Battlestar Galactica - LSO Booth Port Flight Pod
Racetrack poked her head over the shoulders of a Viper jock to try and get a better look at the deck. In the Landing Signals Officer's booth was a crowd of pilots trying to get a look at the returning Raptor... the crew would be famous- they had just come back through the object and confirmed it was a transporter... that it had taken them to another object sitting near a dark, large gas giant and that all they needed to do to return was simply transmit to the object their mass as they had done when they left. Not really that amazing: point to point FTL, and a new starscape... but what was beyond that planet had to be important right?
Admiral Nagala had addressed all the ships present, he had told them all that this was a big deal and that the President himself would be arriving to tour and be updated on what was going on shortly. From a last patrol this had turned into an incredible week or so. Racetrack didn't mind that she was missing the start of Summerfest because well this promised to be something. Though to be fair a voice in her head said that she was trumping it up... that everyone was. It was assumed this was something Zeus had left for them but no one could know, not so soon. In the Rec Room people were pouring over the Scrolls and any scrap of data (most likely fictitious) regarding the object to come up with the right answer for what it was to humanity. Galactica was likely going to be pushed out soon... Triton would be back to relieve it but for now the old Battlestar and her crew was a valuable part of the team: providing patrols and the first Raptor crew through the object. Racetrack hadn't wanted to go, Helo and Dipper had, now everyone wanted a ticket. She couldn't see much over the shoulder and through the crush of bodies but she thought she got a glimpse of the powering down, now famous shuttle.
Caprica City - Office of the President
Richard Adar was talked through developments that had otherwise been drip fed to the President of the United Colonies of Kobol at morning briefings for over a week now. Then it seemed interesting and quite the find, in this recap it was starting to look a little like trouble. In the first instance Adar had agreed with the need for secrecy that the Admiral who'd come his way had suggested. He'd agreed a small fact finding team be sent from inside the Ministry of Defence. That had involved pulling some of the brightest minds in the Colonies, otherwise contracted for Fleet projects like the CNP, and taken them out to think over this unknown.
"What is it?" Adar asked
"The Transporter Monument, we're calling it that." Admiral Corman advised "It instantly takes a ship from one monument to a twin one located in an unknown region of space. It's an old, solid and powerful object that we can't comprehend."
"Right," Adar had the idea the Fleet didn't know quite what to make of its new toy but was certain that they wanted to keep it for themselves until they had its secrets "and you want me to authorise the deployment of a force through the monument to the other side to secure it?"
"Yes Mister President." Corman explained "It allows to hold the extent of the Monument as we know. We're not particularly interested in what's beyond. Not yet because there's so much to still figure out... we just want to lock down the mechanism and keep it as clear as possible for investigations and study."
"And your researchers..." Adar looked down at his paper and got two names "Baltar and Amarak, they say the material these monuments are made out of are true stealth composites?"
"It's a 'cold object' in that it doesn't give off much for DRADIS and our scopes to pick up... it isn't stealth as we know it. This same material is also incredibly strong and resilient... if we can work it out we might have a new armour type that would make our ships nearly indestructible."
Adar didn't believe that for a second, the report was hastily put together by Doctors Baltar, Amarak et al. and the oversell was apparent. Still this was a big deal. It was something older than the Colonies, since Kobol or the exodus maybe?
"Ok," Adar made a call "secure it. I want to tour it in a month and by then I want to know whether this is something that... if it will be as big as you all reckon it is. If its something I have to announce to the worlds. Don't frak it up in the meanwhile."
Battlestar Atlantia - Admiral's Cabin
7 hours later
Nagala had Cain and Adama with him in his wardroom aboard the Atlantia. The Bezerk's Commander was not present because he was being given orders to prepare his Escort to make an approach on the object. Baltar and the team of Defence Ministry brains were not present, which was just as well:
"We're sending the Bezerk through... we've taken a fine tooth comb to the Raptors and Vipers that came back and they're as clean as when they left us. The conclusion we have is that this is a straight FTL transportation device... that it probably pitches us from one side of the galaxy to the other without need for the calculations that keep us out of suns and solid objects. We've run four CAPs and two Recon missions out of the object and I just received a go from the President to send the Bezerk to the other side to secure it."
