Battlestar Galactica 2003

Stargate

The Thirteenth

Prologue

This is taking place before the fall of the Twelve Colonies and at the end of the Stargate series. Just a few changes, the Ori never happened, you hear me, NEVER HAPPENED! But Atlantis, the fall of the Goa'uld & the Replicators all happened.

I would say that I don't care about reviews…but I would be lying, it is the reviews and opinions of my readers which give me inspiration and keep me going! Don't believe me then check out my other works, the people who supported me were my muse and my inspiration, I took each of their opinions and melded it to my work.

The Battlestar Pegasus was one of the most powerful warships within the Colonial fleet, one of the newest of the Mercury-class line,armed with state of the art weapons, communications and radar technology. Her armour was thick, able to withstand several direct hits from nuclear ordinance, her form covered with primary and point-defence kinetic energy weapons, each grouped into four, twelve missile launchers, two aft, two fore, and four positioned on each of the Battlestars two flight pods.

Standing within the CIC, the central control chamber of the Battlestar stood Vice-Admiral Helena Cain, her dark brown eyes studying the DRADIS sensor displays. They were as expected, empty. There had not been a single contact since she started this shakedown cruise. Just as she expected, the Battlestar's path was taking it right along the Cylon armistice line. There had not been a single contact anywhere near this line since the armistice with the Cylon menace nearly forty years ago.

"All is going smoothly" her xo and old friend Jurgen Belzen said calmly as he took his place by his commander's side, his arms clasped behind his back.

"Yes" she sighed, turning from the hexagonal tactical table and surveying the crew of the CIC, all working quietly at their stations, performing checks on internal systems for any bugs or hiccups.

"It is strange having this maiden cruise right by the armistice line" Belzen questioned "We could have just taken her to Gemenon, or to Caprica"

"I just want to give her a proper shakedown" Cain replied "The armistice line is a good and long route, it will give the crew time to give her a thorough rundown on her systems"

"I suppose so" her executive replied "But if I know you, and believe me I know you. You'd like to give her weapon systems a thorough tryout as well, oh say, on a Cylon Basestar for instance"

"The Cylon's haven't been heard from in over forty years Jurgen" Helena answered stiffly "Besides ceasefire protocols stop me from destroying one of those infernal things unless it trespasses"

"Chances are they aren't even out there" she looked over at him questioningly "I mean they could be at the other side of the galaxy by know"

She shrugged and turned back to the command station, right on time to see a blip appear on the DRADIS display.

"DRADIS contact!"

------

The Ark Royal was the newest of the Daedalus-class Battlecruisers, making it the fifth warship of the class created for the infant Tau'ri fleet. She was of the same design as her predecessors, her armoured hull armed with rail-guns, missile launchers and an Asgard beam cannon. She had been built with Asgard grade shield, detection, communication and weapon systems, making her one of the most powerful ships of the fleet.

Samantha Carter stood on the bridge of the new cruiser, watching as its crew continued with their shakedown run. On the captain's chair was Colonel Richard Winchester, a highly decorated pilot in the British RAF who had seen combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. He seemed to relax in his chair before another small alarm sounded in the communications section.

"Which system has gone out now?" he asked with a sigh.

"Just a small problem with the com units sir" his communications officer, a young woman responded "It will just take a second to sort out"

The Colonel sighed before turning to Sam "Might I ask ma'am, have any of the other battlecruisers had this much trouble on their maiden run?"

"Oh yes" Carter replied "The original Daedalus had been put back by six months with technical problems before she was launched"

"Nice to know we aren't the only bloody ones who have problems" the Colonel breathed.

"Relax Colonel" Samantha replied with a small smile "That's why we're doing this shakedown, so we know that all the bugs have been dealt with before we fully hand her over to you"

"Yes I heard the French one suffered a complete systems failure on her first flight" the Colonel replied "Poor buggers"

"The Bonaparte did have a few hiccups" Sam replied "But she was sorted out…eventually"

The Colonel chuckled before changing the subject "So tell me about this system we're going to Colonel, has it been fully mapped yet?"

"No" she replied "That's another reason why we're going here. It's on the outskirts of the galaxy. Not even the Jaffa or the Goa'uld ventured this far to the edge"

"Then I suppose we'll be naming it" Winchester chuckled "How does Trafalgar sound?"

"Hmm" the advisor thought about it for a moment before replying "The Trafalgar system…nah"

"You yanks have no grasp on history" he said with humour "Hmm…how about Britannia"

"Maybe"

"Five seconds till hyperspace exit" Major Wallace stated from the pilots chair.

"I suppose we can write this off as a success"

"We have exited hyperspace sir" Wallace replied before alarms blazed across the brdge, Winchester sighed before turning back to communications.

