Chapter 6 finding what was lost.
Raptor 147 enrout to waypoint 7.
"Beginning Dradis sweep 8." Reported Lt Carl C "Helo" Agathon" the ECO for this particular recon mission.
"Acknowledged, initiating Dradis sweep 8." Responded Lt Sharon "Boomer" Valerie, The two had pretty much sat in silence since the recon mission had begun 2 hours prior, giving Boomer plenty of time to think. Boomer thought back to the days when she was treated like one of the crew, laughing, joking and cutting up with her friends, or the time she was considered a hero when she found water, she missed that camaraderie, and the connection to the people it implied. Now she was nothing more than the "toaster" on an indefinite probation, always alone with no real friend, who people avoided at every turn, and those who did speak to her were never pleasant with their words, at least no one had threatened to kill her this week.
Though Helo had never showed open hostility to her, he had never really forgiven her for deceiving him, He was never vocal about his hatred or suspicions, but his eyes no longer held the love he showed her on Caprica, and that hurt more than anything she had ever known. He was still cordial with her concerning their Daughter "Athena Kara Agathon" but beyond that not much else. Apollo was cordial with her as well, but his eyes always hinted at a barely repressed hostility toward her. She couldn't blame him really her counterpart did try to kill his father, thank the Lords she had failed.
"Approaching maximum velocity, preparing to disengage thrusters in 3…2…1...mark." She said.
In Space the Raptors engines died and the ship proceeded on course under its inertia.
On Board the Raptor, Boomer settled into her seat keeping her attention focused on the Dradis console as it continued to scan the surrounding area of space.
"Frack." she heard a mumbled curse from Helo behind her, she turned her head to face him and asked "What's wrong?"
"The Asteroid field off to starboard is interfering with the Dradis sensors, more so than the regular EM interference, I'm trying to sort thru it but its very slow going." Helo said as he manipulated the controls on his console to clear up the Image. After several frustrating minutes he was about to give up when the Dradis began to pick up what appeared to be an intermittent contact.
"Got something, bearing 127 karam 241, looks like it's in the asteroid field." He said while still manipulating the controls to firm up the picture.
"Cylon?" Boomer asked sitting up straighter in her seat while bringing the engines online.
"Computer doesn't recognize the EM signature, but who else would it be?" He replied. "Boomer bring us in behind the large asteroid I'm highlighting on the display, we can then circle around the far left flank of the Cylons without alerting them to our presence, and get a good look at their formations while we're at it." Helo said.
"Should we contact Starbuck and Apollo and have them move in to support us?" She asked.
"Not yet, the Cylons might pickup our burst transmission which could alert them that we're here." Helo answered.
"Roger that." Boomer answered, The RCS thrusters fired bringing the nose of the Raptor starboard to face the large asteroid Helo had selected. The Raptor closed the distance until it was several hundred feet above the surface before Boomer fired the RCS thrusters, bringing the Raptor in an orbiting flight pattern. Helo believed that the large asteroid had a sufficient enough magnetic signature that would shield the Raptor from any passive Dradis sweep. Add to the fact the Raptor was skimming the surface and this reduced the raptors chance of being spotted when it rounded the asteroid.
"That contact should be dead ahead." Helo stated as the Raptor rounded the Asteroid, a steady beep, beep; beep confirmed this on Boomers Forward Dradis Scanner.
"Got it, contact 1700 kilometers dead ahead." She reported. "Helo, something's odd, the energy readings I'm getting off this thing doesn't match anything I've ever seen, I'm running it through the computer, but it's not registering a match, do you have anything?" Boomer asked.
Helo didn't answer at first but continued to adjust his instruments before he turned to look at Boomer. "I'm barely getting anything more than trace emissions, who ever it is isn't radiating and their power levels are way down." He stated.
"Helo, something else, that craft is moving away from us as if it were tumbling end over end, like it were drifting, I'm picking up nothing that would indicate any form of controlled flight at all. We can move to get a visual on the target by maneuver between the asteroids. Using our engines at minimal controlled bursts should provide all the thrust we need to creep up on them keeping them unaware." Boomer suggested.
"Do it." Helo responded instantly. "Roger." She said as she brought the engines online to their minimal levels. The Raptor proceeded in series of sprint and drift patterns maneuvering from asteroid to asteroid to shield its approach hoping to catch it quarry unaware.
