CHAPTER FOUR: Abrupt departure and an unexpected discovery

Over the next two days, the PEGASUS stayed near the Cylon refinery, allowing Sanders to run a thorough survey of the destroyed facility. The time also allowed Dr. Ashley to determine that the dead viper pilot that had been picked up earlier had indeed been a member of the Colonial military stationed on the GALACTICA.

"So Bill Adama had been here without a doubt", Cain stated when he had finished reading the report from Dr. Ashley.

"Yes, but unfortunately, we don't know where he headed off to after he had finished up here", Tolen pointed out.

Cain nodded at that. Sanders' recon teams had been unable to ascertain any additional information from the rubble of the refinery. Despite this setback, Sanders was thinking about the possibility of their doing some of their own mining in order to get some Tylium for themselves. However, that idea was a non-starter due to a report that had just come in from a viper patrol.

"Sigma Leader to Home Plate", the patrol leader had radioed when the patrol had returned close enough to communicate without fear of it being overheard, "we detected Cylon ships on our sensors. Position seven-five tarim nine-six".

Sanders and Annan had checked their charts and determined that the PEGASUS was out of the Cylon's sensor range, but they needed more information.

"What type of ships?" Annan communicated back.

"One Base Star, and a capital ship of unknown type. We managed to get an image of it", was the reply.

"Are they heading this way?" Annan asked next.

"Affirmative", Sigma Leader replied, "but we didn't detect any raider patrols or a fighter screen around either vessel. It's a guess, but I think that its probably a salvage mission heading for the refinery".

Sanders thought about that summation. The lack of raider patrols made the guess an accurate one. Still...

"Very well, Sigma Leader", Sanders said, "get back on board Home Plate pronto. We'll need to get going before they come upon us".

"Roger that, Home Plate. ETA is in five minutes. Transmitting image now", Sigma Leader acknowledged.

As the two vipers of Sigma Flight headed towards the PEGASUS' starboard landing bay, Sanders brought the PEGASUS to Condition Two. Next, he picked up a communicator and informed Cain.

"Very well, Comms", Cain acknowledged after Sanders had filled him in, "Get the FTL fired up and get ready to make the jump to the next point. I assume you've already issued the recall order to our patrols and the refinery survey teams?"

"Lieutenant Annan has just done so, Commander", Sanders replied, "We should have them all back on board in ten minutes".

"Very good, Comms", Cain said in response, "I'm heading up to CIC now. I want to see that image of this new ship type our patrol discovered as soon as I'm up there".

"Will do, Commander", Sanders acknowledged. Cain broke the communications link.

While Annan monitored the return of the patrols and survey groups, Sanders looked at the processed image. The double-Y configuration of the Cylon Base Star was unmistakable, but that other ship looked weird. It was huge, yet it looked more like a long length of lattices than a spaceship. It certainly didn't look like a warship at all, but whatever it was, it was probably something that would be as surprising as that biot freighter they captured, he thought.

Cain thought likewise when he looked at the image. Nothing in their intelligence intercepts had indicated anything that even remotely inferred the existence of this unknown type of vessel. He made a mental note to send a copy of this image to Commander Logan on the next scheduled 'mail probe'. Perhaps they would have a better idea.

"All patrols back on board and the refinery survey teams as well. We're closing up the landing bays now", Annan reported.

"Co-ordinates set for the next jump point, Commander", Sanders said next, pointing to the star chart.

Cain nodded. The next jump would take them to the next sector: Erenkoy. As this refinery was situated on the far side of the Promar Sector, it was a sure bet that the GALACTICA was no longer in this sector. After they had destroyed the refinery, it would make sense to get well away before more bad guys came along.

"We're heading out?" Tolen asked as he walked onto CIC.

"Yeah, tin-heads heading our way, X.O.", Cain replied while handing him the image of the two Cylon ships.

"FTL jump in three – two – one – jump!" Sanders announced as Helm activated the control.

With a flash of light, the PEGASUS left the derelict refinery and in a subjective instant later, reappeared in the unexplored Erenkoy Sector.

"Start your initial scans, Comms", Tolen ordered. Sanders nodded and activated the short-range scanners. After a couple of minutes, Sanders turned back to Tolen.

"The immediate area is clear, Colonel", Sanders reported, "we are now switching over to medium-range scan".

"Lieutenant Annan", Tolen said next, "let both CAG's know to stand by on their patrol launches'.

"Yes, X.O.", Annan replied. She went over to Core Command and sent out the PATROL RESUMPTION STANDBY message to both Syke and Voight.

"Commander", Sanders said suddenly, "medium range scan likewise shows clear, but long-range scan has picked up something unknown at co-ordinates one-seven tarim nine-nine". He pointed to the co-ordinates on the map, which showed the extreme range of the PEGASUS' deep space scanners.

"You have any information at all on the contact?" Cain asked.