"What now!?" he asked, slightly annoyed.

"Contact" the sensor officer shouted "Unknown craft!"

"Where" Winchester asked before turning to the main view-screen, his eyes widened in surprise. A huge vessel was right in front of them, easily five times the size of the Arc Royal and heading straight for them. Its heavy armour and assortment of gun turrets told him it was a warship of some sort.

"Hard to port!!!" he shouted.

------

"They're right on us!" the DRADIS operator nearly screamed.

"Hard to port" Cain yelled, bracing herself against the CIC command table and waiting for the inevitable collision "Hard to port, evasive manoeuvres!!!"

"How did they get so close without us seeing them?" Jurgen shouted in panic.

"Could have just jumped in or-" she didn't have time to finish before they hit, a near deafening screech of metal on metal could be heard, the collision throwing crew off their feet and too the decking.

An aide flew from the higher deck and landed on the ground floor with a painful thud, holding onto his arm which had been twisted in an unnatural shape. Several consoles across the bridge sparked, the DRADIS and CIC displays shorted out, followed by the main lights.

A few seconds passed before the emergency lights came on, casting a dim red glow upon the CIC. The screeching stopped and slowly Cain got to her feet, shaking from the impact she grabbed onto the main table for support "Give me damage reports now!"

As the crew scurried to their duties the displays fizzled back, showing that one red blip which she wanted to turn to mush. The emergency lights were replaced by the main lighting again. A medic rushed in to check on the injured aide. It was a half minute before her executive officer came up to her with the report.

"Slight damage to the portside flight pod" he said with relief "No hull breaches, looks like our unknown tried to evade as well"

"Have damage control teams do a complete sweep of the flight pod anyway" Cain ordered sharply "Make sure that there's no hull breaches that they didn't miss, launch a squadron of fighters to check on the other vessel, if they report it as hostile then launch all squadrons and activate defence protocol!"

"And if it's Cylon?"

"Blow it out of the frakking sky!"

------

"Christ" Winchester stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck "Damage report!"

"Minor damage to the port fighter bay" Lieutenant Allen called from his post "Looks like they had the same idea we did"

"Shields, weapons, communications" Sam asked, coming up beside the lieutenant and checking his computer screen.

"All operational sir"

"Excellent, hail them!"

The lieutenant obliged "Attention unknown vessel, this is the Earth ship Ark Royal, please respond"

"They're launching a squadron of fighters!"

"Prepare rail-guns" Winchester ordered "Take us to security level 2, raise shields"

"Yes sir"

"Any reply?"

"No sir"

"Keep trying" he ordered "Have all 302 pilots prepare for emergency combat launch. Do not engage unless fired upon. We might have just spooked them"

"Yes sir"

Sam leaned over the command console and pushed a rune on the captain's chair, a holographic image fizzled to life, showing the undamaged side of the ship they had barely missed. From small openings in the side of the flight pod small forms were emerging, quickly she modified the image, zooming in closer to the launch holes.

The fighters were sleek with thin chases leading up to a cockpit, stubby wings and a tail wing, too small to accommodate rocket launchers or any other heavy weapon. They formed up a few hundred meters from the pod and flew in towards them with remarkable speed.

"All rail-guns report ready"

"Shields are up and holding strong"

"Any reply" Winchester asked from his chair, sparing but a quick glance to his communications operator.

"No sir"

"Keep trying" he said briskly through gritted teeth "Are the 302's ready?"

"Both squadrons are in their birds sir, they are just waiting for your order"

------

"First squadron of Vipers have been launched"

"They have a visual on the unknown"

"Captain Tailor is calling ma'am"

She picked up a corded phone and spoke, knowing that the squadron leader was waiting on the other end "Is it Cylon Stinger?" she asked, calling the captain by his call sign.

"If it is then they've drastically changed their ship designs ma'am" he replied "Its got a similar design to a Battlestar but much smaller, a few hundred meters long, something which looks like a command tower on the dorsal section, flight pods on either side"

"Any hostile action?"

"Negative ma'am, it's just sitting there"

"Ma'am I'm getting something" her com officer stated "Its weak, looks like they're trying to get our frequencies"

"Is it coming from the ship?"

"Yes" was his reply as his hands danced across his console, trying to sharpen the volume and quieten the static, a few moments passed before they heard a voice, still muffled by static.

"Attention unidentified…this is the…ship…Royal, please res…over"

"Try and fix that" Cain ordered "Send a reply and order Taylor to keep his distance!"

The officer nodded as she worked, and after a moment she grinned "Got it"

A single phrase burst through the static, clear and crisp "-This is the Earth ship Ark Royal, please respond"