"Attention on deck! I need everybody over here please. Right now." They turned to see a man in a flight suit waving a clipboard in the air. He looked like a pilot but he had an air of authority about him so Lauren motioned for Sarah to follow her over to the growing group of people.

"All right everybody, I need you all to settle down please. I'm Captain Taylor and I've been sent down here for two reasons. Number one is to let you all know what is going on." The crowd erupted into a riot of questions that overwhelmed the Captain. He was yelling at the top of his lungs for everyone to settle down and no one was listening so Lauren walked back over to the pile of pipes she and Sarah had picked up and started banging one of them against the metal deck.

"If you people will please quiet down and let the Captain speak I'm sure we can get all of our questions answered." She nodded to the Captain to continue.

"Thank you. As I was saying. What we know is very little at this point. We've been attacked by the Cylons. They were shooting at everything that looked Colonial so as you know we shook loose of the dock and made a run for safety. We are currently outside of Tauron's orbit. The Admiral is making plans and trying to find out any more information on the status of our situation. Now, the second thing I'm here for is to find out who you all are. I need to get names and specialties and skills from you. If you are Fleet already I'd appreciate any help you all can give me. I that a lot of you are Scorpion personnel and we appreciate any help you can give us."

Lauren wandered over to the Captain and tried to look helpful. He glanced at her and then down at the pipe still in her hand which she sheepishly laid down behind him on the box he was leaning against. He smiled at her and reached for her arm, "A word please?"

Lauren nodded and they walked across the deck towards one of the Vipers that had been recently locked down. "What's on your mind Captain?"

"Are you Fleet?" When Lauren nodded his smile broadened. "Wonderful, then I'm not going to have beg for your assistance." This got a chuckle from Lauren.

"I was going to ask you if you needed some help sorting them out. Lauren Baker by the way," she said holding her hand out.

"I'd appreciate any help you could give me….um?"

"Lieutenant."

"Thank you. You seem to be pretty comfortable with these people. Would you mind taking the non fleet personnel and getting their info? Please?"

"Sure thing Captain," she gave him a little salute and went to look for another clipboard and some paper. When she returned he'd already formed everyone up into two groups. She wandered over to the group that wasn't in front of him and looked at the tall blonde man who'd sounded like he was in charge before.

After about an hour her hand was tired of writing but she was satisfied with the progress she'd made. She had only about 15 people left to talk too when Captain Taylor came back over and looked over her list. "Is that what you were looking for sir?"

"Yes Lieutenant, great job. If you don't mind finishing up down here I'm going to go check on a sit rep and I'll be back in a bit okay?"

"Sounds good to me sir." Her smile assured him that she was going to take care of the situation down here.

When Taylor returned to the flight deck he walked over to Lauren and motioned for her to follow him to the small office the deck chief had. Once he'd shut the door his face fell into a scowl. "Baker right? Baker, we've got a big problem. Scuttlebutt up by CIC says that the Cylons have attacked in force. There's reports of nukes all over the place. We've basically just been obliterated as a species." He raked his hand through his dark brown hair as he began pacing the small room.

"What's the plan sir?"

"Well there's not much of a plan right now. The Admiral is waiting on more news from the wireless and the lists of personnel aboard." He took the clipboard from Lauren and flipped through the lists of specialties on them. "Good, we've still got pilots. Won't do us any good to have all these Vipers with no one to fly them. Wait…you're a pilot too?"

"Yes sir. Qualified in all Vipers, Raptors and heavy transports."

"Good, that's good. I think your career as an electrician just came to a halt. Sorry I've been so brief with you but you can imagine the chaos going on around here. So if you're Fleet what are you doing on an overhaul team?"

"Well that's a long story but I've been working for Admiral Gataki for a while. You know about the strike right?" he nodded. "Well I was called in because he knew the Pegasus was coming in and he was short staffed. He needed reliable people so he called in favors. I owed him one so here I am."

"So you're one of those in demand multi-functional people huh?"

Lauren laughed at his sarcasm. "I suppose. I've been working electrical for a while now but I'd prefer to fly. So I combine it and work electrical on Vipers. Gotta do test flights ya know."

Taylor's grin warmed her. "Well I think if the Admiral has her way you'll be doing a lot more flying real soon. She's planning on jumping back to Caprica to see what's going on. We're going to need pilots to man these birds."

"Can you give me a real sit rep Captain? We've been in the dark down here since this started and I was actually on the station so I'm doubly blind."

"Sure, and it's Cole by the way. Well, we were all about to head out. Most of us under Colonel were headed dirtside for various bases but the Admiral was headed home for three months. Luckily she hadn't quite left yet. Most of the pilots are already gone but we've still got a decent number up there. About a third of the engineering staff is from Scorpion so we're covered but I'm pretty sure that the place is gonna get crazy when they figure out what is really going on."

"So the Admiral's planning on fighting back right?"

"Yup. She's a hard woman and she's not about to take this laying down. She's planning on jumping back there guns blazing and we're going to need all the trigger fingers we can get. Do you think you can get a handle on the stuff happening down here and get the Vipers ready to go? Everything on the Starboard side is locked down and in storage since we weren't going to need them. If you can just get this side organized or at least find someone to be in charge that's a good start."

Lauren gulped a bit at the idea of jumping back and actually taking on the Cylons without a real crew but if the Admiral said fight, then she'd fight. "Sure, I can handle that. The Vipers aren't a problem it's getting the crew together, and I'm pretty sure I can whip them into shape. Can I use the pipe?"

Taylor actually laughed at the joke, a merry twinkle of mischief in his hazel eyes. "I suppose you can, but don't beat them too much or they won't be able to work. Why don't you try to organize a bit and then come find me. We'll get you set up in a bunk for now and see if we can't get you some flight gear."