CHAPTER 7 BRINGING HOME THE BACON.
Battlestar Galactica BSG-75 CIC
Commander William Adama stood with his hands behind his back as he studied the mas way to petty officer "Dee" Duella. After several moments of receiving orders Dee shook her head in a manner she understood the" Commander Adama ordered.
"Raptor 147 and Strike 1 are now currently 3hrs overdue, neither the civilian ships nor the CAP have them on their screens Sir." Lt. Gaeta answered.
"Should we launch strike 2, have them scout ahead to find them?" the raspy voice of Co" Commander Adama stated turning to look at his friend.
"Now comes the hard part." Commander Adama saiCommander Adama said.
"Aye sir." Col Tigh responded, he left the commanders side making his way to petty officer "Dee" Duella. After several moments of receiving orders Dee shook her head in a manner she understood the Colonels orders before complying. About 2 minutes later she gripped the earpiece on her left ear turning to face commander Adama.
"Sir Strike 2 is in the tubes, standing by for your orders." She stated.
"Very well." Commander Adama stated turning to look at his friend.
"Now comes the hard part." Commander Adama said.
"What's that?" Col Tigh asked.
"Waiting." The Commander replied.
"Dradis Contact!" Dee shouted. Both Commander Adama and Col Tigh turned to face the young petty officer as she worked her controls.
"I guess we won't have to wait long." Col Tigh whispered offhandedly to Commander Adama. Commander Adama's only reply was a wry look he gave his longtime friend before turning his attention back to petty officer Duella.
"Contact is coming in on the designated course, IFF transponders…Its Raptor 147 and Strike 1 sir." Petty officer Duella reported.
"Where the hell have they been!" Col Tigh grumbled.
"They wouldn't have gone this long with out a good reason, something must have happened." The Commander reasoned.
"Sir I have Apollo on the line he's requesting to speak to you personally." Dee reported.
At this little turn of events both officers raised their eyebrows in confusion, Apollo wouldn't break protocol like this unless something very good or very bad had happened, The Commander thought.
Commander Adama grabbed the headset and placed it around his ears, once satisfied he spoke into the mike.
"Apollo, Galactica Actual, what have you got?"
"Galactica actual, Apollo, we have a code 2 emergency we need a recovery crew, and a emergency medical team to meet us at the port launch bay ASAP, we are coming in with a Fallen Star, be advised Galactica the fallen star is of distant origin, over." Apollo said over the net.
For a moment Commander Adama thought he hadn't heard his son right, and the brief confused look on his face was more than enough to get Col Tigh's attention.
"Understood Apollo, Col Tigh will meet you in the port launch bay with the recovery team." The Commander calmly stated.
"Understood Galactica, Apollo out." Apollo responded before signing off.
Commander Adama took the headset off before turning to Col Tigh.
"Saul, take Dee, Dr Salik, and Lt. Gaeta and head to the Port Launch Bay, inform chief Tyrol that Raptor 147 is inbound with a wounded pilot who needs medical attention." Commander Adama ordered.
"Why would he say this on a private channel?" Col Tigh asked furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.
"Because it's not one of ours." The commander informed him in a voice barely above a whisper.
Col. Tigh stood shocked for a second before recovering "I'll get right on it." He stated. Col. Tigh Summoned both Petty officer Duella and Lt. Gaeta to the navigation display table. In a hushed voice Adama couldn't hear, the Colonel briefed both of them as to what their new orders were, during the briefing petty officer Duella nervously glanced toward the Commander; his silent nod was all she needed to firm up her resolve. Once finished Lt. Gaeta departed CIC, Petty officer Duella remained a few moments longer as she placed a call to the Life Station informing them of what was happening, once that was finished she departed CIC as well.
"All right they're on they're way." The Col. Reported.
"No one is to know about this Tigh, not yet, lets verify our guest is who our pilots claim to be." Commander Adama said.
"It'll get out! It always does." The Colonel exclaimed.
"I know, but by the time it does we'll have something to give the president and the press. Right now let's find out if our guest is actually human." Commander Adama replied.
