The Stryker Chronicles:

Written by: Wes Imlay

Chapter One: A Dark Road

(Three Days Before the Fall of the Colonies)

Richard Adar won the election to become the next President of the Twelve Colonies. He took his victory as a mandate to imprint his vision of the future on the people of the Colonies. Among his beliefs was the place the military had in Colonial society. He envisioned a small fighting force purely for defensive purposes. He looked to the Colonial Fleet and saw an untold number of cubits being wasted on expensive fighting machines. He felt that the money used on these weapons of war could be used to better serve the programs he had in mind for the civilian population; therefore the Colonial Fleet was faced with serious cuts in their funding and first on the chopping block were the battlestars. With the decision of the Adar Administration to downsize the Colonial Fleet, the Admiralty faced a dilemma. A way had to be found to draw down the number of active battlestars without sacrificing the air groups available. The solution was the Titan-class battlestar. Twice the size of the Mercury-class, and able to carry twice the air group, it seemed these immense vessels would solve the Admiralty's problems and make the Adar Administration happy. One of the reasons why the Administration was happy with the design was the fact that despite their size they were only marginally costlier to build than a Mercury-class because of the use of proven methods and materials. There were to be ten of these mighty vessels built. Titan, Basilisk, Geryon, and Colossus formed the original Titan-class. Construction of the remaining six was postponed until further refinements could be made in the design; the result of these endeavors became the Stryker class of battlestars. There were to be six of this class built, but for various reasons only three had been built and commissioned; Stryker, Kronus, and Hood with the Acland, Carnac, and Vallette under construction but facing uncertain futures. In some circles within the Fleet, the Stryker-class was referred to as the Admiral-class since all six ships were to be named for famous admirals from the Cylon War.

The Admiralty had decided that the lead ship of this class would bear the name Stryker, to honor the man who formed a confederation of ships into a single fighting force and pioneered the concept of the battlestar. Admiral Jonas Ingram Stryker, a native of Picon, was selected to lead the fleet of the newly formed Twelve Colonies of Kobol. At the time the colonies united they were a loose confederation of planets. Each had their own laws, currency, and military standards. Stryker was the driving force behind the uniformity that would come to be known in the Colonial Fleet. A quote attributed to him was that the Colonial Fleet was "First in Defense."

Stryker worked with engineer Walter Haraden to develop the concept of the battlestar design. Their efforts paid off when the Colonial Fleet approved the conversion of the Catigern, an FTL-capable tylium supertanker, into a battlestar prototype. This ship would be named the Haraden, after its designer and would serve as a frontline battlestar until the Columbia-class could be completed and deployed.

Battlestar Stryker (PCU-97)

"Commander Aeneas you are needed in the CIC," the voice of Lt. Colonel Myra Aperlae, Styker's Tactical Officer, announced over ship's speakers.

"Just when I was starting to enjoy dinner," Commander Jason Aeneas grumbled as he stood up from the table his meal rested on. It would have to wait just a little bit longer. The battlestar Stryker had not yet been accepted into the Colonial Fleet; yet, it was technically the PCU (Pre-Commissioning Unit) Stryker, and was on its shakedown cruise for both its crew and air wing. This was the second battlestar named for Fleet Admiral Jonas Ingram Stryker, the Chief of Fleet Operations for the Colonial Fleet during the Cylon War.

Aeneas felt was at the pinnacle of his career. As much as the idea of one day making flag rank intrigued him, the thought of being in command of a battlestar gave him a rush that was immeasurable. He bounded through the corridors of the Stryker, the crew stopping to let him pass. At a height of six feet six inches and built like a pyramid player, to most observers he cut an impressive figure. The fact that he was forty-five and still in the same physical shape he was in at the Academy was another impressive accomplishment. However he did find that he was losing his hair around the time he turned forty, and took to keeping his head clean-shaved.

In Ready Room One, Major Kasper 'Hammer' Vidar looked across the podium at the pilots of Viper Squadron One of the Stryker. He had been appointed to the new battlestar after completing a tour as CAG of the Yashuman.

"Good morning pilots."

"Good morning, sir!"

"Before I began, are there any questions about today's assignment?"

