The Fall of Iconia

Chapter 3

A/N: We don't own any of the shows expanded upon in the following story.

Chapter 3

Galactica was near a star, refueling one of its weapons. The engines of the huge battlestar ran on tylium, however Baltar had devised a weapon which was refueled by energy from the stars. The Colonials had settled on the fifth planet of this star.

When they had arrived a year ago, they had found a race of humans that were descended from the people of Earth. Their ancestors had been brought to the planet as slaves four hundred years before. In the revolt that had freed the humans, the enslaving race, called the Briori, had been killed, and their ships destroyed. Thus, these humans did not know how to return to Earth or even where it was.

One of the patrols of Galactica, launched before it got too close to the star, was led by Apollo. The squadron had turned away from the sun, and was scanning the outer part of the system while the battlestar's sensors were temporarily blinded.

Apollo, the squadron commander, heard a beeping sound from his sensors. Something was coming into the system extremely fast. He recognized several of them. They were a Kazon fleet of predator class ships, chasing two smaller vessels.

He turned to his wing to see if she was receiving the same signals that he was. Kara Thrace, who had formerly used the call sign "Serena" had adopted her brother's call sign in his honor, when he had gone missing. She had already been a good pilot, but she had determined that his skills would not be lost. She had recorded and studied everything he had ever told her about piloting a viper, and now, her skills were quickly becoming as legendary as her brother's had been. Previously, it had been Starbuck and Apollo who were the best viper pilots around, followed closely by Boomer and Jolly. Now, this was arguably the case again, as the 'new' Starbuck was taking over the place her brother had left open when he was lost.

Lee Adama, who had married her a couple of years after his brother, Zak, died, was pleased at her piloting skills, but as she became more and more like her brother at the controls of a viper, she also seemed to take on more and more of his personality. While Karl Thrace had been his best friend, he wasn't sure what he thought of being married to a female version.

"What are you showing on your scanners, Starbuck?" He still balked at calling his wife that, but he understood that part of her tribute to her brother, if not the personality changes.

"It looks like the Kazon have found a new toy," she replied.

He shook his head at her attitude, but had to agree. "Let's shoot a tight beam signal to Galactica, then ease in to see if someone needs our help."

"That sounds good," Kara agreed. "Sending my sensor readings now."

"As soon as it's done, let's you and me do a brief shot with turbos, and get set up for intercept. Cut all power as soon as we're on course. We don't need the Kazon seeing us. The rest of you hang back, and rendezvous with Galactica when she comes away from the star."

"Okay. Transmission is sent."

"On my mark. Three, two, one, mark."

The two vipers blasted ahead of the patrol. The remaining ships continued on their way in the slow circle which would ultimately take them to their meeting with the battlestar.

Apollo watched the ships grow on his screen. He and Starbuck were flying Mk VII vipers, and the cockpits were crammed with electronic gear. "What do you make of the smaller ships?" he asked his wife.

"They're certainly not Kazon. I'm not familiar with the design…." she paused for a moment then exclaimed, "Frack! Lee, look at the writing on 'em."