2672.240 Gamma patrol Terra System: Major Chang and Ensign Leonas on outbound leg of their patrol.

"Vagabond?"

"Yeah Skipper."

"Sir, I've got an energy spike on long range scan. It looks like a jump point flare sir."

Vagabond checked the readings, and knew the kid was right. "Let's check it out, but remember to be careful."

"Yes sir."

The two of them changed course for the energy reading, they would be in range in 20 minutes.

"Should we inform base sir?"

"Not just yet, let's see what we're dealing with first."

"Yes sir."

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On the bridge, Commander Jacorski is watching the scanners closely. "Major, how many wraiths do we have left?"

Major Thomas looks at him, "Six sir, 5 more in a day or two."

"How soon can they launch Major?"

"Right away sir."

"Launch 4 of them, we have unknown bogeys inbound."

"Any ID sir?"

"Not at this time, but they aren't cylon."

Pilot instructions sir?"

"Attempt to capture, but if the bogeys fire at the ships, have them defend themselves."

"Aye aye sir."

The Commander then ordered that the ship go to full ENCOM once the fighters were launched.

"This is CAG to launch deck, scramble the alert fighters."

A minute later, the 4 ships were launched and heading for the unknown bogeys. Major Thomas patched in,

"Listen up pilots, we don't know who or what the bogeys are, you're to ID them and try to get them to land on the ship. Do not open fire, unless fired upon. Am I understood?"

All four pilots acknowledged the orders.

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Vagabond was getting an uneasy feeling. If something had jumped in, they should be seeing it on long range scans by now. His alert sensor went active; someone or something was painting his ship.

"Skipper, someone's painting us, break right and turbo now."

Both vipers pulled a hard right bank, and hit their turbos. But the target lock was still active. Then Vagabonds speaker activated, and he heard a ladies voice.

"Unknown craft, power down your weapons and follow us. We have you in hard lock, if you deviate from our flight path, we will open fire. Over"

Just then Vagabond saw two ships off to his right. He recognized them, but was unsure where he had seen them. He activated his comp and ran the ships through its memory. A few seconds later, the ships popped up on his HUD.

"Wraith medium fighters. Class B. Primary armaments 4 Particle Cannons, 6 DF mounts, 2 IR mounts, 2 Leech Mounts."

After reading that, he knew that these ships were definitely not cylons, and he decided to take a chance.

"Attention Wraith flight, this is Major Winston Chang, Call-sign Vagabond, confederation attaché to the colonial battle group in this system. Please identify yourselves."

"Maintain radio silence, and power down your weapons now."

Vagabond decided to take another chance. "OK skipper, you heard the her, power down weapons, and follow the lady."

"Yes sir."

The six ships were soon back on a course toward were they had picked up the energy spike.

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As they got near the area, Vagabond saw a ship powering up, and he recognized it as a Confed strike carrier. The shape was similar to the Victory, but there were several areas that looked very different.

"Unknown craft, power down, and prepare for ALS activation."

Both Vipers powered down, and were soon being set down on the flight deck. That was when Vagabond saw 8 heavily armed Confed Marines walking toward their fighters.

"Skipper, do what ever they say, and don't be stupid, that's and order."

"Yes sir."

Both pilots exited their fighters, and stood with their hands up. The marines disarmed them, and were marching them to the lift. On the flight deck, Master crew chief Edward O'Malley watched as the two unknown pilots exited their fighters. He watched as the Marines disarmed them, and then the pilots removed their helmets.

"Oh my god."

He walked toward the group, and when he was 10 feet away, he just whistled loudly. As everyone on the flight deck stopped and looked toward the sound, O'Malley looked at the older pilot.

"You still owe me 50 credits Lt."

Vagabond looked at the man for a moment, and then like a switch being clicked on he started to laugh. Everyone looked at him, and then as he caught his breath, he looked at the crew chief.

"You were so drunk chief, you forgot that I won that back in the next hand."

"Like bloody hell you lying bastard. I wasn't that drunk."

The marine sergeant looked at the chief, "You know this guy Ed?"

"I know him well enough to never play cards with him again."

O'Malley walked up and extended his hand, "It's good to see you Lt, Oh excuse me Major."

Vagabond took his hand, "It's good to see you to Irish."

"So how are things on the Victory?"

"Last I heard, OK."

The sergeant looked at the chief now, "The Captain and the CAG want to see them right away chief."

O'Malley just looked at the sergeant, "So let's go see the Captain."

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Five minutes later, all of them were escorted to a briefing room, and Chief O'Malley stayed in the room with the two pilots.

