FOUR

Dewayne Kells entered the Ready Room a few minutes before the briefing was due to begin. In the back, Specialist Kevin Payge and Bekka Robbins were chatting and preparing the video player that would project the maps for the crews. On the far wall was Senior Chief Alyssya Teague with Plane Captain Jennie Yoder and two of the other deck crew. Bekka Robbins' face lit up when she saw Kells enter the room. She put the remote for the TV into Kevin Payge's hand and bounced across the room.

"Uncle Dwiggy! I'm so happy to see you! What are you doing here?"

The Marine gave Bekka a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Bekka was his God-Daughter, afterall, and although he'd been on Menno for these many days now, he'd only had a brief moment to see her twice since.

"I just wanted to talk to your dad and Captain Rohs for a moment. I need to talk to him about this mission…Have you seen him?"

Bekka shook her head vigorously. "Nope! He was in his apartment a couple of hours ago. Come to think of it, wasn't he supposed to be with you?"

"Yeah…we were…then he got a phone call from Captain Rohs." At just that moment, Captain Jahlee Rohs entered the room with Will Cately and Brad Westling. "Speak of the Devil!"

The freighter captain made eye contact with the Gunner from across the room, and he beckoned her to come over. She tugged on Will Cately's jacket then headed over towards the Marine. "Hey Dewayne…You look like a man on a mission…What's up?"

"That's it exactly…I'm not…."

At just that moment, Sven Robbins entered the Ready Room. "Youse guys start without me?" he asked jokingly. But it only took a moment see that his friend wasn't in too joking of manner. The Gunner's mood appeared a bit more somber than he was prepared for.

"OK..what's up?" Robbins asked.

"It's like this, Sven…I can't get Alastair's concerns out of my mind. Something isn't right and I think we ought to re-write the flight plan." Robbins knew Kells could be stubborn, but this was something else.

"OK…What's got you spooked, Buddy?" Sven knew Dewayne to be a bit cautious, at times, but there was serious concern in his tone.

"I dunno…I can't finger it, but I think we used up a lot of our good Karma on the insertion…I'm just afraid that we're going into a bad situation and it's gonna be in everyone's best interests if we re-think this a bit."

Now Sven was obviously confused. Concern was one thing, acting on an ill-defined hunch was another. Maybe it was old age getting to him?

The security chief moved over to one of the recliners and sat back. "OK…We're three hours from launch. What kind of 're-thinking' did you have in mind?"

"Sven…I just don't know. But I think that conversation we had with Alastair this morning has made me…well…a bit more guarded." The Gunner looked around him and suddenly realized that he might not be making a lot of sense.

"OK…Here's my idea. Jahlee flies the Raptor like we planned, but we put Brad Westling up front with her. I ride shotgun in a Viper."

"And I am…?!" Dewayne's omission of Sven's place in the mission was glaring.

"You're back here in a Ready Viper to cover our return. I think it's important that you not leave The Rock right now unless it's absolutely necessary." It was apparent to Jahlee Rohs and Brad Westling that the Gunner was tip-toeing around something that he and Sven were party to but they weren't.

Robbins saw the confounded look on Rohs' and Westling's faces but couldn't fill them in right then. "There's been some developments, Jahlee. Dewayne and I will brief you later, OK?"

The BeeCee's skipper could only give a confused shrug. "OK by me, whatever the mystery is! But it would help if I knew what conversation it was that you're talking about" said the freighter captain. "But hey, I'm all about peace through superior firepower. I'll take the Gunner in a Viper anytime. Besides, I never knew anyone that came out of a fight worse for wear for having a bigger knife than the other guy!" Sven was taken a bit aback by the knife comment. He knew that Captain Rohs wasn't anyone to trifle with in a Raptor, but the idea of the diminutive freighter captain in a knife fight was a bit hard to envision.

Sven pondered the idea for a moment. He then turned in his seat to face the back of the room. "Senior Chief…would you join us?" Teague handed her clipboard to Jennie Yoder and walked to the front of the room.

"What's up, Sven?" Perhaps it was just him, but Sven actually thought he saw her glowing. "The coffee pot in Five Tango Bravo leaking again?" She was unusually jovial today and that wasn't necessarily bad.

"Naw…nothing like that. What's the Viper status? We got two ready to fly?" asked Sven.

"Sure, but the FoxViper is still down. One Alpha Romeo is tanked, flagged and tagged. Two Zero Nine Delta Bravo is gassed-up but unloaded. I can have rounds loaded before H-Hour. What's up?"

Sven didn't answer her immediately, but rather looked back to Dewayne. "You gotta plan for getting a Viper to Harlow, Dewayne? Neither Alpha Romeo or Delta Bravo are FTL capable."

Now the rest of the assemblage was looking on with interest, there having been bits-and-pieces of the conversation they'd not quite heard all of. But it was apparent that something was amiss.