"Does the Dragon Lady have any surprises for us?" Ensign Nalani 'Hawk' Haukea asked.

"Be careful, Hawk; I'm sure she's listening in on this briefing," Lt. Aria 'Dice' Antonellawarned.

"Now listen here, we need to be more respectful of Admiral Ainslie," Vidar said, referring to Admiral Laura Ainslie. Ainslie was along for the shakedown cruise to evaluate the performance of both the Stryker and its crew. The days since leaving Scorpia had been practically nonstop drilling over and over again. The air wing had been on constant formation and landing drills in anticipation for the pilot qualifications at the end of the shakedown.

"It'd be easy to be respectful if she wasn't drilling us half to death!" Ensign Woodrow 'Flex' Graham. Graham was a part of the same graduating class as Haukea, the two friends were glad to find out that they had been posted to the same battlestar. The two would joke that they were one of the few Caprican islanders on the Stryker. Haukea was from the island of Cassia located in the warm part of the Sabina Ocean. Graham was from the island of Javari, a tropical paradise in the Aidan Sea.

"By the time we get ready for qualifications we're going to be burned out," Lt. Nico 'Lightning' Bautista said with a voice that held plenty of the weariness that had developed from the constant drills every day since the shakedown cruise began.

"You'd think she was still fighting the Cylon War!" Lt. Spyro Tryphon exclaimed.

"So say we all!" chanted Ensign Enid Caron.

"I think I'm starting to see her in my dreams now, calling for another drill over and over." Lt. Yoshi Machiko said with a far off look in her eyes.

"Alright I get it; you're tired of the drills. Gods you're all complaining like a child with a bellyache!" Vidar said out of sheer exasperation. It was not that he did not share these sentiments but they were soldiers and needed to act like it.

"I'm not complaining!" Ensign Claudio Roma said.

"That's because there's something wrong with you anyway!" Graham shouted from across the room.

Vidar started massaging his temples. He could not believe it but Admiral Ainslie had managed to turn a group of military trained pilots into a bunch of grade school children.

When he finally got the group of pilots to stop complaining he made another announcement.

"We also have a special guest with us for this shakedown cruise, just arrived today in fact. Ensign Paul Stryker, call sign 'Torch', the grandson of Admiral Jonas Stryker and he will be flying with us. He's here to join us in the flyover the air group will be doing during the commissioning ceremony in two weeks. The battlestar Poseidon will miss him while he's gone," Vidar said as the pilots turned their attention to the new guy sitting in the squadron briefing room.

Aeneas walked into the CIC and immediately saw Admiral Ainslie and his XO, Colonel Alexandra Rubio standing at the command console in the middle of the large room.

Aeneas had worked with Rubio in the past on the battlestar Jupiter, when he got command of the Stryker she was finishing up her last tour on the battlestar Medusa as its Executive Officer. He immediately tabbed her to serve as his XO even though it seemed she was going to have command of her own battlestar. While they would not be considered close friends they had a great working relationship and understanding of how the other worked. She gave him a sympathetic look when Ainslie was not looking their way. It seemed it was her way of saying, 'I feel your pain.'

"Commander Aeneas, it's nice of you to join us so promptly," Ainslie said with a tone of disappointment emanating from her voice.

"With all due respect Admiral, I was off duty and was not prepared for being summoned to the CIC."

"In a time of war there is no such thing as 'Off duty' and you would do well to remind yourself of this."

"I will keep that in mind when we are in a time of war, which we clearly are not."

"Regardless, when you are summoned to the CIC I want you here more quickly than you were this time. Am I making myself clear?"

"Incredibly."

"Now then, I have a list of drills we are to run through today, I want this battlestar at peak performance once this shakedown is over with."

"Going by the reviews I think we're already there."

"You may think so Commander, but I am not quite convinced."

Aeneas sighed and looked over the list of drills for the day. It was basic damage control and battle readiness scenarios, many of them the same from yesterday. He had known Admiral Ainslie by reputation before the shakedown cruise. She was a career officer, serving the Fleet since the Cylon War. She had been a raptor pilot, and served on several battlestars. She had been a pilot on the battlestar Achilles during the Battle of Cosmora, and was fortunate enough to be deployed on rescue and recovery duty when the Cylons boarded the battlestar and the commanding officer jumped the ship away.

