The general mood on board the PEGASUS was that of anticipation spiced with barely suppressed hatred. They all knew that they were back in their home system - a system now under firm Cylon control. All on board had lost friends and family in the attack and they sorely wanted to strike back at those who had caused such losses. Cain felt the underlying mood of his crew, but he also knew that all of them would do their duty. All that they can do now was to wait for Dutch to return.
"Still nothing on sensors indicating anything nearby, Commander", Sanders called over from the Comscan console, "If our intelligence data is accurate, the scheduled patrol won't be here for a while yet. The countdown for the patrol is on DRADIS console screen five".
Cain nodded, but Condition One would remain in effect throughout this operation. The entire battlestar was ready to fight! And it would be back where it all began: Cyrannus!
Dutch's raptor emerged from its FTL jump close to the co-ordinates that the probe had received from the disabled Peregrine. According to standard procedure, they powered down all but their passive systems and listened.
"I'm getting some Cylon wireless traffic coming from Sagittaria, but nothing nearby, Razor", Watt reported, "and I'm not picking up the Peregrine either".
"It has stealth technology built in so passive sensors won't be enough to pick it up, Boxer. Start your active sensors and do a narrow-field sweep of the area", Dutch ordered, "and also record some of the Cylon chatter".
"No problem with the recording, but we're pretty close to Sagittaria though", Watt objected, "and even a narrow-field scan can be detected".
"Can't be helped", Dutch replied, "If we use the wireless, it would even be more likely to be picked up and on passive sensors only, we won't be able to find it quick enough - we have to assume frequent patrols. Do it, Boxer!", he repeated.
Silently mouthing a prayer to the Lords of Kobol, Watt powered up his platform and started to scan the area with the LIDAR array. Just then, a message came over the communicator on the TAC-1 channel:
TERMINATE ACTIVE SCAN IMMEDIATELY, it said. Watt immediately killed the power to the LIDAR. Unfortunately, a Cylon sensor probe in the vicinity had detected the burst of energy at the extreme limit of it's range. It was too far to get a definitive identification of what it picked up, Still it sent out an alert message as a result.
"What's happening, Boxer?", Dutch demanded. Watt showed Dutch the message he had just received. Dutch nodded, then reached for a headset, instructing Dundee to switch the TAC-1 wireless from MESSAGE to SHORT RANGE AUDIO.
"Peregrine Five, this is Recon Raptor One. How are you and Coffin doing, Hondo?", he spoke into the headset. Almost immediately, a reply came back.
"Still broke, thanks to your lucky hand of cards, Razor", a voice that Dutch knew as belonging to Hunter.
"Where are you, Hondo?", Dutch asked next, breathing a sigh of relief. Hunter quickly sent over a set of co-ordinates. Dutch knew that it was within the range of the directional laser communicator.
"Switch to Laser, Hondo", Dutch said after acknowledging receipt of the co-ordinates. Hunter quickly did so. Dutch quickly got back to the cockpit of the raptor and set the auto-pilot to the new co-ordinates. The raptor started to move.
"Sorry that we didn't immediately see you arrive, Razor", Hunter said apologetically, "or else we would have called before you started that scan. You came out of the jump away from the co-ordinates we had originally sent to you".
"We wanted to be sure that it wasn't a trap set for us after all, Hondo", Dutch explained, " In regards to the scan, well, it was a narrow-field sweep, so let's hope it wasn't noticed by anyone else. We're on secure communications and we're on our way to rendezvous with you now. ETA in five minutes".
"We'll be waiting, Razor", Hunter replied, "and Tyree, it's damn good to hear your voice again".
On the nearest base star to where Dutch was located, the message from the sensor had reached the command deck. A humanoid Cylon read what the probe had transmitted: PROBE SIGMA ALPHA REPORTS VERY BRIEF BURST OF ENERGY OF TYPE ASSOCIATED WITH LASER AND INFRA-RED DETECTION AND RANGING SCAN DETECTED AT EXTREME RANGE AT APPROXIMATE CO-ORDINATES NINER-NINER-FOUR MARK ZERO-FIVE-EIGHT. ENERGY SIGNATURE UNCERTAIN DUE TO BRIEFNESS OF BURST.
The humanoid Cylon - one of the Number Seven models - thought about this message. LIDAR was a standard scanning format by colonial warships, but the briefness of the burst made the identification a provisional one at best. And even at extreme range, a capital ship should still be able to be detected. Despite Number One's orders about countering further guerilla attacks decisively, there was simply not enough data to justify sending the base star there at the moment. Besides, it could be a diversion by a human controlled remote to ensure that the base star would investigate - thus leaving this part of space unguarded. Number Seven directed the centurion who passed on the message to deploy two raiders to run a recon. He would base his next move upon what they saw.
Within two minutes, two of the Scimitar-shaped raider automatons were launched and they promptly proceeded to commence their FTL-jump to the reported co-ordinates...
