Chapter 11: The Odin Vaults Pt. 1

Things were eerie calm as Valkyrie jumped from the fleet to Kobol once again.

"Jump complete," Lt. Burton called out. "Confirmed arrival in high orbit over Kobol."

"Very good," I replied casually. "Launch the CAP and start the search. Let's see if we can find these Odin Vaults in a timely manner."

Lt. Colonel Sokolov shared a sardonic smile with me. After weeks of searching before the Pegasus arrived she wasn't expecting to just discover it anytime soon. To be honest, neither way I.

I shared a look with her. Maybe we'll get lucky this time.

Doubt it, she replied back.

There was the most subtle of shudders in the deck plating as the viper patrol was launched. Poor things were good planes for what they were but in all of sci-fi they seemed like the odd man out. The unloved, beaten redheaded stepchild of the omniverse. I wondered what kind of planes the 13th Tribe were flying, if they were superior or inferior or equal to the vipers we were flying or the raiders the Cylons were.

Lt. Burton arrived at my side with a map of the system. He laid it out over the tactical plot and I couldn't resist giving an annoyed sigh as I examined it.

"Oki doki," I said. "Where do we search next?"

"Well, we could start examining the lesser asteroids," Lt. Burton replied. He gestured at the small icy gas giant sitting in the outer system. "They're pretty desolate. Lots of rogue asteroids that were captured with no major resources nearby. If I was building an armageddon vault I'd put it there."

"Maybe," I said. "Okay let's send Xerxes and Paladin over and see what…"

My words trained off as a slender finger slid across the map and sat on Kobol. I followed the finger up an arm covered in a flight suit and found a wet Boomer angel staring at me.

"Uhm… sir?" Lt. Burton asked.

"Actually," I said, not taking my eyes off of the Boomer angel. "Let's try something different. Get me the survey map of Kobol."

Burton seemed confused but complied with my order. The map of Kobol was brought up and I finally broke eye contact with the angel to look at her pointing finger. She was pointing at a valley that probably at one point had been home to an idyllic village or small town.

Going off a feeling I reached out with my own finger and touched the Boomer angel's. I looked her in the eye again. She smiled at me and nodded.

I blinked and she was gone.

"There," I said. "That's where we'll find the Odin Vault."

Burton, Sokolov, and every other sailor on the bridge fixed me with a queer look.

"You're sure, sir?" Sokolov asked.

"Dead certain," I replied. "Let's get a raptor survey team down there immediately. Three birds with marines on board."

"Yes, sir," Sokolov said and looked to Lt. Burton.

I then announced quietly, "I'm going down with them."

You could hear a pin drop in the silence that came in the wake of those words.

"Sir, I don't think that's wise," Sokolov said.

"Maybe not," I acknowledged with a shallow nod. I looked her dead in the eye when I said, "I'm going down with the survey party."

"Begging the Commander's pardon, may I ask why?"

"You can ask," I said in that manner of voice that said I wasn't going to explain myself. I held Sokolov's gaze and she nodded. I said, "You have the ship, Colonel."

"Yes, sir," she said. "I have the ship."

"How long has it been since you flew a Raptor, sir?"

I was taken out of my headspace by the words of my pilot. His callsign was Xerxes but his name was Robert "Bobby" Coletrain.

"A long ass fracking time ago," I replied with a smile as the memories of Alexander Wolfkill surfaced and took control. "I spent my first tour of duty flying a bus like this. It was only in my second tour that the CO thought I was cooled down enough to be trusted with a Viper. This was back when the Mark 5 was the hottest shit in town."

"So roughly when the Argo came to the Colonies?" he retorted. We shared a smile that lightened up the atmosphere of the Raptor. It was pretty damned cramped in here, even though it was just me, Xerxes, Xerxes' copilot, and three marines. I was in the copilot's seat as we taxied out of the Valkyrie's hangar deck elevator and prepared for take off.

"About then," I replied, wondering if this transition or merging of personalities had killed the original Alexander Wolfkill, or if he was currently living in my body back home on the OG Earth. If so I owed that guy several beers for dealing with the mess I'd made of my life.

The trip down to Kobol was uneventful. No Cylon fighters suddenly jumped us like in canon, though this time we did have a viper escort going down. We landed in the valley I'd pointed out. The marines were first out, followed by me.

Kobol was a bleak place. There was no greenery at all. No blue skies with white clouds. Only shades of grey everywhere you looked.

"This place is a shithole," one of the marines groused.

"Agreed," I replied as I looked about. There wasn't a whole lot to see except for dirt and gravel along with the dead husks of trees.

"It's sad, isn't it?" the Boomer angel asked me, suddenly appearing at my side. "The people they worship were more wasteful and undeserving than they deserved. They killed a whole planet over what? Greed? Spite?"

"I don't particularly care," I muttered, making sure none of the others could hear me. "The past is the past. You going to do something useful or just talk about how much humans suck at me?"

The angel looked at me and said, "All this has happened before. All this will happen again."

"No," I said, shaking my head as memories of the new Earth and its idiocy filled my mind. "I'm breaking the cycle. Now, you going to help me or not?"

The Boomer angel quirked a disbelieving eyebrow at me but said nothing. Instead she started walking down towards the tiny stream that had once been a riverbed.

"On me," I said over my shoulder to the landing party. "I know the way to go."

The landing party seemed confused but indulged their CO. They followed me as I followed the angel.

"I gotta ask," I said quietly when close enough to the Boomer angel. "Why me?"

"Why you what?" the Boomer replied.

"Why was I chosen? Why the Valkyrie?"

"The Valkyrie is the chooser of the slain. The worthy ones who will go to Valhalla and fight for mankind in the Final Days."

I blinked as my mind made the connection.

"Wait, so I died? Back on Earth? And the ship chose me?"

Boomer nodded.

What the actual frak?