CHAPTER TWO
Down in the primary maintenance section of the port landing bay, Chief Krag and a handful of other technicians were going through the salvaged Cylon tanker/warship they had brought aboard after the last battle. The hulk was heavily damaged, but was largely intact. However, what surprised Krag and his cohorts was that the interior was organic in makeup!
They shouldn't be calling them Cylon, Krag thought to himself as he emerged from the 'ship', they should be calling them 'Biots' instead. Biological robots were a concept that had never come to fruition on the Twelve Worlds, but here was proof positive that the Cylons had succeeded in achieving this. Moreover, if it was true for this freighter, could it be true for the scimitar-shaped raiders and even their base ships?
Doctor Wilkin Ashley was similarly amazed when he laid eyes upon the interior of the ship. With Commander Cain's blessing, he had assembled a medical group in order to understand the anatomy of this Biot ship, working in tandem with the technicians who were able to tap into what the intelligence used as it's database. Valuable intelligence was now at hand.
"This really gives me the creeps, Doc", Krag commented as he walked up to him, "Fighting actual space-faring life forms that well-armed and FTL-capable makes for a very creative enemy".
"Even more so, Chief", Ashley replied, "Because depending how quickly the Cylons reproduce them, it means that their military assets are potentially self-sustaining".
Krag nodded at that. Vipers and their pilots made for a lethal combination, but it takes twenty years to produce a pilot from birth, and vipers can only be manufactured with the right metals at hand. Life forms breed. Moreover, if these biot creations could do likewise, then it all augured badly in the long run.
With a "Chat to you soon, Doc", Krag went back to work. Doctor Ashley was silently thankful for the information relayed to him from the GOLIATH pertaining to the humanoid Cylons. He had used the data as a basis for his anatomical research of the ship and it showed many similarities in the synthetic enzymes found in the corpse of the Cylon agent.
He had kept the information about the agent largely secret at the request of Commander Cain, but still, it was so frustrating not knowing exactly how the Cylons came to master such technology, given the fact that the Cylons were created as a robotic race with absolutely no organics involved in their construction. Ashley now had a better idea as to why the Cylons did those grotesque medical experiments on captured humans at that penal colony (discovered during the first Cylon war).
The freighter was also being discussed over at Black Knight Wing. Gene Syke had dropped in on Lance Voight and after Syke gave Voight the run-down over the upcoming viper patrol schedules, they talked about the recent discoveries found on their prize.
"Talk about an eye-opener", Voight remarked. The two CAG's were among the few who were knowledgeable about the biological construction of the interior.
"That's true. You no longer need to build ships to replace losses, just breed 'em", Syke replied, "though, it would be interesting seeing just how they 'start the process', so to speak", he continued with a grin.
Voight laughed at the thought. Still, there was a serious side to it. However they reproduced, it meant that a race of warships would be something very tough to eliminate over the long term.
"Did Doc Ashley say anything more about it to you, Gene?", Voight asked.
"Only that he didn't think that a biological approach to combating them would work, owing to the exterior skin protecting it's innards. If it's designed to survive in the environment of space under combat conditions, then it would be one tough son of a bitch to deal with", Syke replied.
"Except by our missiles and guns, of course", Voight reminded him.
Syke nodded at that. Regardless of Cylon genetic technological advances, Viper cannon fire and scarab missiles still made them just as dead…
In his cabin, Cain was composing the latest message for Commander Matthew Hawke. With the recent revelations regarding the Cylon ship, it was something that had to be passed on. He looked down at what he had written.
From: Garris Cain, Commanding Officer, Battlestar PEGASUS
To: Matthew Hawke, commanding Officer, Battlecruiser GOLIATH
Classification: Theta-One Encryption Protocol. Your Eyes Only.
Matthew,
Our little 'prize' ship of the Cylon Freighter turned out to be something very unexpected, and it could very well have ramifications for you as well. The 'ship' is not a construct; it is actually a genetically engineered life form! A biological robot capable of surviving, flying, and fighting in deep space! I know that our scientists had postulated such genetic engineering for years, but this achievement – and at the hands of the Cylons – is far beyond what was thought possible.
It is logical to assume that the new Cylon raiders – and perhaps even their Base Stars – could be similarly engineered. If this is so, then it means that the Cylons have a way of breeding their military assets rather than constructing them. That makes for a frightening scenario. Our Ship's doctor, Major Wilkin Ashley, thinks that the medical experiments performed by the Cylons on human prisoners in the last war may have been connected to their genetic engineering program.
In any case, any further results of our survey and 'autopsy' of the prize, we'll let you know. What we have already found is included on a disc, which will accompany this letter.
Changing the subject some, we're now dispatching additional probes in order to see if there are any survivors from the Hatari Task Force. It's a small chance, I know, but if anyone can pull off a survival from a surprise attack, it would be Shaker. Needless to say, we'll also keep you informed on developments.