Nagala took a sip from his glass of ambrosia, it had a smell to it that still flared the nostrils... a sign it was sharp stuff and worth the cubits he'd spent on Scorpia. The Admiral had already thanked Bill for keeping discrete about it when he'd come across the object... it had predicted a tone of thought the Government was following and it was a shame he'd be ordering the Galactica off now. Giving the first run through the object wasn't quite the gift it was seen as now... Nagala had hoped with every fibre of his being that that brave Raptor crew had come back... it did. They were heroes and Galactica itself just had another claim to fame. Now though the bravery of the action was lost in a mad enthusiasm to see what was on the other side. Emotion moved quickly through the Task Group. No one had made announcements but news got around faster than light. It was only human to want to go through and see what was beyond.
"Helena, Bill I was hoping you two could provide us with a formation of Vipers to go down the line with Bezerk: flight by flight. History and all."
The Commander, then the Rear Admiral nodded and Nagala was happy "The other side is lifeless... just our probes bleating in all directions. They've been for the most part collected back up, and we're going through the data now. You won't be moving anything through until we've gone over everything," he assured
"But it'll likely confirm all quiet. That gas giant on the side is interesting but other than that it's an alien, silent sky. This is going to be about planting the flag. So when they declassify all this in ohhh... a few hundred years time we'll all be famous."
There was a ring from Nagala's desk telephone that shorted the chance to chuckle, and the Admiral stopped his little chat to take the call. He noticed Adama and Cain didn't talk between themselves, just politely waited while he was on the line. When he put the receiver down he smiled even though he didn't know what to make of it:
"Well: this just got interesting."
Battlestar Galactica - Recreation Room
That night
Mumbles had shot through the ships present at lightning speed: that one of the probes they'd first sent out had returned with some important information. No one knew what but the mumbles had been acknowledged a few hours ago by a ship wide broadcast that told everyone to stay tuned for a message from the old man. The Rec Room had been crowded with pilots and crew not long ago when Helo and Dipper had finally left the infirmary with an all clear... all sorts of questions and cheers bombarded them. What was it like? Well done! That sort of thing... Racetrack hadn't got a look in so she'd waited and while it was the most agonising few hours of her working life it was rewarded with a burst of static through the ships speaker:
"This is Commander Adama: a few hours ago I advised I would be making an announcement on Admiral Nagala's behalf on the findings of a probe that was sent through the transporter monument-" Racetrack wondered whether that was what they were calling it now "We believe that it picked up readings: heat, radiation and crucially a picture of an as yet unknown contact from the other side. A powered spacecraft."
There was an eerie silence all of a sudden, throughout the ship. Not a person breathed lest they accidently miss anything else the Commander said. He continued:
"We had a DRADIS plot, it was followed, but no further encounter has been recorded with that contact or anything like it. As it is we have been ordered to contribute Vipers and Raptors as transit escort for the Bezerk while it moves to be transported across to secure the other end of this relay. Life here began out there. We just may be on the cusp of meeting what's out there."
There was then the longest silence, a minute stretched out until the Tactical Officer was suddenly on the horn "While we may not me be privy to every scrap of information coming out or yet know the full scope and ramifications of the discovery here... I think it is fitting that this Battlestar, Galactica, be at the forefront."
"So say we all." Someone nearby shouted after the old man had signed off and there was an echo then that sounded out through the corridors of the mighty ship back all the way up to the CIC "So say we all."
Citadel Space - Relay 452
Bezerk was a long Battlestar Escort; thinner in comparison to the big ships of the fleet without the characteristic flight pods either side. Instead it carried a group of Raptors that it deployed and recovered from a boxy landing pod carried at its 'belly'. It had banks of medium guns and quite a few point defence weapons and though its CIC was modest it could coordinate the operations of the Raptor teams now on the 'other side' of the object that were streaming out from its twin and trying to make sense of the new environment. Nagala stood watching one of Bezerk's tactical displays and was personally overseeing the set-up of a series of DRADIS buoys that'd give an extended warning zone if anything like their alien contact came back into view. Nagala had quietened the mood and instilled a workman-like attitude while the Escort went about its work scouting out and securing this side of the unknown.
