DR: Surprised? I hope so. Now we find out more...
Chapter 6: Ghost Ship
For a long centon they sat there, their eyes fixed on the nameplate that his laser scanner continued to reveal with its sweeps. Now this was certainly not what they had expected.
Achilles's eyes wandered across the once mighty ship. What kind of fate could have caused this? The laser scans, when compiled together from all six fighters, had revealed that the Pegasus looked like a wreck. Hull plating pealed away and chunks taken out of her all over. He had never seen a ship so torn up still flying. Hell, Beta Bay was almost cut in two. 'What in the names of all the Lords of Kobal did Cain do? Fly her through a star?'
"Colonel, what do you think?"
"What do I think? I think it's a miracle that she's still in one piece… mostly. But I have to wonder what Cain got up to after Gamoray. I mean, even the death of those two Basestars couldn't have done all this, right?"
"I don't know… she was right between them when they blew. At nearly point blank range. I couldn't see her for all the smoke and debris…"
"And if she lost power and was as charred then as she is now, no wonder." Achilles nodded, before engaging his sensors to run a deep scan of the ship. He nodded as the results began to come back.
"Hmm, her energisers appear to be damaged. Number one's only running at sixty-percent power, while two is less than twenty. I read nearly all her weapons are down, but actually…" An eyebrow rose as he re-read the next segment of text. "…it looks like most of the harm is cosmetic."
"COSMETIC? What the frak do you mean? There's a huge hole in her Beta Bay big enough to fly a shuttle through!" Starbuck yelled.
"What I mean is that her hull integrity is still quite high, all things considered. The outer armour is slag, but it looks like inside she's actually okay…" Achilles frowned as he looked closer at one bit of the data displayed. "This doesn't make sense…"
"Colonel?"
"If I'm reading this right Apollo, life support has been dead for some time… at least four sectares, likely more. Yet I'm getting faint life signs from within."
All the warriors chewed over that fact for several centons, trying to make sense of the data. Trying… and failing. At last Apollo made his call.
"Well, we're not going to figure it out just sitting here. Colonel, why don't you and your squadron use your scanners to get as much detail as you can. I'll inform Galactica."
"Oh boy, I can just see how this is going to go down…"
x x x x x x
Achilles had once again hit the nail on the head. The message from Apollo had sent a ripple of confusion, shock and bewilderment throughout the Battlestar.
"The Pegasus?" Adama had to repeat himself before it truly sunk in. How was it possible for Cain to have survived? And yet, his ship was scarred…
The fact that life support had failed vexed him, but the life sign's intrigued him. Could there still be people alive on board, trapped in the remaining pockets of fresh air?
One thing for sure, they would learn nothing just sitting here. They had to go aboard to find out what had happened to her crew.
Adama turned to Tigh. "Send for Major Croft."
"Aye sir."
A few centons later the redeemed colonial stepped onto the bridge. After his actions on the ice planet Arcta, Adama had partially reinstated him and given him the role of commanding the warriors that were not pilots but ground troops, including Colonial Security. While Council Security was at the beck and call of the council and seemed filled with bumbling fools, Colonial Security was a part of the military and was a highly skilled team.
The craggy faced major stepped up to the same level as Adama. "You called sir?" He asked, a lot of his old fire gone since his wife died on Arcta. Still, he was an excellent warrior.
"Croft, I need you to take a team on board the ship we detected earlier." Adama began.
"Hostile takeover?"
"No. Search and Rescue." Then Adama dropped his bombshell. "It's the Pegasus Major."
Croft rocked back on his heals at the news, his eyes widening a fraction. "So what's the problem?"
"Her hull appears to be fine, but life support is down across the ship. You'll need breathing gear. There are life signs deeper in the ship, but we have idea of their condition. You launch when ready."
