Salvage Operations – Hunt for Battlestar Pegasus
T-Plus Seventeen Days from Geodesic Jump
Four hundred eighteen hours, that was the current time; why am I awake at this time, simple I have been unable to get a sound sleep for the past nine days. The reason for my restless sleep is the reports from Lt. Anderson, for the past nine days Cylon patrols have jumped within two lights minutes of our mining operations. We have been lucky thus far, but after conferring with Mister Doral and our newest resident Cylon Miss Baker; it is now only a matter of time before the Cylons locate the fleet.
The salvage operations to secure and transport the damaged Colonial-Cylon ship have gone smoothly thus far, Miss Baker walked us through the ship and we have managed to restore life support and gravity systems. We have yet to officially inform the Colonials of the ship located in planetary orbit of the second planetoid, when I had made mention of the ship's possible origin to Commanders Caine and Walters; they agreed that for the time being only crew from the Aurora should be involved. This has allowed us to rely on Miss Baker for information that we can not gleam with Colonial salvage workers. We have also determined that the ship 'which has been named Savior' contains a Geodesic Fold Drive similar in design to our own; Dr. Myers has already begun her analysis. The weapons are closer to Colonial standards but still carry Lantean influence in their design, and the normal space engines are true sub-lights in functionality.
The Savior's systems appear to operate on the principal of molecular programming within a crystalline-silicon base; this should allow us to combine current Colonial technology into the system for easier operation of the ship. Miss Baker has been having a difficult time with the Salvage Operations, primarily due to the memories she carries about the Savior's former crew; Lt. Johnson has been helping her through this ordeal. I am also faced with a dilemma in regards to the fleet's continued safety; several of the civilian ships have asked for permission to jump into the system to help with mining operations. I have been thus far lucky that the Colonial military has agreed with my recommendations to keep to only armed ships in system; but I am uncertain of how long that will continue, we may have to install a sensor pack from one of the Jumpers onboard of the Zeus. This might be our only option in regards to continued survival of the fleet, with the Aurora, Zeus and Savior acting as lookouts we should be able to determine when any hostiles get close.
Lt. Anderson is compiling a database based off of the subspace pulse waves that appear to be generated by the Jump drive's usage. He is certain that we will be able to track any ship that is moving within sensor range, but due to the hyperspace and subspace interference we will only have an operational range of roughly two hundred light years. Ensign Corman has informed me that this will also interfere with our communications, anything within range for the Colonial-Cylon systems will not be of issue; but it is beyond the eighty-six light year range that the interference starts to affect comms. I have to wonder how Kobol received the evacuation signal through all of the hash in subspace, and the bigger question is if this hash is natural or artificial in origin. Mister Doral is of the opinion that the hash is artificial in nature, while Lt. Simmons from the Astrometrics Department is certain that it is a natural occurrence in this galaxy.
It has been with Mister Doral's assistance that we have been able to locate additional survivors from the holocaust, he has provided to us transponder codes that allow the Raptors to appear as Heavy Raiders on Cylon Dradius. We have been running recon missions for the past five days, searching for any additional ships amongst the neighboring systems while a few have jumped back to the Colonies to retrieve as much information and supplies as possible. Commander Mitchell has volunteered the Valkyrie to test out the Cylon codes to see if we have managed to mimic the data for a Cylon Basestar, thus far we have managed to avoid informing them that the codes are provided by Cylons and not generated by the Aurora. We have also confirmed that the G Bomb has dissipated and that the Cylon Task Force that jumped into Picon orbit has been damaged but not destroyed.
The most interesting news had arrived yesterday; the Battlestar Pegasus had been spotted jumping clear from a raid on a Cylon staging area. The Raptor had managed to rescue nine surviving pilots before they had to return to the fleet; the pilots are going to be officially debriefed within the next six hours on the Anchorage. They were surprised to find that the Picon Anchorage had not only survived the battle near Picon, but has been retrofitted with Jump Drives in order for her to move with the fleet. The reports from them so far state that the Pegasus performed a blind jump away from the shipyard she was docked at for refit, after which the ship was repaired and resumed combat operations against the Cylons. Admittedly the smartest move would be to repair the ship, but than instead of continuing combat they should have sent out recon teams to scout out possible resources for further use and to secure a home base for future operations.
