Chapter 11

"What do we know about these Baseships?" asked Captain Berg. They had quickly determined that the Cylons were not approaching the Olympus, at least not yet. The automated weapons systems were fully engaged and they made a decision not to try and turn them off. Captain Berg still could not shake the feeling that he was being forced to fight someone else's war.

"Not much," answered Commander Hasan. They were sitting in a large, ornate conference room. In addition to the captain and first officer were the Chief Engineer, Doctor, the Science Officer and the helmsman, Kiko Rodriguez. "We have been somewhat reluctant to dig around their computer systems too much since that seems invasive, but if we have truly claimed salvage rights, it might be time. Those ships are big and if the Cylon Raider has taught us anything it is that their technology seems on par with the Colonials."

Captain Berg nodded thoughtfully. "Have we learned anything else about the Cylons from the Raider in the hanger?" The loss of a crewman still hung over his head. He ultimately felt he had failed Security Guard Newman by not being cautious enough. He couldn't dwell on that now but he would when he was able to notify Starfleet and his family.

"The ship is obviously a small attack craft. That seems to be a primary strategy of attack for both the Cylons and the Colonials." Hasan raised an eyebrow at the statement. "The ship seems to be sublight and has somewhat limited range." Continued Lieutenant Commander DeSoto, "I assume they came from the baseships. If the Kongo were fully functional, we would probably be okay in battle but in this battlestar, I don't know."

"Captain, we also have to consider the Kongo's safety or at least not allow it be to captured by the Cylons. She is a sitting duck right now." That was Kiko making this statement. "Their ships would have the range to get to her if they found her location."

"There are a couple of peculiar elements to the Raider we should keep in mind. It is highly unusual and inefficient for machines to fly machines. The Raider does not have any type of self or automating control system and is built for a crew of three. I have also noted that three seems to be a dominant theme for the Cylons. We were attacked by three raiders, there are three baseships in formation, they fly in teams of three." Scogaska took a moment to pause as he gathered his thoughts. "I wonder if they run trinary computer systems. It might explain a lot."

"Trinary?" asked Kiko.

"Computers originally ran binary code. No matter how much sophistication was built into them, they ultimately processed one and zeros one at a time. This was based around a charge or no charge to the circuit; however, there were some experiments done on a trinary system that would include positive, negative and null. The doutronic chip made that obsolete but the colonials and cylons may have kept down that track."

"All that is interesting information, Scogaska, but I don't think it helps the immediate situation." Interjected Captain Berg. "I have to believe that those baseships are analyzing the situation and given the warm reception we have received so far, once they figure out that we are alone and possibly incapacitated in some way, they will probably attack. First question, are they all machines? I would have less heartburn damaging robots than I would taking a life over a misunderstanding."

No one answered. DeSoto finally said, "there is no way to know sir."

"Sir, we still have the dilithium. If we can get to the Kongo, we can bring her back online," Commander Hasan looked around the room for approval.

"DeSoto what about it?" Asked the captain.

"Well it's not just about fitting the dilithium crystals. The entire power distribution system was gutted during our stay. It would take some time to get in back in order."

"But, we maybe able to make due," said Hasan. "If were able to bring the warp drive online, we can divert power to shields, weapons and impulse engines. We can almost make a switch between the warp drive and secondary systems." Proposed Hasan.

"That is risky," stated the captain. "What about computer, life support, you know, all those nice to haves?"

"You know we could flash charge the batteries," said the chief engineer, more surprised than anybody that he said it.

"Is that wise?" asked Kiko.

"No," said the Captain, "but wise may not due it today. Kiko how long to get back to the Kongo if you disregard fuel concerns?"

"Probably make it in 6 hours," she said.

"Alright get ready for departure. Commander, you the Chief, lieutenant Rodriguez get to the Kongo and bring her back online. Pick an engineering crew and bring her here. We can staff her fully once you are in transporter range."