"Commander, there is an incoming message from Fleet Command," Lt. Rajesh Suman announced.

"Very well," Aeneas said as he walked over to the Communications Station and took a piece of paper that Suman had printed out.

He read over the report twice then noticed that Ainslie had walked over to where he was standing.

"What does it say?"

"We are to meet up with the Kronus and Hood in the Albinus Sector. Admiral Corman wants to see how well we can develop battle tactics with this new type of battlestar."

"That makes sense. We will still go through with the drills for today; once that is over with we'll jump to Albinus to meet up with the battle group."

This would be the first time the three Stryker-class battlestars would be working together. The Kronus and Hood had been commissioned five months earlier. Stryker was under construction at the Wilkins Shipyard when a fire broke out on the starboard hangar deck. It took at least five hours to get the blaze under control and construction was delayed due to the damage caused by the fire.

Aeneas took his leave of the Admiral and returned to his quarters. He would not be needed on the CIC for another nine hours unless Ainslie decided she needed to test his reaction time again. With her he never could tell.

He placed his plate of food in the microwave and got it warmed up enough for his liking. He was ready to take a bite when the door opened, and in walked Lt. Colonel Myra Aperlae.

"Sorry to disturb you Commander, I hope I'm not interrupting."

"Only dinner Colonel, but I guess it will have to wait."

"I brought something to the Admiral's attention, but she brushed it off."

"Let me guess, you are not going to let whatever it is slide so you're going down the chain of command until you find someone to help you."

"Well sir, there is only the XO after you and then I fall next in line for the chain of command."

Aeneas had to remind himself that Aperlae wasn't even thirty yet, and already a Lt. Colonel. He had objected to her posting to the Stryker. It was at Admiral Corman's insistence that she was made a part of the crew. Aperlae was a heroine of the Colonies; she led a rescue mission into the heart of the main base of the Sagittaron Liberation Army and rescued President Adar's sister and niece. She was a mere junior lieutenant at the time, but the success of the mission propelled her up the ranks. She had spent time on the shakedown cruise telling stories of the rescue mission, even though to Aeneas some of it seemed a bit hard to believe.

"I can spare a moment, what do you have?"

"It's this sir; I've been going through our computer files to make sure everything is working at peak performance."

"An admirable job, so what makes this so important?"

"Well I found something in our system that should not be there."

"Can you tell me what it is?"

Aperlae shook her head, "Not without more time to look it over. It seems to belong to the Ministry of Defense, but why would it be piggy-backed onto the CNP?"

"That's a good question. Tell you what, we'll sit on it for now and when we meet up with our two sister ships we'll get with Ainslie about this and go from there."

She started to protest, but Aeneas put a hand up to silence her before she could speak.

"Listen, my food has become cold now so I would like the chance to heat this up in the microwave and enjoy a moment of peace and quiet before the Dragon Lady summons me to the CIC for no apparent reason again."

She started to say something again but her cut her off, "Goodnight Colonel Aperlae."

She turned and left and by her body language Aeneas could tell she was not happy with him. If it was something truly important it would be worked out later, Ainslie had him feeling as though he was walking on eggshells right now while she was onboard. The sooner this shakedown cruise was over and done with the better he would feel.

He got his food heated up in the microwave and was preparing to take a bite when the phone on his desk rang. Not wanting to take the chance of missing an important message he put his fork down with a heavy sigh and picked up the phone.

"Commander Aeneas, I hope I'm not disturbing you," Ainslie had decided to disturb him yet again.

"Not at all, what can I do for you admiral?" he wanted to scream out in frustration but knew it would accomplish absolutely nothing.

"I wanted to inform you that we will be joined by Cruiser Division Twenty-Five for the upcoming exercises with the Kronus and Hood."

"Is there a reason why that division was selected?"

"Yes, Admiral Sherbrook is known for his 'aggressive' movements with his cruisers. If there was anyone who can test how well the other ships will work with these behemoths it would be him."