Rear Admiral Helena Cain apparently has no practical experience in wartime conditions, Commander Walters confirmed my theory when he informed me that Colonial Standard Operating Procedure is for the Pegasus to secure a region of space and to operate under the assumption that they are deep in enemy territory. After comparing Star Forces SOP and Colonial SOP, I have discovered that even with their lack of war time experiences they have the correct line of thinking for holocaust conditions for the fleet. This brings up more questions than answers in regards to the Colonials past, but the issue that we will be facing after the debriefing is when we are going to attempt to unite the fleet with Pegasus. I will have to prepare to deal with Admiral Cain, I am certain that the majority of the fleet Commanders and civilian Captains will attempt to be a buffer between the Admiral and myself.
Nearly six hours later I find myself walking through the Anchorage to the Conference Room that we will be using for the pilot debriefing; I am being escorted by one of the Colonial Officers who had been treated by Hiendol for radiation poisoning. "Sir, I would like to thank your Life-Station staff again for saving my life." I smile at him, I guess that there will be people throughout the fleet who will be continuing to thank us for no other reason than that they feel the need even when there is no reason to do so, "I will pass along your thanks. Let me ask you, what do you think of this situation with the Pegasus; I am asking for your personal opinion, not for a military officer's opinion." He looks back and forth for a moment before leaning closer and whispers, "Sir, to be honest I feel a little uncomfortable with the whole thing; I was on the Pegasus once, Admiral Cain seemed to be quite the commanding officer. But with the holocaust I don't know, you see I am her cousin from her mother's side of the family; the Admiral, she always seemed uptight about everything and after what happened back home with the Cylons nuking us." I put my hand up to stop him from saying anything further, "I understand; this conversation about Admiral Cain never happened am I understood?" He quickly saluted in confirmation of my order; we continue our track down the corridor "What is your name son?" With an innocent question at face value you can learn much about a person through their answer, "Sir, Lt. Jonas Miller sir." I nod my thanks as we near the conference room, the Lt. signals the marine guards to open the hatch and allow me passage.
As I enter the room I notice that Commanders Caine and Walters appear to have an odd scowl upon their faces while, I move over to the table to join them. "Commander, I am glad you can join us; there is something you should know before we begin the review." I look at Commander Caine, puzzling what has developed here on the Anchorage that would require me to be informed about. As I sit I motion for Caine to continue, "You see Commander; one of the pilots that have been rescued by the Recon Raptor has reported that one of our Medical Techs is on the Pegasus. Only thing is that he has clearly stated that she is actually one of the civilian contractors who were assigned to the Pegasus refit." This might be an issue, more than likely one of the Cylon Infiltrators had managed to get onboard of the Pegasus; but the question is who, I can get the med-tech to the Aurora under the pretense of being safer for her incase the pilot is mistaken. The question of what model is on the Pegasus still remains, "Commanders did the pilot mention a specific name and which of the fleet med-techs is in question about being on the Pegasus?" Commander Walters looked at the report; my guess is that the med-tech in question is on the Zeus, "Miss Julia Summers, she has been on the Zeus for the past two and a half years. The pilot, a Lt. Summers oddly enough claims that Miss Summers is on the Pegasus under the name of Gina Knight." Commander Walters is clearly uncomfortable with someone claiming that one of his trusted crew is lying about who they really are, luckily Miss Summers is one of the fifth column Cylons; her model series number six. I wonder who the Cylons would try to seduce with a model number six infiltrator, but for now I need to focus on the matter at hand. "Commander, I am not taking sides but perhaps it will be better for everyone concerned if Miss Summers be temporally transferred to the Aurora. With what the Cylons have done, I do not want to risk people being injured just because someone thinks that they look like another person; for all we know it is a doppelganger effect of genetics." Walters turns and orders one of the aids in the room with us to retrieve the transfer forms, I guess the mention of genetic doppelgangers pushed the right buttons to keep them from thinking Cylon for the time being.
