CHAPTER THREE: Minefield Cat-and-Mouse
Optus Sector - Rescue Raptor One
Annan's voice came clearly over the wireless: "Core Command transferring control of Rescue One to command pilot. Launch when ready".
As Tricia's raptor left the landing bay and headed out to where Blanke was drifting, Gorde noticed that Tricia was a little preoccupied. He had noticed this when Tricia had entered the raptor after the missiles had been loaded onto the launch racks. Tricia did not volunteer anything and Gorde didn't press: he saw the CAG talking with her at the far end of the bay and figured that whatever it was, she would tell him when the time was right.
"We should be at the perimeter of the minefield in fifteen minutes, Sheba", Gorde said, "pity we just can't FTL there. Cooler would be glad to see us about now".
"I know, Newguy", Tricia replied, "but better this than FTL-ing right into a mine. It's slower, but a hell of a lot surer".
Gorde used the next few minutes running diagnostics on the magna-grab system, the sensor platform, and the fire control system. The targeting and acquisition equipment was total state of the art, and the two SSM missiles were the best in 'fire and forget' technology. Programmed to fly evasive patterns so as to avoid being hit by defensive fire, these devices packed quite a punch.
"This minefield is mixed in well with the other debris", Tricia noted as she took the time to quickly review the data obtained by Benson's viper, "so it'll be seat-of-the pants flying in order to avoid all that's there".
"So how do you want to go about this?", Gorde wanted to know, "the sensor platform is warmed up and ready to go, but it's still going to be a problem locking on targets and telling mines from rubble while flying an evasive pattern".
"We just do the best that we can, Newguy. Cooler is relying on us to get him out, and sooner or later, there will be unfriendlies coming to see what caused the initial explosions", Tricia answered, Also we don't have the luxury of delaying for too long".
"Well, at least we have the missiles just in case any unfriendlies do arrive. These babies can deal with them", Gorde said confidently. Tricia didn't answer, as she knew that they were not there for blasting Cylons. She put her mind back on her sensors as she closed with the minefield.
Optus Sector - Cylon Minefield
As Tricia's raptor was reaching the edge of the minefield, the two Cylon raiders were maneuvering around the perimeter in order to get to the closest point of the explosions, whereupon one of them would enter the field and start a methodical scan in order to look for clues as to why they exploded. Both raiders were keeping their sensors trained on the minefield at the moment, which was very fortunate as had they started scanning in the opposite direction, they would have picked up Tricia's raptor. Their EM emissions though were radiating out and it was those emissions that Gorde noticed on his scanner.
"Uh-oh", Gorde announced, "We've got visitors. Scanner shows scanner emissions from two bogies dead ahead. Range finder indicates the bogies are at the edge of the field".
"Switching to silent mode", Tricia announced, "You'd better get your platform shut down. Activate passive sensors only".
"Right", Gorde crisply acknowledged. With the sensors and engines powered down, the raptor was now drifting in silent mode. To anyone using sensors, they would look like a piece of drifting space debris, of which this part of space had lots of. Both Tricia and Gorde knew that the two contacts were Cylon, even though they still referred to them as bogies (unidentified). Military habits die hard and until definitive identification was in hand, bogies they would be called.
Gorde was now 'listening' to the emissions from the two bogies as they did their scanning of the field of mines. The passive sensors, while not as efficient as active sensors, at least allowed for some information to come through, and Gorde was good at accessing the data.
"Okay, neither of them are heading this way. That's the good news. The bad news is that one of the bogies is moving slowly into the minefield, while the other one is standing sentinel. The one in the minefield is using a narrow-field scan of the area of the explosion".
Tricia grunted an acknowledgment. The Cylons were playing it smart: If the one in the field was ambushed, the other one would be able to escape, and vice versa. She wondered how the rescue could proceed when Gorde spoke up.
"Go into a tumble, Sheba", he said suddenly, "the sentinel bogey is starting a mid-range sensor sweep in this area".
Tricia tapped a control jet briefly, sending the raptor into a slow spin. Tricia noticed on her sensor screen that the Cylon sensor sweep was closing in on her position. She hoped that their sensors would not register anything that would attract their attention...
The sensor swept briefly onto, then past them. Tricia knew that if Cylons were suspicious, they would re-scan them, which meant...
"Phew", Gorde breathed a sigh of relief, "their sensor sweep is continuing. Thank the Lords of Kobol for all the other debris floating around here". Tricia relaxed some at the news. Now they could close the distance on the minefield. She did wish that they could send word back to the Pegasus, but now, any false move on their part and things would start getting a lot worse.
"Long range video zoom has a definitive ID", Gorde reported after a couple of minutes, "It's a Cylon Raider - no question about it. It's one of the new scimitar-shaped ones. Bogies are now officially hostiles", he concluded unnecessarily.
"How soon before the hostile within the minefield comes across Blanke?", Tricia asked next.
"Hard to tell with just the passive sensors, Sheba", Gorde replied, "I can only estimate twenty minutes maximum, depending on how much debris is between him and the hostile".