"Captain, it should be Crewman Smith that goes," said DeSoto. The Captain looked inquisitively at him. "I can run an Engine room as well as anybody in the fleet. I kept the Kongo running exactly as she should, even better. But we need it to do something it wasn't supposed to and Smith is your man for that." The captain looked at the engineer with a new respect. It was not easy to admit something like that to your superior. "Besides you need someone to make this ship run like she is supposed to and that I can do. And if Smith makes a mess of things, I can make him clean it up."

"Alright," said the captain. "Crewman Smith to the landing bay ASAP."

Kiko Rodriguez swallowed slightly at the thought of being on the same mission as him. She did, however, have another idea that she was reluctant to bring. "Sir, if I may?"

"Quickly, I think we need to get going." Responded Berg.

"I think I should fly the Viper. I have been trying out their simulators and should be able to fly it. The shuttle is not armed and if they run into trouble, they would have no protection. It would at least give them a chance since I would probably be the first target."

"I need you at the Helm, Lieutenant," answered the captain.

"Thank you, sir. But if we don't make it, it won't matter."

The captain sighed and wondered when he lost control of his crew. "Very well. Commander, I guess you have the con for the shuttle ride over."

The Supreme Commander on the lead baseship sat atop the command chair. The seating arrangement was a relic of the original race that had created them, but the programming was strong and still held on. He was considering the information that it had. A battlestar had been sighted sitting in space. At first he assumed that it was the Galactica but Baltar had reported pursuing them in a distant sector so that seemed impossible. He also considered the Pegasus but the timing it its last knows was also too far away. The attack force on Caprica had reported that all other battlestars had been destroyed. It was a mystery but it did not change his primary mission which was to destroy all human forces.

A battlestar was not to be trifled with. A patrol had not returned and they could only assume that a viper squadron had taken them out. Despite the Cylon's superior forces, the colonials often fought with inferior numbers and managed to achieve stunning victories. The Supreme Commander knew the Cylon was far away and he could not call in any more resources. He needed to make sure that there was nothing else that could tilt the attack against him. He had ordered the ships to engage in deep space scanning and bring back results. Just at that moment, a centurion came into the command chamber.

"By your command," it intoned.

"Report, centurion," boomed the large automaton.

"Our scans show that the battlestar has not moved. We also are not detecting any vipers in the area. Another ship has been detected." The Centurion had no emotion in that statement.

"What ship?" he demanded.

"Unknown. We cannot identify it."

"That changes things. Send an attack wing to the unknown ship with orders to determine its capabilities and origins. If it is human, we will destroy it. In the meantime, we must plan to attack quickly. We attack as soon as the alien ship is engaged."

Samantha Gravelson was working with the science officer to go through the computer records as they related to baseships. Scogaska had developed a search algorithm to find all references and they were going through them on a monitor.

"These Cylons seem pretty nasty," she said out loud.

"Try not to make judgements. We are trying to avoid conflict if we can," reminded the Andorian.

"But look at these baseships. Even the Olympus has some scientific study capabilities. The Cylons just built war machines."

"Just keep looking Ensign," replied the Andorian.

She shrugged and flipped to the next record. She had found communications logs, many of which talked about the Cylons and their encounters. Both sides seemed fixated on small craft attack with an attempt to overwhelm the other side. The Colonials seemed to have a better fighting force but the Cylons always had numbers. Surprisingly, they seemed to be getting close to peace with an enemy that from all appearances had no interest in it. She flipped to the last communique on record and read through it. She let out a gasp that caused the Andorian to look up.

"Ensign?" he asked. Her face still showed her shock at what she saw.

"There is a fleetwide message that came in after the crew of the Olympus was abandoned. The peace accord was a trap. They…"

"What peace accords?" Asked Scogaska.

"They were planning for peace. There was to be a large signing ceremony. But it was a trick!"

The science officer looked over the shoulder of the young ensign. His antennae twitched and he nodded slightly.

