Battlestar Hermes (Battlestar D5)

Battlestar Hermes is a work of Fan Fiction posted on FanFiction.net and is written by 'The Wilky Bar Kid'. It is based on the re-imagined series of the show and follows the events of the crew of the Battlestar Hermes, a surviving Battlestar. Unlike Battlestar Galactica the Hermes lacks a fleet to support it. Instead it has over three thousand civilian survivors crammed onboard into an area known as 'The Slum'. In effect Hermes has become its own 'micro-colony. The story has not been updated in several years and appears to have died.

Construction History
Hermes is a Jupiter-class Battlestar. The Jupiter-class was a precursor to the more advanced Mercury-class and was slightly larger but less sophisticated. It was one of only two members of the intermediate class of Colonial warship. It was this fact that made the crew of Hermes feel unique amongst the fleet especially when her only sister ship, the Jupiter, was transferred to the Active Reserve fleet and no longer on the frontlines. Hermes was almost literally one of a kind!

Before the destruction of the Colonial Fleet Hermes was part of Battlestar Group 58 (BSG-58).

Prior to 'The Fall'
At the time of the destruction of the Twelve Colonies the Battlestar Hermes was approximately ten years old. With the exception of the prequel story Battlestar Prelude the only history available has been through discussion during the Battlestar Hermes: Salvage.

Prior to the 'The Fall' the Hermes had a crew complement of close to three thousand (although this number could be increased during times of war including an additional 1500 Marines housed in the barrack section). Within the first month of Artimus Bowman taking command the Battlestar made the headlines when an apparent suicide aboard the vessel turned out to be a murder. The murderer, one of the deck gang, had found out that the victim had been having an affair with his wife while on shore leave and killed him in a jealous rage (please note that this story has not been published yet but was outlined in the initail plan for the overall story hence its inclusion in this article).

The Battle above Picon
It can be argued that the Second Cylon War started thirty-six hours early for the crew of the ''Hermes. ''After departing Picon following a six month refit the Hermes went to the Pendyne Weapons Range to conduct combat drills. After completing a round of testing the Battlestar retreated outside of the range into unclaimed space to prepare for the next round. During this time a safety valve exploded damaging the main computer core.

This forced the crew to rebuild several systems virtually from scratch including the navigation program. With all their systems down the Hermes couldn't launch any of its air wing but a Raptor was on CAP and was instructed to go for help. This Raptor was intercepted by advanced elements of the Cylon's main fleet and destroyed.

At around the same time the Cylons were flooding the area with stellar interference to disrupt communications in the region. This effort made it appear to be natural phenomena and so the Colonial leadership didn't suspect that anything was wrong.

When Hermes was almost fully operational once more the crew discovered something terrifying; a virus had been implanted in the new CNP program that could render the ship's systems useless. Suspecting it was the Cylons and that the communication failure was part of a surprise attack, Bowman ordered that the navigation systems on all the Vipers and Raptors be wiped while Hermes' own system was replaced by an older version of the program that was lacking the virus. Determined to warn the fleet Bowman ordered that the Battlestar jump back to Picon. They arrived just in time to witness the start of the nuclear bombardment.

Hermes was the only Battlestar capable of fighting the Cylons having erased all trace of the CNP virus from their systems. Despite the impossible odds Bowman felt he had no choice but to fight. Although the Hermes gave a good account of itself it was hopelessly outnumbered and knowing the futility of fighting on Bowman gave the most difficult order of his career - abandon the Colonies.

The 'Week of Hell'
For the next five days the Hermes was pursued near relentlessly across space by the Cylons who seemed determined to destroy the surviving Battlestar. The battles were both fierce and bloody but the Hermes proved difficult to destroy. Then, as suddenly as the war began the attacks stopped. This was the point that the Number Ones had formulated a plan for the Hermes and thus the Battlestar was allowed to survive.

The Cost
The Battle above Picon and the 'Week of Hell' had taken its toll however. Over one thousand crewmembers had been killed or injured including the ship's Chief Medical Officer, Dr Farrah. Just as serious was the loss of many of the Battlestar's air wing. The ship itself had taken some heavy damage but its armoured hull was intact however its firepower had been significantly decreased.

