Chapter 16
Commander Hasan continued to work on the science scanner. Andrew Smith had come to the bridge to help as well. There was still no sign of the and ships, Cylon or Colonial, on the short-range scanners. Given what they knew about Colonial technology, it should not be possible for them to out of range. Commander Hasan sat back and scratched his head.
"I don't get it. There is nothing out there. When we left there were four massive ships in the area. I don't even see anything that could be hiding them," he was speaking more to himself than anybody, but he was at a loss.
"Sir, let's go more basic. Let's look for a trail from the engines and see if they were heading in a given direction."
"Alright let's try that," part of the issue was that neither Smith nor Hasan were science officers. They did not have the type of training that Scogaska had. He put his head back to the scanner hood and made some adjustments. "Well, it looks like the Olympus fired up her engines. That would make sense if she got into a battle. Let's get on a heading of 312 mark 7 and see what happens. I'll lay in the course. One quarter impulse for now."
He walked back to the helm and plotted the course. That puts us right into the middle of a subspace eddy, he noted. I'll have to remember that if we go back to warp.
He put his head back to the hood at the science station. "Yeah there is definitely a trail here. We'll follow it for a bit and see what happens. Hang on, that's weird."
"What sir?" asked Smith.
"The particles are getting more spread out. This pattern is odd. Here, take a look."
Commander Hasan put the display on the overhead screen. Smith took a look and rubbed his chin. The pattern was not one he had seen in any impulse or warp drive signature. It seemed familiar though. "It almost looks like a doppler effect," he opined. That still was not right. "You know, if a ship were to go to faster than light without a warp drive, it might look like that."
"Are you suggesting that they are FTL?" asked Hasan.
"We've never figured it out but that ship got out here somehow. The Cylons got here somehow. Maybe Scogaska figured it out. I don't have a better answer." Answered the crewman.
"Occam's Razor?" he chided," Alright, if they are faster than light than I guess they went that away. They would be tracking directly to the nearest star system which would make sense. How fast do you think?" he asked. Smith shrugged. "Warp 2 it is," decided the Commander.
The Engineer went to the engineering station to put in the proper configuration. The Commander went back to the helm and looked at the trail again. "Damn, they are heading directly down the middle of that eddy. If they are FTL, that would be a bumpy ride. Let's not do that. We'll parallel it with sensors on full. We may have to pull out of warp on occasionally. I am setting the course. Let's see what we find."
On the Olympus the Vipers quickly landed with great skill in the landing bay. As soon as their craft stopped, the pilots poured out of the cockpit and took up defensive positions in the bay. The colonial warriors were intimately familiar with every detail of the landing bay and knew exactly where to go for the strategic battle. The Federation security officers had also taken up position. They were all armed with either type 2 phasers or phaser rifles. Captain Berg had some down to the bay and taken up position behind them. He did not want to get into a battle with the colonial officers. Staying under cover he tried to call down.
"Colonial officers, my name is Captain Berg. Let's talk about this." There was no answer, "I understand your anger but we don't have to fight."
He did hear an answer back, but it only sounded like.
"Δεν ξέρω τι λέτε, αλλά κατεβείτε από το πλοίο μου. Έχετε μια προειδοποίηση."
"What's up with the universal translator?" he asked.
"I don't know," responded the nearest officer.
"Get me Gravelson and Clarkson now!" ordered the captain.
Before that order could be carried out, the colonial warriors opened a barrage of fire on the Federation officers. One security guard was hit in the shoulder and fell.
"All phasers fire on stun. Full dispersal!" ordered the Captain. Multiple beams filled the room. Warriors began to fall. The warriors attempted to return fire but as they exposed themselves to return fire, the constant barrage took its toll. Their blasters were designed to take out Cylon centurions so their power was very focused. They had no equivalent setting for a wide dispersion and the limitation was catastrophic for the Colonials.
Lieutenant Pan watched in horror as many of his comrades around him fell. He didn't know if they were alive or dead but the situation was grim. The apparent alien commander had attempted to say something but he did not recognize the language. Then he saw Mimas fall to the strange weapon. Standing up he fired several shots in succession and ran to the fallen warrior. He made it without getting shot himself. He examined his longtime friend and was relieved to see that he was still breathing. He took refuge behind a storage bin and assessed the situation. They were outnumbered from the get go and it was getting worse. He had an idea for a desperation ploy. A Viper tube was close and if he could to it, his plan might just work.
Standing up he fire again and ran to the tube. He seemed to have gotten enough surprise to make the trip without being fired upon and entered the tube. He quickly ran to the entrance to the tram and entered the tube. Running a short distance, he entered a maintenance shaft. He hoped the aliens had not discovered this passageway since it was not used except for emergencies. He knew that it would take him behind the enemy line. He opened the hatch and saw a young man in clothes that almost looked civilian and a young woman who appeared to be in uniform. The were staring in the direction of the battle which was ever more going against his team. He jumped out and grabbed the man, holding his blaster to his head. He hated the idea of taking hostages, especially those that appeared human, but he had to do something. The woman turned with a start and the man seemed about to scream. She turned and said something to him and then looked at Pan. "We don't want to hurt you," she said in an oddly accented colonial tongue. He had been around all of the colonies in his military career but had never heard this version. "My name is Ensign Samantha Gravelson. We are from the United Federation of Planets. I know we are on your ship but there is much to discuss and explain. If I can only take you to our captain…"
Pan shook his head. "No. You two come with me. We are heading to the control room," she almost seemed to sigh. She answered, "I am sorry about this," and looked behind him. He turned quickly and saw a blue person with white hair and antennae pointing one of their weapons at him. He saw a bright flash and felt a strange sensation. He fell to the ground losing consciousness. It seemed like the man he had been holding did the same.
