Action/Adventure

• spelling and language is British English, but then, that’s what I am.
• all non-canon characters are my own.
• I’ve done my best on the genetics, but it’s been a long time since A-level biology.If I’ve boobed, let me off with a warning and a small fine.
• the Greek hero "Aegyptus", from whom my Aegyptans at least derive their name, is pronounced with a hard "g", I think. He had 50 sons, btw, all but one murdered by their wives (fifty sisters and the boys’ cousins) in one very fell swoop on their joint wedding night. The one girl who decided to keep the boy was Hypermestra, who, to keep up the connexion, gives her name to a ship of the Fleet
• we all know about the crappy BSG time units and that IFB is Intra-Fleet Broadcasting, now don't we?
• Fleet, with a capital F refers to the military organisation, a combination of our navy and airforce, as opposed to the Infantry; fleet, no capital, is the refugee flotilla that the Galactica is leading.
• and last, but not least, Heidi made me watch Sssss when we visited her in Toronto, and there was this amazing line that Dirk says that Starbuck loved so much that he just had to quote it. Whoever spots it gets the DB Appreciation of Great Dialogue Award "00". A purely honorary prize, but merited.

OTHER WARNINGS :
Usual stuff about British English and spelling
Clunky Galactican terminology: yahrens = year, sectar = month, secton = week, centar= hour, centon = minute, micron = second. But trying to work out the real equivalence is enough to drive you to drink! OK: canon is 100 centons to the centar, and 24 centars to the day (so please don't get thrown by someone saying "It's 2.75pm." After that, you're more or less on your own, but I'm working on the premise that there's 10 microns to the centon (stealing this unashamedly from Karen!), but what you decide the equivalence is to earth time is up to you. Just to help you along, if a micron = 5 earth seconds, then a standard colonial day is 33 hours long (Very long!); if it's 4 earth seconds, then the day is just over 26 earth hours long (reasonable); if it's 3 earth seconds then the colonial day is 20 hours (short). Me, I'm opting for 1 micron = 4 seconds. It doesn't make a happorth of difference to the story, but I'm more comfortable with it settled to my satisfaction.
And imperial measures (miles and feet) because I was born so long ago that I can remember the introduction of metric measures and imperial comes more naturally to me. I'm not comfortable with kilometres.
The Shield Regiment is entirely mine, and had its genesis about five years ago when I first started writing BSG, in some very, very AU stuff which thankfully does not survive. In this story, the Shield Regiment is the third arm of the services, the special forces.
The Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) was founded by Heidi, but I've borrowed it for this story. Here, it's not attached to the Academy, but used by the military to force (in the horticultural sense!) their strategic thinkers, and the graduates usually slide into staff jobs back at HQ - in the Strategy Unit - where things are quiet and they almost never get shot at. Do you know your Gilbert and Sullivan? "Stick to your desks and never go to sea, and you all may be Rulers of the Queen's Navee." [end cultural spot].
Heidi founded Cetes Starbase: that, too, gets a mention. A busy little bee, she is.
We know almost nothing about the back story of Apollo and Starbuck, so I'm not labelling this AU - it doesn't affect canon in any way (even Serina - read carefully!). Set about 3 years before Saga of a Star World. Assumption is that the Caprican age of consent is 18.

SYNOPSIS - When Harry met Sally - no, wait, that's been done. When Apollo met Starbuck. That's it.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS : To Syble, for insisting on knowing more about Joss and setting me off on this. To Karen, for her help with the knotty time problem. And to Heidi, as ever, for being the best beta in the known universe.

Taking Shield: Starbuck - Taking Shield: Apollo

The story does jump around a bit - the narrative in the chapters isn’t always linear. Apart from Apollo's nightmare (held between *** to make it obvious that it was a nightmare, not just another sequencing jump), you won’t get any pointers to the un-linearity (is that even a word?). The story rather insisted on being written this way, and I think it becomes obvious as you read that you've jumped.
Usual stuff about British English and spelling.
Clunky Galactican terminology: yahrens = year, sectar = month, secton = week, centar= hour, centon = minute, micron = second. And imperial measures (miles and feet) because I was born so long ago that I can remember the introduction of metric measures and imperial comes more naturally to me. I'm not comfortable with kilometres. Mind you, it is easier to say a Cylon's two metres high than to say it's six foot six, so don't look to me for consistency.
The Shield Regiment is entirely mine, and had its genesis about five years ago when I first started writing BSG, in some very, very AU stuff which thankfully does not survive (Goodbye Mary Sue!). In this story, the Shield Regiment is the third arm of the services, the special forces.
There's a mention of Jacks - smugglers and pirates and people who generally have trouble obeying the law. Childhood memories are faulty things, but I think they were Andre Norton's invention, and I'm borrowing the concept with grateful thanks.
There's a reference to the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI), founded by Heidi. Here, it's not attached to the Academy, and the graduates usually slide into staff jobs back at HQ - in the Strategy Unit - where things are quiet and they almost never get shot at.
We know nothing about the back story of Apollo and Starbuck, so I'm letting the imagination loose - it doesn't alter canon, it just precedes it.
Set about 3 years before Saga of a Star World.