"Initial indications are that it seems metallic and appears to be the size of a capital ship, but no power emissions and no movement evident", Sanders reported.

"Could be a small mineral-rich asteroid", Tolen theorized.

"Well, if so, that's more materials for us, but let's check it out first", Cain replied. He then turned to Annan who was still at Core Command.

"It's just within raptor range so dispatch the Silver Spar ready-alert raptor to check out this contact, Lieutenant", Cain ordered, "and give the all-clear to the CAGs to resume viper patrols". Nodding, Annan turned to her console to get the order dispatched.

"Colonel", Cain said next, "I'd like you to run the debrief of the Sigma Flight patrol. Let's see if there's anything more that we can find out about this new Cylon ship".

"On my way, Commander", Tolen acknowledged, as he headed out of CIC.

"I'm leaving CIC in your hands, Comms", Cain said next, "Secure from Condition Two".

"Yes, Commander", Sanders replied, "and I'll send out the spec-probe as well".

Nodding, Cain left. Sanders gave the order to go back to Condition Three, then activated the control on the probe console, launching the spec-probe. Its job would be to jump to where the other PEGASUS probes were located and signal to them that the PEGASUS' position had changed. It would not do if the probes jumped back to the refinery where they would be greeted by a Cylon capital ship…

Sanders watched the probe on the DRADIS console as it headed out and away from the PEGASUS. When he saw it vanish off the screen, he knew that it had jumped. It's first destination would be the Boralis Sector, where the first probe was still sitting out there waiting for a follow-up to the initial acknowledgement from the Hatari Sector probe. Sanders wondered why there had been no follow-up for the two days that the PEGASUS had been sitting idle at the Cylon refinery complex. Still, all he – and the rest of the PEGASUS – could do was wait.

Down in the starboard launch bay, the Two Jasons (Newguy and Snoopy) were getting their raptor readied for departure. They had received their dispatch orders from Tricia Cain (Syke was sacked out and Tricia was on duty at Wing HQ when the Core Command order came through).

"You two had better get moving", Tricia had said after handing them their orders. noding, they went down to where their raptor was stowed and commenced their preflight routine.

"So what do you think, Snoopy?" Gorde asked Dundee as they completed their pre-flight, "this bucket of bolts ready for another trip?".

"I'm okay on this end, Newguy", Dundee replied, "so I guess we're ready to go".

Nodding, Gorde entered the cockpit with Dundee taking his position at the sensor platform. Both of them strapped into their seats. After the hatch was sealed, Gorde powered up the engines, then he activated his commlink.

"Core Command, this is Raptor Recon One powered up and ready to be elevated to flight deck", he communicated.

"Recon Raptor One, Acknowledged", Annan's voice came back.

Outside the raptor, red lights started flashing as the bay was depressurized. After thirty seconds, the flashing lights went solid red, indicating that the bay was now in a hard vacuum.

"Elevating", Annan's voice said next over the commlink.

Gorde and Dundee felt the raptor move upward as the platform below it started elevating. Above them, the ceiling panel slid away, exposing the flight deck. A few seconds later, the platform lift stopped at the flight deck level.

"All lights are green, Newguy", Dundee reported.

"Core Control to Raptor Recon One, Launch when ready", Annan communicated.

"Launching", Gorde replied as he activated the controls that activated the maneuvering thrusters.

Expertly, Gorde lifted the raptor off the flight deck and with a quick touch of the controls, the raptor left the launch bay and headed away from the PEGASUS, accelerating rapidly.

Up in CIC, Annan turned to Sanders, reporting, "Raptor Recon One has departed, Major".

Nodding, Sanders turned to the DRADIS console and monitored the progress of the raptor as it sped away from the PEGASUS.

"Well here's hoping that whatever it is they find will come in useful", Sanders commented. He had no idea how prophetic that hope would be.

On board the raptor, Dundee punched in the jump co-ordinates. The jump-point was just inside the single-jump range. After re-verifying the figures, he went up to the cockpit.

As he sat down in the co-pilot's seat, he turned to Gorde and said, "co-ordinates are punched in. You can jump when you're ready, Newguy".

"Thanks, Snoopy", Gorde acknowledged as he brought his FTL controls on line. Dundee also watched Gorde activate his weapons platform. Despite the seemingly non-hostile nature of the target, it was good to see that no chances would be taken.

"Jumping in five, four, three, two, one, JUMP", Gorde announced, hitting the control panel. The raptor made its jump.

"Recon Raptor One has jumped, Major", Annan reported. Sanders nodded. He just saw the raptor vanish from the DRADIS console.

While all this was happening, Tolen was down in Silver Spar's Wing Ready Room talking with the two viper pilots of Sigma Flight. Ensign John 'Snowman' Carpenter and Ensign George 'Tex' Gay were sitting down facing Tolen.