As the aid left the room, the marine guards opened the main door and the pilots walked in; each wearing the standard blue Colonial uniform. As they took their seats, I noticed that they keep giving me strange glances, must be the uniform of the Star Forces. Commander Caine started speaking the moment all the pilots were seated. "Good, now that everyone is present we can begin. This review has been assembled in order for the commanding officers of the fleet to debrief the rescued Viper pilots from the Colonial Battlestar Pegasus." Commander Caine looked over the report in his hands before looking up, "Lt. Summers, standup and identify yourself to this review board." The young Lieutenant stood at attention, "Sir, Lt. First class Evan Summers; assigned to the Colonial Battlestar Pegasus, service number T5-33915-Q53 under the command of Admiral Cain sir." Lt. Summers looked at each of us in turn before stopping on me with a scowl on his face that could have matched Caine's and Walters' from before the review. "Sirs, with your permission; can the man at Commander Caine's left identify himself?" I saw no reason to deny his request for my identity, "Commander Phoenix, commanding officer of the Warship Aurora of the Galactic Star Forces. Is there any questions you have before we continue with this review, Lieutenant?" The Lt. looked back to his comrades and then returned his gaze to me, "Yes Sir, why are you a civilian doing on a military review board?" Caine slammed his fist on the table, "Watch your mouth Lieutenant, or should I call you Private? Commander Phoenix is a military officer and you and your comrades will know this much, if it weren't for the Galactic Star Forces the people of this fleet and by extension yourselves would be dead now; I suggest you keep that in mind." The pilots visibly wilted under Caine's rant, they must have all been thinking that I am a civilian; guess they are not use to different branches of military forces.
It took several minutes for Caine to calm down but after he had we resumed with the young lieutenant informing us of the Pegasus' current mission. Apparently Admiral Cain had decided that the Pegasus would perform tactical raid strikes against the Cylons and the raid on the staging area had been classified as such. That would leave the lone battlestar with some heavy damage, especially if they did not take into account fighting larger numbers on the battlefield. Through the lieutenant's report, we had managed to gleam enough information to make the decision to locate and reunite Pegasus into the fleet. We needed to go on to the next officer in line and so Caine, "Thank you Lieutenant, you may have a seat; the next officer…" but Lt. Summers did not move from his position. Before Caine could repeat his request Lt. Summers looked at me and "Sir, just what is the Galactic Star Forces? I am certain that it is not a military force such as the Colonial Fleet, so I ask you want makes you think that you have the right to sit on a military review board?" I quickly signal my fellow commanders before this could get out of hand; I guess some more information about the Star Forces are in order, but I will keep area and name specifics out for the time being. "Lt. Summers, I fully understand your feelings here; having someone whom you have no idea if you can even trust sitting before you as if to pass judgment is unnerving. The Galactic Star Forces is the military arm of what many back in my home region of space call the Great Races Alliance; we cover an area of space that holds mainly civilian controlled worlds and ships, in a way a different form of the Colonies and Colonial Fleet." Everyone in the room save for the nine pilots seemed more than accepting of my explanation, but the young man before continued to push for answers.
"Sir, to be honest your answer leaves out a lot of information; for starters where is your home world, what is the general direction of your territory and then of course the size of your fleet and the area of space that you cover? Now if you can answer those questions, perhaps I can start trusting you but for as far as I know you are a Cylon; and you are planning on betraying this fleet." Okay, now this has opened a can of worms that I have been hoping to avoid for at least until we could catch up with the Galactica; now I am left with little options but to impart somewhat detailed information. "Before we continue I would like to have Captain Joshua Gaeta present and before you ask he has been given access to our non-classified data." As one of the aids picked up the comm. to contact Captain Gaeta, the pilots looked to one another trying to see what might happen next while Commanders Caine and Walters seemed to be interested in what I will say.
