"Considering we need to infiltrate Cheyenne Mountain, the Wraith is the key, Luana," Paddy Ryan was telling her from under the fuselage, as he worked on the latest modifications for the prototype of the Espridian ship's revamped weapons system, utilizing one of the Dynamos they had recovered from Planet 'P'. The Espridians had utilized the Wraiths to observe and record their impressions of planets and cultures that they had visited around the universe, but their peaceable missions had left little need for weapons. However, Starbuck had pressed Ryan to try to incorporate the strange technology that they had ultimately attributed to the Beings of Light, having once flown a Viper prototype without a weapons system, and not intending for his wife to ultimately do the same. Weirdly, even though they still didn't altogether understand precisely how the Dynamos worked, they were still able to integrate the disparate systems with Malus' help, along with some weird algorithms that their resident chief warrant officer had announced out of the blue one day like an Empyrean prophet when it had seemed they had reached an impasse. For his part, Ryan had serious difficulty entertaining the thought that somehow those very Beings of Light were offering them the crucial elements needed to make it work, at the very moment they most needed them, as they had apparently done long ago when they'd supplied the Colonials with the reckoning path to Earth. Unless it was Ama . . . "We're still figuring out just what this baby can do."

"Cheyenne Mountain? Go on," Lu's brows knit, as Ryan mumbled something to Baker in English, and the other Earthman passed him a tool.

"Along with those we have identified, the Dynamo circuits emit a number of other energies, the properties of which are still unknown to us. Either by Colonial science, or back on Earth. There may even be some we haven't learned to detect, yet. Yet, they somehow seem to integrate smoothly with those we do know about, and the device's programming processes whatever input they're sending through without batting an eye." He motioned for her to hunker down, and peer under the machine.

"Yeah?"

"Right in here," he tapped a smooth black metal case. "This is where, as far as we can tell, it all comes together."

"The brains," she said.

"Yup. Even Malus with his glorified light-bulb on override hasn't been able to crack it all, but in here, the entire operation is coordinated, making the Wraiths what they are."

"It seems so . . . small," she said, running her fingers along the casing.

"Yeah. But from what we can tell, it has twice the computing power of any machine in the Fleet, except the Galactica's mainframe. But we still don't know just how it does it."

"It's incredible."

"That's one word for it. Don't worry, darlin'. You'll get to try her out soon."

"Promises, promises. I still can't believe you let Starbuck take it out first. This is my project," she sniffed.

"He was worried about you," Ryan consoled her. "He didn't want you flying it in case something went wrong with the Dynamo."

She frowned at him.

"Hey, just be thankful that chivalry is not dead, and has apparently been reincarnated in the Fleet's former Stupor Stud," Baker chuckled.

"I think you mean Super Stud . . ." Ryan corrected him, before grinning mischievously. "Then again, maybe you don't . . ."

"Hmm," Lu allowed, dropping it. "How does this surveillance equipment compare to what your people had?"

"In the bad old days back on Earth, we used a parabolic microphone system for audio surveillance purposes," Ryan grinned, looking up at her. "Heck, I bought one to help me win playing paint ball. Paid three hundred and fifty bucks for it on eBay, and kicked my buddy's ass. We knew where he and his loud-mouthed brothers were the whole time." He chuckled in remembrance. "Then, I found I could have bought it for a hundred bucks less, from a friend at CSIS. Anyway, we pointed it in a certain direction, and essentially it would pick up various sound frequencies that could be modulated. However, the range was seriously limited, and it sure as hell couldn't penetrate something as secure as Cheyenne Mountain."

"Paint ball? Ebay? CSIS" Lu asked, her brows knit in confusion. Most conversations with these Earthmen were like that. They were great guys, but constant translations were necessary.

Baker waved a hand dismissively. "Paint ball was essentially grown men playing war. Usually drunk. Sometimes naked. Occasionally both." He glanced at Paddy wryly. Ryan refused to rise to the bait, merely shrugging in apparent agreement. "Ebay was pretty much an internet-based auctioneer. A place to buy and sell things. CSIS, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. He had friends in low places, don't you know."

"Sure did. A few were even Mounties," Ryan grinned. "Anyhow, about the time the Endeavour launched, law enforcement and intelligence services in the United Kingdom and the US had the technology to remotely activate the microphones in personal cell phones," Ryan continued. "They could access the phone's diagnostic and maintenance features in order to listen to conversations taking place nearby."

"Sorry? Cell phones?" Lu asked.

"Communicators, Lu," Baker told her, holding his up for her to see, then explained the term. "There was a war on against terrorism, and we had to accept that certain personal liberties would come second to national security."

"So, you're going to try and modulate a frequency that can do the same thing from the Wraith?" Luana asked Ryan.

"You go to the head of the class, darlin'," Ryan grinned.

"Then these cell phone microphones will act like a transceiver, and we can listen in on conversations from the Wraith to find out what's going on?"

"Listen in and record them, so we can wade through them later. Just about everybody has a cell phone these days, and just as long as the technology we're talking about still exists, then it should be a piece of cake," Ryan agreed. "When we left, Canada and the US were mostly converted from the old analogue technology, to a purely digital system. Other countries were following suit. Hopefully, the switchover is complete. Both this stuff, and Colonial tech, is all digital, or as close as it can come to it."

"If not, we'll find something else," Baker inserted. "They've probably come a long way since we left. IPOD's, Blackberries, chips in credit cards . . . who knows what we'll be able to tap into. It's the communication age. We'll dig up something."

"Exactly," Ryan said, ducking his head back under the ship to continue his work. "From the diagnostics we've been running on the Wraith's surveillance systems, she can easily penetrate Cheyenne Mountain. That way we'll find out if Dick and Hummer are really there. Two guys from outer space, flying around in a souped up Orbiter Space Shuttle, someone's sure to be talking about them."

"And where the Space Shuttle Endeavour ended up," Baker added.

"Either at Wright-Pat, or 51," said Ryan. Lu frowned, and they explained once again.

"Right. I thought . . ." Lu hesitated. After all, these were Commander Dayton's closest friends. They could certainly be privy to information that she wasn't. "I heard that our primary objective is finding and destroying the Base Ship. Are we going to Earth too?" Starbuck hadn't really committed one way or another on that. In fact, he'd been downright elusive on the matter. Her husband had known Commander Adama wouldn't like the idea, especially as President of the Council of Twelve, but the idea of going all the way to Earth's star system, and doing nothing to help Dickins and Hummer seemed a bit restrained. And that was something no one had ever accused her husband or their commander of. She wondered if . . . if Dayton was going to do whatever he wanted, no matter what Commander Adama decided at the Command meeting. A growing unease twisted her guts. It might explain why Starbuck was so on edge this morning, after his usual morning meeting with Malus. Unless it was Malus' newly adjusted "illumination colouration scheme". It took a bit of getting used to, seeing the blue lights in the IL's optical scanner array, and the red ones around his vocal modulator. However, Malus insisted that the altered colour arrangement made him look and feel more human, with his blue "eyes" and red "lips". But she knew that what he really meant was, more like Starbuck.

"If we have anything to do with it, Sweet Cakes," Ryan called out.

"Sooner or later, that is," Baker abruptly added, kicking Ryan's leg under the fighter. "I guess we find out for sure when Dayton gets back." He glanced at his chrono. "At least we'll be ready when we do go. Whenever that is."