"Give me one centar and we'll be away." Croft stated with absolute conviction before he hurried off, clearly eager to be doing something. Adama watched him go, until he saw Illa step onto the bridge, Athena by her side. Out of the corner of his eyes, he also saw Sheba step through the hatchway that Croft had left by. All three women had a puzzled look in their eyes.
"Father… what's going on?" Athena asked, worry in her voice.
Adama sighed before stepping down from the pedestal. He gestured for all three to come over to him.
" Sheba, you need to know before anything else happens. Apollo reported back. That ship… is the Pegasus."
Sheba's eyes suddenly widened, and Adama was sure that he sure a spark of joy dancing in them. She gaped like a fish for a centon, clearly struggling to comprehend what this could mean. But while she was clearly overjoyed at the thought of seeing her father again, Athena looked puzzled.
But then… why where you talking to Major Croft father?"
"Because of the situation she's in." Sheba was unable to prevent herself gasping in shock, fear flooding her eyes. "All we know is that while life support is down across the ship, there are faint life signs. I'm sending Croft and his people onboard for a search and rescue op. The ship herself is a mess." He turned to Sheba, who clearly had tears forming in her eyes. "I'm sorry, but you had to know, before you heard it from the rumour mill. There is still a chance that he's alive…"
Adama trailed off as Sheba turned and fled the bridge, one hand over her mouth. Illa stared after with pity in her eyes. For a long moment the family stood together, prayers to the Lords of Kobal winging their on high for Cain. But demands of the fleet had to step forwards once more.
"Athena… is it not time for your shift?" She straightened herself and schooled her face.
"Yes father." And with that Athena took her place at her console. Illa turned her gaze onto Adama.
"You know you could have done that better…"
Adama sighed heavily once more. "Maybe, but right now I can't see how. She deserves to know the truth, however painful."
"Your right, of course…" Illa rested her hand on his shoulder. "…It's just… the look on her face…"
"It tears me apart too my dear." Adama caressed a cheek softly before he was called away by Omega reporting some disturbance on one of the ships in the fleet.
As her husband stepped away to deal with it, Illa allowed her eyes to roam the chamber. 'So this is where he spends his time away… where the legend of Commander Adama is forged.' She was surprised in that it did not feel oppressive at all, but quite open and expansive. The tiers of crewmen led up to the command pedestal, a fitting place for him, and one where he could oversee everything that happened on his bridge.
Despite her initial desire to see Adama at work, Illa's thoughts keep returning to the distress of the young woman that had just run on the verge of tears. 'So that was the elusive Sheba…' Somehow Illa had pictured a hardened battleaxe of a woman, rough and very masculine. She had been pleasantly surprised to see the real thing. Yes, there was a layer of warship grade armour under that very feminine exterior, but Illa could also sense that there was a lot of woman there too, hidden under that warriors soul.
Her mind made up, Illa stepped towards Athena where she was hard at work at her console. Right now she needed some information…
"Athena, where is Sheba likely to go?" Her daughter looked up startled, before she began to think, her brow furrowed in thought.
"Well, she might try to sneak on to Croft's shuttle, it'd be her style. But after… that." Athena swallowed in discomfort. "I'm not so sure."
"Not the openly expressive type?" Illa guessed.
Athena shook her head. "No, not really. There's a couple of places she might go to be alone. Either into our captured Raider…" She trailed off.
"Or?" Illa prompted. She knew that Athena was holding back.
"There is one other place." Athena sighed. She had never been able to keep thing from her mother before. "There is still one celestial dome left on the ship. It's right above the engines. Hard to get to, and isolated from everything else. Its kind of Apollo's special place. When he shared it with her, I think it was a sign that he's really warming up to her."
Illa nodded her thanks, and patted her shoulder. "Thank you, now you'd best return to your duties."
"Mother, you're not thinking of going up there? Your leg…"
"I'm not a total cripple dear. Besides, the exercise is good for me."
x x x x x x
Starbuck sat in his cockpit, his eyes glued to the blackened hulk that had been the Pegasus. What could have happened to cause this? Cain must have been desperate.