After nearly twelve minutes Captain Gaeta entered the room and stood before us, "Sirs, you wanted to see me?" Caine and Walters nodded for me to take control, I looked to Gaeta and said "Yes Captain, the rescued pilots have been kind enough to claim that I could be a Cylon. I wanted you present in order to have someone outside of the Star Forces confirm what I am going to say." Gaeta looked surprised by what has been happening and looked to everyone in the room before asking, "Sir, are you going to tell them about 'that world'?" I nodded my head somewhat before replying "Not fully but some, remember than not all things remain the same for history and the old saying 'History is written by the victorious' does apply." Gaeta looked at me with realization dawning on his face, he knew that I would not tell them everything but the confirmation that I am going to leave out anything that could shatter their culture did help. I stood and looked to the Colonial officers, "What I am about to say will seem farfetched, but I promise you that it is truthful and that Captain Gaeta has been informed about this after his official posting to the Aurora. The Star Forces are comprised of three varying peoples, the first being the Tua'ri followed by Lanteans and Asgard; together we work to protect and explore regions of space throughout the known galaxies. The Aurora's arrival near Armistice was an accident, we were testing our version of the Jump Drive when we appeared nearly thirty light minutes from the Armistice Station. For us, this is an unexplored region space; in short if it were not for the Colonies the Aurora would be looking for a nearby habitable planet in order to locate our position in space."
For a few moments everyone in the room, save for me and Gaeta remained frozen in shock of my statement, but it is Caine who is the first to react by saying "Doesn't really change a thing from my perspective. So what if you got here by accident, you showed up, you helped save us and now we are traveling together; if anything it only means that we need to depend on each other just that much more." Walters and others in the room openly agreed with Caine, all except for the pilots before us. We began to continue when suddenly my comm. unit beeped at me, I quickly answer "This is Commander Phoenix go ahead."
Commander, Aurora here; we have confirmed Cylon basestars two point five light minutes out from the fleet. Sir they are massing raiders as we speak, all indications point to an immediate attack on the fleet.
"XO, begin fleet wide jump prep and have all Defenstars move into position to cover the fleet."
Yes Sir, ordering all ships to perform jump prep; should I recall the salvage teams?
"Yes and inform Miss Baker that unless they can get the fold drives running in time to jump with the fleet, that they are to make best speed with the Jumpers and rejoin us before the Aurora jumps."
Before Christina could respond the hatch swung open and one of the marines was screaming, "hold him down, my gods what's happening?" The person that the marines were fighting with appeared to be one of the Cylon models that Doral had informed me that they have been unable to locate all of the sleeper agents. Then he quickly threw the marines off and moved into the room with a sidearm raised and pointing towards us at the table. The look on his face showed no emotion, it was like he was a puppet being controlled; a model four Cylon that was at the other end of the room moved with purpose the moment the sidearm pointed at me. As he moved the 'Leoben' series as they preferred to be called, yelled out "No Seven, don't do it" and jumped his fellow Cylon forcing him to the deck. The sidearm slid clear of the two struggling Cylons, I moved from my position and quickly order "XO, prepare for immediate site to site transport; lock on to me and Captain Gaeta." I turn to see Gaeta joining me in an attempt to grab the model seven Cylon, together we managed to grab him for a moment before both Leoben and Gaeta were thrown to deck. Before anyone could act the klaxons sounded, that meant that the fleet was jumping out clear of the inboard attackers but I had to focus on the Cylon before me as he moved to grab my throat. Just as I managed to intercept his hand an odd sound filled the room for a moment and the Cylon dropped to the deck with a hole in his leg. I turn to see Miss Summers standing in the hatchway pointing a Colonial sidearm at her Cylon brother, her hands shaking from freight as she screamed at him. Leoben, Gaeta and I took the chance and grabbed him before he could react and attack us; as we held him down Leoben turned his head to Miss Summers and shouted "Six hurry, we need to get him under and quickly."