"This is a dangerous game you're playing Will, if President Roslyn or the Press gets word of this before we're ready it'll turn into nightmare! Riots, hysteria, and the press will claim your attempting another coup by undermining the president's authority." Col. Tigh warned.
Commander Adama took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, Col. Tigh recognized this as the Commanders trademark thinking stall. After taking a deep breathe Commander Adama redoned his glasses and spent several more moments looking at the various crewmen in CIC as they performed their duties, totally oblivious to the drama now unfolding before Adama.
"2 years ago when we set out on this journey I did everything I could to give our people hope, something they could use to carry on, that something was Earth. But I lied Saul, I don't know where Earth is, I never have. We were defeated, demoralized and on the brink of despair so I gave our people hope, even if it was false hope. I look at them now and I just can't bring myself to do it to them again, to make empty promises I'm unable to keep." Cmdr. Adama admitted to Col. Tigh.
"I know Will, I've known for a while." Col. Tigh responded after a moment.
Commander Adama turned to face the Colonel to ask him how he knew but Col Tigh knowing his friend beat him to the punch.
"There aren't that many secrets a Commander can keep from his XO." Tigh said with his face twisted in a half smile." Before Adama could reply the ship intercom blared to life.
"Attention all hands, Raptor on approach ETA 5 minutes out, all hands prepare to initiate recovery operations. I repeat, Raptor on approach ETA 5 minutes out, all hands prepare to initiate recovery operations."
Col. Tigh gave commander Adama a wry look "I'd better head to the port launch bay, can I get you anything?" Col. Tigh asked.
"Coordinates for Earth would be nice." Adama replied jokingly.
Col. Tigh laughed as he left CIC enroute to the port launch bay.
Port Launch Bay Galactica.
Col. Tigh strolled into the Port Launch bay just as Doctor Salik and his med tech Cassie arrived with all their gear. Col. Tigh took a few moments to scan the launch bay before he found his intended target Chief Tyrol conversing with Petty Officer Duella and Lt. Gaeta.
Col. Tigh strolled over to the trio and was 5 feet from them before Chief Tyrol noticed the Colonel out of the Corner of his eye.
"ATTENTION ON DECK!" Chief Tyrol shouted while snapping a crisp salute. Out of instinct all work in the port launch bay ceased as everyone snapped to attention.
Col. Tigh Waited until he was three paces from the Chief before he returned the Salute.
"Carry on!" he said.
The words had barely cleared his mouth before activity resumed in the port launch bay.
"Chief, I assume petty officer Duella and Lt. Gaeta have brought you up to speed?" The Colonel asked.
"Yes Sir." The Chief responded tersely.
"Good, your job will be to make an initial assessment of the Technology once we have the module secured and we're sure the damn things not booby trapped." Then bringing the rest of his attention to Lt. Gaeta and Petty Officer Duella, he continued.
"Once the Chief has given the all clear, you two are to find any and all Intel available, COMM frequencies, languages, anything you can get out of their data banks, understood?" the Col. Asked.
"Aye Sir." Lt. Gaeta and Petty Officer Duella responded in unison before the Intercom system blared again.
"All Hands Raptor on Final approach, I repeat Raptor on Final Approach, recovery crews to standby."
"Alright everyone this is how I want it, Socinus, I want you to start running the scanners over this thing once we have it inside." The Chief ordered.
"Roger Chief!' The young deckhand responded.
"Cally once Socinus gives the all clear start looking for a release valve so we can get the pilot out of there." The Chief continued.
"Yes Chief!" Cally responded.
"The rest of you will attend to the Raptor and the Vipers once they land, Remember run thru your post flight evaluation checks slowly and thoroughly, now move it!" The Chief shouted, the ten addition deck hands scattered like startled quail. With that taken care of Chief Tyrol turned to face Doctor Salik and Med tech Cassie.
"Doc Once my people have determined its safe and have found a way to get to the pilot it'll be your show from there." The Chief Said.
"Thank you Chief, Cassie are we good to go?" Dr. Salik asked his young assistant.
"Yes Sir!" She responded a little nervously.
"You OK?" The Doctor inquired noting the young girl's nervousness.
"I won't let you down sir." She responded with a little more conviction than she probably felt.