The longer they stayed with the ship, it easier it became to see. The light from the star they were closing with slowly light up the ship, and now it was possible to make out the distinctive outline of the battlestar. But what worried him was the total lack of lights. Not one light shone from within, even the landing bays were dark.
As they waited for the shuttle to arrive from Galactica, he watched as Flare squadron carried out a detailed sweep of the 'ghost' as Starbuck was starting to think of her. Slowly more and more details began to emerge. A final count had been made on the life signs, after almost half a centar of resolving the data. What was surprising was that there were a little over eighty people onboard, more than the skeleton crew of seventy-four that there were supposed to be. 'So where have the extras come from?'
And that was not all. Life support was down, but the engines were still going. With the energisers damaged they were not at full power, but she was still making good time. Fast enough that she would have caught up with the fleet eventually. But with her blackened hull and comm system dead, she could have sailed right by and they would never have noticed. Besides only a fool sets their ship on a course and then leaves no one to steer. It had been confirmed that all the life-signs were clustered in the centre of the ship, somewhere in or near the life centre. A fool… or someone with no choice.
"Yo Boomer?"
"Yea what?"
"What do you think happened here?"
Boomer was silent for a long moment while one of the Viper-B's gingerly edged its way in line with the landing bay, hanging just outside the cavernous entrance. "Well, the exterior damage could be explained by the destruction of those Basestars. But that doesn't explain the interior. My guess would be would when they realised that life support was down, the crew decided to send the ship after us and hunkered down, hoping to reach us before they ran out of air."
"That could have been a long wait…"
"Feldercarb!" Achilles curse roared across the comm channel, startling everyone.
"Colonel?"
"There are a pair of ships sitting in the landing bay, and they're not Colonial! In fact I don't recognise them at all! Apollo, I'm shooting the data to you and the others. Maybe you guys know them."
Starbuck looked down at his screen to see the incoming data stream. Quickly the schematics of a ship began to be formed. One he knew alright.
"Frack! That's an Eastern Alliance destroyer!"
"I take it that's not a good thing…"
"The Eastern Alliance were one side of a warring planet we came across. Not as advanced as us, but they had started colonising the local moons. The Alliance bombed the colonies of their opponents from orbit, using viral or neutron weapons. Technology wise they may not be as advanced as us, but it is quite different in most respects. They're human, despite having grown up in a thinner atmosphere than our own, and are about as tolerant and arrogant as the Cylons." Apollo answered the colonel's implied question.
"Charming. I take it you didn't part on the best of terms?"
"We ended up taking the one destroyer and her crew captive since they attacked some friends we'd met just before, from the other side of the war. They later escaped with the help of Baltar and some Nomen. We didn't have contact with them after that, but we did stop them destroying their world, and winning the war."
"Yes, I can see why that would tick them off a bit. Okay, we're got four destroyers in her, two in each bay. Not getting any life signs though." Achilles fell silent.
"So… what now?" Starbuck had to ask. "What do we do?"
"Not much we can do except wait for the shuttle. But I think I know what might have happened. I'll get back to you."
x x x x x x
Sheba sat there, her arms round her knees and tears running down her cheeks. When Adama had told her that they had found the Pegasus, her father's ship, her heart had started to rejoice. But when he had continued and told her the ships condition… she had to leave, quickly, before she broke down before the entire bridge crew… and more importantly Adama. He would never give her command of a squadron if she acted like that!
Knowing that a break down was imminent, she had fled to the one place where she could be alone and safe from interruptions until she could pull herself back together… the celestial dome that Apollo had shown her. Here, far from everyone else, she at least felt that she could drop the warrior act and let her feelings run loose.
And it thus that Illa found her when she finally made it to the dome. While she had brushed off her daughters concerns, she hadn't counted on just how long a walk it was going to be. Nor the ladder that was needed to reach the dome itself. By the time she had climbed into the dome, her leg was shooting with pain.
