CHAPTER TWENTY:

SCAVENGER HUNT

June 1st, 2012

"Gareth to Galactica, do you copy, over…"

"This is Galactica. We copy. How's it going over there?"

"We've penetrated the outer hull of the basestar. Metis should be able to, am, interface with it in about an hour."

"Very good, keep me notified. Team 2, Phil, how's it going out there?"

"Second basestar has suffered extensive hull damage, whole sections exposed to space. I don't think it's easily salvageable. Shall we move on to target 3?"

"Affirmative, send back your data anyways, we may be able to strip down the remnants for spare parts."

"Copy that. Data on its way to you now."

Athena reviewed the information and the images whilst keeping an eye on the locator beacons for the teams out among the derelicts. Metis's direct appeal to the peoples of Earth had been a sweeping success. Literally tens of thousands of experts in various fields had volunteered their services, and all they had to do to contact Metis was send an electronic message by any conventional means to an email address that it had created after usurping control of broad sections of the internet for its own use. Of course, the Galactica itself could not carry every one of them, even with the added capacity of the hijacked A-re vessel. Instead, Metis cherry-picked a select few, about two hundred of the volunteers, after extensive background checks including reviews of surveillance that the volunteers may have been in inadvertently. The stolen A-re ship was then used to ferry them up after they all agreed to converge on an isolated location in South Carolina. They had no encounters with any military aircraft or any sort of intervention.

Governments had bigger fish to fry.

After Metis's message, a record of all the events that had transpired between the Earth governments and Metis was also released. This led to uproar. Panicked citizens invaded the high places of government all around the world demanding answers and action. Some countries had already descended into anarchy, but Metis was doing its best to reassure people and telling them that true leadership would soon come. No one knew what that meant and Metis didn't care to elaborate. Whilst its daughter entity managed things on Earth and Parmita attempted to organise some armed forces units with the help of friends, Metis decided that with Cavil's fleet but weeks away that it was time to gather the fleet together. There were tens of thousands of derelicts out there with ample volunteers to crew them. With little time to spare, they located a few derelict Cylon basestars along with a stream of wreckage from other ships that had been involved in a fierce battle. The site was four jumps away in orbit of a red dwarf star that cast its eerie dull red glow across every surface.

At that moment, Athena was directing two teams that were attempting to open up direct pathways for Metis so she could quickly assess them and reactivate them if possible. The first of them was almost ready and Metis was positioning the Galactica on a parallel course.

"Team 1, Gareth speaking, we've got access. Whenever Metis is ready."

"Very good, return to the raptor and pull away to a safe distance."

She watched the symbol indicating the raptor pull away to about one kilometre out on the vast holoscreen of the CIC. Then they unfurled, Metis's tendrils weaving towards the basestar, grasping it, stabilising its spin, and then entering through the access point the engineering team had provided.

Metis spoke. "The ship is largely intact, damage to the life support system led to its abandonment. I can repair that in short order, and then a skeleton crew can pilot it back to Earth."

"Gareth should be able to perform that task."

Gareth was a Canadian engineer who was among the first to volunteer and one of the most qualified, having gotten several degrees and served in both the army and in civilianenterprises, both government and commercial. He was a no nonsense all about the job type, which suited him perfectly to the task, though he couldn't seem to contemplate Metis's strange organic nature. He would probably be more comfortable with a supercomputer. As Metis, began testing the key systems. A warning beep resounded as unknown contacts began emerging at the edge of sensor range.

"Targets identified, one basestar, smaller contacts inbound."

"Raiders?"

"Affirmative."

"Then I better get to a viper."

"None are in working order."

"What?"

"My weapons systems, they are failing to engage."

"How is that possible?"

"Uncertain, some unknown force is blocking my command routes. One moment, yes, I can activate the remaining armaments of these two basestars, long enough to provide cover for the engineering teams."

"Okay…Gareth, Phil, get back to Galactica pronto, we've got hostiles inbound."

"Affirmative, we're on our way."

"Metis, have you resolved the issue yet?"

"No, I cannot access the system. It's as if it isn't there, though I know it physically exists, much like the chamber that preserved Samuel. Raiders within weapons range of the hull…"

There was a dull rapping as ammo rebounded off the hull. Several passes later and not even a slight shudder registered. Athena asked, "Is that all?"

"My hull can withstand their ammunition for the time being. My advanced defences also appear inoperable. I have nearly activated the basestars' batteries. Opening fire in three, two, one…"

A live visual feed appeared on the holoscreen. The raiders were coming in for another pass only to be surprised by the sudden reanimation of the basestars. They were showered by multiple rounds. Three raiders were instantly torn apart whilst three more were disabled. The rest began to scatter in wild evasive manoeuvres. The basestars kept firing, picking them as they could not avoid the streams of ammo. Metis spoke. "Enemy basestar is manoeuvring into firing range. I am setting the two basestars to automatically lock on to its signature."

"Two against one, this should be fairly predictable."

"Perhaps not as much as you think. These basestars have limited ammunition remaining and are damaged. The enemy ship has a full compliment of armaments and crew and is in a healthy state of repair. Also, I have identified numerous upgrades to this basestar compared to the older models."

"Such as?"

"Observe…"

The holoscreen focused on the enemy ship. The two basestars had by now opened fire. The ammo reached the enemy ship but then a reddish blur developed and stayed in place. It appeared strongest where the ammo hit. Athena asked, "What is that?"

"A mono-directional energy shield, a crude version of the defence I had developed for the Galactica. It can only protect one side of the ship at a time due to the taxing energy demands of the system. I overcame the issue."

"How?"

"It's a long story, let's just say it involved antimatter. The basestars are depleting their remaining ammunition."

"Our teams are safely aboard, though Phil's raptor had a close shave with a raider."

"Good then we must unfortunately abandon these derelicts. I am beginning a random jump series that hopefully cannot be traced. Another series of derelicts exist in three nearby systems. Maybe we'll have better luck there."

"Let's hope…"

A massive blast erupted as a nuclear missile ripped through the nearest basestar, sending pieces of it hurtling towards the Galactica.

"Beginning jump."

The ship just cleared out before the largest pieces traversed its original location. The haze of the jump cleared and Athena regained her composure for one second before another one began, and another, and another, until they arrived at another red dwarf system, this one with a small planet in orbit. Athena asked, "What's this place?"

"A bigger challenge for our engineers, the ships here are from a humanoid society that predates the civilisation of Kobol. I believe you are familiar with them."

"I once lived among them."

"Indeed, hopefully, our motley crews can come to grips with this."

"And let's hope Parmita's having more luck than us."