"Attention all hands Raptor touching down on pad 3 in the port launch bay, I repeat Raptor touching down on pad 3 in the port launch bay." The voice over the ships intercom announced.
The Maglock/Airlock doors of compartment pad 3 sealed while everyone held their breath in anticipation, about a minute later the Maglock elevator could be heard coming to a stop. Slowly, almost too slowly, the door parted revealing the Raptor towing a strangely rectangular shaped module. Almost instantly one of the orange roving carts used to ferry Vipers and Raptors around the hanger bay backed into and attached its rear clamp onto the nose of the raptor. Once that was accomplished the driver towed the raptor to the center of bay 3 before disengaging the clamp and driving off.
Socinus ran up to the module with Cally not far behind him, he activated his scanner and started sweeping the module from port to starboard. After Socinus finished his first preliminary sweep he initiated a second more detailed scan. After about 2 nail biting minutes he brought his eyes up to meet the chief.
"It's clear chief!" Socinus reported.
Cally immediately got to work looking over the module first starting on the starboard side then working her way to port. Once on there side she found what looked like a release panel she opened to find a lever in the down position.
"Chief I think I got it!" Cally announced. She gripped the lever and gave it a good yank popping the canopy open.
Chief Tyrol, Cally and Socinus each grabbed a section of the Canopy lifting it up, exposing the pilot for all to see. Doctor Salik Wasted no time and knelt next to the injured Pilot.
"Hello my Name is Doctor Salik can you hear me, are you Ok!" the doctor asked hoping to get some kind of response from the pilot, but received none. The Doctor then turned to chief Tyrol.
"We have to get em out of there, Chief I'm going to need your help getting the pilot out." The doctor calmly stated. The Doctor turned to face Cassie
"Cassie get the O2 and the Airway kit ready, once you're finished with that, get the spine board and a C-collar." The Doctor ordered.
"Yes Sir." Cassie replied, she quickly broke out the airway kit and placed it close to Doctor Salik. With that task accomplished she next grabbed the C-collar and placed it on the spine board, with crewman Socinus's help they brought the spine board to rest several feet from Doctor Salik. Meanwhile Callie and Chief Tyrol were cutting the harness straps that kept the pilot secured in the module.
"Cassie get over hear and maintain C-spine stabilization, I know it's a little awkward with what little room we have to work with but do the best you can." Doctor Salik said.
"Yes Sir!" Cassie replied. She moved to a position kneeling just under the doctor holding the pilots head level while Doctor Salik stood over her.
"Should we take the Helmet off?" Chief Tyrol inquired.
"We're gonna have to because it's getting in the way of me getting an accurate assessment of the pilots airway. Cassie I'm removing the helmet, keep the pilots head and neck stable." Doctor Salik informed his medtech.
"Yes sir!" Cassie responded.
Doctor Salik immediately unsnapped the latches and very slowly, coordinating his movements with Cassie lifted the helmet from the pilot to reveal the face of a very beautiful young woman, her hair matted to her head and face with dried blood. With the helmet removed the Doctor Imeadiately assessed the woman's airway…good still breathing but shallow, next he checked the pulse….present but weak.
"Ok chief we gotta get her out of hear. I want you to get her legs I'll need someone else to assist me as we lower her torso onto the backboard, Cassie since you control of C-spine we'll move on your call." The doctor said.
Chief Tyrol and crewman Socinus grabbed the female pilot by her legs while Dr Salik and Callie held her torso.
"On my count we're going to rotate her clockwise, and then we're going to lift her up and place her down on the board." Cassie said loud enough so no one misunderstood her. She received several acknowledgements before proceeding. "On 3, 1…2…3!" Cassie held C-spine as best she could as the female pilot was rotated clockwise, with her back facing Cassie and doctor Salik, her legs were brought to rest on the right side of the module. Once the pilots legs were resting on the module Cassie motioned for Chief Tyrol and Crewman Socinus to move to her side of the module. Both men complied moving on either side of the pilot at the waist.
"Ok just like before, on 3 we're going to lift her up and place her gently on the board." Cassie stated firmly. "On 3, 1…2…3!" Again all 4 people lifted the female pilot with Cassie supporting her head and neck, once they reached the board they gently lowered her down.