In any case, when the next rendezvous comes up, we'll have plenty of raw materials for you to utilize in return for some of your tylium and other goodies you may want to trade (see manifest). The tin-heads were so generous with those minerals back on that asteroid…
That's it for now. I hope that Captain Hayes and his volunteers are proving helpful to you and your base. Good luck and good hunting!
Garris.
Copying the letter onto a disc, then quickly encrypting it, Cain put the disc in an envelope – along with two other discs, one containing a manifest of the seized minerals and the other showing the results so far gathered from the 'freighter'. He placed a call to Security, instructing them to send a guard down to pick up the disc and to get it up to Sanders so that he can put them in the next scheduled message probe.
A few minutes later, the courier arrived. After giving him the disc, Cain finally decided to lay down and catch a few hours of sleep.
Over in the Tairac System, one of the special recon probes dispatched from the PEGASUS was 'sleeping' as well. Actually, it was in standby mode, watching for the presence of any probes or ships that would come into sensor range. Tairac was chosen for a number of reasons. First, it was well known to the PEGASUS, but also – according to a certain viper pilot – well known to Commander John 'Shaker' Roberts.
"My father led an extensive survey of the Tairac Sector some years ago", Ensign Michael 'Cracker' Roberts of Black Knight Wing Squadron Two informed Sanders during a one-on-one conference the day before the probes were dispatched.
"You think that if he survived he would be headed there, Ensign?", Sanders had asked.
"I'm not sure, Comms", Roberts had replied, "but I remember him remarking about the wealth of minerals that were indicated on his survey scans and that it would be an ideal place to start mineral exploration missions. If indeed he survived, then he would want to get raw materials to sustain him and whoever is with him".
Sanders had thought about it and he couldn't fault the young ensign's logic. After getting Cain's approval, he had arranged for a pair of the dispatched probes to FTL to Tairac and to watch for any signs.
The pair of probes were equipped with a warbook database and an IFF catalogue. The warbook would determine if any discovered craft were colonial in origin or not. The IFF catalogue contained the codes supplied by the GOLIATH, so that if it was one of their probes that was picked up, then there would be no mistaking them for anyone else.
Still, Sanders was well aware that Cylons might try to use captured colonial craft in order to draw them out, so the same self-destruct routines as the other recon probes had were in place. Any attempt to intercept the probes would cause them either to FTL, or to self-destruct if an FTL proved to be impossible. However, Sanders did have the probes programmed to send out a certain query should a non-IFF colonial ship be detected….
SENSOR ALERT, the probe's database suddenly received. The database accessed the warbook. A match was quickly made: a Colonial Bloodhound-class reconnaissance probe. The probe sent out an IFF query. There was no reply, but the contact evidently picked up the transmission because it suddenly slowed. Obeying it's programmed instructions, the probe sent out it's transmission.
The transmission was encoded on the Omicron Cipher, which was one of the pre-war fleet codes. Even though the Cylons may have compromised it, they needed something to communicate with. Still, given the uncertainty of the cipher's security, something else had to done. Ensign Roberts made a suggestion.
"My father was a genius at saying words backwards. If we sent such a message like that, it's probably so simple, only he would be able to see it", he ventured.
Sanders nodded at that. The Cylons would be geared for counter-cryptography based on complex formulae. Something as simple as that would not be immediately obvious to the tin-heads if they picked it up.
The enciphered transmission read:
REKCARCOTREKAHSMMCRETNIOPSDNESSDRAGERMORFWENEMOHNOSNAICNAIRTSEUQEDPFIDNATSREDNUDNESEBORPOTNWODEKAHSDNEROFREHTRUFEPOD
If Commander Roberts were alive, then he should be able to rearrange the letters to read:
CRACKER TO SHAKER CMM POINTER SENDS REGARDS FROM NEW HOME ON CAINS EQUESTRIAN PD IF UNDERSTAND SEND PROBE TO SHAKEDOWN END FOR FURTHER DOPE
The phrase 'Shakedown End' referred to the location where Commander Roberts had finished a lengthy final test-flight of the then-new Raptor reconnaissance scout before it was cleared for fleet duty (he had been the prime test-pilot of the program). The raptor had been tested out at the Borallis System. Ensign Roberts was just a child then, but he had been 'invited' aboard by his father and flown with him for the shakedown test. It was what made him decide to be a pilot.
'Cain's Equestrian' was in reference to the PEGASUS - a winged horse. There were other battlestars with references to horses in their names, but only one was with the PACIFICA at the time of the outbreak of hostilities (where Ensign Roberts was originally stationed), so Commander Roberts should be able to guess where his son and Black Knight Wing was now based. As Commander Roberts also knew of Captain Voight's call-sign of 'Pointer', that would also let him know that the rest of the wing had survived too...that is, if he was indeed alive.
As soon as the transmission was sent out, a message was received from the contact on the same cipher: ACK. It then FTL-ed. The PEGASUS probe, obeying its programmed instructions, FTL-ed back to the battlestar. It would report the encounter. Then it would be a waiting game.