by Chaoseternus Three
"There it is again!" frustrated, Omega banged at his sensor console.
I could hardly blame him, constantly plagued by rumours of being caught with the daughters of various admirals, Omega had never been promoted above JIG despite time in service and sheer excellence on the sensors that should have him in a Captains slot at the very least.
That wasn't why he was frustrated though.
"Sir, if there is someone there he's trying hard not to be found. I'm getting intermittent contact only, nothing firm"
I glanced over at the sensor data, grimacing myself, "If it's a genuine contact then he's staying deep within the asteroid belt"
"Sir" Omega looked straight in my eyes, "Gut says he genuine sir"
I nodded, the feeling of being watched had fallen over me as soon as we had jumped into this system, so I had a pretty good idea this was a genuine contact too.
Trouble was, was it a Cylon contact?
Colonial outlaws?
Humans from a forgotten colony?
Aliens?
Or just an annoyingly radioactive rock, just enough to trip sensors, not active enough for us to ID it?
I reached over, toggling the Intercom, "CAG, report to Command"
Our CAG was Lieutenant Tobias 'Mile High' Frost, a Pilot second only to the legendary Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace for flying ability but with the annoying habit of getting caught giving rides to his various female friends.
The last time he had been caught when the transmitter was accidentally clicked on, broadcasting their 'activities' to an entire task force out of Picon, he had been stuck with 'Mile High' since, and since he was too valuable to just court martial then dishonourably discharge, I had been stuck with him to give things time to blow over. I wasn't complaining, a Pilot of his calibre on a ship this minor on this mission?
His skills were an edge, one I had been having him try and pass onto my other pilots, some of whom could best be described as indifferent Viper Pilots.
But for now, I at last had a job for the ten Viper's mailman could have 'ready' at any time.
"Recon the asteroid belt, find out what the sensors are picking up?" Mile High commented, looking for confirmation.
"Okay, no big�"
Five minutes later the first five Vipers spat out of the launch bays positioned underneath and halfway down the hull, followed swiftly by the next five.
But the result of the first launch had been instantaneous.
"Contact!"
I admit I jumped a little at Omega's shout, the bridge isn't that large after all and it was a pretty loud shout. But I hurried quickly across as Omega continued;
"He's moving pretty fast... attempting to acquire silhouette... he's jumped !"
"Did you get an ID?" I asked, concerned.
"Not a positive ID sir..." Omega tapped frantically at his console, bringing up a replay of the last minute, "Computers gives no ID..."
Along with Omega, I watched closely as the sensor data flashed past, its timestamp showing clearly that it was replay. The results told me fighter, probably non-colonial.
Omega didn't see that, he stiffened, "profile is... suggestive of our quarry sir. Possible Cylon Raider, tentatively identify as Scimitar Class, same as Baltar's contact uses"
An electric shock seemed to arc across the bridge at those words, despite the tentative nature of the ID. However I was a little more pessimistic, the situation just felt like we had had the luck to drop in on a patrol, one that wasn't willing to be identified quite yet, we had seen no other indications of Cylon activity in this system after all.
"We'll run another full sweep" I ordered, my mind made up, "have the fighters probe the asteroid belt"
I didn't expect them to find anything, the Cylon's may be in the area, but they weren't here.