Gorde and Dundee were down in the bay preparing their raptor for launch. While Dundee was at his station punching in the navi-comp co ordinates, Gorde was doing a quick once over of the exterior, in particular the missile racks where Chief Krag's deck crew had replaced the earlier ordinance and loaded on board two scarab-IA missiles instead.
"Hey Chief", Gorde called to Krag, who had been talking to a couple of technicians. Krag walked on over.
"How can I help you, Ensign?", Krag asked.
"What's with the IA's?", Gorde asked, gesturing to the mounted missiles, "I would have preferred going out with the type III's or the longbows".
"New orders from the X.O.", Krag explained, "Only type IA's are being used for the raptors from here on out. The type II, III, and longbows are being set aside for the FLEET AVENGER. She's built for combat, the raptors aren't".
Gorde didn't like that rationale. True, the raptor was a recon platform first and foremost, but if they were ever caught in a battle, the scarab IA's may not be enough. He made a mental note to speak to CAG about this later.
In the meantime, over in the starboard bay, Captain Voight was running a quick inspection of one of his squadrons. Voight made it a habit to conduct surprise inspections of the three squadrons that made up Black Knight Wing and this day, it was the turn of Knight Two Squadron. Accompanying him was the C.O. of Knight Two Squadron, Lieutenant Cynthia 'Jankers' Brady.
Both of them walked down the line of officers standing in front of their bunks at attention. Voight stopped by one young officer. The officer, recognizing the cue, spoke up.
"Sir, Ensign Roberts, Michael. Call sign 'Cracker'", he stated crisply.
"Ah yes, Mr. Roberts", Voight replied, "Stand aside, please".
"Yes, CAG", Roberts said as he moved aside so that Voight and Brady could inspect his bunk and living space.
Each officer's bunk alcove had also a small writing desk, a set of drawers, and a closet. Voight nodded with satisfaction at Roberts' cleanly arranged closet and uniforms. The items in the drawer were likewise laid out tidily, as per regulations. Suddenly, as he looked at some of the photographs that Roberts had framed and placed on his desk, he recognized one of the persons in one of them. He picked it up. It was a picture of an officer he knew well.
"This is Shaker, isn't it?", Voight asked Roberts as he held the framed picture in front of him. 'Shaker' was better known as Commander John Roberts, a well known viper pilot from the First Cylon War, and later on, a warship commander. He had also briefly been the chief instructor at Advanced Tactical Training. Voight knew him during his time there.
"Yes, CAG", Roberts replied, "He's my father". Brady nodded. She knew of Roberts' history.
Voight did not know until now that Commander Roberts had any children in the service. As he only conducted random interviews during inspections - preferring to leave detailed information on service and family history matters to his squadron commanders - this revelation was truly a surprise. "I was a student at ATT when your father was on TDY as chief instructor there, Ensign", Voight said, "What did he do after that? I heard he had a command of a capital ship".
"Yes, CAG, it was the Battlecruiser TRINITY", Roberts supplied, "the last I had heard from my father, the TRINITY was on a training assignment near Leonis before the outbreak of war. Not much else I know about it."
Voight nodded. The TRINITY was one of the older Protector Class Ships; they came into service about twenty years ago as a replacement to the old mono hull battlecruisers like GOLIATH. Voight wondered why such a gifted leader like Shaker would have been assigned command of a training vessel. As a training ship, the TRINITY was - technically speaking - off the active list and on the inactive fleet reserve. Inactive reserve ships were regarded as 'second rate commands' for commanders. Given the fact that Shaker was a highly decorated pilot, and a natural leader - as evidenced by his TDY at ATT - it just didn't add up...
Voight was about to speak to Roberts again when the P.A. system suddenly announced, "Set Condition Two throughout the ship. Repeat: Set Condition Two!".
"That affects this squadron, CAG", Brady said. Voight nodded.
"Okay Knight Two, Man your fighters!", Brady shouted. The assembled officers hurried out of their quarters and headed down to the launch tubes to man their vipers.