"We'll tell the captain," he said. "But we need to get this information together. It now more important than ever.

In the landing bay, the landing team met briefly. Commander Hasan addressed Andrew Smith, Lieutenant Rodriguez along with the small engineering crew they had assembled. They could not operate the Kongo beyond basic functions, but they should be able to get her close enough to the Olympus to transport a crew onboard. Commander Hasan had asked the captain if he shouldn't be the one to retake the Kongo. He was the captain; however, captain Berg had insisted that his crew was here and for now that is where he belonged.

"Do you have everything you need crewman?" Hasan asked the young engineer. He was beginning to have concerns about entrusting this operation to such a young startfleet member but deferred to DeSoto's decision.

"Yes sir," he said looking down at the dilithium. "The specs for fitting the crystals are in my quarters. Everything else should be in engineering."

"Lieutenant, you sure you want to do this?" he looked at Kiko who had donned a Colonial flight helmut.

"Oh, I have been wanting to take this bird out for a while," she smiled, "besides, it seems like our best bet."

"Alright listen up, we will have to use environmental suits when we land. The hanger deck is still open to space and life support has given out a while ago. Engineering and the Bridge have been equipped with emergency airlocks and portable life support systems. When we land, we all go to engineering to get things back online. Once that happens," don't say if Hasan thought to himself, "Kiko and I will go to the bridge. We have to get the computer and automatic systems back online so we get maneuver the Kongo here. Nothing fancy. Now what we don't know is how long our Cylon friends will stay out there. The Olympus is in no better shape to handle them than we are, mostly because we do not know what we are doing." That got a small chuckle. "Do not waste time but let's try not to blow up the Kongo either. That is a lot of paperwork."

"Ready?" he asked looking at Kiko. With a nod and smile she ran into the launch tube and climbed into the cockpit. She activated the comm channel to the flight control in the command central.

"Command, I am ready to launch." She had gone over this in the simulator but was still nervous. Over the comm she heard Chief Engineer DeSoto respond, "opening external doors. Launch when ready." She looked down at the joystick and made sure the engines were on. She pressed the middle button and the turbos kicked in propelling the Viper through the launch area. She realized she was pulling several G's which she had not experienced since flight school. Suddenly she was clear of the tube and in space. She struggled for a moment to gain control and eased back on the thrust. After a couple of experimental turns, she calmed down and realized that the simulator was a pretty good approximation. She looked around and saw the Mattuba leaving the landing bay by more conventional means. She turned and matched course and speed. She turned on the communication system and called to the Mattuba.

"Rodriguez to Mattuba come in,"

"Mattuba here," answered crewman Smith. She sighed slightly to herself relishing the flight in the Viper but wishing she was closer to him. "I got your backside!"

"You know I was thinking that you getting that into the hanger bay could be interesting. Not a lot of room to work with." He replied snarkely.

"I'll get her in. I have 6 hours to get the hang of it. I'll bet you a steak dinner on it."

"It's a date," he replied causing her more excitement than she cared to admit.

Through the banter, no one noticed that in the far distance some lights were not moving as stars. They did not notice the very soft hum that when much louder had once overtaken the Kongo. What they could not see was the ship of lights far behind them tracking the motion of the shuttlecraft and viper. It did not approach but waited and observed. The many beings of light inside fretted over the meeting of the Cylons and the children of Earth. If only the understood how to travel between the stars, they thought as they watched the Federation crew fight valiantly despite the odds. The figure of Q came to watch as well. He stood dressed in a captain's uniform with gold and black colors still vibrant and pure while all other colors were variations of white. "Why are you so concerned with them? We fixed Iblis' fiasco."

"Their fate is our doing." The many voices responded. "The next few centars will be difficult."

"Yes, but let's call them hours. It's the least I can do. And the most I will." With a blink he was gone and the creatures of light continued to watch events unfurl.