"Contact is firming up now, Boomer you should be able to see it." Helo said
Boomer brought her eyes up from the Dradis sensors and started scanning through the forward view port with her eyes, until she picked a light grey object that looked metallic in nature. Got it! Contact is 2 o'clock off the nose 20 degrees high." Boomer said as she brought her hand up in a knife hand chop pointing directly to the unknown contact. Helo came forward and knelt next to Boomer; he followed her hand until his eyes picked up the unknown object.
"Too small to be raider." He said after a moment "And it's not maneuvering, Boomer go active with the forward array, keep the emission bands concentrated, were close enough where a small concentrated scan won't be intercepted." Helo ordered as he made his way to the rear of the Raptor.
"Copy, going active now." She said as she complied with his order. After a few seconds information began poring onto her display. "It looks like a cockpit module of some sort, reading minimal power level, and what appears to be battle damage also reading….." her voice trailed off.
"What is it?" Helo asked suddenly nervous as to why her voice suddenly trailed of like that.
"I'm reading life signs, faint but still readable, Helo the life signs are human!" Sharon exclaimed suddenly.
"What?" was his shocked reply, Helo stood and came forward next to Boomer to check her Dradis display.
"Confirmed, Human life signs, but their very weak, I'd say someone's injured over there, Helo we have to help who ever is over there!" Boomer pleaded.
"Not So fast Boomer, How do we know this isn't some trap set by the Cylons?" Helo hotly replied. Not missing a beat Boomer answered instantly.
"Look, Helo all Cylon technology has an EM fingerprint unique to it, this module's signature doesn't match anything in our database, It's also an unknown configuration designed to support a human being, Helo standard Cylon equipment is designed to support Centurions not humans and there was no specialized equipment like this when I left, we may be on to something!" Boomer replied excitedly. Helo stood thinking for a few seconds before turning to regard Boomer "Boomer break wireless and contact Apollo Immediately, let him know what we've found and tell him our intent." Helo ordered.
"What is our intent?" Boomer asked him evenly keeping her eyes even with his.
Helo returned the stare for a few moments before she noticed his lips curl in a smile "Were going to rescue that pilot!" He said. Boomer instantly turned back to her display and activated her wireless "CAG, Boomer!"
Forward Combat Air Patrol "Strike 1" Capt Lee Adama CAG same time.
Capt. Lee "Apollo" Adama and Lt. Kara "Starbuck" Thracewere well forward of the fleet, supporting Raptor 147 as they scouted the route to waypoint seven. Apollo had decided to take his mark 7 viper out for this mission while Starbuck used the older Mark 2 version. The fleet had been fortunate thus far in transiting from waypoint to waypoint without so much as a peep from the Cylons, in fact things had been going so well the feeling that the fleet was walking into an Ambush grew with each passing moment. Apollo pushed the thought from his mind as he brought his attention back to his Dradis scanner, the steady whir spoke of nothing forward of their position.
After several minute of silence Apollo checked the chronometer next to his Dradis scanner, damn it he thought, Helo and Boomer should be back by now, Apollo broke radio silence.
"Helo and Boomer are 20 minutes overdue and I'm not getting anything on my Dradis, Starbuck you have anything?" Apollo asked.
"Nothing Lee." Starbuck responded over the Comm. Channel.
"Damn it!" He cursed, typically when a Raptor went this long without checking in, it spoke of ominous things ahead, Apollo contemplated going active with his Dradis scanner before Starbuck broke in over the Net.
"Do you want to know what I think Apollo?" Starbuck chimed in over the comm.
"Not particularly." Apollo replied, though he was sure Starbuck would tell him anyway.
"I bet that Frakin Toaster's betrayed us Apollo!"
Apollo just shook his head; He'd rather not have this discussion with Kara again, because every time something went wrong or just didn't feel right, the toaster was always on the receiving end of the emotional backlash. Apollo had also reveled in it, believing he knew all he needed to know about the Toaster, add to the fact that same Cylons twin sister tried to kill his Father and he was dead set to hate her. Unfortunately fate had other ideas for Lee Adama. When the Boomer model who tried to kill his father escaped, Boomer 2 hunted her down and killed her, and just in the nick of time, before Galactica's fusion reactors blew. She became a gold mind of Information about the Cylons; Technology, fleet strengths and movements, Locations of Bases, everything the Colonial fleet could've used, now utterly worthless unless it had a direct bearing on the Remnant. Apollo could never think of her as "Sharon Valerie" anymore, that person would never have shot his father, would have never tried to take away that last vestige of family he had left, that person no longer existed, if she ever existed at all. Nor could he resort to calling her hateful names, it was unprofessional and went against everything in his moral code. So Apollo had compromised with himself by sticking with her call sign "Boomer". For some reason, he couldn't fathom, it seemed fitting, and kept the beast that were his emotions in check. Apollo doubted he could ever forgive her for what she'd done, or for what she was, but he had accepted her.
