Chapter Two

Solaris, C.I.C

When Commander Brown stepped into C.I.C he was still struggling to shake out any thought of the dream he just had. The dream was not just Browns overactive imagination, it actually happened.

Brown first served on a Battlestar when was nineteen, some forty years ago. This was the last year of the ten year Cylon War. He was serving as a crew specialist and was the greenest of the green. In a crucial battle, Brown made a fatal mistake. He transmitted the wrong co-ordinates to two other colonial Battlestars. This mistake resulted in sending them straight into the Cylon fleet and to their ultimate destruction. The guilt of sending four thousand men and women to their deaths had weighed heavily upon him ever since, but he never let it get the better of him. Still, the dream had spooked him.

The C.I.C was buzzing with activity. There were about forty crewmembers in the huge room. The overhead monitors in the centre of the room were whirring, consoles where buzzing and flashing, and every station was occupied.

Commander Brown took a deep breath to ensure that the mask of his command was still in place. He was greeted by the ships Executive Officer (XO), Colonel Steven Meredith. The Colonel was a tall, slim and surly looking man with short brown hair. Brown got on fairly well with the XO, but they had been known to disagree on certain things. One of these things would be how many training exercises should be done each day. Brown was slightly more reasonable with his crew because he hated drills with a passion. But the XO was completely the opposite – he loved them.

"How long is it before the drill?" Brown asked, having lost track of time.

"Forty five minutes, sir," answered the Colonel.

Brown glanced up at the overhead monitors, hoping to see anything of interest. Colonel Meredith began pacing around the centre of C.I.C, watching all the stations in a hawk like fashion.

Brown was approached by the Officer of the Watch, Lieutenant Kurian Talus. Talus was a young man with dark skin and a serious looking face. He was a dedicated officer and Brown was proud to have him on his Battlestar. Brown turned to face the Lieutenant as he briefed him on the days various Comm. traffic.

"Anything else, Lieutenant?" asked Brown after a lengthy brief.

"Just one more thing, sir," Talus replied.

"What is it?"

"It's a message form Fleet Headquarters. It seems that the Courier Officer hasn't returned from his trip to the Armistice Station and they want status reports on all FTL capable ships. Looks like they want someone to jump out their an investigate."

Oh great. The Armistice Station is the only thing more boring than drills.

The Armistice Station was a remote station in deep space, far away from the twelve colonies star system. It was a place where Human and Cylon were supposed to meet once a year to maintain some form of diplomatic relations after the Cylon War. But after the first year the Cylons never bothered to show up. Since then, no one had seen or heard from them, but the Colonials still sent an officer to the station once a year.

"Send a status report on our FTL," Brown ordered. "But if they want us to go then they'll just have to wait."

"Aye, sir," Talus said. He strode over the Comm. station to give the order before returning to his post.


Solaris, Squadron Ready Room

Giles sat alone in the Ready Room. He deliberately showed up early for the drill briefing so he could get some more time to himself.

The Squadron Ready Room was shaped like a small theatre. There was a stage platform at the front which had numerous computer screens behind it. On the platform was a lectern with a protruding microphone. The seats were tiered and were cushioned with red leather. Giles was seated at the centre of the first row.

The entrance hatch behind the last row of seats opened. Giles turned round in his seat to see three male pilots enter the room. The first was a tall, slim coloured man with a easy going look about him. The second was a short guy with dark brown hair, and the third was the tallest out of the three, and had dark blond hair and brown eyes.

They were talking excitedly as they strode into the room. They didn't notice Giles until they were halfway down the aisle between the wall and the seats.

"Man, what a game!" said the first to the others. "I would've won if you hadn't of got full colours –," he stopped as he noticed Giles. "Oh look boys, it's the new pilot."

"Someone's on the ball today," said Giles sarcastically as he rose from his seat.

"Snappy comeback," said the first pilot. "He's my kind of guy."

He stopped in front of Giles, with the other two behind him.

"Matt Calloway," he said extending his hand.

"Robin Giles," said Giles, taking Calloway's hand and shaking it.

"This here is Ensign Rodgers," said Calloway, pointing at the second pilot, "and this is Ensign -"

"Farrow," finished the third pilot.

Calloway for a moment looked slightly annoyed, but the he laughed.

"Now see, that's a prime example of the insolence of the younger pilots," Calloway said to Giles as he sat down in one of the chairs on the front row. Giles, Rodgers and Farrow sat down with him. "It's our job as Lieutenants to beat them into shape."

"Ow!" said Farrow as Calloway slapped him on the back of the head.

For the first time in what seemed years, Giles found himself laughing. But the question would surely come, and it did:

"So what did you do to get yourself transferred here, Lieutenant?" asked Rodgers.

"Nothing," Giles shrugged, trying to keep his emotions in check.

For a moment, Calloway looked slightly confused at Giles' reaction to the question, but then he changed the direction of the conversation.

"So, are you one for drills?" he asked.

"No, not really," said Giles. "Why?"

"Well, someone who shows up early for a drill brief is either mad – or he loves drills."

Giles snorted. As he did, the hatch at the back of the room opened again, and the rest of the squadron filed in and began taking their seats. The room was now buzzing with several conversations.

"So, did you see the deckhand?" Calloway asked with a smile and a wink.

"I saw a lot of deckhands today," said Giles without the slightest idea of what Calloway was talking about.

"Smart," said Calloway with a laugh, "But seriously, did you notice any deckhand in particular?"

Giles understood where Calloway was going with this. His thoughts went back to the deckhand who couldn't keep her eyes off him when he first landed.

"Now that you mention it," said Giles, scratching the back of his head, "I did."

"Was it the cute brunette?"

