The Mailman
by Chaoseternus
One
The Brass had, with unusual foresight and intelligence, specified that a punching bag should be present in the ships sole briefing room come officers mess whilst they were giving this briefing.
Pity they hadn't specified a picture of Baltar too, ready to tack to the punch bag and use as a target.
That… that… Traitor!
How could a man supposedly so intelligent, so much of a genius be so mundane as to be ruled by his dick?
The fact that the brass had known, had always known was something of a shock, it seemed unusual for the Admiralty to know before everyone else. But they told me the secret.
The rumours of a covert Psychological Evaluation for anyone wanting a high security clearance weren't rumours. Covert so they could truly analyse the person you were, so you couldn't fake your answers and act nice.
And Baltar had failed. His little 'itch' had been spotted and normally he would never have been given clearance, but he was a Genius. His work was above par, usually ahead of schedule and innovative, advanced.
They couldn't not give him clearance without many awkward questions being asked, so they granted clearance and with the full knowledge of the then President, Iblis, had ordered surveillance and background checks on any female Baltar so much as looked at twice.
The gorgeous lady with a penchant for red dresses had not twigged any alarms until she started dropping hints about mainframe access, to assist a company she never showed any signs of associating with, until she started rewriting Baltars code.
A Cylon agent!
A human traitor working for the Cylons.
Frak it! When did the Cylons reappear in our lives? How long has this been going on?
"We don't know" Nagala commented, his voice serving notice that I had been speaking aloud, his tone telling me the Admiral wasn't angry, that he understood, "we don't even know her birth name… all we truly know is her code name, Number Six"
"We also know" Admiral Cain, no relation to the famous Commander of the Pegasus, "that every month on the second day of the month, almost bang on 00:15 every time, a Cylon Raider of a type not seen previously drops into orbit over Caprica and receives her report… somehow. We're not sure exactly how, she never appears to use a transmitter of any kind"
"We borrowed all five supercomputers at the R&D facility on Caprica , using the sensor data from each Raider we have picked up in the act we have been able to determine the basic area the damn thing has been jumping too every time"
I gulped, the plan hitting me like a freight train between the eyes, "You want me to go after that raider don't you?"
Cain smiled at me, commenting to Nagala, "Told you the kid was smart"
Nagala just shook his head, "We want you to recon, find out what the Cylons are up to and report back. Do not cause a second cylon war unless you frakking well have to!"
"Why me and why the Mailman sir?"
"You were chosen because you wrote a paper on the Liberty's back in the academy and you can think and strategise. All the people we have who know this class better than that are little more than truck drivers in a Military uniform, they aren't warriors" Nagala took a sip from the glass in his hand, "as for the Mailman… "
Nagala shrugged, allowing Cain to pick up.
"She's fast, highly manoeuvrable, radiates frak all as far as energy signature goes and is heavily armoured, her guns have also been replaced with the latest models"
"She never was a commissioned warship so the cylons are not likely to be watching her but she can hold her own" Cain sighed, "unfortunately, we've had to do this hush hush and that means crews what we could find. Some are great, some not so, and at least one was on board for the last Cylon blockade this ship had to run"
"Frak me" I couldn't help but shake my head in awe at that, that warrior had to be old.
"Your holds are full Colonel" the dark haired Commander had yet to give me his name, but his manner just screamed Special Intelligence Services to me, so I wasn't in a hurry to ask. People had been known to disappear that way.
"Food, extra fuel, spare parts, water, all the usual except for bays five and six"
I glanced up, "spare Vipers, even spare pilots. If your launch bays could take Raptors you would have some of those as well, they would be useful for this mission particularly," he shrugged, "as it is…"
Cain and Nagala rose from their seats, "If we don't hurry, people will start to wonder"
"As it is," Nagala paused, a dark look in his eye, one which made me wonder about the rumours of seers blood in Nagala's linage, "May the Lords of Kobol preserve you Colonel, I have a feeling we will need this ship and others of her kind before too long"
Two days after that, we made our first jump out of Colonial controlled space.
Four months later, we would return, too late.