Chapter 20.
The pitch in Gaeta's voice immediately caught Tigh's attention, two simple words brought him quickly to the tactical station; "Bluejay's gone!"
"Gone? What do you mean Lieutenant?" demanded the XO.
"Bluejay just launched as a replacement CAP and I was tracking his transponder when it disappeared after passing over the Gideon." The communications officer yelled out to Tigh that they were receiving an emergency transmission from the Gideon.
"Patch it through to tactical." Dualla handed Tigh the transmitter. "Gideon this is Galactica XO go ahead with your message!"
"Galactica - Gideon, you just lost a viper in one big explosion out here. One of my technicians was watching your fighter sail over us from an observation port when it exploded!"
Tigh quickly glanced towards Gaeta and ordered him to sound action stations. He thanked the Gideon for the report and switched over to the PA system.
Admiral Adama was almost to the CIC when the klaxon sounded, he quick-marched the last 150 yards, the marine guard came to attention and saluted as the admiral entered the Combat Information Center.
"What have you got XO?" asked Adama making his way over to the plotting table.
"We lost a viper shortly after it took off, according to witnesses from the Gideon, it sailed over the top of their ship and exploded. The ship is at condition 2 and I've scrambled the alert vipers to augment the CAP, and Raptor 1 for Search and Rescue (SAR)."
"We'll hold the rest of the wing in the tubes for the time being," said Adama. He hated losing any of his viper jocks. "Has the dradis picked up anything?"
"Negative admiral, neither have our raptors out on picket at the edges of this system. No sign of Cylons."
"Could the viper have collided with some space debris?"
"Not very likely, anything large enough to pose a problem for traffic gets taken out by artillery. The Gideon was very specific; they saw an explosion, not a collision."
"We'll hold at condition 2 and await a report from the SAR team."
Matthew Lensherr sat in the cockpit of his viper NEMESIS; remaining squadrons were held at the ready in the event they had to launch immediately. All he knew was that they lost a viper, and was unsure of the pilot's fate. The Landing Signals Officer (LSO) confirmed that the pilot of the doomed viper was Bluejay, the man he had an altercation with in the rec room not long ago over D'Anna. He did not like the pilot personally, and thought he was too cocky for his own good. Pride in your squadron was one thing, but the disparaging of the other three squadrons was another thing entirely, and Bluejay clearly held the belief that if you were not part of Blue squadron you were of less worth as a pilot He couldn't believe Starbuck would tolerate such an attitude in her squadron, but viper pilots were a valuable, ever-dwindling commodity, and certain negative traits were often overlooked.
His viper was ready to go at a moment's notice, and sitting in the well-worn seat of his Mk. II viper, he was at peace both physically and emotionally. The privacy screen installed in D'Anna's cell was a generous gift immediately put to use. Matt and D'Anna had made love for almost two hours before the Klaxon sounded for action stations. He could still smell her, still feel the softness of her skin, and lose himself in the green of her eyes. He knew that she was a construct, synthetic, but it did not matter to him at all. He loved her, and she loved him. He felt a strange sensation of peace fall upon him, as if he knew that in the end he and D'Anna would be okay.
Racetrack used her maneuvering thrusters to hold her position in the debris field that drifted by. She could see part of the fuselage with the beginning of the tail number of Bluejay's Mk. II viper; an ejection handle gently struck the windscreen and continued in the weightlessness of space. No sign of a body yet and Nico was already suited up and attaching a steel guideline to his harness for his spacewalk. After depressurizing the compartment, Nico opened up the hatch and stepped out onto the fuselage; magnetic boots holding him firmly to the decking.
"You all set Sleepwalker?" asked Racetrack over the comline.
"Ready!" he replied.
"Than get your ass out the door, you're letting in the cold." Junior Lieutenant Nico Stratos depressed a switch on his gauntlet and his boots demagnetized. He pushed off the fuselage in the direction of the debris field of what was left of viper number 2240, tethered to the raptor by a steel cable. The biggest piece was no larger than one meter; whatever blew the 27-foot star fighter apart was powerful. He pushed aside some of the burnt debris, searching for anything that remotely looked like it might have come from the cockpit. He felt the impact against his thigh and turned to look at what struck him. His eyes widened in horror as a burnt helmet floated up before his eyes. The explosion must have severed the head from the body; Nico was surprised to see that the head was still present within it, and unnerved to see that Bluejay's eyes were wide-open, mouth contorted in some sick display of pain and horror, as if he knew he was going to die violently.