"That lattice-looking ship really looked weird", Carpenter commented, "We wanted to get a closer look, but then that Base Star appeared from behind it, so we took a couple of images, then skedaddled out of there before they could start scanning the area".

"It was lucky for us that the Base Star was on the other side of that other ship or else it may have picked us up on its sensors", Gay added.

"Did you pick up any transmissions?" Tolen asked next.

"We didn't pick up any sensor emissions, but there was a small amount of wireless chatter. We recorded what there was before we moved out of range", Carpenter answered, "I had one of the ground team mechanics relay that recording up to Core Command".

Tolen nodded. Perhaps when Sanders worked it through the decoder programs he had established up in CIC, there would be some light shed on that mystery vessel.

"Thanks for the debrief you two", Tolen said after reflecting on what was said for a few seconds, "You can report back to your squadron commander".

Nodding, both Ensigns stood up, saluted Tolen – who returned it – then left the Ready Room. After they left, Tolen took another look at the image of the Base Star and the mystery ship.

"What are you?" he said, wondering just what this vessel could be. He hoped that they could find the answer soon. Unknowns like this can have a disastrous potential if one did not know what one was up against…

As the effects of the FTL-jump wore off, Dundee went back aft and powered up the passive sensor platform. Gorde had jumped just short of the target co-ordinates (out of sight range, but within the range of the passive sensors) so that they would not jump into anything unexpected, like a Cylon Base Star. However, what Dundee saw on his short-range scanner screen was definitely an unexpected sight.

"I don't frakking believe it!" Dundee breathed, relaying an image of the target to Gorde's screen. Gorde briefly wondered if he had gone crazy, but the image was solid. He powered up the raptor's thrusters and headed in.

" Nor do I, Snoopy", Gorde replied, "You'd better start powering up your active sensors. The Commander is going to want to get all the information on this that he can".

Dundee brought his active sensors on line and started to record telemetry from the scans of the target, shaking his head all the while. Gorde brought the raptor in close so that the active sensors could see everything. While this was happening, both of them wondered if this was somehow unreal, but the sensors conformed what their eyes were now seeing.

"I've got it all, Newguy", Dundee reported after a few minutes, "telemetry data saved".

"What about the general area?" Gorde asked next, "If this turns out to be Cylon bait, I don't want to bring the PEGASUS into a possible trap".

"Local area is all clear", Dundee replied, "nothing else anywhere in the vicinity". Gorde breathed a sigh of relief.

"Then let's get back to the PEGASUS", Gorde said, powering the FTL back up.

Dundee deftly punched in the return-co-ordinates. Then he signaled Gorde that they were ready.

"Here we go then", Gorde announced, "jumping in five – four – three – two – one – JUMP!"

Back on board the PEGASUS, Annan noticed on her console the tell-tale signal of an FTL-emergence. The IFF code that accompanied the emergence confrimed its identity.

"Major", Annan announced, "Recon Raptor One has jumped back. Ensign Gorde is requesting communications with you".

"Punch them through, Lieutenant", Sanders ordered.

"This is Home Plate, go ahead Recon Raptor One", Sanders said.

"We are transmitting intelligence on the target, Comms", Gorde replied, "and you are not going to believe it. We can scarcely believe it ourselves!"

Sanders watched the readout on his console as the transmission relayed the telemetry from the raptor's sensor platform. His eyes widened as he took in the image. He turned and picked up a commlink, punching in the code for Commander Cain.

"Cain", the voice on the other end said.

"Commander, can you come up to CIC?" Sanders requested, "Recon Raptor One has transmitted their telemetry of their target and…. I think you'd want to see this".

"I'm on my way up", Cain said.

Five minutes later, Cain entered CIC. He walked over to where Sanders was standing with the telemetry report. Cain glanced at the papers, and then turned to Annan.

"As soon as Recon Raptor One lands, get the crew to the Silver Spar Ready Room. Have Tolen meet me there, and get Captain Vandergrift down there as well", he ordered.

"Yes, Commander", Annan acknowledged. Austin Vandergrift was the PEGASUS' Records Officer and Historian. He would be needed at this particular debrief.

"Comms", Cain ordered next, "Ready the PEGASUS to head to this location. I'm going down to debriefing".

Sanders nodded his understanding. As Cain left CIC, Annan walked over to where Sanders was standing.

"What's going on, Comms?" Annan asked. Sanders merely handed Annan an image from the telemetry readout.

"Holy Frakk!" Annan softly exclaimed.

"My thoughts exactly", Sanders agreed.

Down in debriefing, Gorde and Dundee were already seated. Tolen was there as well waiting for Cain. When Cain walked in a few minutes later, all three of them stood. Cain waved them down.

As they sat down, Vandergrift walked in. Cain looked at him.

"Captain", Cain said as he handed him a copy of the telemetry data, "Tell us what you know about the Battlestar CEREBRUS".