Aeneas had heard of Admiral Percival Sherbrook. The man was known for trying to create new cruiser tactics in formation with the battlestar battle groups. Forgetting his dinner he activated his private computer terminal and scanned the Ministry of Defense mainframe for the makeup of Cruiser Division Twenty-Five.

The division consisted of five Taranis-class heavy cruisers and three Edenton-class light cruisers. The thought of those cruisers on maneuvers with the three Strykers caused a shiver to run down his spine. There seemed to be so much room for error and even the thought that a life could be lost due to an accidental collision seemed a bit too risky for his liking.

Aperlae went to her quarters furious with her commanding officer. Her life had changed quite a bit over the last five and a half years. Before the rescue mission to recover President Adar's sister and niece from the Sagitarron Liberation Army she was a mere junior lieutenant on the staff of Admiral Peter Corman. Since the successful completion of the rescue she had become a celebrity, a heroine of the Colonies

That status had given her career the boost it needed to rise up in the ranks with the peacetime Colonial Fleet. Every commanding officer she had served under felt it an honor to have her as an officer, but Commander Aeneas was different. Whenever she looked into his eyes she saw a seed of doubt in them. It was though the man thought she was holding something back in regards to the SLA mission. Truth be told, she was holding back information but that was for her sake. She thought about the commanding officer of the other rescue party and how she had double-crossed him in order to get what she wanted. Sitting at her desk she tapped her pen against her lips trying to decide on her next course of action.

A knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts; she called out for the person to enter and in walked Lt. Rajesh Suman.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Aperlae asked, pleased with the distraction from Aeneas.

"You were supposed to come meet me in my quarters half an hour ago. When you didn't show up, I decided to take matters into my own hands."

She walked up to him and gave a kiss on the lips, "I love it when you're bold!"

"Here I am carrying on a relationship with a superior officer, I think 'bold' is an understatement."

"Just a little bit longer then you'll be out of the Fleet."

Suman was planning to resign from the Fleet and take over the business once the initial deployment of the Stryker ended. His Uncle Anish had passed away and in his will left his night club, Club Pramoda, on Caprica Beach to his favorite nephew.

"You don't know how excited I am about it, think of the fun we'll have there when I'm on shore leave!" Aperlae said excitedly, giddy at the thought of having her own personal club to go to whenever a deployment was over.

"All thanks to the generosity of my Uncle Anish."

Aperlae poured a glass of water and held it up in a toast, "To Uncle Anish!"

"When I can take over the business we don't have to be so damn secretive," Suman said after taking a glass of water from Aperlae and taking part in her toast.

"Believe me it will be nice to be out in the open about 'us'."

He became involved with Aperlae a month before during crew orientation on the new battlestar. Even though he was three younger than her, the differences in rank meant they were taking a huge risk with their clandestine love affair.

"The thing is Myra, if they find out about us we're going to be in a lot of trouble."

Aperlae gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder, "No, we're not. You may not know this, but I am a Colonial hero. Admiral Corman would move the worlds to get me out of trouble!"

Suman gave her another kiss, "You are so fearless."

If only that were completely true. Aperlae feared three people more than anything, and each of them stemmed from the rescue mission that had made her famous. The first was Scott Tolan, a commander at the time of the mission, the man who had led the initial rescue effort. She had led a second rescue team and her orders were to make sure Tolan was not the one to get President Adar's sister and niece off of the station. She had accomplished that and also sent the word to the Tenth Fleet to begin their assault knowing both him and his team was still on the station. Her path crossed with Tolan once more, and it became clear to her that the man still held a healthy grudge against her. Making matters worse was that he was promoted to the Admiralty and now held the rank of Rear Admiral. He also had a powerful group of friends and he could block her moving to flag rank if he so desired.

Their meeting since that fateful incident six years ago happened before Stryker left for its shakedown cruise. Admiral Ainslie was unable to review the crew at the time due to a family emergency. The Admiralty pulled Tolan from his flagship, the Victorious, in order to review the crew and leave a report for Ainslie to follow up on when she arrived on the Stryker. As he made his way down the line of the assembled senior staff, each one stopped and gave Tolan a salute. He returned it and shook the person's hand, giving a wish of good luck. She was among the last three in line, along with Colonel Rubio and CommanderAeneas, and she gave Tolan a salute and hoped for the best. He simply smirked at her and moved on to Colonel Rubio. When he got to Aeneas he informed the Stryker's commanding officer that he had best watch his back when his Tactical Officer was nearby or else he'd end up with knife stuck in it.