Removing the protective ear guards, she looked around the chamber. There was not much to see, as the panels on the outside of the dome were still in place. The central pedestal with the high backed chair and its array of consoles before it were dark. A splash of colour just around the other side drew her attention, and she turned to see a dark warriors boot sticking out.
Sheba had heard the hatch being lifted, releasing the roar of the Galactica's engines, but it barely registered in her mind. She hoped that whoever had opened the hatch had just looked at the chair, seen she wasn't in it and had left her in peace.
" Sheba?" The voice sounded a bit like Athena's, prompting her to glance towards it. But instead of the young brunette there was an older woman whose hair had turned silvery. But the resemblance between her and Athena was striking. And then she remembered seeing this woman on the bridge with Athena, just before…
As more tears began to run, Illa crouched down and gathered the dark-blond haired woman into her arms. Sheba was past caring just who this was, and she allowed herself to be pulled into the embrace, her head coming to rest on the older woman's shoulder as once more the tears ran wild.
Illa gently stroked Sheba's head as she cried, glad that she had managed to get her leg into a comfortable position just in time, but also sorrowful for this strong woman who now sobbed her heart out. As she did so, she noted the silky smooth hair under her hand, the strong frame under her arms. Despite the very female lines, this was a strong woman. No wonder Apollo felt attracted to her… he'd be a fool not too!
At last the flood of tears began to slow, and Sheba found her voice. "Th-thank you…"
"Hush…" Illa whispered. "You don't have to talk right now."
"I'm sorry… it's just… I don't know you… and for me to just…"
"It's okay. You're in pain and you need to let it out."
Sheba found her words soothing, and she began to relax a bit. Illa continued to hold her, recognising a lot of both herself and her own daughter in Sheba. Fierce pride for one thing.
For a few centons they remained like that, While Sheba struggled to bring herself back under control. At last she pulled away slightly, at least enough to wipe her eyes.
"Feeling any better?" Illa asked.
"A little…" Sheba smiled a bit. "It's just… the thought of…"
"Your father?"
Sheba nodded. "I… did anyone tell you about… the Count?" Sheba refused to say his name, terrified that if she even whispered it he would hear her, and return to claim her once more.
Illa nodded. "Athena told me the basics."
"Well, I've always assumed that when he told me that I'll see my father again, he'd be alive… but when Adama told me… about the… his ship…" She had to pause for a micron. "I feared that… he would be…"
"Easy…" Illa drew her back into her arms, seeing how deeply the fears ran into the young woman before her. "You don't know at the moment. No-one will until the shuttle team reaches them. Until then we have to keep our sprits up. I should know…"
"I realise that. It's just… hard."
"I understand, better than you might think. Now…" She gently sat Sheba upright once more so she could look into her eyes. "…I'd like to know just what you and my son talked about in that Raider…"
x x x x x x
"Rescue Shuttle to Blue Leader. We're coming in now."
"Roger that Rescue shuttle. Colonel Achilles, do we have any more information?"
"Some Apollo. Atmosphere barriers are still active, so there is air in there. But I wouldn't try breathing it. Gravity seems normal from what I can see. What power there is appears to be almost completely diverted to the engines and that one chamber. We'll need portable lights and breathing gear."
"Understood, we're heading into Alpha bay now."
"Confirmed. Watch yourselves, there's a pair of Eastern Alliance destroyers in there already, so it might be a tight squeeze."
"Thanks for the warning. Engaging flood lights." As the shuttle crossed the threshold Apollo saw the front of the shuttle light up as both powerful floodlights engaged, filling the bay with light.
After what seemed like centares but was really only a couple of centons the comm crackled again. "Sirs, we have secured the bay. Air is definitely not breathable. No resistance, but there was once. We've found signs of a fire fight, along with a half-dozen bodies. Eastern uniforms."
