Chapter 6- The military decision
His fathers foot began to tap and Lee knew that was a sure sign he was beginning to loose his patience. Lee was still thinking about what to say, yes his relationship with his father had become closer but the military life still came first . What would his father have to order to be done to him if he admitted that just thinking about the Galactica prompted his viper to jump. "Captain I'm waiting", Bill stated.
Lee fidgeted a little and finally decided what to tell his father, "it's all a little hazy", he lied. "So you don't remember what you did", Bill prompted stressing the word 'remember. Lee guessed his father was loosing patience in his continued ' I don't knows" and decided not to say those three words in this instance. He was just thinking of something else to say when he was rescued by Doctor Cottle, "look Commander, he is still suffering disorientation, perhaps you should leave any further questions until he is feeling better," the Doctor remarked. Adama bit his lip, "alright", he finally conceded, "I'll come back later."
Lee felt profoundly relived when his father left a few minutes later, "thanks Doc", Lee told Cottle. "I'm only putting off the inevitable Captain", Cottle stated. Lee nodded knowing without a doubt that his father would be back. Lee began to wonder if he would have the courage to tell the truth later. Somehow he doubted he would. But maybe he could give himself some peace by finding out some answers. "Doc do you believe in patient /doctor confidentiality ", he asked Cottle. The major frowned at him, "naturally Captain", he stated firmly. Lee swallowed nervously, "will you scan me to make sure I have no other devices in my body", he requested. Cottle looked at his seriously, "I take it you are worried about something captain", he stated almost gently.
Lee nodded. Cottle actually reached out and clasped his shoulder, "I can check you out Captain and don't worry I can also keep everything confidential" ,he reassured.
Lee sighed heavily, "as long as I don't have to drink any more of that disgusting orange stuff", he remarked. "Ah no worries there Captain", Cottle stated, then he smiled as he continued, "the only stuff you'll have to drink is blue and it tastes worse than the orange stuff." Lee scowled, "thanks so much for telling me that doc', he stated sarcastically.
Bill decided that maybe he could get some answers from Chief Tyrol. He was after some one who had worked with FTL drives before. Approaching Lee's viper Bill was startled to see Saul Tigh rubbing his hands all over it his eyes sparkling like a little boy who had just got a bigger and better toy."An FTL in a viper, Bill, I thought I'd never live to see the day", Saul enthused. Bill didn't look nearly as excited as he replied, "I'm sure you haven't forgotten the past Saul and how many pilots died in Baxters experiments with trying to fit vipers with FTL drives." In the end his main rivals designed the raptor and all work on FTLs in vipers was abandoned for good, or so we thought." Bill scowled at the viper, "there are still a few side effects for the pilot. Lee suffered fairly major disorientation but is quickly recovering."
"Still with side effects like that using an FTL in a viper would be limited in a combat situation", Bill warned. Saul rolled his eyes, his excitement still not diminished as he climbed on board Lee's viper. Tyrol was soon beside him, "as you can see sirs there is no obvious outward signs of the FTL drive". "Well of course not otherwise we would have noticed", Tigh snapped. Tyrol clenched one fist but kept his voice calm,"it is integrated naturally into the vipers other systems".
Tigh looked at the scan noting the FTLs presence was clearly defined, "alright ", he stated, "so it's not visible to the eye but if memory serves scans of every viper were to be carried out prior to activating Dr. Baltar's program eliminating the computer virus threat".
"Can you explain why the FTL drive was not detected at that time".
Tyrol began to look very uncomfortable, "I'll just check who carried out that scan ,Colonel", he replied. Darting off quickly the chief left Bill and Saul looking over the viper. "So did Apollo fill you in on how to operate this thing', Saul asked. Bill sighed, "He doesn't remember", he stated. Saul scowled, "well I suppose that's a step up from "I don't know but frak Bill that boy is not giving us any answers at the moment."
Bill had to agree but still defended Lee by telling Saul, "Doc Cottle says he might be able to answer more question when he's feeling better". Saul look dubious, "I won't hold my breath", he stated with a hint of sarcasm. "Lucky we have Chief Tyrol to fill us in".
The two watched as the topic of their conversation moved away from talking to some of the deck hands and back toward them. "Well", demanded Tigh as soon as the chief had halted in front of them. Tyrol bit his lip, "nobody scanned Apollo's ship", he told the Commander and Colonel. "What do you mean nobody scanned the damn ship," Saul yelled," it was ordered that scans be carried out before Baltars program was uploaded."
Tyrol cringed but stood firm knowing he had one piece of information left to tell them.
"I've checked and rechecked sirs and it seems somehow that the program was never uploaded to the Captains ship", Tyrol stated. Saul was shaking his head, "it must have been otherwise this ship would have been rendered inactive by a cylon program a while ago." Tyrol looked the XO in the eye, "I have checked the information sir. But I can tell you something else, this ship is not networked. If our records are correct then I have to assume Apollo's ship arrived like that."
Both Bill and Tigh looked stunned. Saul broke away from them both to walk around the viper, "my god Bill do you know what that makes this ship, it was the perfect weapon. It couldn't be affected by cylon technology and could jump into cylon patrols and take them out. If we could solve that small problem with the pilot's disorientation then we could manufacture a whole fleet of vipers using FTL drives." He began to smile.
"Once we did that we could arrange a little surprise for the cylons." He turned to his commander, "Bill we could still win this war".