"By your leave, CAG?", Brady asked. Voight nodded. Brady left to join her squadron. As Voight turned to head back to Black Knights Wing Admin, a crewman came into the room and saluted.
"Sir, Commander Cain's complements. He requests you come up to CIC", the crewman announced.
Nodding, Voight headed out of the room and climbed on board the waiting transporter. The crewman who had conveyed the summons got into the driver's seat and drove the transporter over to where the express elevator to CIC was located.
At this time, Gorde and Dundee had settled into their raptor and had powered up it's systems. As soon as he saw that the support crews had left the bay and sealed the access hatches behind them, Gorde keyed his communicator.
"Core Command, This is Recon Raptor One ready for elevating to Flight Deck", he announced.
"Core Command acknowledges. Elevating now", was the response. At the same moment, lights in the hangar bay flashed pulsating red, indicating that the bay was being depressurized. After about twenty seconds, the lights went solid red, indicating that the bay was now in vacuum.
The deck on which the Raptor had been placed lifted up, carrying the raptor towards the ceiling of the bay. An overhead hatch slid open, allowing the bay lift to elevate the raptor up to the flight deck. As soon as the lift had stopped moving, Gorde activated his main engines.
"Core Command transferring control of Recon Raptor One to command pilot", Core Command announced, "Launch when ready".
At that, Gorde used his vertical thrusters to lift the raptor off the deck. After Dundee announced, "All systems are operational", Gorde used lateral thrusters to maneuver the raptor out of the forward maw of the landing bay. Gorde then put full power to the raptor's sublight drive, thus speeding away from the PEGASUS.
"Navi-comp co ordinates are all fed in, Newguy", Dundee announced, "FTL drive online and ready at your discretion".
"Thanks, Snoopy", Gorde replied. He contacted Core Command once more, announcing, "Recon Raptor One heading out now, Home Plate".
"Thank you, Recon Raptor One", Core Command replied, "Stay safe, Newguy".
Several seconds later, the Core Command duty officer saw the raptor FTL out of sight. She turned to face Sanders, who was watching quietly behind her.
"Recon Raptor One is away, Sir", she announced unnecessarily.
Nodding, Sanders turned to Cain, just as Voight walked into CIC. Cain waved both Voight and Sanders over to where he was standing.
"We're at Condition Two until Recon Raptor One returns", Cain informed them.
"What's with the alert, Commander?", Voight asked. Cain gestured to Sanders, who proceeded over the next few minutes to give Voight a quick briefing on what Tricia and Macklin had encountered earlier. Voight understood why Cain had called the alert.
"Let's just hope Ensign Gorde can get some more solid data without announcing to the tinheads their presence", Sanders concluded.
"Sure that Newguy's raptor is going to be enough?", Voight inquired, "I can get Dookie out with his raptor to support him".
"I appreciate the offer, Captain", Cain replied, "but we'll need Lieutenant Connor to stand by in case Gorde does not return. In any case, until Lieutenant Hunter returns with Peregrine Five from their long recon, I need to keep at least one FTL capable ship on hand".
"When will the FLEET AVENGER be returning?" Voight asked.
"Their ETA is in two hours. We've given the Two Jasons four hours to report back. If we don't hear from them by then, then we will send out Connor. Hunter's peregrine may be needed for other things, depending upon what Gorde finds, so it will stay back here until then", Sanders supplied.
"Your wing all ready?", Cain asked Voight. Voight nodded.
"Lieutenants Brady and Costello have their squadrons ready to launch, according to standing instructions pertaining to Condition Two. Tate's squadron is on standby in the event that Condition One is called", Voight replied.
"Excellent, Captain", Cain announced, "but I'm still concerned that you have not appointed a permanent deputy CAG to your wing.
"Well, Commander", Voight explained carefully, "As per SOP on the PACIFICA, I've been rotating that position between the squadron commanders. This week, it's being filled by Lieutenant Brady".