Once she was on the board doctor Salik again assessed her airway, not liking her weak respirations, he immediately stuck an oral airway in. With that accomplished he placed the C-collar on her neck. After the Collar was applied doc tor Salik look to crewman Callie" Take over C-spine for Cassie. Cassie once Callie takes over get an IV line into her." Doctor Salik ordered.
Callie placed her hands over Cassie's allowing Cassie to slip her hands from under Callie's, this allowed Callie to take over C-spine without Cassie having to release her control before Callie took over C-spine stabilization. Once Cassie was free she immediately started an IV line. In situations like this time was your enemy, There was no way to know what kind of serious injuries this young women may have sustained without doing a detailed exam, and since removing the pilot from the module had taken longer than he would have liked the doctor decided to forgo the examination and get her to the Life Station STAT. Chief Tyrol and Crewman Socinus helped to strap the pilot to the back board, while Cassie an Callie secured her head, with this done Cassie put her on supplemental oxygen. Satisfied that she was secured the Group lifted the backboard and placed it on the gurney, once it was secured Callie, Cassie, Socinus and Dr. Salik sped off toward the life station.
USS Ruben James same time
She had been running silent under full EMCOM for the past few days retracing the last route of the Gettysburg using her passive Radar/Lidar systems only, a fact that was becoming extremly frustrating for those operating in the "crows nest" an acient nautical term for those on the look out, the term sort of stuck around after the Navy transformed into a space going force. One lidar operator after many hours of frustration stated quite loudly to his friends " This is like trying to find penny on a foot ball field!" only this penny didn't stay in one place but continully moved about as you searched every inch for it. The thought of actually finding the Gettysburg along her original route was too much for anyone to hope for. If she had been destroyed, as many people feared she had been, then the debris would spread out in a 360 degree radius in every direction making it impossible to find anything remotely like a "field" becuase nothing remained stationary in space. Captain Renolds had anticipated and planned for this using a crisscrossing search patter with Gettysburg's projected route as the basis hoping to stumble on to life pods or the debris field itself. But the simple fact was space was so vast that even searching with a full fleet of ships radiating all maner of Comms, Radar and Lidar anything lost typically stayed that way despite your best efforts. It all may be for naught Captain James Renolds reflected sadly. The truth was he had already given up hope of finding survivors, becuase the escape pods currently used aboard all Earth Warships had a 1 week reserve of oxygen and perishable supplies, enough fuel in the RCS Jets for the pod to maintain a fixed position for 3 days and limited comms, even with one person stretching the life supports to mimimal usage only added 12 additional hours...not enough. Sadly the one week mark expired 48 hours ago. During the War it had been known as "lying in the grave" becuase all too often when pods were recovered the people recovered were more often dead then alive whether from asphixiation or hypothermia after the lifesupport systems ran out of juice. There were a few hopefull prospects for the future, the European Union and the United States were jointly developing a new pod system with greater researves, news coming from the project was hopefull but research and development was slow going since it wasn't considered a priority compared to all the new "Sexy toys" the various governments were working on.
"Conn, lidar contact bearing 187 mark 153 50,000 kilometers distance off our starboard." the lidar operator reported.
Captain Renolds shaken from his thoughts promptly took his command chair and brought up his tactical display, sure enough there was a small unidentified contact at the outer edge of passive range but before more detailed information on the contact became available more objects came into range cluttering the display.
"Conn, Lidar, more contacts on the same line and bearing." the lidar operator added.
"Lidar this is the captain what do you have?" Capt Renolds asked.
"Captain we multiple contacts bearing 187 mark 153, no energy or radio emissions detected, based on my analisis of the of the contacts I'd say we may have a debris field captain." the Lidar operator responded after a moment.
there it is the Captain thought to himself, but if I were a Chig or one of the Hostiles the Saratoga warned us about I wouldn't waste an opertunity like this.
"Acknowledged." the captain replied instantly. After a moments consideration he walked towards his helmsmen "Lt. set course towards the debris field in an evasive zigzag pattern keep it ramdom and notify me when we are 1500 meters from the field."