The second person was Artimus Bowman. She barely avoided being assigned to the Hermes before her posting to the Stryker. Once again, she knew how much disdain he had for her. A friend serving on the Hermes had told her that when her name was mentioned in a conversation Bowman's face darkened and he informed his guest that the only nice thing he could say about her was to call her a 'no-talent upstart.'

The third person she was afraid of should not even be alive. Most of Tolan's rescue party had been lost in the escape from the SLA station. Among those listed as KIA was a Ministry of Intelligence Officer named Galit Malka. Aperlae could have cared less about that little fact until she received a note a month after the operation when she was on a multi-world press tour. She had received a note and when she opened it she read 'Better luck next time. Galit.' She had tried to pass it off as a prank, but there was only one reason for her to get a note like that and it meant that Galit Malka had survived and was pissed.

Aperlae gave it more thought, "I'm going to go over this code some more, something about the CNP doesn't sit well with me."

"Are you sure it's not dinner?"

She smiled at him, "You are so cute when you're trying to be sarcastic. I'm going to need some alone time right now, tomorrow if we're not doing another drill we can catch up on our quality time."

Suman turned and left, "It's a date, Colonel!"

Admiral Laura Ainslie took a sip of water as she browsed through the various files arranged on her desk. The spacious flag quarters on the Stryker were a huge improvement over the earlier battlestars. The thought brought her to a place she wondered if she ever left, Cosmora and the Achilles.

She had been rescuing Viper pilots during the battle. A heavily pitched battle like Cosmora required her to keep her mind focused on avoiding other craft, the Cylons, and the flak being shot by the ships engaged in battle. She remembered the order to clear the air space around the Achilles, the Cylons had boarded the battlestar and were in danger of taking over aft damage control. By this time the Colonial Fleet knew the tactings the Cylons used when boarding ships, they would vent the atmosphere and then turn the guns of the ship onto the Colonials.

As quickly as it came, Ainslie vanquished the memory from her mind. It would return again though, it always found a way to.

She began to ponder the events of tomorrow, when they would link up with the Hood and the Kronus to start working on developing battle tactics for this new class of battlestar. Mentally she had given the Titans and Strykers the term 'Dreadnought Battlestar'.

It would be a couple more years and then she could look forward to her retirement. Her husband, Garrett, had begun making plans for what they would do once she was through with the Colonial Fleet. It was something she had mixed feelings about. Most of her life had been spent in the military and the idea of transitioning to a civilian life scared her in a way she would never admit to. On the other hand, she had done her part to keep the people of the Twelve Colonies safe and it her mind told her that it was about time she step aside and let the younger generation take over.

She knew some would say she was going overboard with the drills, but in her mind there could be no such thing as 'overboard' when it came to being prepared. She remembered well that the commander of the Achilles, Commander Dominic Rigel, had been lax in that area. Ainslie would never say it, but she felt that contributed to the loss of the battlestar and her friends who were aboard during the Battle of Cosmora.

Her mind went to Jason Aeneas, the man picked to be the first Commanding Officer of the Stryker, and she remembered some of the more interesting details from his profile. He had shown himself to be a skilled pilot during his career as a pilot and moved up the ranks as well as a person could in a peacetime fleet. He had served as Executive Officer of the battlestar Sarpedon when he was dealt a personal tragedy.

Elissa Aeneas was driving home one night while visiting friends in the city of Theia on Aquaria when her car ended up running off of the road into an embankment. She was thrown from the car and died from the impact. Those who asked Aeneas about his wife's death were told that she was killed by a drunk driver, and that eventually became the accepted story as to what happened.

Ainslie knew there would be plenty of excitement tomorrow when the engaged the cruisers in a simulated battle, she just hoped that her drills had made the crew sharp enough to counter what crazy tactics Admiral Sherbrook had in mind for the three Stryker-class battlestars.