"So Major, who's your young friend here?"

"Irish, this is Ensign Adama Leonas of the Colonial Battle group."

Chief O'Malley extended his hand and the young man shook it.

"So Major, what've you been doing for the last three years."

"Well it's a long story Irish. How about just the highlight. Lets see. We ended the war with the Kilrathi, I got the Medal of Honor, I got married, and I've got a little girl."

"Whoa there, you got married."

"Yeah, I did."

Now the chief was in shock, "You, the eternal bachelor got married. Well she must be some special lady."

"That she is Irish, that she is."

"Then I look forward to meeting her someday, if we live through this."

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As Commander Jacorski and Major Thomas came to the room, they saw the Marine sergeant just shaking his head.

"What's wrong Top?"

"You're not going to believe this sir, it seems that O'Malley knows one of them."

Now both men just looked at each other, and then opened the door and went in. Chief O'Malley came to attention, as did Vagabond and Ensign Leonas. The two men looked at the pilots, and then at the chief.

"At ease. So chief, Top tells me you know one of these pilots."

"Yes sir, Commander."

"And where do you know him from?"

"The TCS Victory sir."

"Wasn't that your previous posting chief?"

"Yes sir."

Now the Commander looked at the two pilots, and specifically at Major Chang.

"So Major. Would you like to tell me what a confed officer is doing in this system, so far from the confederation?"

"Yes Commander, if you'll tell me the name of this ship, and what it's doing so far from the confederation."

The commander fixed a hard stare on Vagabond. "Listen Major, right now this ship is at condition one. If you don't tell me what I want to know, I might just show you the door."

Vagabond could see that the Commander was serious.

"Alright sir, but you may want to sit down, it's a long story."

Vagabond spent the next hour telling them about the last three years. From finally beating the Kilrathi, to how the battle group had come to this system.

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"Now Commander, what about you and your ship."

The commander looked at Vagabond. "So we beat the Kilrathi, now we've got a new enemy to face."

"It looks that way sir. So what is this ship sir?"

"Major, this is the TCS Lexington. We left Goddard system just over three years ago, on a mission to penetrate deep into Kilrathi space, and to create as much chaos as possible. But we ran into a very large Kilrathi battle group. We managed to escape by forming a jump point just before the event horizon of a black hole. That jump dropped us in an area of space that we didn't have any kinds of charts for. It was in that area of space that we ran into the cylons. When they found out that we were humans, they started to attack us. Well we fought back, and followed them back to their home system. In less than a year, we managed to bring the cylons to the edge of extinction, but then they pulled out. We've been following them since, cutting them down wherever we found them. The only problem is, is that they can make more reinforcements, we can't. The best we can do is to make new equipment using the automated facilities here on the ship. But we can't get new personnel. Our crew numbers drop more in each system. We've lost almost a third of our crew since we started."

Vagabond smiled, "So you're the ones the Cylons have been running from."

Chief O'Malley looked at him, "And we would have had them, we had them down to just 3 base-stars, but in the last system 36 new ships came out of a jump tunnel, and almost got us."

The Commander looked at Vagabond, "I decided to break off our attack, and we made for the jump point we had found. It came out in this system. I'm afraid that the cylons will be coming after us, with everything they have now."

Vagabond looked at the Commander, "Sir, you've got to let me contact the battle group. We've only got 18 hours to prepare for their arrival."

"And how large is your battle group Major?"

"10 capital ships sir, but all are on par with the Lexington, or better."

Now the Commander smiled, "We just might be able to pull this off."

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The Five men headed to the bridge, and Vagabond gave the Nav tech the coordinates for Terra. Then he opened a signal to the Galactica. On the bridge of the Galactica, Admiral Eison was sitting in the command chair, when the message came through. The comm. tech called him,

"Sir, I have Major Chang calling in."

"On screen corporal."

Soon he was looking at the major's face.

"Admiral, you're not going to believe where I'm calling from."

"Noticing that Vagabond wasn't in a cockpit, the Admiral was looking behind him.

"Where are you calling from Major?"

"The bridge of the TCS Lexington sir."

The Admiral looked at him for a moment, "Would you repeat that Major."

"Yes sir, I'm currently on the bridge of the TCS Lexington. We're inbound to Terra, and should be there in just under an hour."

"Roger that Major, stand by."

The Admiral looked at the comm. tech, who muted the channel. Admiral Eison turned to the duty officer,

"Get Apollo and the CAG up here now, and Col Taylor."

"Yes sir."

