Chapter 27: They paid high
"What was that about?" Roslyn asked Reece as she cut the comline.
"Tell you in a minute. I need to talk to the commander of the Jutland, explain what's going on."
"Squids?" Tigh said, looking baffled.
"I taught at the Academy on Midgard for a number of years. Colonel Tamahara was one of the more notable pupils. He had a knack for interesting pranks. That one worked very well, but at least I got a calamari dinner out of it." She shook her head. "It was a long time ago."
"How long ago?" Tigh asked.
"Uh…" She paused. "I think he graduated in twenty-five ninety-two, so that'd be…" She paused. "Two hundred seventy-three years ago. Give or take a few months. Yes, that'd be about right. I remember that was just before my son Lucas was born, so it would have to have been about then. I took leave just after graduation that year."
Tigh stared at her in shock. "Two hundred seventy-three years ago?"
"Yeah. If he's survived that long in the interceptor corps, he must have improved quite a lot. Got that channel yet? Good. Jutland, this is Captain Tamsin Reece…"
"Roger that, Galactica, this is Commodore Athene Santander. I can see you've managed to live up to your reputation and keep things interesting."
"Who's been telling tales?" Reece asked suspiciously.
"My XO is a relative of yours, Antonio Cartwright. Anyhow, if we want to get this fleet to Gurconda before I'm old and grey…"
"It's not that simple, unfortunately," Reece sighed. "They've never discovered multi-dimensional drives. Instead they use some kind of teleportation system that completely disproves Takeshita's Fourth Hypothesis. It's going to make things… interesting."
There was silence for a moment. "My engineer is having hysterics," Santander said dryly. "And I owe Antonio ten credits."
Tamsin sighed. "Can't anyone around here be serious for just five minutes?"
Tigh looked at her in bafflement. "Who's Antonio Cartwright?"
"One of my more eccentric grandsons," Tamsin said dryly, looking too young to be in uniform. "There are times when I feel like I've served with half the galaxy." She took her hand off the phone. "Any word on Avarin Three?"
"They nuked it," Santander said, her voice suddenly flat and deadly. "If there are any survivors, we haven't heard about them yet. But we know they paid high."
"They'll pay even higher before they're done," Tamsin swore.