"How soon can you get a weapons lock on the sentinel?", Tricia asked next.
"A couple of seconds, but according to the manual, the missile will take about thirty seconds to reach the target at this range. It would have more than enough time to evade".
"How about in fifteen minutes?", Tricia then asked.
"We'd have a much better chance of taking it out, but the other Cylon will know what's happening", Gorde replied, "and this ship is not exactly a viper".
Tricia thought about what Gorde said, then replied, "I can't see any way past it. We can't return to the Pegasus without being detected as we're now well within sensor range, and if we don't do anything, Blanke will be discovered. In fifteen minutes, start your jamming and target on the sentinel bogey", she announced.
"Okay, Sheba", Gorde replied. Things were getting rather complicated very quickly, he thought sourly.
Within the Minefield
It was about this time that Blanke's passive sensor beeped. It was picking up an EM emission. He first thought that it was a rescue ship, and was about to activate the transmit mode on his PSB, when he suddenly realized that the EM's audio pattern was not that of sensors used on raptors or vipers. He powered up his viper's warbook and had it check out the EM pattern. The warbook's video display flashed back three words: Cylon Raider - Confirmation.
"Frakk!", Blanke cursed. The Cylons were here and they were checking out the minefield. Judging from his sensors, he was partially obscured from immediate view by a boulder, plus as he was giving out no EM emissions, he was confident that at this moment he was not seen by the raider. But he knew that given how methodical that the Cylons were, that would not last long. He checked his damage control display. His weapons platform was out and his maneuvering thrusters were likewise down. The only thing that he had control of were his engines, but without directional control, firing them up would be damn risky at best given that he was stuck in this frakking minefield. He could only hope that help would arrive before the Cylon raider discovered him. And judging from his sensors, it would not be much longer.
Rescue Raptor One
Gorde agreed with Blanke's assessment of the situation. As the raptor drifted closer to the minefield - and the Cylons - he just could not see how they take care of this crisis. It looked like the secret of the existence of the Battlestar Pegasus was about to be compromised. But Gorde knew that they had to do something, regardless. He hoped Tricia had a good idea. The timer clicked down. All that he had to do was to power up the fire control system; lock a missile on target, then shoot.
Tricia was also watching the screen, seeing them drift closer and closer. So much rested on taking that sentinel out, but would they also be able to deal with the second raider? The die was cast. It now all came down to waiting for the timer to reach zero.
Within the CHAPTER THREE: Minefield Cat-and-Mouse
"Core Command transferring control of Rescue One to command pilot. Launch when ready".
As Tricia's raptor left the landing bay and headed out to where Blanke was drifting, Gorde noticed that Tricia was a little preoccupied. He had noticed this when Tricia had entered the raptor after the missiles had been loaded onto the launch racks. Tricia did not volunteer anything and Gorde didn't press: he saw CAG talking with her at the far end of the bay and figured that whatever it was, she would tell him when the time was right.
"We should be at the perimeter of the minefield in fifteen minutes, Sheba", Gorde said, "pity we just can't FTL there. Cooler would be glad to see us about now".
"I know, Newguy", Tricia replied, "but better this than FTL-ing right into a mine. It's slower, but a hell of a lot surer".
Gorde used the next few minutes running diagnostics on the magna-grab system, the sensor platform, and the fire control system. The targeting and acquisition equipment was total state of the art, and the two SSM missiles were the best in 'fire and forget' technology. Programmed to fly evasive patterns so as to avoid being hit by defensive fire, these devices packed quite a punch.
"This minefield is mixed in well with the other debris", Tricia noted as she took the time to quickly review the data obtained by Benson's viper, "so it'll be seat-of-the pants flying in order to avoid all that's there".
"So how do you want to go about this?", Gorde wanted to know, "the sensor platform is warmed up and ready to go, but it's still going to be a problem locking on targets and telling mines from rubble while flying an evasive pattern".
"We just do the best that we can, Newguy. Cooler is relying on us to get him out, and sooner or later, there will be unfriendlies coming to see what caused the initial explosions", Tricia answered, Aso we don't have the luxury of delaying for too long".
"Well, at least we have the missiles just in case any unfriendlies do arrive. These babies can deal with them", Gorde said confidently. Tricia didn't answer, as she knew that they were not there for blasting Cylons. She put her mind back on her sensors as she closed with the minefield.
At that moment, coming from the opposite side of the minefield, the two Cylon raiders were maneuvering around the perimeter in order to get to the closest point of the explosions, whereupon one of them would enter the field and start a methodical scan in order to look for clues as to why they exploded. Both raiders were keeping their sensors trained on the minefield at the moment, which was very fortunate as had they started scanning in the opposite direction, they would have picked up Tricia's raptor. Their EM emissions though were radiating out and it was those emissions that Gorde noticed on his scanner.
"Uh-oh", Gorde announced, "We've got visitors. Scanner shows scanner emissions from two bogies dead ahead. Range finder indicates the bogies are at the edge of the field".
