This was a chapter that was just meant to cover one plot point, and alos as a fill in to help me connect my bigger chapters together. Nothing on Lee, sorry. And the Galactica is on it's way.
Disclaimer: I think I owned Raider 18503, but I lost him as soon as I called him Scar. Oh well. Don't really own many of them.
Spoilers: Not much.
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Chapter 14- Sim Battle
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Imperial Star Destroyer Gorgon
Talon led Sophie down the halls of the Gorgon, chatting with her. He immediately liked her. She we a pilot, like him, and they swapped stories about particularly interesting dogfights. He was curious about one thing, though.
"How'd you get your call sign anyway? 'Deadbolt'?"
Sophie grinned. "When I got to my first post, the Battlestar Columbia, I decided to frak a Raptor ECO. Problem is, I forgot to lock the door. So the CAG walks by, hears some noises from inside the room, opens it, and sees us there. He made a comment loud enough for everyone to about me forgetting to dead-bolt the door, and it just kinda stuck."
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They finally got to the simulators. There was one with the shape of the cockpit of a viper, and the other was a standard TIE ball cockpit. When Sophie climbed in she found that her designation had been changed from Blue 3 to Red Lead. Not all that surprising, considering that she was the new CAG, unless Apollo stepped in. She slipped her helmet over her head and powered it on.
"Red Lead, all systems functional. Ready to go."
She heard a voice in her helmet, some unknown operator aboard the Gorgon, no doubt. "Red Lead, we copy all systems functional. Your target is Raider 18503, name 'Scar'. For the purpose of this exercise he will be designated in you Heads-Up Display. Do not kill Scar or let yourself be killed under any circumstances. Destroy as many other Raiders as possible. Capital ships will be as following:
Battlestar Galactica, undamaged, Two Basestars, undamaged. Good hunting."
Galactica? Well, if Kara was alive, that was the place she would be. It was a bit weird for her to be in a Viper Mk. II. They were a bit more sluggish then she liked, but other than that it was fine. She knew that if she could see the nose of her fighter it would have Starbuck's name on it. The screens that represented the view outside the cockpit flickered to life, and Sophie could immediately see that the techs in the Gorgon had made some adjustments to the sim. Her Viper was in the launch tube, and while to graphics on the Pegasus's sims were good, these were photo realistic. Suddenly she heard a voice come over the "wireless", which was really just a speaker in her helmet.
"Action stations, actions stations, set condition one through the ship. Multiple Cylon Basestars incoming. All alert Vipers, launch."
She waited for the simulator to automatically launch her. When it didn't she looked over to the side. In the launch control room there was a technician, waiting for her signal. Feeling foolish for interacting with a virtual person, she waved with her hand. She could see the little person push the launch button, and suddenly she was pressed against her seat as her Viper was catapulted out of the launch tube. This also surprised her. The simulators in the Pegasus could simulate most movements and almost all maneuvers, they had never quite been able to give the full feeling of acceleration. Also, she felt the thrum of the engines behind her, vibrating the seat. That was also new. If she didn't know better, she would say that she was in the real thing. As she cleared the tube she immediately spotted the two Basestars. Already she could see the trail of the missiles headed for the Battlestar, and the return salvos. Pushing that out of her head, she turned her ship towards the cloud of Raiders on her DRADIS and kicked in the afterburners. This was going to be fun.
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TIE Control, Simulator
Talon had never been in a control craft before, but had heard about them. Usually they were used by instructors in sim battles, to make sure that everything was the way they wanted it to be. Of course, it only existed in the sims. He had just donned his distinctive helmet and life support system when he appeared in the middle of the virtual battlezone. He found that he could call up any target he wanted to see. Once he had done that, he could fire a variety of weapons. They included everything from destroying a ship to clouding its sensor, to moving it. He experimented a little bit on some Raiders, yanking them around just for the fun of it. He was still a little bit clumsy with his mechanical right arm, but he was getting better. He headed for Deadbolt and Scar. They had not engaged each other yet, and the text scrolling across his control panel indicated that she was ordered not to engage yet.
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Cylon Raider 18503, Simulator
18503, or Scar, as he started calling himself, was enjoying his new found intelligence. He had been aloud to fly around in the simulators a lot. Most of the time he was just there, not shooting at anything. They would let him fly around different solar systems, looking at beautiful planets and suns. This time though, he was placed in a Basestar. Scar felt the electronic order to launch, and his did, dropping free from his slot on the Basestar. He was pleased to see that he had a full load of ammunition. He calculated his optimal speed for this engagement and vectored off to engage the cloud of Colonial fighter craft.
