Chapter 5

I was sitting on my bed reading a book. I suddenly was startled as a shirt was tossed at me. I dropped my book losing the page and looked up to see Starbuck.

"Hey," she greeted.

I smiled weakly. "Hi," I replied.

"You did good out there today," Starbuck said. "But I've been meaning to ask you something."

I tensed up worried about what Starbuck might ask about.

"I heard about how you dropped out of the academy," Starbuck said. "Why'd you do it?"

"It was for a girl," I replied. "Girls can make guys do stupid things some times."

"Is that why you went at me from the start?" Starbuck inquired.

"Maybe," I replied.

"So how did you know?" Starbuck asked.

"How did I know what?" I responded.

"How did you know about the Cylons? It seems like you're just able to know where they'll be attacking." Starbuck stated.

"I don't know," I answered. "I just know. I just get this instinct in my gut as to what might happen, kind of like a precognition."

"Really?" Starbuck asked.

Suddenly the ship went to alert status. I hoped that my gut instinct was wrong.

"A Basestar just jumped into the system." I said.

"No fraking way," Starbuck said.

"Everyone to battle stations," came the order over the loud speakers. "A Cylon Basestar has just entered the system."

"Frak," I grumbled getting out of bed and running towards the hanger with Starbuck behind me.

"How did you know?" Starbuck asked. "How did you know that it was a Basestar?"

"I have no clue," I replied. "It was entirely a guess. But I always seem to guess right. It's like, I just know what's going to happen just seconds before it does."

"Is that why you're able to take out the Cylons so easily? Because you know where they're going to be?" Starbuck inquired.

"We'll see when we get out there," I answered.

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Not long after I was in the cockpit of a Viper and being launched into space.

"We need to hold the Cylons off long enough for the mining ships to leave the system," Apollo said.

"Why aren't we trying to take it out?" I asked. "We've got two Battle Stars to one Basestar. We've got the superior numbers. We can do this."

"We're not looking to take casualties to take out a Basestar," Apollo replied.

"I'm with Beanpole," Starbuck said. "We've got the numbers we should use them to our advantage. Since we destroyed the resurrection ship we'll literally be killing the Cylons off."

"No," Apollo stated firmly. "We're only going to fight until our mining ship can escape. We are not putting any civilian ships in danger."

"Fine," I said. "But I'm taking out some fraking raiders."

Raiders were already closing in after being launched by the Basestar. I throttled up and Starbuck followed closely behind me.

"Turn back!" I suddenly yelled.

"Why?" Starbuck asked.

"This is a trap," I said. "They're trying to keep us here so we can't return to the Pegasus and the rest of the fleet."

"How do you know Beanpole?" Apollo asked.

"Just trust me," I replied.

"He's never wrong about these things sir," Starbuck agreed.

Apollo relayed the message to Galactica.

"All Vipers return to the hanger and prepare for an FTL jump." Came the orders from Galactica.

"And I was looking forward to taking out some toasters," Starbuck complained as we skidded to a stop in the port hanger bay.

"Jump in 5… 4… 3… 2…" the com counted down. "1…"

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"Get those ships ready to send back out!" the chief yelled.

My ship was quickly moved to a launcher with me still in it and launched out. We had emerged on the opposite side of the civilian fleet of the Pegasus.

"Pegasus, this is Apollo, what is the current status?" Apollo asked.

"We've got two Basestars in the system," Pegasus reported. "So far no contact with the either one but we have engaged Cylon raiders.

Apollo switched over to a private channel.

"How did you know Beanpole?" He asked.

My stomach was twisted into knots. I was scaring myself with the things I was predicting.

"I wish I knew," I replied barely audible.

"It doesn't matter right now," Apollo said. "Get your head in the game. We've got to defend the ships."

"Copy that," I said trying to focus on the task at hand. "Let's junk some toasters."

Apollo switched over to the squadron channel. "Okay guys, let's light 'em up."

We were finally able to see the battle between Pegasus's vipers and our own raging up ahead.

"ETA is one minute," Apollo radioed in. "Just hold on for a little longer."

Suddenly my head started to throb. I had a vision of Colonial One erupting in flames as it was destroyed by a pair of Cylons. That had never happened before. I looked about for Colonial one and spotted it behind me. I broke off and flew towards Colonial One.

"Apollo, I think something is about to happen to Colonial One," I said. "I'm going to make sure it doesn't happen."

"Hotdog, go with him," Apollo ordered.

Hotdog's Viper broke off from the pack.

"This better be worth it," Hotdog said.

Suddenly my started to throb once again and I saw Hotdog's ship getting destroyed by a Cylon raider from behind.

"Hotdog, break left, now!" I said.

Hotdog jerked his controls to his left more out of fear than anything else. A missile from a Cylon raider shot past barely missing his viper.

"How the Frak did you know what was coming?" Hotdog demanded to know.

"Just shut up and take out the Cylons," I responded. "They're going after Colonial One."

I spun my Viper around to see two raiders bearing down at Colonial One. How they had managed to get this far without being detected was beyond my comprehension. But that didn't matter; taking them out was more important right now. Fingers could be pointed later.

"I've got the lead one," Hotdog said.

"No," I said. "Get the second one first."

Hotdog ignored me and flew head on at the lead raider. I saw the second raider fall in behind the first. If the lead was destroyed it would take out Hotdog. I closed my eyes and concentrated for a moment. In my head I saw where the ship would be when Hotdog destroyed the lead raider. I slammed my throttle as fast as I could and pointed my nose at that spot. Hotdog began shooting at the lead raider, a shot hit the ship in the main sensor and it spun about in space blindly. I opened fire in front of me. The second Cylon flew into my fire and was ripped apart. It erupted in a massive explosion.

"Frak that thing had a nuke!" I yelled.

The shockwave came towards my ship. I turned as fast as I could and tried to fly away to reduced the amount of buffeting but my ship was tossed about roughly. I momentarily lost power from a slight electro-magnetic pulse. I checked my systems. My engines were only able to manage half-throttle and my port gun was damaged.

"Galactica, my ship has suffered damage," I radioed in. "I'm coming in for repairs."

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I landed in Galactica and got out of my Viper. I felt rather useless. There was a battle going on outside and I couldn't do anything to help.

"Lieutenant Sittler," Specialist Cally said saluting.

I was not used to people treating me like a senior officer yet.

"At ease," I said returning the salute.

"Admiral Adama wants you to head to the command deck immediately," Cally said.

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Hopefully things are becoming clearer as to why our hero is so good. Precognition is very useful. The how's and why's will be explained later.