Apollo frowned. This was most disturbing. "Sit tight, I'm coming in." Wheeling round to line up for the bay, he saw another three vipers peel away from the group and follow him. Sighing, he engaged the comm again. "Jolly, you're in charge for now."
"Understood skipper."
Settling down in the dim bay, Apollo looked about as he fished out the breathing gear. The two destroyers filled the bay, forming dark silhouettes in the gloom. He could see Major Croft's men moving about, checking the bodies and watching the doors. Once the canopy was clear, he jumped down and strode over to where he could see Croft standing by the hatch into one of the destroyers. Starbuck, Boomer and Achilles joined him.
"So, what happened here?" Starbuck asked, his voice partly muffled by the mask.
"Looks like the Eastern Alliance decided to try and take the ship." Croft nudged one of the two desiccated bodies lying there with a boot. "The remaining crew tried to hold them back, but were forced back deeper into the ship."
Looking around, Apollo could see the pattern of laser burns around the hatch on the destroyer. The other four Alliance troopers appeared to have been taken out trying to rush the main hatch way out of the bay. There was a lot of weapon damage around the hatch, a mixture of crude energy weapons and projectiles.
"Sirs!" A Colonial warrior emerged from within the destroyer. "It looks like there were a couple of prisoners on board at one time, but they were released at some point."
"So, we have a hostile boarding attempt that did not succeed, but was not a total failure." Achilles muttered. He looked up at Apollo and Croft. "We need to find out what happened here. I'll head to command and try to get the computers going. My command codes should work."
Apollo nodded. "I agree. Boomer, go with him, see what you can do." The dark skinned warrior nodded silently as Apollo turned to Croft. "Major, why don't you take some men to the engineering sections and see what's wrong with life support, while myself and Starbuck head for the life station."
"Sound plan. Hold a micron." With a sharp whistle he gathered his men and quickly sorted them out into three groups. The four engineers went with him, while Cassie and the other med-techs followed Apollo.
Starbuck found it eerie wandering through the dark ship. With no lighting at all, they were dependent on their hand lights to see. And with all the travel cars and elevators down, it was slow progress. Apollo began to worry that they might not have enough air to perform a full sweep. He prayed that life support was merely off-line. It was echoingly quiet, despite the faint rumble of the ships engines. Corridors stood silent and hatches closed. The very air itself was still, and every now and again there was a deep moaning as the ships structural members flexed.
Along the way they found signs of a running battle. Laser burns and blast marks, even the charring from low-grade explosives. Clearly the Eastern Alliance had been determined to take the ship, no matter the cost. Nothing showed this more than the bodies of dead Alliance soldiers they passed. They had to cross crude barricades that had been breached, and go around sections that were sealed off. Clearly the crew had tried every trick in the book, and few outside the book, to hold back the attack.
Apollo wondered just what had happened. Even with a skeleton crew, the Pegasus's people were evenly matched to the attackers. Each destroyer could only hold eighteen men, maybe two dozen if they really packed them in, not enough to storm a ship of this size effectively, not with just four ships. The fire fight in the landing bay showed that they did not achieve total surprise, but he had to wonder how the destroyers got close enough to land without being blown away by the Pegasus's turbolasers, even if several were down.
Further forward, Achilles and Boomer eased towards the bridge, wary of anything. They passed several bodies, all Alliance, before they reached the scarred and ruined main hatchway to the bridge. Inside, they found another crude barricade just after the door, and another Alliance body. But this one was a little different…
"Well I'll be…" Boomer whispered as he looked at the corpse.
"What is it Boomer?"
"I recognise this one." He told the colonel, still staring at the decayed face, mouth locked open. "He was the commander of the destroyer Apollo and Starbuck captured. I never caught his name, but he certainly was not likeable."
"Well, it seems he's got a fitting end." Achilles stood up before stepping up to the command station. Looking around, he could see that all the consoles were dead, powerless. Stray shots had damaged some stations, and the inside of the blast shield covering the bridge view port had a dozen charred blast marks on it. He was about to turn away when he saw the blinking yellow light. Reaching out, he pushed the switch that was below it.