"Captain Voight", Cain said, "I know that the PACIFICA had a different policy to ours regarding staff positions, but given the fact that you are (a), on the PEGASUS now, and (b), that your squadron commanders have more than enough to do running their respective squadrons, and that (c), I don't want to see you burn out, I'm formally directing you to appoint a permanent deputy CAG for your wing. Lieutenant Cain has done a great job supporting Captain Syke in Silver Spar Wing, freeing him - and his squadron commanders - up for other tasks and I want to see your wing do likewise".
Voight looked at Cain. He didn't care to be told how to run his wing, but Cain was the commander of the PEGASUS and the final word regarding the dispositions of the wings rested with him. Besides, he knew that Cain wasn't insisting on this to diminish his authority. He nodded his acquiesce.
"I'll have a deputy appointed within the next few days, Commander", he acquiesced. Cain nodded. He had seen in Voight's eyes that he was annoyed with the directive, but Cain knew that Voight had a habit of taking on too much. He needed him alert, not tired.
"So what were you doing before we set Condition Two?", Cain asked him, in order to slightly deflect any lingering resentment.
"I was inspecting the Knight Two squadron pilot's quarters", Voight replied, "I had just found out that we have a son of Commander John Roberts on board as one of the pilots there".
"Shaker?", Cain asked. Voight nodded. Cain knew Roberts well. Quite a pilot in the last war. Though not as close as Bill Adama, they had been regular acquaintances over the years.
"You know him?", Cain asked. Voight nodded.
"When I was assigned to ATT, Shaker - I mean Commander - Roberts was on TDY there as Chief Instructor while his ship was getting overhauled in Tarturas dry dock. Ensign Roberts told me that he was the commander of the Training ship TRINITY when the war broke out".
"TRINITY. That's a battlecruiser", Sanders said, "If my memory serves me correctly, she had been on the Inactive Fleet Reserve list for some time. Interesting command for someone as gifted as Commander Roberts". Cain didn't say anything. The others were looking at him. Sanders knew the look: Cain was thinking intently. After about thirty seconds, he turned to Sanders.
"Comms, you did TDY at Picon Fleet HQ, right?", he asked. Sanders nodded. Before he was assigned to the PEGASUS as Second Officer and Comscan Officer, he did a brief temporary assignment with the Fleet Deployments Directorate at Picon.
"We know that the Cylons must have infiltrated Fleet HQ's primary database, in order to get information on fleet strengths and dispositions, but the primary database dealt only with those warships on the active list, correct?", Cain inquired.
"That's right, Commander", Sanders replied, "The warships placed on the inactive reserve list were listed on a separate database. It's an older system, not networked to the new database as it was intended to eventually fully decommission and scrap those listed ships".
"But we know that ships on that list were still occasionally used by the fleet. As trainers like the TRINITY, or as target vessels like the ITHACA", Cain said, "which means that if the tin heads only got as far as the primary database, they may have missed some of those inactive vessels, if they were out on assignment.
"That's possible", Sanders said, "but as the inactive ships were supposed to be docked at the various fleet yards - which were all destroyed - it's something that can't be verified. The only reason why the ITHACA was still on the active list is that it had not had it's decommissioning ceremony"
"From out here, yes", Cain said, "but we could ask Commander Hawke to check up on that possibility as they seem to be closer to the colonies than us. After all, they do have tabs on the PROMETHEUS.
Also, Cain thought to himself, he had other items to look up. The now dead Commander in Chief of the Colonial Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Hendrix, was a good friend of Cain's. When Cain had been transferred from the GALACTICA after the war to the Battlestar ACROPOLIS, Hendrix had been at that time the Commander of that battlestar.
Hendrix had taken a liking to Cain. Eventually, Hendrix had him assigned as CAG. When Hendrix moved on to Picon Fleet HQ and Cain took up command of the PEGASUS, Hendrix kept in contact with Cain and in his frequent letters, kept him up to date with fleet news. Perhaps there was something in the last communiques from Hendrix which may shed more light on this possibility. He made a mental note to himself to look them over when he had some spare time...
