"So that's it", Cain said as Ashley showed the blackened VIPER patch that had been removed from the uniform taken from Dyer's body. The body was covered in a sheet at the far end of the lab. Soon, it would be prepared for the funeral.
"That data recording of that energy pulse gave me the means to duplicate the exact same pulse", Ashley stated, "The maintenance crew down in the landing bay ran the portable scanner I rigged up for them on the viper wreckage, but there was no response. Then, I used the same scanner on Dyer's body, and then the remnants of Dyer's uniform, and it was on the latter that I got a strong reaction. This patch had a small passive sensor disc inserted inside it. It reacts with a large 'return' when this specific frequency hits it".
"Better rig up a couple of extra scanners, Doctor", Cain said, "so that we can scan this entire ship for these discs". Ashley nodded, saying "That's already in the works, Commander".
"How did that disc get into that patch?", Sanders wanted to know.
"The patch showed no signs of tampering, so it would have had to have been inserted when the patch was first embroidered", Ashley replied.
"Those flight suits were newly issued to the midshipmen that Lt. Higgins had been teaching", Syke recalled, "fresh from the Quartermaster".
"Captain Sanders", Cain quietly said, "find out who is working in the Quartermaster department and check the department listing against the list of suspects. Our little spy may have just made the mistake that we were looking for".
The following morning, the entire Silver Spar wing complement of pilots were present in Hangar Bay Four for the funeral. Midshipman Michelle Dyer's body was now lying in a sealed casket on a raised podium in the center of the hangar bay. It was draped with the flag of Geminon - her birth world - and atop the flag was her flight helmet, and one of her personal possessions: a small velvet pillow which had stitched upon it two patches: The PEGASUS patch she had first worn and a new VIPER patch. Sitting also on the pillow was a small box containing Dyer's academy ring. Behind the casket, the PEGASUS flag hung limply on a short pole.
As Dyer was one of the PACIFICA survivors, technically she was part of Black Knight Wing, but Captain Voight agreed with Cain thinking that it would be more appropriate that Silver Spar Wing should honor her memory as she had flown with them. Because of this, Voight was standing discretely to one side as the PACIFICA - rather than the Black Knight Wing - representative. As the Chaplain started his invocation, Captain Syke fingered the documents and other items that Commander Cain had given to him just before the service.
Syke noticed Lt. Higgins standing to one side with the two surviving midshipmen from the mission. Both Midshipman Landon and Midshipman Anderson were trying to hold back tears as the chaplain continued his appeal to the Lords of Kobol to watch over Dyer's soul.
"So say we all", the chaplain concluded at the end of the invocation. The assembled pilots repeated the phrase. Now Captain Syke stepped up to the podium.
"We are here to honor the memory of Michelle Dyer. From the academy, to the PACIFICA, to Black Knight Wing, and finally to Silver Spar Wing, she was a midshipman that did her job, giving her all to fulfil the mission that she was part of. Her and her colleagues were told that upon their return, they would receive their wings and their commissions". With that, Syke silently walked over to the casket, and on the black velvet pillow - being careful not to disturb the box containing the academy ring, he pinned on two metal insignia. One was the stylized wings of a viper pilot. The other was a single gold diamond denoting the rank of ensign. Beside the pillow, a rolled diploma was placed upon the casket - the document of commission.
After saluting the casket, Syke went to the two midshipmen who had accompanied Ensign Dyer. He gave them their commission diplomas, their squadron assignments, and two small cases. In each of them were the coveted wings and the ensigns diamonds. After saluting them both, Syke stood aside, and one of them - Ensign Anderson - walked up to the podium.
"We were taught in the academy about duty, honor, and sacrifice. Those three words were sacred in the academy. But I never truly understood them until now", he said, "Michelle Dyer had told me that she always wanted to be a viper pilot. She felt it was her destiny. We thought that with her attitude, she should have bestowed upon her the call-sign 'Dreamer'. For me personally, she was a friend and colleague. We shared some interests, and we also had different interests. For example, she loved to quote poetry. I thought it was rather out of place here on the PEGASUS, and I never thought about poetry myself until now. So here's one for her. It's about the only one I know.
He lowered his head briefly, then raised it, speaking in a choked, but clear voice:
"From the ground below to the stars above,
Lay the spaces all true pilots love,
Amidst this black and starry sky,
We fight to win, though some may die.
This is the creed we say to all,
To honor those who fight and fall.
So if we become the fallen few,
Please look upon the starlit hue,
Then think of us before you sleep,
And in your hearts, our memories keep.
The nine other midshipmen, some silently crying, then filed past the flag-draped casket and saluted it. As they left the hangar bay in single file, six ensigns - symbolizing the link between the living and fallen - took their positions around the casket. As they lifted it and slowly walked down the aisle, the chaplain intoned a prayer in ancient Kobollian.
As the pallbearers left the room, the assembled pilots began to disperse. The nine midshipmen re-entered the room and went up to quietly congratulate Anderson and Landon on their commissions. According to academy tradition, the midshipmen pinned onto the new ensigns their wings and their rank insignia. Next, Anderson and Landon transferred their rings from the left hands to their right, symbolizing the change from student to graduate..
"I thought that getting my wings would be the happiest day of my life", Anderson said, "but I don't feel like celebrating".
"Remember what Lt. Higgins told us - 'Death is part of our creed'. We remember the dead, but celebrate life. It's the only way to do the job without going insane", Landon responded sympathetically.
"Higgins should never have put her on that mission", one of the midshipmen muttered. Anderson immediately grabbed the midshipman by his collar and pushed him against the wall.