"Switching to silent mode", Tricia announced, "you'd better get your platform shut down. Activate passive sensors only".
"Right", Gorde crisply acknowledged. With the sensors and engines powered down, the raptor was now drifting in silent mode. To anyone using sensors, they would look like a piece of drifting space debris, of which this part of space had lots of. Both Tricia and Gorde knew that the two contacts were Cylon, even though they still referred to them as bogies (unidentified). Military habits die hard and until definitive identification was in hand, bogies they would be called.
Gorde was now 'listening' to the emissions from the two bogies as they did their scanning of the field of mines. The passive sensors, while not as efficient as active sensors, at least allowed for some information to come through, and Gorde was good at accessing the data.
"Okay, neither of them are heading this way. That's the good news. The bad news is that one of the bogies is moving slowly into the minefield, while the other one is standing sentinel. The one in the minefield is using a narrow-field scan of the area of the explosion".
Tricia grunted an acknowledgment. The Cylons were playing it smart: If the one in the field was ambushed, the other one would be able to escape, and vice versa. She wondered how the rescue could proceed when Gorde spoke up.
"Go into a tumble, Sheba", he suggested, "the sentinel bogey is starting a mid-range sensor sweep in this area".
Tricia tapped a control jet briefly, sending the raptor into a slow spin. Tricia noticed on her sensor screen that the Cylon sensor sweep was closing in on her position. She hoped that their sensors would not register anything that would attract their attention...
The sensor swept briefly onto, then past them. Tricia knew that if Cylons were suspicious, they would re-scan them, which meant...
"Phew", Gorde breathed a sigh of relief, "their sensor sweep is continuing. Thank the Lords of Kobol for all the other debris floating around here". Tricia relaxed some at the news. Now they could close the distance on the minefield. She did wish that they could send word back to the PEGASUS, but now, any false move on their part and things would start getting a lot worse.
"Long range video zoom has a definitive ID", Gorde reported after a couple of minutes, "It's a Cylon Raider - no question about it. It's one of the new scimitar shaped ones. Bogies are now officially hostiles", he concluded unnecessarily.
"How soon before the hostile within the minefield comes across Blanke?", Tricia asked next.
"Hard to tell with just the passive sensors, Sheba", Gorde replied, "I can only estimate twenty minutes maximum, depending on how much debris is between him and the hostile".
"How soon can you get a weapons lock on the sentinel?", Tricia asked next.
"A couple of seconds, but according to the manual, the missile will take about thirty seconds to reach the target at this range. It would have more than enough time to evade".
"And how about in fifteen minutes?", Tricia then asked.
"We'd have a much better chance of taking it out, but the other Cylon will know what's happening", Gorde replied, "and this ship is not exactly a viper".
Tricia thought about what Gorde said, then replied, "I can't see any way past it. We can't return to the PEGASUS without being detected as we're now well within sensor range, and if we don't do anything , Blanke will be discovered. In fifteen minutes, start your jamming and target on the sentinel bogey", she announced.
"Okay, Sheba", Gorde replied. Things were getting rather complicated, he thought sourly.
It was about this time that Blanke's passive sensor beeped. It was picking up an EM emission. He first thought that it was a rescue ship, and was about to activate the TRANSMIT mode on his PSB, when he suddenly realized that the EM's audio pattern was not that of sensors used on raptors or vipers. He powered up his warbook and had it check out the EM pattern. The warbook's video display flashed back three words: CYLON RAIDER - CONFIRMATION.
"Frakk!", Blanke cursed. The Cylons were here and they were checking out the minefield. Judging from his sensors, he was partially obscured from immediate view by a boulder, plus as he was giving out no EM emissions, he was confident that at this moment, he was not seen by the raider. But he knew that given how methodical that the Cylons were, that would not last long. He checked his damage control display. His weapons platform was out and his maneuvering thrusters were likewise down. The only thing that he had use of were his engines, but without directional control, firing them up would be damn risky at best given that he was stuck in this frakking minefield. He could only hope that help would arrive before the Cylon raider discovered him. And judging from his sensors, it would not be much longer.
Gorde agreed with Blanke's assessment of the situation. As the raptor drifted closer to the minefield - and the Cylons - he just could not see how they take care of this crisis. It looked like the secret of the existence of the Battlestar PEGASUS was about to be compromised. But Gorde knew that they had to do something, regardless. He hoped Tricia had a good idea. The timer clicked down. All that he had to do was to power up the fire control system, lock a missile on target, then shoot.
Tricia was also watching the screen, seeing them drift closer and closer. So much rested on taking that sentinel out, but would they also be able to deal with the second raider? The die was cast. It now all came down to waiting for the timer to reach zero.
Within the Minefield
The Cylon raider was using its narrow-field sensor scan to methodically check every floating rock in the area. The scanned debris from the detonated mines showed nothing definitive as yet, but the directive was clear: check everything. The raider was now moving closer and closer to Blanke's damaged ship. It was only going to be a matter of time before the viper was discovered…