Miss Summers moved to join us and opened the bag attached to her uniform, pulling out a needle she injected a solution into the seven we were attempting to hold down. I knew we did not have much time before the Anchorage would jump and join the fleet at the emergency coordinates. "XO, do you have a lock on me and Captain Gaeta? We have three others with us, we need emergency transport to Medical and have a Security Team there now." I extend me right arm and grab Miss Summers before shouting "Initiate transport." The sound of the Asgard Transport Beam rang true and we were engulfed in the bright light of the matter stream, mere milliseconds later we appeared in Medical. The Security Team quickly took our place holding the sleeper agent Cylon and with Hiendol's order moved him to one of the med-beds and secured him with a restraining shield. I moved to join Hiendol when the ship-wide called me to the bridge; I make way to the bridge with Gaeta, Leoben and Miss Summers in tow. We arrive just in time to see the Anchorage jump out, leaving only the Defenstars and the Aurora. "XO status report," as I move to my command chair and take my seat, Christina turns to me and "Sir, fleet jump at eighty-seven percent. All that is left is us, the Defenstars and the Savior." The Defenstars begin their jump sequence just as the Cylons jump into attack range; with little choice we begin target them. As the Cylons begin launching missiles Lt. Anderson "Sirs, new contact; it's the Savior, she just jumped in behind the Cylons." It was then that Ensign Corman informed us of an opened connection from the Savior to all ships, I ordered for us to hear it on the overhead.
Attention Cylon ships, this is the Savior; Major Smith currently commanding. We are requesting that you stand down and allow our fleet to jump clear of this system.
"This is Cylon model Number One, the ship you are calling Savior belongs to the Cylon Empire. We will give you five minutes to disembark from that ship and return to your fleet, but know this much you are to leave immediately and leave any technology onboard of the ship."
Now this was unacceptable, leaving technology behind on the Savior would be tantamount to giving the Cylons the Aurora herself. As I was about to respond another voice emerged on the connection.
No, Number One you are out of line with that request; additionally the Savior belongs to the Thirteenth Tribe of Man, not the Cylon Empire. The members of the Star Forces can leave at any time they want and I will not allow you to threaten them.
"Number Eight, what are you doing they're humans and humans are the enemy; god has commanded that the human race be destroyed. You are to stand down and allow two Heavy Raiders to dock immediately; once the Savior is secured you will be dealt with."
No, you're wrong; humans are not the enemy and my name is Catherine Baker, I am a proud member of the human race and a nano-cell cyborg. Any attempt by you to take this ship will be met with force, the Savior will protect our cousins from the Twelve Colonies of Kobol and we will stand beside the Warship Aurora of the Galactic Star Forces.
Miss Baker, what exactly are you planning; but at least this is buying time for the remaining ships to jump out the rendezvous. I motion for Ensign Corman to send a data burst to the Savior with the jump coordinates and than to connect me. "Attention Cylon ships, this is Aurora; as Miss Baker has already stated that the Savior will stand beside the Aurora, I am requesting peaceful communications be opened between the Aurora and the Cylon Empire." The connection was silent for several moments before the conversation resumed with the Cylons providing an answer to my request.
"Why should we even listen to your requests, you're human and as thus you are the enemy. Even with your weapons you can not hope to defeat this task force before you, perhaps if you surrender now we might let your crew live."
I am somewhat hesitant in my response, waiting for the remaining ships from the fleet to jump clear; as the last one jumps I respond. "Number One is it, for your knowledge I am a member of the Lantean species. You can say we are a very distant cousin of humans, further more the only humans onboard of the Aurora at this time is two Colonial officers. The crew of the Aurora and as of this time the current crew on the Savior save for Miss Baker are from the planet Earth." This should get the Cylons attention, now to await their response to my claims.