"Helm Aye!" was the helmsman's response.
"What have we got sir?" said the the ships XO as he arrived on the bridge.
"Morning Charlie." the captain said acknowledging his XO. "We are coming up on what we believe to be a debris field, possibly from Gettysburg, I intend to hold us 1500 meters from the field and lauch the SAR into the field to find any pods, Charlie tell the SAR birds to be on maximum alert, and to stay within effective range of our guns, I don't like the feel of this."
Current SOP (Standard Operational Precedures) stated that no SAR (Search and Rescue) bird would be launched without a fighter screen for support, however since Ruben James was operating alone without a compliment of fighters they had to modify the SOP somewhat by keeping the SAR within effective range of Ruben James's weaponry should the Search and Rescue make enemy contact.
"Aye Captain, I'll get right on it." The XO said. He walked to the flight operations officer and relayed the Captains instructions, after several moments he returned to the captain's side.
"Search and Rescue birds will be launched momentarily sir." the XO reported. After a moment of cosideration the XO spoke up "Captain if I may be so bold, why don't we just go active with lidar and Comms?" the XO asked.
"Becuase something about this situation isn't right and I don't want to expose the ship just yet." the Captain answered immeadiately. Then after a moments consideration the Captain turned to his XO again.
XO, Man battlestations but keep the ship under EMCOM for now, however I want to be able to go active on a moments notice." the Captain ordered.
"Aye Captain." the XO responded, turning toward the crew he shouted for all to hear "General Quarters! All hands man Battlestations!"
Over the ships loudspeakers Alarm Klaxons roared to life and the summons to battlestations could be heard "General Quarters, General Quarters all hands man your battle stations, I say again General Quarters General Quarters all hands man your battlestations!"
The Crew of the Ruben James instantly came to life rushing towards their stations with lightning speed, some falling out of their racks, others rushing from the showers, some haveing just gotten off duty to get some much needed shut eye turned right back around, in almost no time at all USS Ruben James was fully manned at battlestations.
"Battlestations manned and ready sir, Weapons and active sensors remain at passive but are on hot standby." the XO reported.
"Very good XO." Captain Renolds said. "dispatch a contact Report to Commadore Masterman, and advise him of our current situation. Tell them we're lauching the Search and Rescue and we will begin an anylisis of the wreckage ASAP."
"Aye Captain." the XO responded.
"Captain."the flight operations officer; an Air Force Major spoke up. "Echo's 1 thru 4 are ready to lauch."
"Very well, launch the SAR." the Captain ordered.
"Roger sir." the Airforce officer said. after a moment the airforce officer turned his attention to his display and spoke clearly into his wireless "Echo's 1 thru 4 you are go for launch, Launch by the numbers."
"Roger Ruben James, This Echo flight lead, launching now."
In space the starboard shuttle bay airlock doors cycled open and 4 ISSAPC'S launched. Once clear of the ship they pushed their engines to full burn heading to predetermined positions within the debris field to begin their searches.
On Board Ruben James the Comm Trasmitters came to life and sent a coded burst transmission to a fixed set of Cordinates, unfortunately for the Crew of the Ruben James the Saratoga wasn't the only one interested in their transmission.