Bill lowered his voice as he drew even with his XO, "Doesn't that make you wonder why someone would hide this sort of technology", he asked. Saul turned to stare at him. "I would venture a guess not too many people knew about vipers being installed with FTL technology". Apollo didn't know anything about the mission he was undertaking but if memory serves one of the original problems with FTLs in vipers with interference with the ships other systems including maneuverability. I'd say those test flight he undertook were to see if those problems had been solved."
From all indications this FTL technology was working correctly, then suddenly boom, three of the vipers explode. Somehow I don't think that was just an accident", Bill reflected.
Saul looked sober, 'the Cylons look like us now", he stated. Bill nooded soberly, "yes and if a cylon agent heard about this project they'd want to shut it down".
"A cylon aboard the Atlantia", Saul stated, "that makes sense". He turned to Bill as something else occurred to him, "but Bill if we think about the placement of that disc in Lee's back and him being sent here in the same viper used for those tests then we have to assume somebody suspected there was an infiltrator.' They sent the information away to keep it safe. After all that effort why make the information impossible to access.", Saul questioned, "You're bringing this back to Lee not knowing the answers again aren't you", Bill stated. "Well I know enough about Lee to know he hasn't be lying to me" Saul shrugged, "I'm just saying it doesn't make sense Bill",
"Well perhaps the chief can solve our problem. Can you ascertain exactly how this thing works chief", Bill questioned.
"Well sir, the scan will only tell us so much, to find out more I'd have to remove the drive from the viper." With all other systems linking to the drive, this would destroy several other major functions of the viper and effectively render it unusable."
Bill grimaced, they needed every ship they had and he didn't want to unnecessarily sacrifice Lee's viper. But he also realized that the viper had been sent as an opportunity and to not make use of it's obvious advantages would not be a good strategy . "All right, why don't I try one more talk with Captain Adama before you go ahead and do that", Bill conceded.
"I think I'll insist on joining you for that visit', Tigh stated. Bill looked over at Saul who was giving his his best determined look and decided he had to agree to his request. He knew Tigh would probably make Lee feel uncomfortable but he couldn't deny the Colonel the right to hear what he had to say.
"Why don't you come into my office Captain", Cottle remarked as he finished the last test. Lee ,feeling a lot more stable on his feet sat nervously behind the doctors desk. Cottle surprisingly lifted the chair from behind his desk and placed it next to Lee. He then began to explain to Lee about the tests and what they had uncovered.
They'd just finished when Commander Adama and Colonel Tigh walked into the med bay. "Ah Captain good to see you looking better", Bill acknowledged. Lee made no reply, nervously looking at both of them. "If you'll excuse me I'll go attend to my other patients", Cottle told them. He gave Lee's arm a brief squeeze before departing.
"Captain, Chief Tyrol is going to have to wreck your viper to tell us how the FTL drive works, perhaps you'd like to prevent that happening by telling us exactly how you got the viper to jump", Tigh asked firmly without any lead up.
Lee looked at him, 'so that's your answer to finding out how things work, just take them to bits and hope for the best", he stated sarcastically. "Captain, watch your tone," warned Bill. Saul scowled at Lee, "the viper is not your personal property Captain it belongs to the military." Lee knew that he also belonged to the military and that fighting to save his viper was probably a lost cause. "If you tell us how you made it work then you might save us having to dismantle anything", Saul stated. "I doubt that Colonel", Lee replied, you'll still want to copy the technology ".
Captain, why are you being so stubborn", Colonel Tigh demanded. "This technology could win us the war. Any attempts to stall us could be considered treason. So be a good little boy and give us a frakking answer."
Lee reflected that he didn't dare tell the Colonel the truth. Instead he remarked, "look all I know is that a missile had a lock on me and I thought I was going to die. I don't really know what I did at the moment but the next thing I knew the viper was jumping".
Colonel Tigh, scowled, so your answer is , "I don't know, again Captain. Well I suppose you didn't know your viper wasn't networked either". Lee's jaw dropped.
Saul glared at Lee's stunned look, "oh for fraks sake give me a break", he stormed loudly. Lee thought back to leaving the Atlantia, "They told me the guidance system was undergoing maintenance so I wasn't under computer control when I launched. Then of course when I came to Galactica it was a hand on approach."
Bill sighed loudly, "well it seems this line of questioning is getting us nowhere, so unless you can tell us something definite or can provide the password for the disc I will order Tyrol to begin dismantling." Lee looked down and muttered, 'I guess you'll just do what you must". Bill got out of his chair and went to the comm and passed the order through to the chief to begin dismantling the viper.
Chief Tyrol decided to let one deck hand help him with the dismantling. "I'm going to get some more tools, you start by disconnecting these two wires here", Tyrol pointed to two blue wires near the bottom of the console. Tyrol left him to begun work walking over to one of the supply rooms to obtain the extra equipment he needed.
He'd just put one hand on the door when he heard a loud noise and a bright flash.
Turning quickly he saw the viper engulfed in a ball of light, then almost as suddenly the light was gone. Tyrol began to relax when he saw the viper was undamaged and standing as peacefully as before. Then his eyes found his deck hand or rather what was left of him, a charred wreck lying across the top of the viper console.
"Nobody go near that viper", Tyrol yelled as he approached. As people came running Tyrol looked at the viper with new eyes, not as a promising new gift but as a curse sent to destroy more of mankind.