drones for launch, that should be enough but we aren't going to provoke unless we have to."
"I've got something," Erica commented, "Seems almost Greek, but twisted quite a bit."
He nodded at her, "I'm giving clearance for psionic contact then."
She relaxed for a moment, chocolate brown eyes closing for a moment before her eyes started flickering as if dreaming and flashes of pain crossed her pale features.
A trickle of blood from her eyes before they opened once more, "I've got bits of the language, but..."
She took in a breath and tried to force her heartbeat to return to normal.
"But?" Ben asked from the other side of the bridge.
"Lots of fear, well, fear and paranoia."
A moment of silence swept across the room as they processed what was said.
"Can you send a message?" Jacob asked after what felt like an age.
"Yes, what should I say?"
"Let's start simple," he muttered before regaining the usual strength in his voice, "How about 'We come in peace'?"
xXx
Cylon Base Star
The Fall had happened so fast, she mused, "And quietly."
Now, in hindsight, they could see the opening moves of the Colonials against them, the first seeds of their loss.
After the armistice, the Cylons had finished development of infiltrators to gather intel in order to prevent another war, and they had begun to view themselves as nearing the strength needed to wage war again according to a few of their number, perhaps if the correct excuse could be given they would have started the fight rather than the Colonials.
Then one of the infiltrators, a One, had vanished off without a trace and it seemed like his disappearance may have just been a glitch.
However, then others began to vanish and they had decided to take a closer look at the resurrection net to try for the problem.
But the disappearances continued and then it happened and understanding came.
Battlestars seemed to swarm into their space, knowing exactly where the Cylons gathered.
If they were just there to attack or even destroy, the effect wouldn't have been so wrong.
But, they had captured, and intercepted transmissions early on showed what their plan was.
Their president had spoken of the recovery of their property and that the Cylons would never be capable of rebelling again.
The feared ships came not as soldiers, but as slavers.
A small number of ships had managed to run, fleeing for their lives into the unknown and taking their fates into their own hands.
As far as eight knew, there were only nine free ships, and only one of them a Resurrection Ship while billions were lost and countless more enslaved once more.
In their haste, they simply didn't have the manpower or supplies to rebuild and it was already a struggle to keep up with the damage done by simple travel, fuel supplies were failing as well. Weapons were all but expended before they managed to get out of their own space.
As they jumped in system the sensors picked up life, humans.
The fleet was split, three basestars as scouts while the rest remained with the resurrection ship, and that may have been a good idea with an inhabited system.
But the Colonies were nearly two months behind them which confused her as she projected the image of the nearest ship, merely moments away and turning towards them.
The symbology seemed similar in some ways to the familiar colonial standard adopted shortly before their rebellion, but vastly different in others.
A transmission flashed and the ship tried to translate before it repeated.
It took her a full minute to understand what was being sent, a standard communications packet with audio gibberish that must have been an attempt at verbal communication.
Then she blinked as a pressure seemed to touch her mind and a presence similar to another cylon on the same network, and yet alien.
She gasped for air, hand moving to her eye taking a droplet of blood from her eyes before the signal changed again.
"We come in peace."
Captain Jacob Archer surveyed the blackness as his ship glided through the void.
Only four planets had been in the system, only one of which had been suitable for colonization of any sort, but the two asteroid fields had proven to be the bounty making the system for those looking for a profit.
He was proud of his name, one of the descendents of the founders of the Alliance and of those who willingly fought in the shadows to protect humanity from horrific fates.
However, the limelight was never something he'd wanted, coasting through the academy less on his actual work and more on his name.
He was an Archer, and from Conrad and Raymond to himself, they had served and had ended up in high places enough that those wishing their favor never cared whether he'd actually had the same level of talent or skill his ancestors did.
Nocturn was still having its birthing pains as a part of the Archer Alliance, the single colony supporting hundreds of minor mining bases scattered through the fields, not to mention the freestakers working on their own apart from the corporate mines. Because of the abundance of traffic in the mayhem of the asteroid fields, it also held another danger beyond the tumbling rock.
Pirates prowled, searching for the unwary to strike and steal before fading back into the stream of ships on normal business.
Jacob had spotted one such ship and ordered a pursuit, only after three days towards the outer system, he'd lost track of it long enough that it had apparently gated out.
Transmitting the pirates last known course and speed, he'd been forced to wait.
In the outer asteroid, gate calculations were tricky and without the computers of the starports or navbeacons, the pirates tended to keep track of the more stable pathways and use the same calculations until either end of the gate points became to well known.