As the Raptor approached the crippled Peregrine, both Dutch and Watt were looking at the sleek lines of the gunship. This ship would definitely prove useful to the PEGASUS, once it was repaired and configured to a strike capability. Hunter had asked where Dutch had come from, and he replied that he was from a warship, but until it arrived, to keep the identity secret as a security measure.
"We're on secure communications, Razor", Hunter had said, "so no one can overhear us".
"Yeah, but the reason why I'm carrying missiles on this crate of mine is to ensure that no-one captures you and your craft. The tin-heads would want to get their hands on you and that ship very much, you know", Dutch warned.
That information had sobered both Hunter and Sims. Dutch had just told them that he couldn't risk either of them getting captured which meant that he would be compelled to shoot them out of the sky. Still, Hunter thought, if the positions were reversed, he would probably do the same...
"I'm running a close scan survey of your ship now, Hondo", Dutch said as he started to maneuver his raptor around the Peregrine, "and I'll quickly head back and call in the big guns once I finish". He had already noticed that the upper airlock hatch had been badly singed in the explosion of the drop tank, so a ship-to-ship evacuation was out of the question.
"Understood, Razor", Hunter said. Just then, a buzzer sounded from Sims' console. It was the PROXIMITY ALERT system.
"We've got company!", he shouted. Watt looked at his console and saw them as well: two Cylon raiders. They were closing fast.
"Activate the missile array, Boxer", Dutch ordered, "We better take them out before they can blab about what they've seen".
"This isn't a viper, Dutch", Watt said as he powered up the array. The two missiles that had been slung onto the underside of the raptor started arming themselves and their tracking software were starting to lock onto the two hostiles.
"Just get ready to fire them both, Boxer", Dutch replied, "We've only got two missiles and they both need to hit!"
"What about the Peregrine, Razor?", Watt asked. Their orders were clear: to deny the Peregrine to the enemy.
"If we fail, I'll ram the raptor into the Peregrine, but I'm not going to give up on those two without a fight. Got it?!!", Dutch shouted out.
"Got it, Razor", Watt replied, "target system on active acquisition mode".
On the Peregrine, both Hunter and Sims heard the conversation between Dutch and Watt. Hunter keyed the communicator.
"Razor, don't be foolish. You need to survive", he said, "we've still got the auto-destruct.
"Sorry, Hondo", Dutch replied, "But I'm not going to give up on either of you without a fight, and I swore to myself that I won't go back without you. Boxer, do we have weapons lock?"
"Affirmative, Razor", Watt replied.
"Fire both missiles. Take those tin-heads out!", he screamed. Watt hit the LAUNCH control and both missiles streaked out of their racks, both locked onto the raiders and closing rapidly.
The Cylon raiders had indeed detected the two craft and were closing in to investigate. The lead raider suddenly noticed that one of the craft had launched missiles and that they were homing in on them! Immediately, both raiders launched two missiles of their own each, and started to fly evasive.
Watt was ready for the incoming missiles. He deployed four decoys, which flew out in front of them. The incoming Cylon missiles were successfully diverted by the decoys and impacted on them. All four were destroyed.
The missiles that Watt had launched homed straight in, undeterred by the evasive flying patterns of the raiders. One missile impacted right in the 'cockpit' of the first Cylon raider. The IMPACT DETONATE - set warhead detonated, destroying the raider. However, the second missile had been inadvertently set to PROXIMITY DETONATE by one of the ground crew when it had been loaded onto the raptor. This missile exploded very close-in to the second raider, causing heavy damage and making it tumble out of control. It looked to all and sundry on the Raptor and Peregrine that the raider had been destroyed.
"Their transmissions were jammed, Razor", Sims reported, "so they didn't manage to call for help".
"Thanks, Coffin", Dutch replied, "but we'd better get back to Home Plate. Those two raiders are going to be missed. The sooner we get you rescued, the better".
"We'll be waiting, Razor. Good shooting, by the way", Sims answered.
"Be seeing you", Dutch replied. He activated the navi-comp in order to get them back to the PEGASUS. Time was fast running out.
Hunter and Sims saw the raptor flash out of existence as it made the jump. Both of them knew that reinforcements would be coming. They only hoped that they would not be too late as that patrol would be missed.
As the raptor exited the FTL-jump back at Batwah, Dutch immediately transmitted the final co-ordinates and the phrase CODE FIVE, which was a pre-arranged code meaning PEREGRINE AND CREW OKAY BUT COULD NOT EVACUATE. EXPEDITE RESCUE.
As Cain got the message, he ordered the Helm Officer, "Activate the FTL. We're going in!". To Colonel Tolen and Captain Sanders, he said, "We launch the fighters immediately after we jump. Gun crews are to prepare to fire as well".
As Tolen headed over to Fire Control and Sanders headed over to Core Command, The Helm officer called out, "Jumping in 5...4...3...2...1...jump!"