"LIEUTENANT Higgins is a hell of a better man that you give him credit for", Anderson shouted in his face, "He did a hell of a job out there, he's just as broken up about her death, and I'm proud to have served under him! Understand?" he snarled.
"Okay, Okay", the midshipman replied, taken aback by Anderson's reaction.
"That's 'Yes, I understand, Sir', to you", Anderson quietly corrected him.
"Yes, Sir. I understand", the midshipman replied in a penitent tone. Anderson released his grip. Landon nodded to Anderson and they both left the room. They now had a squadron to report to.
After Dyer's casket was placed on the transporter for it's trip to the crematorium, Syke turned to Sanders, who had been watching the pallbearers leave.
"Are we all set?", Syke asked. Sanders nodded, handing him a sidearm. Three security crewmen fell in behind them as they marched to the Quartermaster's department. On the way, they paged Doctor Ashley to join them with his equipment.
When they got there, Sanders gestured for the others to wait outside. He holstered his sidearm, then walked in and went over to a table, where a young blonde woman was sitting at a chair in front of it working on some uniforms. She was the only person in the Quartermaster's department - all others having been discretely 'requested' not to come in for work. She didn't look up at Sanders as he approached, but Sanders placed the blackened VIPER patch on the table. The woman stopped working on the uniform and studied the patch, then looked up at Sanders and smiled.
"So, Captain", she said, "I see that you have found me at last". Sanders blinked. He didn't expect her not to argue or deny it. "I think your spying and killing spree has now come to an end", Sanders quietly said, moving to take his gun out of his holster.
"Not necessarily", the woman said, who with blinding speed, grabbed Sanders around the neck with her right hand. She lifted Sanders off the floor. Sanders was trying to break the grip. The woman quietly continued to talk as she continued to slowly choke Sanders.
"I'm expecting someone to break into this room any second to shoot me dead, but you see, I won't really be dead" she explained, "For when this body expires, my consciousness gets transferred to another version of me: I'm one of the number six models of twelve models of humanoid Cylon developed to infiltrate and report. All that I have learned here will awaken in a new body, then I will talk to my compatriots about the mighty battlestar PEGASUS, and Commander Cain, and the number of fighters you have on board. Then, you'll be hunted down and destroyed...just like the GALACTICA will be", she taunted.
"Why...not...die...before...?" Sanders choked out.
"I can't terminate my own body", she explained, "it's one of my prime directives, but it soon will be terminated - thanks to one of your crewmen who will shoot me when he sees me kill you. You have made my job rather difficult over the last few weeks, Captain Sanders. But at least I shall have the pleasure of seeing you die before I leave".
"That's what you think, Cylon!", a new voice said. The woman looked in the direction of the door to see Captain Syke and Doctor Ashley walk in. Smiling, she threw Sanders across the room, where he had slumped unconscious. Then she advanced slowly towards Syke.
"So, Captain Syke", she said quietly as she got closer, "are you going to shoot me now? You'd better do so because I'm going to kill you very slowly if you don't kill me first", she purred. Syke backed up slowly to the door.
The woman reached out her arm, with the intention of grabbing Syke's neck. Just then, Doctor Ashley put up his weapon and fired. But this weapon was not a projectile weapon. It fired small darts attached to wires. Several darts embedded themselves into her body. The woman just had time to realize what it was before Ashley pressed a switch on his gun, sending variable electric pulses through the wire to the darts.
The Humanoid Cylon twitched and jerked spasmodically as the currents coursed through her system, overloading the electrical impulses being sent to and from the silica pathways at the base of the brain. After a few more seconds of twitching, the body dropped to the floor - not dead - but inert. Ashley signaled to the security crewmen - who had just entered the room - who quickly went over to the inert woman and placed a large donut shaped metallic ring around her neck. They locked it in place and then they stood back.
The woman was starting to stir. She sat up, looked at the humans, then started to say something. But what she was going to say was drowned out by a large pulse of electromagnetic energy that had been emitted from her neck ring by means of a remote control switch manipulated by Dr. Ashley. The pulse completely fried the circuits of her neuro-silicon brain, scrambling the stored memories. The woman's expression glazed over as the body terminated. Doctor Ashley sent two more pulses through the ring to ensure that any transmissions from the body would be rendered useless.
Sanders had regained consciousness. Rubbing his neck, he stood up, removing a small transceiver from his uniform belt.
"Tough lady", he said in a slightly raspy voice, "but we got the confession, and she won't be calling for help".
"Sorry about the rough treatment", Syke replied, "but it was the only way to get her to talk. And now she won't be talking any more", he concluded with satisfaction. Sanders nodded, then kicked the corpse's head - hard.
"Well, Doctor", Syke said, "Thanks for your help. I suppose this thing will be something for you to look forward to dissecting in Forensics".
"She confirmed my suspicions", Ashley said as he gestured for two of the security crewmen to get a gurney in order to take the dead Cylon away, "The older Cylon models had a means for transferring data in the event of destruction. It would therefore be logical that these humanoid models would have the same thing built into them".
After quickly making sure that Sanders was okay, Ashley followed the crewmen out of the Quartermaster's department. He had a corpse to dissect, and there should be a boon of information to be discovered.
As Sanders and Syke headed out to report to Commander Cain, Sanders said, "Twelve models of human Cylon, that's what she said. You think that there could be others - even sleepers here among us?", he asked.
"Well, let's hope Dr. Ashley can find a way to screen out the Cylons from the rest of us", Syke replied, "then we can make a through check. Until then, we keep the Old Man happy by doing our jobs".
"So long as it doesn't involve getting strangled", Sanders said ruefully. Syke laughed. True, there could be others, but the deaths of Crewman Wright and Ensign Dyer had been avenged by the discovery of their murderer. At least for now, he could sleep a little bit easier.