Ghost Ship

Written by: Wes Imlay

Prologue:

During the Cylon War, when only the twelve Columbia class battlestars and four previous experimental battlestars were in service, the administration of President Alexander J. Dallas authorized the emergency conversion of twelve Valen-class light cruisers into battlestars. These twelve ships would become known as the Delphi-class of light battlestars. Eight of these battlestars: Glorious, Samar, Gladiator, Etain, Coronis, Altair, Rhodes, and Queenstown were lost in action during the Cylon War. Three of the four remaining ships: Nereus, Mycenae, and Renown served for a period of time after the war but were ultimately decommissioned and scrapped. The only ship to have survived both the war and the cutter's torch was the Battlestar Delphi. For some time the Delphi served as a front line battlestar until time and technology passed the Cylon War veteran by. The time came finally to decommission the veteran battlestar. Since that time the Delphi has been berthed at the Hargrove Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility located in orbit around the colony of Scorpia. The Colonial Fleet Bureau of Ships recently offered the Delphi for sale to be scrapped. A preservation group from the colony of Tauron put in a bid to save the Delphi for a museum ship and memorial to those lost during the Cylon War.

It has long been rumored that the Delphi, a ship that saw heavy combat during the Cylon War, is in fact haunted by several ghosts. While these rumors have not been verified they persist regardless…

Chapter One: An Audience With Delphi

Seven Years before the Fall:

"We're eight minutes from arrival people, get ready to board!" Anthony Kaiser said to the group at the back of the transport shuttle.

"What do you think we'll find?" Kimberly Ashfield asked as she walked up to the pilot's seat where Kaiser was maneuvering the shuttle through the decommissioned hulks of the Inactive Reserve.

"Well Miss Ashfield, I think your boss there in the back can tell you more than I can," Kaiser said with a motion of his head towards the back of the shuttle. Millionaire businessman Robert McClintock along with brothers Harold and Cecil Lawson had started the preservation movement for the Delphi, had come along for the survey of the battlestar.

"There's no telling what you're going to find on there, these ships haven't been as cared for as the ones that are part of the Active Reserve," Moses Lindley, the Superintendent of the Inactive Reserve, said as he walked up to the small cockpit of the shuttle.

"I see, well if you will excuse me I'll go back to my seat," Ashfield said as she excused herself and walked away.

"What can I do for you, boss," Kaiser asked Lindley.

"Dale said you're not too comfortable with this assignment," Lindley said before asking, "Is it because of what I think it is?"

"Good ol' Dale," Kaiser said to himself. Richard Dale had been doing what he could to make him miserable ever since he beat the man in a game of triad, "I admit I'm not too keen on the idea of taking a group of civilians onboard a decommissioned battlestar. Somebody could get hurt if they're careless. Not to mention the rumors of the…you know," he did not want to come out and say the word that would have ended that sentence.

"Yeah, we've all heard about the stories of the ghosts. Personally I don't see what proof there is that the ship is haunted," Lindley said with an amused twinkle in his brown eyes.

"Those rumors could get to the museum people and make them see things that aren't there," Kaiser said. Most of the time he was bringing people to the Inactive Reserve ships so they could scavenge parts needed for a ship in the Colonial Fleet that was still in commission or a museum ship that was in the process of being restored to look as though it was still in commission. "That said however, it might help attract more visitors."

"Don't think I haven't thought of that. There are six of them on this trip and they'll be paired with one our people. That way we can keep an eye on them and conduct our survey so the Bureau of Ships can decide if the ship is worth donating as a museum."

"The Taurons don't want to hear my opinion on the matter," Kaiser said matter-of-factly. Truth was he could not see how they could be so optimistic about turning a profit, but then again there were only less than a handful of battlestars that had been preserved as museum ships.

"We're not here to offer any opinions on the situation and we're going to keep it that way," Lindley stated in a way that made it clear that there was to be no argument.

"You got it boss, but I have to ask on thing. Why are you on this trip?"

Moses Lindley was a Colonel in the Colonial Fleet and getting the job of Inactive Fleet superintendent was supposed to be a stop on his way to the rank of Commander and having his own battlestar to command.

"Well Kaiser, Admiral Ferguson thought it would be good for our image if the man in charge of this facility came along for the ride. Because of that reason alone I'm here," Lindley was referring to Rear Admiral George C. I. Ferguson, the Director of the Colonial Fleet Bureau of Ships. Rumor had it that he was on his way to the rank of Vice Admiral in three years and could be a possible replacement for Peter Corman as Chief of Fleet Operations. He had heard through the proverbial rumor mill that he was a candidate to take command of the battlestar Hermes when its current commanding officer, Commander John C. Leach, made flag rank in the next year.