Raider 3659 of Basestar 113 remained powered down with the exception of its RCS thrusters, sensors and comms. Its direct link into the cylon network meant it knew exactly were all other cylon ships in the sector were at any given time. However Radiation from the two nearby stars made that link difficult to maintain past a certain distance. Raider 3659 was part of a taskforce of 3 Cylon Base Stars and 200 raiders that were assigned to ambush any human ship or ships foolish enough to come looking for their lost bretheren. Logically the Cylons assumed they would be able to detect any ship long before the humans could counter-detect them, since it had never been an issue with the Colonial Fleet. Unfortunatly for the Cylons they had never encounter a 'Stealth Destroyer Platform" paticularly a United States Nemesis 2 class AEGIS destroyer, the new "Silent Service" of the US fleet that could easily slip thru their trap. So it came as a rude awakening to intercept a coded radio transmission eminating from the debris field. Raider 3659 wasted no time and imeadiately sent a trace on the signal trying to pinpoint its origin while serveral of its counterparts tried to trace the origin of the recieving station. After several moments another signal was intercepted 5 Caprican units from the planet the humans called Aris. Raider 3659 iniated a complex algorithm designed to break encoded radio trasnmissions, after 5 minutes; an eternity to a Cylon the code was broken. It was a contact report from a "USS Ruben James" with information detailing a Search and Rescue mission of the debris field of a "USS Getysburg".The recieving station a "USS Saratoga" acknowledged the signal and ordered to be apraised of the SAR if anything occured. Excellent raider 3659 thought, this means the ship will not be expecting an attack and will therefor be at reduced combat efficiency. The rest of the task force signaled their confirmation of that assesment as the most logical probability. With the Trace on both ships complete the lead Base Star sent its report to the Cylon Conciousness with a recomendation that a probing force be sent to "USS Saratoga" to assertains its size and strength. The task force reasoned no other ships were nessesary to pacify the "USS Ruben James" since it was operating alone without support. With the report sent 200 Cylon Raiders and 3 Base Stars powered their STL drives to full on an intercept course for the lone ship known as Ruben James.
USS Saratoga 4 AU's from Aris Minning Colony Same time.
Commodore Masterman stood on the Bridge of the Saratoga with his arms folded across his chest. Outwardly he looked calm and passive as he studied a display of their current status, but internally a debate was raging in him. The sudden loss of Both Aris and Gettysburg followed by the arrival of these new hostiles seemed a little more than a coincidence. Ever the tactician Commodore Masterman tried to place the pieces of the puzzle together, the picture was by no means complete but he had enough to formulize a theory.
If it had been the Chigs who had attacked both the Gettysburg and Aris then they wouldn't have just stopped there.
The Chigs would have continued on towards Kazbek with the eventual goal of pushing the humans out of Kappa Reticuli all together.
The Chigs were by no means subtle, nor where they stupid. Had it been him in their place he would have attacked Aris and secured it, then move on to Kazbek. By using surprise and massed firepower he would have exploited the enemies' lack of military presence in the sector to quickly achieve his overall goal of securing the system before the enemy could respond.
Of course the Chigs wouldn't have survived the Earth counter-attack, but that was another matter. No, this wasn't the work of the Chigs, the simple fact Kazbek hadn't fallen and the Saratoga group wasn't against the ropes gave more credence to this theory. Which brought up another matter that troubled the Commodore, The unknown Hostiles had not been threatened in anyway by the 51st, yet once the 51st identified themselves this seemed to have provoked a hostile response. Could this unidentified race have been responsible for the Loss of both Gettysburg and Aris?
This now brought the Commodore to his current Dilemma of how to proceed. Should he send out a Reconnaissance in force or should he divert "Ruben James" once she finished her search of the Gettysburg's debris field to sweep Aris? At first a flight of Hammerheads seemed a good idea, they were fast and were pretty stealthy when they weren't radiating their Lidars. The only problem was if Aris was in Enemy hands he could be sending them into a death trap. This made the idea of diverting Ruben James more reasonable. She was a stealth platform that had more than enough firepower to defend herself without support should things get hairy. The main problem with that was he had to get another message to her, and that ran the risk of compromising the entire battle group should the signal be pinpointed and intercepted.
"Commodore Masterman?" A voice said waking the Commodore from his thoughts. Commodore Masterman turned to face the crewman.
"Chief Wigens on the horn for you sir." The crewman said, holding up the link.
Commodore Masterman walked toward the crewman and took the link from his hand and put it on. "Go ahead chief." Commodore Masterman said.
"Commodore I have finished my analysis of the wreckage from the downed alien fighters…I think you're going to want to take a look at this Sir." Chief Wigens said.
"I'll be right down Chief." The Commodore responded before putting down the link. If Chief Wigens wanted him to see something it usually was pretty important, and almost always surprising.
Commodore Masterman arrived in Maintenance Bay 3; the bay seemed empty without a full compliment of 6 Hammerhead modules locked in place. As the Commodore made his way to the chief he noted the various pieces of debris strung out along the floor, as well as various pieces of analytical equipment with engineering techs studying their readouts hoping to find answers to the mystery this new race presented them. Once the Commodore was within 6 paces of Chief Wigens, the Chief saluted, which Commodore Masterman promptly returned. In times like this it was important not to distract your people from their work.