"You are claiming to be the Thirteenth Tribe that is the most amusing thing I have ever heard from a human. Perhaps you will tell me where Earth is?"
"I do not see why not, the Earth is located in the Orion Spiral Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy and is roughly fifty million light years from this galaxy." And now for some added spice to give the Cylons some incentive for peace between them and the Colonials, "Additionally we have confirmed that the Thirteenth Tribe lives in this galaxy and is on a similar level of development that once existed on Kobol."
"So your saying that the Thirteenth Tribe is just entering the modern age of society, and that Earth is not even in this galaxy. I believe that you are trying to buy time for your fleet to ambush our ships, and as for you Eight know this you will be boxed for this offence do you understand?"
Yo butt-boy, you threaten the lady like that again and I will show you why the name Lt. Samuel Johnson is feared by the enemies of the Star Forces and respected by the Jaffa Free Nation. Just so you know, I don't care if you're also a nano-cell cyborg like myself; no-one and I mean no-one talks to Catherine like that, you better watch yourself from now on.
My holo-interface appeared and showed me a text message from the Savior stating that she is ready to jump to the fleet. Deciding that this little talk is over, "Okay other than that I have only one word to say as a closing argument; and that word is 'JUMP'." The moment that word left my mouth both the Savior and Aurora initiated the jump sequence taking us clear of the Cylon task force. As the flash fades from the Jump we can once again confirm the presence of the fleet before us, only this time the Savior is there flying along side as both our ships move to rejoin the fleet. Ensign Corman bows her head for a moment before turning to me and the XO, "Sirs, I have the Anchorage on a connection; they want to talk about what happened and about the Savior." I signal for the connection to be established and for the Savior to also be connected.
Aurora this is Anchorage Control please respond.
"Anchorage Control, this is Aurora we hear you; are Commanders Caine and Walters present?"
We're here Aurora Actual what happened in the conference room, one minute your struggling to hold down what could be a Cylon and the next the five of you disappear in a column of light.
"I apologize, but we had to get Mister Seven to Medical as quickly as possible; what the light was, that is what we call the Asgard Transport Beam. It allows us to move matter between two points in space without the use of a ship, thou we still prefer the use of Jumpers for ship to ship movement."
I see, just a moment Commander Walters.
'This is Commander Walters, is Miss Summers there?'
"She is present on the Bridge, but I suggest that we meet on the Aurora to discuss the events that took place earlier with our Cylon friend in Medical."
Agreed Commander.
'I also agree, but I would like to have Miss Summers present in the meeting.'
"Confirmed, Savior I want both Miss Baker and Lt. Johnson onboard the Aurora for the meeting."
"Confirmed Sir, we will have them on board Aurora within the hour. With permission sirs, I would like to dock the Savior within the Anchorage dock; we still have systems that need to be brought online before any extended flight."
Savior Actual, you will be cleared for docking within the next five minutes; bring her in son and don't worry I will have repair teams standing by.
"Confirmed Sir and thank you, Savior out."
Commander we will see you in one hour, Picon Anchorage out.
Now it is going to be difficult to say the least, but at least I am not going to be alone on this one. "XO, the moment Lt. Johnson and Miss Baker are on board, I want them brought straight to conference room one." Christina acknowledges my order and I leave the Bridge with Leoben, Miss Summers and Captain Gaeta in tow, moving to my office to prepare for this newest meeting. As we enter, I turn to Gaeta and begin to explain the presence of what is now confirmed Cylons on board the Aurora. After nearly twenty minutes of explaining the divisions within Cylon Society, Captain Gaeta appears to be more accepting of our Cylon allies. With that out of the way, we can now focus on preparing for the meeting in forty minutes, hopefully the meeting will allow us to from a possible peace between the fifth column Cylons and the Colonial people of the fleet. This is going to be a very long meeting.