No one was given the chance to appreciate the fact that they were boldly going where no man had gone before and that though they had taken one small flight as men and women they'd undertaken one giant leap for mankind. Cole Taylor sat at the controls of one of the Raptors Pegasus had sent on through with the Bezerk, temporarily he was based out of the Escort while he deployed sensor satellites and communication relays that'd extend the scope of Fleet beyond the range of the ship at the transport site, and beyond the envelope of a prowling Raptor. He was focused on the Gas Giant: putting satellites and looking devices near it that'd give back readings on the new world but also give a picture of what was behind it. No blind spots. Cole's ECO piped up:
"DRADIS contact: unidentified at bearing 26 carom 7. It's on screen as real close to that planet. Just inside its atmosphere."
The Captain was happy his ECO didn't get all high pitched and excited, they themselves weren't too far from the gas giant- about twelve minutes flying time. He turned back and told his helper to get a picture of what it was. Then he looked down at the printout he and likely every Raptor jock up at the moment was carrying on them: a blur with corresponding DRADIS signature, and then trailing data for a whole lot of other scanning devices Raptor's carried relating specifically to the alien object a probe had pictured out here when they'd first arrived.
"Is it anything like our object of interest?"
"No sir. Got a fix on it and tagging new contact: it's sitting in high orbit of the gas giant and- wow!"
"What?" Taylor demanded
"Picking up an energy spike. Recording: its discharging energy out of everywhere." The ECO quickly qualified "Localised, non-threatening and dropping electricity into the planet's atmosphere like I dunno."
"Keep it together Lieutenant."
"It's messing my readings."
"You just sit tight and make sure we're still recording all this. I'm getting on the wireless and streaming it to them."
Turian Cruiser - Relay 452
Pulcher Illo stood poised in his flight gear; helmet tucked under his arm, while the cruiser sat in the upper atmosphere of GG-XI and released the static electricity build-up from its drive. The cruiser had pushed to the point of saturation to get here quickly, but it was understood they'd been beaten out by whatever was from the other side of the Relay. Suddenly the decision to make haste seemed the wrong course of action- but then no one would say anything.
The cruiser would sit, with its sensors retracted, and discharge into atmosphere. To do otherwise... like launch fighters might risk the rolls of lightning firing off the hull connecting with a small craft and frying it. Pulcher Illo imagined it could happen to him, but buried the anxiety deep. He kept his eyes on the hatch that when displaying the 'safe' signal and unlocked would take him to his fighter and quietly in his mind thought of the spirit of the unit... its sense of service, dedication and courage that he may be inspired by it. He would have the enemy to face soon. They had all received the shortest stay on the inevitable confrontation.
When the cruiser finished its discharge it would make a sensor sweep, deploy fighters and ready weapons so that it could quickly seize the Relay. And it would seize and hold the Relay. The enemy would hopefully leave them alone in the upper atmosphere, unnoticed. Hopefully. All aboard knew for this short window of time they would be vulnerable. Not since the Rachni had Illo known a primary relay to have been activated. For it to suddenly fire up meant that whomever was on the other side, they had just declared war on the Citadel. They mightn't have done it knowingly but it took a mean spirit to activate a relay leading into the unknown... it was like you intended to muscle your way across the stars without consideration, and as such with an aggression the Turians had vowed to protect the civilised peoples of the galaxy from. Illo felt he was doing a great service. It steeled him for this bold operation his cruiser would undertake to secure the breach. To survive the vulnerable moment. Hold the line. Defend the universe. He slapped his armoured chest, it prompted the pilots with him to do likewise. A cacophony of sound empowered them to do good, to do their duty. After they waited.