In the rear of the shuttle the two groups sat across from each other not making much talk. The Tauron delegation consisted of Robert McClintock, the two Lawson brothers, Kimberly Ashfield, Spencer Glanville, and Ashley Halstead. The group Inactive Reserve workers who would be carrying out the survey of the Delphi consisted of Richard Dale, Reginald Essery, Christy Vance, Jayne Sumner, Eric Flint, and Joseph Bethell.

"Is there anyone waiting for us on there already?" Glanville asked McClintock.

"I was told a group of four people; two engineers and two electricians were onboard getting the power turned back on and make sure the lighting worked in the old girl. I imagine that if they weren't done by now then we wouldn't be making this trip," McClintock said.

"Colonel Lindley informed me that he's going to pair one of us with one of the yard workers who will be conducting the survey of the Delphi. We'll tag along with our respective partner and take our own notes on the condition of the ship so we can present a more thorough plan to Admiral Ferguson."

"Just watch your step around there with us, wouldn't want any of you civilians twisting an ankle or worse because you were careless," Richard Dale said, the first time any of them had spoken to the Tauron delegation.

"I didn't realize you were all active military," Halstead said.

"To do the work we do you have to be, the more menial work is done by civilians but the more vital work is handled by us. We've all done a tour or two on a battlestar so we know what we're looking for whenever we do the survey work on one of them," Essery said.

"Which ones have all of you served on?" McClintock asked to try to find a subject he could get these yard personnel to talk about.

"I spent five years on the Galactica, followed by three on the Jupiter, and then one on the Libran before I was assigned here," Dale said.

"How does Galactica compare to the Delphi?" Ashfield asked.

Dale shrugged, "Both look like they belong fifty years or more in the past, but Galactica is twice the size of the Delphi and carries double the air wing."

"Any of you serve on the Delphi?" Glanville asked.

"I spent two years on her when I first enlisted," Christy Vance said.

"What was it like?" Glanville asked before any of the others could speak.

"I worked in the Aviation division. This was not long before the ship was decommissioned, but even then there was only room for two squadrons of Vipers and one squadron of Raptors. To give you my humble opinion on the matter, the Delphi class was proof of how desperate the Fleet was for battlestars during the Cylon War," Vance said.

"Even more reason to preserve her as a memorial," Cecil Lawson said.

Essery snorted, "Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves there, pal. You have to remember that the Delphi took heavy damage during quite a few battles and the there was no telling how well the damage was repaired. We also have to see just how heavily stripped for parts she's been in the time since she was decommissioned. In this Fleet when something goes bad on a ship that's in commission we go to the Reserve Fleet for a replacement, and Inactive Reserve is the one that gets picked over for spares nine times out of ten."

"Sounds like you don't want us to succeed," Harold Lawson said.

"It's not that, far from it," Jayne Sumner, one of the younger members of the survey team, said before adding, "We just don't want you to get your hopes up about this working. It would be cheaper to just scrap the Delphi rather than donating her as a museum. Until she is stricken off charge completely she is still the responsibility of the military and anything that goes wrong is another headache for the brass. They could pull the plug on this whole thing at any moment."

"I'd figure you would have a more sentimental attachment to these ships, it seems out of character from the other Colonial Fleet personnel I've met," McClintock said.

"I admit I have a fondness for the Delphi," Vance said, "she was a cramped ship that had seen better days but I won't say a bad thing about my time on there."

"We work around these ships everyday," Eric Flint commented, "We see them at the end of their lives. These ships aren't alive anymore, for that they need a crew and the ability to move under their own power."

"Preparing to dock with the Delphi, stay in your seats," the voice of Anthony Kaiser said over the intercom.

The people felt the shuttle slow to a stop, those who looked towards the front of the shuttle saw that they were now on one of the pods of the Delphi. There was a slight jolt as the flight pods umbilical extended to connect with the shuttle. It seemed that the engineers had managed to restore power to the battlestar after all.

"Welcome to the Battlestar Delphi, please watch your step upon exiting the shuttle and don't forget to leave a generous tip for your pilot on the way out," Kaiser said over the intercom once the shuttle had a hard seal with the Delphi's airlock.