The Scylla
On the run from the Cylons, the Battlestar eventually found three civilian ships that had been left for dead by the crew of the Pegasus. These were the survivors of the Scylla fleet. With their own ships now useless the three thousand survivors crammed aboard the Hermes and the ship became part Battlestar/part refugee camp. Supplies now became a serious issue for the ship as it continued to fight for survival.

Aboard the Scylla was a Cylon agent, a Number One, by the name of James Deveroux. He became aware of the Cylon plan for Hermes and realizing that their CMO had been killed he took on the role as Doctor (a download during a fake attack by Raiders endowed him with the skills he would need to accomplish the task of fulfilling the role).

(These events were portrayed in a one-shot story called "Battlestar Hermes: Memories of Scylla")

The Pegasus
Bowman branded Admiral Cain and the crew of Pegasus as behaving less like Colonial Officers and more like pirates. When Captain Chloe Burmeister later suggested looking for Pegasus Bowman declared that the Battlestar was not a 'friendly' and they would make no effort to find the ship. He did this fearing that Pegasus would attempt to strip the badly damaged Hermes for parts and leave them to die as they had already done once to the civilian fleet.

The Cylon Plan For HERMES
A recurring theme throughout Battlestar Hermes: Salvage is that the Cylons have allowed Hermes to survive and that they have a purpose for the vessel surviving. All that is known at present is that it is the Number Ones who have formulated the plan and are the driving force behind it. A major part of the plan is the need to keep Hermes close to the Twelve Colonies.

Main Characters
Artimus Bowman - Commanding Officer

Caleb Dytto - Executive Officer (later relieved)

Chloe Burmeister - Tactical Officer

Alex 'Griffon' Adonia - CAG (Acting XO in BSH:Salvage)

Aaron 'Stinger' Bolenko - Raptor pilot (Acting CAG in BSH:Salvage)

Nester Adrastos - Senior Marine

Melissa 'Aurora' Saunders - Trainee ECMO

Galit Malka - Commander of the Ministry of Intelligence (MoI) Faststar Eurylade

Natalie Faust
(To view Natalie Faust's full page click here) A Cylon Number Six, Faust appeared as leader of the Cylon Rebels in Season Four.

In Battlestar Hermes: Salvage she is seen during a recording of the events that lead to the demise of the Colonial Heavy Liner Alexis. The recording clearly shows that it was Faust who was responsible for the deaths of the Civilians aboard the vessel by opening the air lock and spacing those aboard.

Faust plays a more significant part in Battlestar Hermes: Faststar when she is found to be one of the leaders of the Monothiest Camp where Lieutenant Nester Adrastos is held prisoner. She hopes that the Marine will grow to accept the one-true God into his heart before Cavil reveals his plan for him.

D'Anna Biers
A Cylon agent, a Number Three, sent aboard Hermes goes by the name of D'Anna Biers and although her cover stories are similar this D'Anna is a different one from the D'Anna Biers aboard the Galactica's fleet. This D'Anna was discovered by Captain Chloe Burmeister hiding inside the Caprimart Distribution Centre in the Serena Valley on Scorpia. She posed as a journalist who was caught up in the attack on colony before joining a resistance cell that was later wiped out. As part of her cover she disclosed the fact that the Cylons had evolved into human form as part of a misinformation exercise. Later she agreed to return to Scorpia to assist Lt. Nester Adrastos in his reconnaissance mission ahead of the operation to resupply ''Hermes. ''It was during this mission that she was killed by a rogue Cylon Centurion whose Telecenphalic Inhibitor had been damaged. Although she successfully downloaded into a new body she had no details regarding the final plan Bowman was hatching.

Main Stories
There are currently two stories regarding the Hermes in progress. The first, Battlestar Hermes: Salvage, covers the events following the destruction of the twelve colonies. This story is almost completed and the sequel, Battlestar Hermes: Faststar, will carry the story on. Battlestar Prelude is actually a prequel to Battlestar Hermes: Salvage. It takes place seven months before the fall of the colonies and deals with a conspiracy within the Colonial Fleet to start a war with the Cylons. As of March 2010 this story is on hold in order to concentrate on 'Salvage'.

One-shots
As well as the two main stories there is also a series of one-shots either already published or currently in-progress. Battlestar Hermes: Memories of Scylla deals with the events surrounding the civilian population coming aboard. Other one-shots will cover the early lives of some of the main characters.

Note
Battlestar Hermes's image is created by CanisD