"HELLO! Anyone Home over there? This is Starbuck calling, you know the girl flying wingman! Are you listening to me? Because you know how I hate to be ignored!" came the annoyed voice of Starbuck over the comm.
"I heard you Kara." Apollo replied in a deadpan voice.
"And?" Starbuck pressed.
"Starbuck she has a daughter on board Galactica and she's with the man she claims she loves, I seriously doubt she'd do something to jeopardize either of them." Apollo answered.
"She's a Frackin Toaster Lee! They don't have "real" emotions; I wouldn't put it past her to sell her own mother! Oh wait I forgot She doesn't Have a mother! She was grown in an over sized test-tube, then programmed to think she could feel, that doesn't count in my book Lee." Starbuck fired back.
Apollo felt himself getting frustrated with Starbuck, partly because she was stirring up emotions in him he'd rather not deal with right now, but before he could respond to her he received a transmission from Raptor 147.
"CAG, Boomer." Apollo checked the transponder code that was tighed into a sub channel piggybacked onto the raptors transmission, it checked out, this was Raptor 147 calling not a cylon decoy, after al the colonials weren't fools to trust their new Cylon pet, despite it's claims. After verifying that it was "Boomer" Apollo switched to the designated frequency raptor 147 operated on.
"Boomer this is CAG, Read you loud and clear, send your traffic over." Apollo responded.
"CAG, Boomer, we've run into something in grid Epsilon just inside hazard zone Beta." Boomer reported.
Apollo listen intently translating Boomers code words in his head, "Epsilon" meaning they're current recon sector and "Hazard Zone Beta" meaning inside the asteroid "Belt". Apollo had developed these code phrases on the off chance the Cylons would be monitoring their transmissions, should that have happened he didn't want to give the fleet's position away by broadcasting that information in the clear, or even on the most secure of channels. The fact that Raptor 147 was still not on his Dradis display, and that she broke radio silence worried Apollo.
"Boomer this is CAG what do you have, over?" Apollo inquired, while sharing "the look" with Starbuck, hoping she got the message to behave."
"CAG, Boomer, the contact is not Cylon in origin, upon further examination appears to be a "Fallen Star," How copy over?" Boomer reported.
Apollo froze in his seat; "fallen Star" was the code word for lost pilot, but this wasn't right! They were the forward most element, and all Vipers were accounted for.
"Boomer, this is CAG, say again over?" Apollo said, hoping he heard her right.
"CAG, Boomer, I say again we have eyes on, a "Fallen Star" She responded instantly. Before Apollo could respond to Boomers transmission another voice broke in over the net.
"CAG, Helo, I confirm, we have eyes on, a "Fallen Star," over" Helo said.
Apollo sat stunned not knowing what to think, he released a breath he didn't even know he was holding, he started breathing normally hoping to calm his racing heart. Then a thought occurred to him.
"Boomer, this CAG how radiant is the star?" Apollo inquired, he wouldn't realize until later the double meaning of those words.
"CAG, Boomer, its Radiance has faded, not even a flare, over." Boomer informed.
Apollo digested what she was saying," its radiance has faded" meant weak vital signs from the Biological scanner on the Dradis, "not even a flare" meant there was no movement inside the cockpit. Apollo thought quickly, a human pilot with weak vital signs who was unresponsive, this wasn't good. Apollo realized they couldn't contact Galactica which was currently hidden behind one of the moons of a Gas Giant with the rest of the fleet, by the time Apollo got back to Galactica and reported what Boomer had found, the pilot could be dead, not to mention the time wasted wondering if it was a cylon ruse. Apollo realized it was at times like these where you had to go with your gut, and right now his gut was telling him that this was genuine.
"Boomer, CAG, were on our way." Then switching to the private frequency between Starbuck and Himself he stated in a tone that left no room for argument. "Alright Starbuck you heard Boomer, lets go." Apollo said over the comm.