While Cain mused about this theory and while the PEGASUS maintained it's Condition Two alert, Gorde's raptor had exited the FTL jump at the co ordinates that Tricia had supplied. The raptor immediately powered down all but its passive sensors.
"If Sheba's co ordinates are correct, Newguy", Dundee said, "then the destination of their contact is that asteroid dead ahead".
"Any EMT or other items being picked up on your passives, Snoopy?", Gorde asked as he looked at the dead crater-embedded sphere.
"I'm not picking up anything...wait!", Dundee suddenly said, "I've got a contact leaving the surface, heading back along the trajectory that Sheba and Shooter plotted earlier. Negative IFF. Exhaust residue shows Di-ethene traces".
"Frakk! Sheba was right", Gorde muttered, "definitely Cylon. Okay, let's see if we can get a better look at this new bird", he suggested. He briefly tapped his thrusters so that the raptor would be able to drift a little closer. With the large amount of asteroidal debris in this area of space, the odds were excellent that they would not be able to be detected by the Cylon ship.
"Newguy", Dundee announced, "passives show a sizeable chunk of rock is drifting into the contact's flight path. If it doesn't take evasive action, it will impact it in twenty seconds".
"Okay, let's see what it will do", Gorde answered. Either it will avoid the boulder or hit it. It's only a freighter, Gorde thought.
What he didn't expect was that when the time for impact reached seven seconds, the Cylon freighter let loose with a huge barrage of artillery. Multiple warheads and concentrated bursts of bullets impacted on the contact, vaporizing it.
"Frakk!", Gorde exclaimed, "that ain't a freighter. That's a flying tank!".
"That explains those weird protrusions along it's hull", Dundee said a little shakily, "those are concealed weapon ports. The Cylons aren't stupid. A contact expecting easy pickings from an unescorted freighter suddenly gets blasted, and since this ship is an automaton, it's an instant reaction to any threat!".
"Damn straight", Gorde said in agreement. This new type of ship was a lethal decoy to any unwary colonial ship or privateer. That amount of firepower would even give a light cruiser a pounding.
"The contact has just FTL-ed", Dundee suddenly announced, "it did so at the threshold of the debris field. Looks like it's FTL navi-comp isn't accurate enough to jump directly to the asteroid".
"That reminds me", Gorde said, "Let's take a look at this asteroid. If a heavily armored and armed freighter is making trips to it, there may be something important that we can use there. Start a low intensity active scan of the area where you first saw the contact".
"That might alert whoever or whatever is down there, Newguy", Dundee warned.
"We have not picked up any EMT or scans emanating from the asteroid, nor are there any other ship contacts. It's worth a chance and we need to head back and report soon. Let's get on it", Gorde ordered.
Dundee quickly powered up the active sensor array and quickly brought the array to focus on the first contact co ordinates. A very quick burst with the active sensors brought back interesting information.
"Newguy, what I'm picking up is an open area mine. Looks like a number of first generation Cylons around outcrops of various metals. The sensors are showing lodes of primarily exotic elements such as Silver, Gold, Cobalt, Uranium, Platinum, Titanium and Beryllium in large amounts. Apart from a landing field, there's nothing else there", Dundee reported.
"No defensive batteries at all?", Gorde asked.
"Not that the sensors could pick up, Newguy", Dundee answered, "It looks like a straightforward mining expedition, and judging from the sensor data, the tinheads hit pay dirt".
"That's stuff we can use. Those first generation tin heads were originally designed for mining in a vacuum environment, so it figures that they are still being employed by their newer generation brothers", Gorde said, "It looks like we stumbled upon a new raw material site, Snoopy".
"But why isn't it protected? I would have expected the tinheads to have a lot of defensive armament for a mining operation with this extensive amount of minerals", Snoopy asked.
"We'll leave that question for the Old Man to answer", Gorde replied, "Let's head back to the PEGASUS".