"Yeah," said Giles.

"So what do you think of her?"

What is this? High school?

Giles shrugged his shoulders. "She's alright."

He knew full well that she was more than 'alright', but he was trying not to think about her. His dead fiancé was constantly on his mind, but she was now being replaced by a girl that Giles' had only seen once. He couldn't let it happen. Not yet.

"She's 'alright'?" said Calloway, looking surprised, "She's more than just 'alright'!"

"Does she have a name?"

"Yeah, she's called Helena. You'd better watch out though, she's the XO's daughter."

"What're you warning me for? You're not planning on setting me up with her or something?" asked Giles.

"No, nothing like that," said Calloway, but he didn't drop his shifty grin. "Consider it a little friendly advice."

Just then, Ensign Farrow caught Calloway's attention. "Hey Matt," he said. "Look who's here."

He pointed at the access hatch at the back of the room. Calloway and Giles looked around to see a short, stocky young man with blond hair and cold, blue eyes, step into the room.

"Who's that?" Giles asked Calloway.

"Only the biggest frakkin' idiot on the whole ship," said Calloway, as he stared at the man with intense dislike. When the man settled himself on the back row of seats, Calloway and Giles turned round. Ensign Farrow and Ensign Rodgers looked disappointed. Their faces were eager with anticipation until Calloway turned round.

"His name," Calloway hissed, "is Captain Luteford."

"Oh so that's Captain Luteford," said Giles, turning in his seat again to get a better look at him. And as he did, Luteford stared straight back, looking completely unimpressed. Giles turned away.

"How come you've heard of him already?" Calloway asked.

"Oh, Chief Raymond warned me about him," Giles replied.

"I don't blame him. Luteford's an asshole. He thinks he's better than everyone else just because he's Captain, and he sucks up to the XO all the time. Frak me, they'll be announcing their engagement any day soon."

"It's that bad, is it?" Giles asked.

"No, it gets worse," said Calloway. "Luteford's been getting a little friendly with the XO's daughter, and the XO is just letting it happen. But the thing is Helena isn't interested. Anyway, Colonel Meredith is allowing it to happen in order to get Luteford to report back on what goes on in the squadron."

"This ship has got some serious trust issues," said Giles. "How'd you find out about this?"

"I heard them in the XO's quarters. The door was open, and me being a nosy bastard, I listened in. I heard enough to guess what was going on."

"Why does the XO want reports on what goes on in the squadron?"

"Well," said Calloway, retaining his shifty grin, "Lets just say the XO disapproves of certain loose cannons like me. According to him, there's not a single line that I haven't crossed since I've been on the Solaris, and I'm apparently encouraging others to do the same."

"And he thinks that the CAG is too soft on you," added Ensign Rodgers.

"So let me get this straight," said Giles. "The XO wants reports on misconduct in the squadron, in exchange for Luteford getting friendly with his daughter?"

"Glad you've caught on so fast," said Calloway, patting Giles on the shoulder. "So as nice as Helena is, I'd stay away from her."

"I'll bear that in mind."

"ATTENTION ON DECK!" somebody shouted. The whole room fell silent and everybody stood to attention. The CAG had arrived to start the briefing.

The CAG – or Commander of the Air Group – was the Solaris' senior pilot. It was the CAG's job to see that all of the flying squadrons carried out the orders of the Commander correctly and efficiently. The CAG was also expected to enforce the rules and keep the pilots disciplined. The CAG of the Solaris, Captain Jonathon "Striker" Young, looked well suited for the job. He was powerfully built, his face was stern and serious, and he had a commanding presence.

When Captain Young reached the stage, he turned to face the squadron. "As you were," he said gruffly. The squadron sat down.

He placed his briefing sheets on the lectern and began the brief.

"Alright boys and girls, we only have a short time before the drill actually starts, so I'll be a quick as possible. Firstly I'd like to welcome the newest member of the Solaris airway, Lieutenant Robin Giles."

Some of the squadron clapped, some of them stood up to get a better look, and some of them made calls of welcome. But some, like Captain Luteford, remained silent.

"Now Mr. Giles, you're gonna witness first hand what this squadron is capable of. Now this might only be a drill but I still expect everyone to give one hundred and ten percent. I don't want any frakkin' around. Here's the deal: The drill consists of three parts, but seeming as the first part doesn't involve us, I say that it consist of two parts."

A couple of the pilots, including Giles, fought to suppress smirks.

The CAG went on: "Both parts of the drill will be co-ordinated by Mantis and Acer in the Raptor."

The Raptor was a combat co-ordination and tactical strike craft. Three times the size of a viper and shaped like a crouched beetle; it could be used for scouting missions, boarding parties, and relaying communications. In this case, it was being used to co-ordinate the drill.

"The first part of our drill is the wingman routine. All forty Vipers will launch, pair up with their wingman, and take turns in destroying the dummy ordinance that will be fired from the remote space turrets. In other words: Twenty separate runs with a different pair each time. For those of you who don't know who your wingman is, I'll read out the list."

He began to read the list out. Giles was paired up with Captain Luteford.

"Bad luck," whispered Calloway to Giles out of the corner of his mouth.

"The second part of the drill," said the CAG, "is the old favourite, 'the Big Charge'. All forty Vipers will join up together to eliminate the dummy ordinance fired from the space turrets. This is the big test as the four turrets will launch ten missiles. If you do the math I think you'll find it comes to one missile each. Now because we're using live ammunition I want a strict, spread out formation. This formation will consist of two layers - twenty Vipers on the top and twenty on the bottom. When both parts of the drill are complete, we return to the Solaris. Are there any Questions?"

Captain Young paused. When no questions came he said: "Alright then, dismissed."