"What have you got for me Chief?" The Commodore asked getting strait to the point.
"Commodore we recovered what we believe to be the central processing module from the downed fighter, and sir its almost completely intact!" The Chief said with noticeable excitement in his voice.
"Outstanding Chief!" The Commodore said slapping Chief Wigens on the shoulder, "This has been the best news I've heard all day."
"Thank you Sir, but the credit goes to my people, they're the ones who found this little gold mine… after I missed it twice." The Chief said sheepishly.
"Is that right?" the Commodore said wistfully while he surveyed the various crewman performing their duties oblivious to the comraderie happening before them. Most of them were just kids he thought; none of them looked older than 22, but still it was a hell of an achievement for one of them to "Show Up" the Chief.
"Ahhh I think I'm getting to old for this!" The Chief spat back with good humor. At 54 yrs old with graying Hair 5ft 7in tall and a waist that was pushing the limits to the Military's height to Weight standards, Chief Scott "Scotty" Wigens was know as one of the True Miracle workers of the fleet on his last tour of duty before he retired. He had enlisted in the Navy during the last days of the Ocean going Carriers having served on the Ronald Reagan before she was laid up. After finishing his first tour with the navy he had debated whether to get out or not. This had been the time when the Navy was undergoing its Transformation into a "Space Going" force, rather than the "Blue water" force it had originally been. The Navy had paid for his College tuition, and feeling indebted to the Navy for his education he decided to remain with the force through its painful transition, it was the Best choice he could have made he said to himself. Now 36yrs and 2 marriages later he was about to call it quits.
"So what have you found out from the data module?" the Commodore asked.
"Not much sir." The Chief said blandly. "Who ever it was must have taken into account of one of their data modules taken intact." The Chief said somewhat nervously.
"Well what is it?" The Commodore asked.
"Sir…If I didn't know better I'd say the language was English or at the very least close enough for the computer to recognize it as english." The chief said.
"Silicates?" Commodore Masterman asked with growing alarm.
"No Sir." The Chief replied with full conviction. "That was my first thought as well, I mean it would explain why we didn't recover any bodies from the wreckage." The chief said as he motioned for the commodore to follow him. Once the chief arrived at a certain piece of debris he stopped. Commodore Masterman studied the piece of debris for a second, noting a dull red almost organic like substance, with various cables and conduits protruding from it.
"Is that material Organic?" Commodore Masterman asked.
"It is sir, this organic material covered the inside of the fighters, we don't know why. But sir that's not the most confusing part of this." The chief said.
"What is it chief?" the commodore asked stoically.
"Sir we were able to lift a DNA sequence from the Material…Sir the Docs tell me, although there some alterations to the DNA sequence it matches as Human."
"COME AGAIN?" The Commodore said in almost a shout.
"The DNA sequence was human sir, different but Human." The chief stated ignoring the Commodore's outburst.
"And your sure it's not Silicate?" the Commodore asked turning to look at the chief.
"Quite sure Commodore, the Silicates had no where near this level of sophistication, and they most certainly didn't have any organic materials used in their construction…at least to this extent." The chief explained
"Well we know the Chigs have been playing with human DNA for years now, is it possible this is something they created and gave to the Silicates?" the Commodore asked.
"Possible sir, but its very doubtful, its public knowledge the Chigs don't fully trust the AI's, something would have had to change their minds for them to do something like this." The chief replied shaking his head.
Just as Commodore Masterman was about to utter a reply an Alarm rang out followed by a voice over the ships Intercom system.
General Quarters, General Quarters all hands man your battle stations, I say again General Quarters, General Quarters all hands man your battle stations…Commodore Masterman please report to the bridge! Commodore Masterman please report to the bridge.
Port Launch bay Galactica.
"Lt. Gaeta." Petty officer Dee Duella spoke up.
"What is it Dee?" Lt Gaeta said coming to her side.
"I think I got Something!" she stated excitedly