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Read Lead, Viper Mk. II, Simulator
Sophie was diving in and out of the clouds of fighters, destroying them. She really was out-numbered, and in a Mk. II she wasn't sure how long she would last. But she didn't really have a choice. She couldn't outrun the Raiders, and even if she wanted to her orders were clear. Kill as many Raiders as possible, just don't kill Scar. Well, the Imperials better have a trick up their sleeve, or else her virtual Viper would be blown to pieces.
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TIE Control, Simulator
Talon watched the swarm of Raiders around Sophie. Well, he could help her. He zoomed forward and fired on the Raiders. He blinded half of their sensors, then pushed the other half to the left. The result was the blind fighters crashed into the other fighters. The resulting collisions provided Sophie enough time to loop around. She let loose with two missiles, destroying her targets, then banked towards Scar. He looked down at his screen. Her orders had changed. Engage Scar but do not kill. Further instructions soon. Talon quickly blinded the rest of the Raiders and headed over to the fight, ready to offer assistance if necessary.
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Cylon Raider 18503, Simulator
Scar was furious. He had been watching one pilot blow up his fellow Raiders one by one. He was just about to get on the Viper's tail when he noticed the name on the side of the fuselage. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace. She was the one. Redoubling his efforts, and forgetting that he was just in a simulator, he opened his missile bay. He had one nuclear missile in it, and while he not authorized to do it, he would use it to kill the viper pilot. Even if the blast would kill him.
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Simulator Control Room
Daala smiled. So far her plan was working perfectly. She had been watching some of the data readouts from Scar, and they showed that he had completely immersed himself in the simulator. Using the computer terminal that monitored the simulation, she started the program that hopefully would be the first step in turning Scar against the Cylons.
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Read Lead, Viper Mk. II, Simulator
Scar was good. One-on-one, she should have no problem beating a Raider, even in a Mk. II. But she found that she was having trouble dealing with Scar. She just couldn't line up- on him, and he had a nasty habit of staying on her tail. She was rolling and performing evasive maneuvers constantly, and so far the deadly blue streams of KEWs flashed by on either side of her. But for some reason they stopped. That was curious. Was he out of ammo already? Then her console blared a warning at her. Frak. A radiological alarm. That toaster was about to blow them both up. She would have been real scared if this was the real thing. But then she received a new mission update. Head to the nearest Basestar and approach. Do not fire. Expect turbulence soon. Turbulence? She thought. Then she shrugged. This could be interesting.
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Cylon Raider 18503, Simulator
Scar was preparing to destroy that pilot once and for all when the nearest Basestar told him to escort hr ship in. After killing dozens of his fellow Raiders, they wanted her alive? In the past, he would have complied with orders. But now he could see how the humanoid Cylons cared nothing for the Raiders. Just dumb beasts. 18503 made his decision. His activated the direct targeting DRADIS sensor, locked on to the Viper, and launched the nuclear missile. It only traveled 27 feet before it detonate, the virtual explosion consuming Scar and Sophie. It wasn't until afterwards that Scar realized that he had not died and that it had just been a simulation. He didn't finally get that pilot. Someday soon, he would, if it was the last thing he did.
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Read Lead, Viper Mk. II, Simulator
They weren't kidding when they said brace for turbulence. The explosion threw Sophie around in the cockpit, safety restraints just able to keep her from hitting her head on the side of the canopy. And then it suddenly stopped, the simulator over. The canopy rose, allowing her to get out. As she did, she realized that she and Scar both shared something in common. They hated Kara Thrace. Scar hated her for killing Raiders, and Sophie hated her for a couple hundred reasons. Pushing that to the back of her mind, she pulled the helmet off her head and went to meet Talon. She was pretty sure that together they could convince Daala to build that ship.
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Battlestar Pegasus, BSG-62
She had no trouble wriggling her lithe body through the confines of the ship. She had managed to evade all patrols. It was easy. No one looked here. After all, she was so deep in the ship that only mechanics would come around here, and not regularly. Her brown eyes surveyed the scene around her, and she crawled into the closet. It was not on the ship's map, just like several other spots on the ship. She was going to go to another one, but she had seen Marines messing around with it. Obviously the G-4 she had stored in it had been found. The closet she was in was small, and had just enough room for her to move around a little. It was stocked with G-4, a few weapons, water, protein bar, various colonial uniforms, and counterfeit dog tags. Perfect. No she just had to wait for a long time. She had a device that was not only a tracking devise, but also would inform her when it was time to move. She smiled. It was good to be back on a Battlestar.
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Who is the mystery person on the Pegasus? And why is Lee here? Guess you'll just have to read later chapters to find out. It's very nice to review. Please do.