"Yeah…yeah, I think we need to do it this way. I'd feel a lot better if you were keeping and eye open here…Go with me on this, OK?"

Dewayne Kells and Sven Robbins had had their arguments in the past, but Robbins had never once had reason to regret any of Dewayne's military sense of a situation.

"Alright…alright you fly One Alpha Romeo. We'll have to piggyback the Viper to the fight with the Raptor. Senior Chief…Can you have her pre-flighted and pushed out to the Ready Five spot?"

The Senior Chief looked up at both Kells and Robbins with a bit of dubious belief. "You sure you guys want to do that? It's a tricky maneuver under non-combat conditions…If the Toasters show up you'll only have one shot at docking and making the jump. Those are pretty narrow odds!"

She was right, of course, and both Kells and Robbins knew it. But with the only FTL capable Viper broken and no other means of carrying a Viper to the fight, they'd have to do it. The FTL drive on the Raptors had been designed to carry the extra mass of external loads, and the Colonials had surprised the Cylons more than once by using the small ships to bring resources to a fight that the Cylons didn't think them capable of. Hopefully it was one secret the Colonials still held.

"Of course…Consider it done." The Senior Chief waved to Jennie Yoder and the two mechs to get started.

"Go ahead and preflight Nine Delta Bravo, too". The mechs stopped and looked back to the Senior Chief to see if there was anything else.

"Let's get Delta Bravo armed and mission ready. I'll be the Alert Viper." Robbins added.

"Right…anything else, Sven?"

Robbins paused for a moment then turned his attention to the back of the room. "Yes, Senior Chief. I want Payge in the ECO seat on the Raptor." The Senior Chief's eyes suddenly widened and Kevin Payge, listening but trying to not listen, nearly got whiplash turning his head to face the front of the room.

"Sir…?!" Payge's jaw dropped.

"You're the closest thing we have to an Electronic Warfare Operator, Payge. You know those systems inside and out." Robbins turned his attention to his daughter and his tone became a bit less serious…almost teasing. "Besides, I have it from reliable sources that you're an ace troubleshooter!"

Bekka Robbins was suddenly blushing.

Payge glanced over at Bekka Robbins with a "how could you" stare. Then he redirected his attention back to the security chief.

"So…do you want to go flying or not?" Robbins had a bit of an evil grin on his face.

"Yes Sir! I'm in!" Payge could only glance back at Bekka with a sheepish grin. He knew that he had 'volunteered' whether he wanted to or not. Either way, someone was going to be mad at him.

Suddenly Bekka Robbins wasn't blushing.

"DADDY!" Bekka's look was that of a small child that just had her favorite toy taken from her, but at the same time she was also scared. She knew these sorties weren't joy rides. She wanted Payge back in one piece.

Payge turned to Bekka Robbins and placed his left hand on her cheek. "Hey…it's sixty minutes…We drop in, pick up the grunts and bug out…No problem! I'll be back for the movie tonight!"

Bekka suddenly pulled away from Kevin's embrace. "It's not funny! This is dangerous!" Bekka had grown up watching her father fly away on these missions. As mad as she always made out to be, she was just as terrified that she might be orphaned one day. She didn't want that for him, too. "Those bastards are trying to kill us!" She began to sob slightly and Kevin pulled her to his shoulder.

Sven started to say something, but then thought better of it. It was strange for him to see his daughter being comforted by another man. She was, afterall, almost twenty-one years old. Still, he wasn't quite ready for it.

"Sven…do you think that's wise? It's not like we have an abundance of resources on the hangar deck." Dewayne Kells knew that they'd need Payge's talents in the Raptor, but Gods forbid the mission goes badly. They'd have one less technician to keep the mini-fleet airborne.

"You said it yourself, Dewayne. Something's not right. And if it's not, we'll need every asset we have available to get in and out safely. Jahlee will need a sharp set of eyes on the DRADIS."

Dewayne shifted his eyes between his old friend and the scene of Sven's daughter and Specialist Payge engaged in an obviously close embrace. Then he noticed how Sven was having a hard time not watching Bekka and Payge in the same embrace. Suddenly the light came on and he put an arm around Sven and started to lead him into a distant corner.

"Sven…is this really about you wanting a competent set of eyeballs on DRADIS? Or is it about you not wanting his eyes on Bekka…?!" His tone was both inquisitive and suggestive. "Buddy, she's a grown woman now…She can't be your 'little girl' all the time!"

Sven turned to watch Bekka and Kevin at the other end of the room. Bekka's head was on Kevin's shoulder now and he was clearly wiping a tear away from her cheek with his thumb.

"Dewayne, it's all about having the right person for the job. We need him on this flight. I know it scares her, but there's no one here that's not scared right now." Sven turned to look Dewayne squarely in the eye. "She looks like her mother, doesn't she?"

Kells silently watched the young couple across the room for a moment.

"Payge…gear up…."