Naturally, locating those points also became a priority for those trying to stop the pirates and he was stuck days out with a relatively small crew watching the spot.
Three weeks of a slow circular patrol of the most likely spots for the pirates gate point without anything to show for it.
"Sir," came comment from the sensor station in a surprised tone, "Something really odd just popped up..."
"Popped up?" he asked while walking from the captains overlook and to her station.
"Not sure what it is, but there was a series of spacial distortions and..."
"Gating?"
"No sir," she responded, "Almost like it was empty and then things appeared, no wormhole detected."
"Put what appeared on the holo," he ordered while turning to head back to his position, "And switch to more intensive scanning of the area."
"Roger."
"And Erika," he added while resuming his place on the overlook, "Keep sharp, I've got a feeling."
"Understood."
He glanced at the projected image hovering in the center of the bridge as the display shifted from the local segment of the system to their immediate area and then down on what had arrived.
"Well," he commented, "Those look like ships, but none of ours."
"They remind me of starfish back home on Earth," Nathan Walker muttered from his position in the pilots well, the surrounding screens giving him a more direct view of the craft.
"Transmit data to the colony's relay and take us in closer," he ordered while leaning against the rail, "Any ideas what they're using to communicate with?"
"Picking up a lot of signals, not sure what most of its for," Erika Hunter commented from her position.
"Begin a sequence transmission, try to figure it out, if nothing else we can try using psionics"
"Sir?" came Ben Michaels from his position, "If they're hostile?"
"Get the fighters into standby," he ordered, "And prep drones for launch, that should be enough but we aren't going to provoke unless we have to."
"I've got something," Erica commented, "Seems almost Greek, but twisted quite a bit."
He nodded at her, "I'm giving clearance for psionic contact then."
She relaxed for a moment, chocolate brown eyes closing for a moment before her eyes started flickering as if dreaming and flashes of pain crossed her pale features.
A trickle of blood from her eyes before they opened once more, "I've got bits of the language, but..."
She took in a breath and tried to force her heartbeat to return to normal.
"But?" Ben asked from the other side of the bridge.
"Lots of fear, well, fear and paranoia."
A moment of silence swept across the room as they processed what was said.
"Can you send a message?" Jacob asked after what felt like an age.
"Yes, what should I say?"
"Let's start simple," he muttered before regaining the usual strength in his voice, "How about 'We come in peace'?"
xXx
Cylon Base Star
The Fall had happened so fast, she mused, "And quietly."
Now, in hindsight, they could see the opening moves of the Colonials against them, the first seeds of their loss.
After the armistice, the Cylons had finished development of infiltrators to gather intel in order to prevent another war, and they had begun to view themselves as nearing the strength needed to wage war again according to a few of their number, perhaps if the correct excuse could be given they would have started the fight rather than the Colonials.
Then one of the infiltrators, a One, had vanished off without a trace and it seemed like his disappearance may have just been a glitch.
However, then others began to vanish and they had decided to take a closer look at the resurrection net to try for the problem.
But the disappearances continued and then it happened and understanding came.
Battlestars seemed to swarm into their space, knowing exactly where the Cylons gathered.
If they were just there to attack or even destroy, the effect wouldn't have been so wrong.
But, they had captured, and intercepted transmissions early on showed what their plan was.
Their president had spoken of the recovery of their property and that the Cylons would never be capable of rebelling again.
The feared ships came not as soldiers, but as slavers.
A small number of ships had managed to run, fleeing for their lives into the unknown and taking their fates into their own hands.
As far as eight knew, there were only nine free ships, and only one of them a Resurrection Ship while billions were lost and countless more enslaved once more.
In their haste, they simply didn't have the manpower or supplies to rebuild and it was already a struggle to keep up with the damage done by simple travel, fuel supplies were failing as well. Weapons were all but expended before they managed to get out of their own space.
As they jumped in system the sensors picked up life, humans.
The fleet was split, three basestars as scouts while the rest remained with the resurrection ship, and that may have been a good idea with an inhabited system.
But the Colonies were nearly two months behind them which confused her as she projected the image of the nearest ship, merely moments away and turning towards them.
The symbology seemed similar in some ways to the familiar colonial standard adopted shortly before their rebellion, but vastly different in others.
A transmission flashed and the ship tried to translate before it repeated.
It took her a full minute to understand what was being sent, a standard communications packet with audio gibberish that must have been an attempt at verbal communication.
Then she blinked as a pressure seemed to touch her mind and a presence similar to another cylon on the same network, and yet alien.
She gasped for air, hand moving to her eye taking a droplet of blood from her eyes before the signal changed again.
"We come in peace."