For several microns nothing happened, but then the console slowly awoke from its slumber. A screen lit up, and the message it displayed made Achilles eyebrows rise.
"Whoever was in charge locked down the main computer."
"Why would they do that?"
Achilles turned to face Boomer and cocked his head to one side, looking at him with one eyebrow raised.
"Oh. In case of hostile takeover…"
"Right. Clearly they didn't want anyone coming on board and just having full run of the systems. Hopefully…" He punched in a series of numbers. "…my command codes should…" The console gave a positive note, before the background hum began to build up, and other consoles lit up. "…be accepted." He finished.
Apollo was motioning Starbuck down the corridor when the ships internal communication system crackled. "Apollo? Major Croft?"
After stilling his racing heart, Apollo stepped over to the wall mounted comm and engaged it. "Achilles, please don't do that again!"
"Sorry." He could almost hear the smirk on the colonel's face. "We've got the main computer back on line up here. It was all locked down, I suspect after the takeover attempt. They tried to take the bridge by force, but it does look like they succeeded. Oh, Boomer tells me that one of your old Alliance friends is here."
Apollo and Starbuck looked blankly at each other for a second, before the answer came to him. "Understood. Any luck with the environmental controls, or the log?"
"No, nothing yet. We've got power for the consoles, but power for the systems they control has been cut from engineering. Give us a couple of centons and I think we can get emergency lighting on."
"That would be a start. Okay, we'll push on to the Life Station." Apollo turned to his team. "Let's go."
At last they reached the level on which the life station was situated. As they prepared to move, Achilles came over the speakers again. "Guys, prepare for some light. It's not much I'm afraid; there's just not enough power I can divert here. The main regulation controls have a command override, and its one unique to the ship. Only the Commander would know it. Same with the helm."
That small fact trickled into Apollo's mind, and ignited a small spark of hope. If, as they assumed, everything was shut down after the takeover attempt, then Cain had to have been alive to be able to input the code.
Slowly the strip-like emergency lights came on dimly, casting a red glow over everything. It was about as strong as two full moons worth, but after the pitch black of before, it was very welcome.
"Well, at least now we can see where we're stepping." Starbuck joked, just before the comm system crackled again.
"Sirs, we've finished checking the engineering control levels." Major Croft informed them. "Looks like the Alliance tried to take engineering pretty hard. We passed over two dozen bodies here."
"We got about the same on our way to the bridge." Achilles commented. "Those two areas are the main targets for any takeover strike."
"What about life support?" Apollo asked. "Can you get it going?"
"Sorry captain, but those Alliance thugs used some pretty heavy weapons down here." Croft told him sadly. "Main life support is totalled. Looks like a direct hit from a rocket or something like that. Secondary took some hits from pulse fire. The techs tell me that they can fix it, just not with any parts on hand."
Apollo cursed silently. They had barely a half centar left before they had to return to the shuttle for fresh air packs.
"Major, what about parts already on board? Surely there should be replacement parts down there…"
"Sorry Colonel, but we've already checked. It looks like the crew tried to repair the damage, but they don't have the required parts. We need to return to the Galactica for some."
While they had been talking Starbuck had moved on ahead, taking with him half the warriors and all the med-techs. Before anyone could discus the situation further he stuck his head out of the life station. "APOLLO!"
"Hold on, we've found something." He told the others before rushing over to join Starbuck. The lieutenant led him through the life station before they reached the main recovery ward. "Take a look." He said grimly.
Apollo glanced at Starbuck before stepping through. What was inside caused his jaw to drop.
The ward was filled with grey metal tubes, packed in tightly. Each one was a crogen tube. And closest to him, nearest the door, was the one containing the living legend himself, Commander Cain.
DR: These mystries just keep coming... well I'm off now. job interview (fingers crossed). Next chapter goes up in about 48 hours time, so stay tuned!