"Roger, I'm with you Apollo." Starbuck stated, her voice held a hint of nervous anticipation.
The flight lasted longer than it otherwise would have, instead of going in on turbos like he would have wanted, Starbuck and Apollo pushed their engines to the max with out flaring their turbos before cutting power, allowing the vipers to drift on their inertia. About 10 minutes later Apollo picked up a narrowband transmission from Raptor 147.
"CAG, Boomer, I have you on my scope, Adjust you're heading to starboard bearing 130 Karam 247." Boomer instructed.
"Acknowledged." Apollo stated. In space both vipers fired their RCS thruster and flared their engines just enough to change their heading and maintain their current velocity.
"Excellent, adjust your angle of attack 20 degrees nose up." Boomer added.
"Roger 20 degrees nose up." Apollo replied. Again both vipers fired their RCS thrusters until they adjusted their trajectory.
"CAG, Boomer, I have visual on you,you should be able to see us." Both Starbuck and Apollo began sweeping the "horizon" looking for the Raptor and its passenger, after the 4th sweep Apollo came on the net.
"Negative on visual Boomer." Apollo said.
"Roger, Negative on Visual." Starbuck Added.
"CAG, Boomer, I copy you, going active with Signal light." In space the forward Signal light began to strobe in a distinct pattern. Starbuck was the first to see it.
"Got it, off my port side, nose, 15 degree "up" angle, Apollo it's in the shadow of that large asteroid." Starbuck offered.
Apollo noticed it a second later "Boomer this is CAG, we have visual, over."
"Roger." She replied while deactivating the strobe light.
Starbuck and Apollo adjusted their angle and preceded at a cautious pace towards Boomers position, both were keenly aware of how vulnerable they were to a Cylon ambush, Starbuck took a few precious seconds to pray to the Lords of Kobol in hopes the Cylons wouldn't make an appearance.
Once the Vipers came within a few meters of Both the Raptor and the Module, they killed their forward inertia, both pilots began to immediately scrutinize the small craft.
"Well its nothing like I've ever seen before and the toasters aren't known for their creativity." Starbuck said not caring who heard her.
"The hull of the module appears to have been damaged, I can't be sure but it looks like some kind of shockwave damage from a close missile detonation." Helo chimed in.
Apollo ignored the conversation going on around him, while he maneuvered to get a better view of the pilot inside, as Boomer described, the pilot appeared to be hunched forward and not moving.
"Has there been any response from the pilot inside?" Starbuck asked over the net.
"Negative, we tried everything, Comms, signal lights even nudging the module, but all we got out of that was some slight movement." Helo Answered.
"Speculations can wait till later, Boomer do you have any magcables?" Apollo asked.
"Roger Apollo, but there doesn't seem to be a point where we can latch onto, and the hull of the module has already sustained heavy damage, I don't want to risk compromising the hull by just attaching the magcables anywhere." Boomer answered.
"I know Boomer but we have little choice, do what you can." Apollo Ordered.
"Copy Apollo." Boomer stated, she maneuvered the Raptor to a point just over the module. Boomer then carefully selected the point on the module that looked structurally sound, once she was satisfied she fired the magcables, the entire process took no longer than 2 minutes.
"Apollo, Boomer, we have the module secured." Boomer reported.
"Copy that Boomer, alright Starbuck you take point, I'll take the rear, Boomer I want you centered between the two of us, lets take this nice and slow people." Apollo ordered.
Apollo received acknowledgements from both Starbuck and Boomer as they maneuvered into position.
As the trio exited the asteroid field they pushed their speed as best they could without jeopardizing their guest, which was considerably slower than when they went in. Despite himself Apollo's mind began to imagine the possibilities of what this could mean for the Remnant, the possibility of an actually recovering a pilot from the 13th tribe had been a fantasy no body had even considered let alone planned for, it just showed you how unpredictable fate could be. But either way this was going to create hope as well as problems within the fleet, once word of the recovery spread to the General populace. The Quorum of the 12 would demand immediate access to the pilot despite whatever condition he or she might be in, Scuttlebutt on the Galactica would go wild, not to mention within the fleet, and once the Press found out it would be like trying to beat a pack of piranhas off a juicy steak. Apollo took a deep breath and calmed his racing mind He'd dare not think that the journey could be over, not yet because none of that was going to happen unless they got the pilot back to Galactica. Apollo settled into his seat and checked his chronometer, this was going to be a long and nerve wrecking flight.