Thanks, Tabbi and Taranis.
The praise is sincerely appreciated.
"Fields" has been rolling around in my head for several years; this is the first time it has actually been written down.
I don't like dwelling on plot contrivances, the "disaster of the week" formula; if something goes wrong badly enough, heroic action probably won't save the day.
That said, one of th strong suits of CBSG is that it portrayed a _different_ culture from 20th Century America: the clothing, social mores, language, government, religion, military and combat styles - while somewhat similar to ours - were very, very different.
I want "Fields" to preserve this.
To that end, I have had to make a long list of assumptions in regards the BSG universe. Please note that these assumptions are ones that I am hammering into place to make sense of what we see on-screen in the CBSG episodes. That will appear under a separate topic-header.
There is a long series of arguments within the sci-fi community that follow the general course of "who-can-kick-who's-butt", and then go on to match up two or three _very_ different sci-fi universes.
That will not happen in "Fields".
While I like 'crossover' stories a lot, that's not the story that I want to write. "Fields" will be based solely on what we see on-screen - with a modicum of extrapolation to rationalize the technology and systems, coupled with my own real-world experience:
I served in the USMC for 6 years, 1984-1990, as a Supply and Logistics specialist; I also have a little experience in NBC warfare and demolitions; I have been a role-player since 1977; I have a very extensive background in corporate security, executive protection, and catstrophic survival preparedness.
I am not God, however; close shaves with death remove that fantasy pretty quickly...So, I welcome any advice and comments.
Michael A. Cessna
Ft. Worth, TX
10-14-2005