Captain Berg evaluated the situation. They had managed to stun the colonial warriors without any serious injuries. The whole thing still felt wrong. He went up to Doctor Weiler for a status report.
"How are they doing Doctor," he asked.
"A couple of bumps and bruised. Nothing serious."
"Good. Are they human?" he asked.
"Yes, they are. They would fit in on earth without trouble."
Scogaska came up to the Captain. "Good work Scogaska. He almost got the drop on us."
"Thank you, sir," he answered, "so what do we do now?"
"I've been thinking about that. This is their ship. What the hell happened to the universal translator?"
"Not sure sir. We are getting it fixed."
Captain Berg went quiet for a minute. Doctor Weiler and Scogaska knew that this was when he tended to make decisions that were difficult. Captain Berg looked down at the Colonial Warrior. Samantha Gravelson came up and looked to the Doctor. "How's Ben?" she asked. Scogaska had successfully stunned the warrior but had to take out Ben Clarkson with him.
"We'll be alright," She answered. "He won't like it. Have you ever been stunned? Takes a bit to shake it off. He should be leaving the ladies alone for the next few days." Even she had an unwanted encounter with the young graduate student.
"Do you think he is charge?" the captain asked the young Ensign looking down at the warrior who almost got the better of him. He had to admire the guile to make it that far.
"I am not sure sir," she answered.
"He acted like it," said Scogaska, "I think he was ready to storm the command room with Clarkson as a hostage.
"Ensign, what is your read on these people? You have spent time going through their logs."
"They seem benevolent. They have been at war for a long time but they don't want to be. They actually got into this mess by trying to help an alien species that was being devasted by their own mistake."
Gerhardt Berg went quiet again. He thought about their situation. How they had found the Olympus and eventually taken her over. How they now seemed to be at war with a race of mechanical beings. And now how they had incapacitated the crew of this same ship. He had always prided himself on adhering to Federation Ideals. Had he given that up when it got tough? He had a responsibility to his crew and he could answer to every action with a justifiable accounting. But more and more it felt that he has moving away from the intent, if not the letter, of the law.
"Scogaska, do you think we can convince them to join us?" he asked.
"Join us? In their mind we have stolen their ship and captured them. It may be a stretch," answered the Andorian looking inquisitively at his captain.
"You know, these battelstars are built around their viper complement. They also know this ship and we have a common enemy. Those baseships are going to catch up with us eventually. With the Kongo at least partially functional, we should be able to vacate this ship once we reconnect. The Cylons are all about overpowering an enemy and have little to do with strategy. With the vipers, we may have a shot."
"I know sir, but how would we do this."
"I have an idea," said the captain. "You won't like it. Doctor, how quickly can we revive this Warrior. Scogaska, please gather the senior crew."
Lieutenant Pan's eyes opened and he found himself in the Life Sciences Center of the Olympus. He quickly saw that several men were standing around him including the blue man that had shot him. He sat up. I man wearing a gold shirt seemed to be the one in charge. Pan looked at him and said, knowing that he probably not be understood, "what do you want with me?"
The man looked pleased and answered, "good translation from your language to ours is working. Can you understand me? The Universal translator gave out at the worst possible time."
Pan was surprised to hear his own language in the correct accent. There was something slightly off about it. Apparently they were using a device of some sort. Not able to come up with a reason to deny it, he nodded wondering if that meant the same thing to him.
"I assume you have questions. My name is Captain Gerhardt Berg of the Federation Starship Kongo. We were stranded in space with no way to reach home. By sheer luck, or at least we think luck, we found the Olympus just as our life support was about to give out. We investigated your ship and found it to be abaondoned. Out of desperation we came here."
Pan realized with a start what they had said, "Wait how long have you been here? We turned on the warning lights for Hades' Plague. By Kobol, you restarted the whole cycle again. We have to get out of here."
"It's okay," said the woman next to the Captain. "We know about this disease and have eradicated it."
Pan was suspicious but was not in a position to do much. He laid back. The Captain looked at him and said, "if you are up to it, please feel free to stand. Can we get your name? Not sure how it works with you but we usually give name rank and serial number."
Pan was not sure what a serial number was but figured that his name would not be harmful. "Lieutenant Pan," he answered. "Where's my crew? What do you intend to do with me?"
"Your crew is resting in the crew quarters and being revived as we speak. Lieutenant we are being chased by three cylon baseships, on a battlestar that we only have a basic understanding of how it works and no viper support. Our primary ship is partially restored but we have been separated. Bluntly we can use some help."
Pan laughed, "Captain you just overpowered my viper squadron as we tried to take OUR ship back. You can understand if I am bit suspicious."
Captain Berg hesitated a moment. "I know. I would be too. That is why we are surrendering to you." With that he removed the phased from his belt and handed it to the colonial soldier. Every officer standing around him did the same.