"Oh frak, Bluejay's melon just bounced of my gods-damned leg!"
"Calm down kid!" said Racetrack curtly. "Now secure the brain bucket in your bag and look around for pieces of the cockpit. If we can recover the black box or hard drive we might be able to piece together what happened."
Placing the helmet and its cargo into the large collection bag strapped to his side, Nico moved on to what seemed like a piece of the nose. He was not a viper pilot so he was not exactly sure what he was looking at. Once he got closer, the mangled wreckage held exposed circuit boards and badly damaged instrumentation. This was exactly what he was looking for. He grabbed hold of the debris, and toggled his communicator.
"Racetrack – Sleepwalker, reel me in…I have it!" The cable snapped to life and pulled him back to the waiting raptor. Once aboard, they returned to Galactica for their cargo to be inspected by forensics.
Cronus - Six hours to fleet departure.
Adama found Mazzax in the temple of Apollo. He looked deep in thought and he wished he did not have to disturb his peace. His gauntleted hands clasped behind his back, eyes closed as if in prayer. Bill decided to give him his peace and quietly turned around, he would come back later.
"No need to leave admiral, I was expecting you." Said Mazzax turning around. "General Xalain informs me that your fleet is fully supplied and prepared to resume its journey to Earth."
"That would be correct, overlord. I wanted to come down and personally thank you for all you and your people have done for us. You have given the people of the fleet new hope, and a change from algae-based foodstuff."
"May all the gods bless you and keep you safe on the journey, and may the strong arm of Apollo guide you to your destination."
"Thank you overlord, it's unfortunate that we cannot stay longer, there is much to learn from each other, but the Cylons are an ever-present threat and have been one step behind us since we left the colonies. I could not put your people in jeopardy."
"I must say that I will miss the company of Captain DeAlma, young 'Poseidon' is a treasure trove of knowledge in regard to our shared religion and historical events of early life on Kobol. I think she will be kept sufficiently busy with the gift I presented to her on behalf of the people of Cronus; replications of ancient Kobolian scrolls regarding the god of the sea himself; almighty Poseidon."
"I must admit my familiarity with the ancient religion is not what I would like it to be, but I do know that Poseidon was not written about in any great lengths."
"That should tell you how rare a text young Captain DeAlma has in her possession." Replied Mazzax smiling. Adama came to attention and bowed his head slightly in respect to the ruler of Cronus. Mazzax merely smiled and pulled the gauntlet off his right hand and extended it in Adama's direction. "I believe this is a fitting, and customary gesture when greeting or bidding someone farewell, is it not?"
Adama smiled, and stepped forward to reply, "Yes it is!" and grasped the extended hand. "Thank you again sir, and may the gods grant you and your people long life." Adama left the temple with his marine escort in tow. Boarding the raptor, he belted himself into the bench seat and looked out the windscreen for the final time.
Aboard the Eastern Alliance destroyer, Commandant Leiter had received word from the lead baseship that they would be jumping to a new sector that contained a unique celestial anomaly; a yellow super giant eclipsing binary. In all of his travels, he had never heard of such a thing much less seen one. Leobin, as usual, was present on the bridge. It was as if the man never slept, thought Leiter. He was feeling uneasy about the bargain they had struck with the Cylons, there was something about the older Cylon Cavil that he did not trust, and there was something about Leobin that he feared.
From the time that he was a private in the Eastern Alliance military, Leiter had a ruthless reputation. As he rose through the ranks, his reputation preceded him, and grew exponentially. By the age of 25, he had brutally killed his first human being, and soon he held the rank of commandant, and commanded his own wolf pack of destroyers. He was accustomed to being feared. Leobin clearly did not fear him, if anything he seemed amused by him and the Eastern Alliance, it was something that made Leiter very uneasy.