He looked at the comm. tech, who unmuted the channel. "Major, You've got to be the luckiest SOB, this side of Starbuck."

Vagabond just smiled, "Yes sir."

"We'll see you when you arrive, Galactica out."

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Within 6 minutes, General Blair, Apollo and Col Taylor were on the bridge. Apollo looked at him, "What's up William?"

"It would seem that Vagabond has found something on his patrol."

Chris looked at him, "What did he find?"

"The TCS Lexington."

Col Taylor appeared to be in a state of shock, and the color just seemed to drain from her face, and she sat in one of the bridge chairs. Apollo looked at her, "Are you alright Col?"

"I just need a moment sir. Admiral, are you sure it's the Lexington."

"That's what Vagabond said Col. Why?"

"Did he say who was commanding her?"

"No, What do you know Col."

"It's a long story sir, and it's personal."

The three men just looked at her. Apollo knelt and looked at her, "What can you tell me of the Lexington Col."

Colonel Taylor took a breath, and looked at him. "The Lexington was ordered to go deep into Kilrathi space, and to create as much chaos as possible. We weren't doing well in the war, and Command decided to use this tactic to try and tie up Kilrathi resources as much as possible. We lost contact with the Lexington less than a month after launch, and it was considered destroyed. That was just about three years ago."

All three of them could see that she was still a little distraught. Apollo turned to Chris, "I want a full squadron escort for the Lexington. It may be real, or it may be a trap, let's not take any chances."

"Yes sir."

"William, have the fleet spread out a little, just in case."

"Of course Apollo."

Chris picked up a comm. unit and ordered Blue squadron to scramble. Once they were launched, he gave them their orders to rendezvous with the Lexington and escort her in. Soon the fleet was spread out in high orbit of Terra.

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Twenty minutes later, the scan tech on the Lexington picked up 32 incoming ships.

"Captain, we've got inbound ships sir."

"Lets see them private."

"Aye sir."

Soon everyone on the bridge saw 32 fighters, a type which few had seen before. Now the comm. tech was calling the Captain.

"Sir we're being hailed."

"Put it up."

A young woman's voice came over the speaker. "This is Lt Adamason of the Galactica Blue squadron. We're your escort to Terra sir."

"Roger that Lt. This is Commander Jacorski. You're a fine sight to see Lt."

"Thank you sir. Fleet Commander Apollo would like to see you and your senior staff when you arrive sir."

"Of course Lt, we'll shuttle over as soon as we arrive."

"Roger that sir. And Sir."

"Yes Lt."

"Is Major Chang there sir?"

Vagabond spoke up, "Go ahead Dalton."

"Yes Major. The CAG wants to know how your back is doing?"

"It's just fine, no pain at all."

"Roger that sir. We're pulling up into position now."

Major Thomas looked at Vagabond, "A code Major?"

"Yes sir, to make sure we weren't under duress."

The Commander and the Major both shook their heads, "A wise precaution Major. Direct yet subtle."

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Twenty-five minutes later, the bridge crew got their first look at a colonial Battlestar. The Commander and the Major had changed into their dress uniforms, and had come back on the bridge. The Commander looked at the readouts from their scanners, and just smiled.

"Major Chang, you have a gift for understatement."

Vagabond smiled, "That's what they tell me sir."

"Shall we be going gentlemen." and the 4 men proceeded to the flight deck, as the Lexington moved into orbit of Terra.

The two vipers launched, and were followed by a shuttle. Five minutes later, they were in the Alpha flight bay of the Galactica. As Commander Jacorski and Major Thomas stepped off the shuttle, they were treated to a full honor guard, and both men were a little surprised to see a few Kilrathi in the marine guard. But to their credit, they didn't react hostilely.

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As they moved between the honor guards, they came to attention in front of the men in front of them. Vagabond came up from the side and made the introductions. When he got to the Intel Officer, Commander Jacorski saw the Colonel, and all decorum went out the nearest airlock. The two of them were in each other's arms in a microsecond, and for the next minute, the rest of the universe ceased to exist. As the others stood there, they could see a tear in Major Thomas's eye.

He looked at Vagabond, "They were engaged before we left."

The others just stood there, not wanting to disturb the moment. Then Major Thomas cleared his throat, a little loudly, and the couple remembered where they were. Chris saw that the Colonel actually looked a little embarrassed, but she recovered quickly. Apollo looked at the Commander,

"It seems that you and your people have been having some trouble with the Cylons Commander. I think we should talk about it, if you'll follow me."

"Yes sir."