PART THREE
A World Unto Itself
Chapter One
If anyone were to take Bill Johns or Jahlee Rohs' pulse as they came out of translight, they would have rushed them to the hospital. Jahlee was worse of all. The Cylon rounds passing in front of the windscreen had been almost too much to bear and were definitely too close. The events on Aerilon of a week ago notwithstanding, the nearest detonation had been almost 100 clicks away…These rounds passed within less than a few meters. Even in the vacuum of space she could almost feel the rounds pass by her face. It was closer than she cared to be to anything the Cylons cared to throw at her.
The postlight board was green and Jahlee immediately re-started the FTL clock for the next jump. As Sven had done at the buoy site, she did a full roll to look all around her. Wherever they were, they were near a large asteroid with an atmosphere and within spitting distance of a yellow star. She at first thought that she ought to know this place, but if she'd been here, it had been a long time. Passive DRADIS showed clear, but then it had shown clear just minutes ago too!
"Bill…you alright back there?" She looked over her shoulder to see Johns sitting upright, both arms straight out in front of him, holding on to the support rails in front of him.
Johns contemplated his answer for a moment. He wanted to say "No, I'm NOT frakkin' alright!", but then Jahlee didn't deserve to have that dropped in her lap. Dummy him, he'd volunteered. At least they made it out of the fight in one piece, and he owed her that. He took a deep breath, let it out, then took yet another. "Yeah…yeah, I think all the pieces are where they're supposed to be, but we might need to go and get my wits back…I just got them scared the frak out of me back there!"
Jahlee wasn't going to argue that. She'd gone all her adult life without so much as a second thought about what the Cylon wars must have been like or what the consequences of another one might be. Yet here she'd been, toe-to-toe with them twice in the last 7 days now. She just hoped that this was all worth it.
"Five minutes to FTL re-spool, Bill. They put these way points in back at Menno so let me see where we are…"
Jahlee flipped up the FTL control panel cover. The display simply said "WAYPOINT 1". Rohs switched the display from "WPT NR" to "NOUN" and hit the refresh button. The display went blank for a few seconds then recycled:
"HARLOWS WORLD"
At just that moment, FoxViper 918YZ appeared about a half click off the bow of the Raptor and began a slow roll. As the nose of the Viper came to bear on the Raptor it slowly rolled wing's level with the Raptor and the wireless came active. "Well hello there, stranger…Come here often?"
Jahlee Rohs just stared for a second but then had to laugh. Thirty seconds ago this guy was in the fight for his life, and now he's cutting bad bar jokes.
"Yeah, every payday-night. How about you, Big Boy?"
"It's been a while but the bartender knows me and I can get your drinks half price…" Sven tried to keep his demeanor controlled, but truth be known he was about three seconds shy of needing to change his environment suit. "By the way, where exactly are we?"
Jahlee looked back at her panel and keyed the wireless again. "My FTL says "Harlow's World"…Why'd they bring us here, do ya think?""
Had Captain Rohs been any closer to Sven's Viper she would have seen his jaw drop.
KELLS! Sven knew in an instant that their arrival here was no accident or random occurrence. Only he would have the sense of irony to program Harlow's World as a bug-out waypoint!
"Harlow's World was to the Colonies what Armistice Station is to the Colonies and the Cylons, Jahlee! But after the Colonies finally settled their own rifts it became a tariff-free trade station. The only weapons allowed on the surface are the sidearms carried by the shore patrol and local police." Kells paused lest he let Jahlee know just exactly how and why he knew that. "If there are any other survivors inside the Perimeter, they'd be here. Kells' must've had a hunch."
Just then Bill Johns spoke up from the ECO station in the Raptor…"Captain Rohs…There's a red light flashing back here. It says "GUARD REC WARN". Is that something we need to be worried about?"
"SVEN…activate your guard receiver!" Jahlee then dashed her fingers over her own wireless control and pushed the button labeled "DISTRESS". A new voice, anxious and desperate sounding, suddenly burst through the earphones in her helmet.
"This is Harlow Approach Control transmitting in the blind. Harlow's World has been attacked. The city is gone and we're on emergency power. Can anyone hear us? We've lost contact with the Colonial network. Approximately twenty souls. Is anyone out there? This is Harlow approach listening on Distress Primary. Can anyone hear us?"
Robbins hung his head as if he'd just been 'told ya so', and he was glad no one could see the silly grin on his face. His immediate instinct was to reply to the call. The voice sounded like that of a man at the end of his rope. He was tired, scared and abandoned. Under the circumstances, however he thought better of it and clicked back over to the channel he and the Raptor had been operating on. It wouldn't be the first time the Cylons pulled such a trick to lure potential rescue ships into a trap.
"Jahlee, don't reply. Stay put…I'm going to make a recon pass and see what it looks like. I know this place. We need to make sure this isn't a trap! Stay on this channel and I will go take a look…In any case, if you don't hear from me in fifteen minutes, you bug out and don't come back!"
"Wait Sven! We should go together..!"
"No, Jahlee, stay put!…If they see one ship, they might think I'm just a straggler…But if they see a flight of two they'll know an organized force is near-by and come after us pissed off and determined…No use tipping our hand. Besides, you need to get that buoy back to Kells."
Jahlee pulled her hand back from the sublight throttles and sat back frustrated. He was right, of course, and the prospect of being in the middle of yet another bombing or firefight didn't sit well with her anyway. This time, discretion would win out over impulse. "OK. Roger that. But make sure you're here in fifteen minutes, OK?. This place gives me the heebie-jeebies!"
Robbins' smiled and double clicked his microphone in acknowledgement. He then pitched his Viper up and rolled off to Jahlee's right, headed towards the asteroid. It was only a few hundred clicks away so at the most Sven should be able to wireless back an all-clear or a warning within minutes. Either way, Jahlee had her hands on the throttles and had her FTL drive spooled up. If she had to go somewhere fast, she was ready.
Jahlee Rohs didn't like sitting and waiting, but under the circumstances, she had no choice.