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Chapter 10 – Discoveries
Telmaya's fleet approached the green haze that was the Olympus Anchorage site. They didn't know if the Anchorage was still there but if it was then they could get all the ammunition they would need to safely leave the colonies.
After combing the area of the outer colonies one last time, they had gathered what could be the last civilian ships. Their fleet now consisted of;
1 Battlestar, 2 Mining Vessels, 8 Cargo ships, 4 Agro ships, 2 Botanical Cruisers, 2 Gemon Liner, 2 Pan Galactic Liners, 2 Flattop class repair vessels, 3 Refinery Ships and 1 Colonial Mover, 1 Scrap Hauler, 1 Science Vessel, 1 Skybus, 1 Automated Construction Ship and 1 Tylium Hauler.
All in all thirty ships so far, about 25,000 people crammed aboard those ships.
Covering a fleet this size with just one Battlestar was a nightmare, the big ship had to stay relatively in the centre of the fleet so it could move where ever needed quickly and send its Vipers out when needed.
Seth had had to expand the number of available Vipers to handle the increase of ships to protect. True it could be done with less but less equalled less protection which scared the civilians. Now the ships had eight squadrons of Mark 8 Vipers that either were made up from storage or new ones from the advanced production plant.
Seth was currently sitting in the ward room waiting for Sheba to give her report on what she had learned from studying the captured Cylon Heavy Raider.
Kendra sat at his right hand, drumming her fingers against the table letting out a yawn
Hal was leaning back in the chair opposite Seth, he was dozing. Seth regarded the other man. Leaving the captains of the fleet to run their own affairs had proven less than productive, often hoarding things ranging from food, fuel to just about any resource, so the captains in a mutual agreement (after a little convincing) had agreed to set up a civilian government of sorts, it was really a sort of congress with representatives from each ship coming together on Telmaya (as it was neutral ground for civilian matters) who were co-ordinated by an elected chair person.
The civilians liked democracy so they were given it, but the military would remain separate from the civilian authority under Seth's control.
When the matter of who would be the elected chairman came pretty much every captain in the fleet put their name down, so there was going to have to be a democracy election soon, for the moment although a military man Seth had to do it as the highest current official.
The door suddenly parted and a rather harried looking Sheba rushed in carrying a pile of documents in one arm and an even larger one in the other.
"Sorry I'm late" Sheba said breathlessly putting the documents on the table and taking a few quick calming breathes
Seth merely raised an eyebrow and gestured for Sheba to take a seat.
"Thanks" Sheba said and dropped into the nearest unoccupied chair and let out a breath, to which Kendra just rolled her eyes.
"Right maybe you could start your report" Seth said with a little edge in his voice, trying to get things back on track
"Well we managed to get a look at the Raider's database, looks like Blondie managed to erase some of it but not all, we got the flight recorder and saw at least three other people coming on the Raider and getting off before they used the raider to board Telmaya" Sheba reported becoming the all business officer
"So we now know the faces of at least four Cylon models?" Hal asked, they still knew so little of the Cylons
"Yes, I have got pictures here" Sheba handed a folder to Seth and another to Hal, they opened the folders and looked at the four prints inside
One of an older man with grey hair, a younger man with slicked back brown hair, a picture of Selena and another blond woman.
Seth knew nearly every member of his crew having interviewed them or knowing them from campus back in the academy days and he didn't recognise any of these new three.
But Hal it seems did as a small look of horror as he looked on the younger man's picture
"That's…That's Miles. One of my Raptor pilots" Hal said shocked, but Seth lost no time and got up and went straight for the inter-ship phone on the wall.
He picked it up and spoke to the com officer on watch "Get me Sergeant Major Jones at once" Seth ordered and the com officer said "One moment"
Then the deep voice of Sergeant Major Tyber Jones sounded "Yes Commander?"
"Get a marine detachment together and report to the hanger deck, I'll meet you there, I need you to go and capture a suspected Cylon amongst Shovel's crew" Seth said
"Understood sir" Tyber said and hung up on his end and Seth put the receiver back on its rest
"Make copies of these pictures and have them ready for the Congress meeting tomorrow" Seth ordered after turning the face Sheba who nodded
Twenty minutes later a squad of ten marines departed Telmaya to Shovel in a Raptor. Their orders were to arrest the suspected Cylon agent matching the photograph that they had been given by the Commander on the hanger deck.
As they landed in the small hanger bay of Shovel they checked their weapons, their orders were to bring this guy back alive, but if necessary they would defend themselves.
Once the raptor landed, the marines disembarked and asked the flight co-ordinator where this 'Miles' was. The flight co-ordinator directed them to the ship's galley.
The marines moved through the grimy and dimly lit corridors of the mining ship drawing much attention, the crew whispering in hushed voices as they past.
They soon arrived in the galley they sighted their target, he had been sitting down to a bowl of cereal but like everyone else in the galley turned to face the marines
Tyber stepped forward facing 'Miles' and spoke "Miles Olsen you are to accompany us to Telmaya were you will be held until such time as you are deemed guilty or innocent of the crimes that you are accused"
Everyone turned to Miles who asked in a panicky voice "What are the charges?"
Then everyone turned back to Tyber who fixed him with a steady glare "Being a Cylon agent"
The stunned silence was immediate; everyone looked at Miles with shocked eyes which quickly turned to Miles with suspicion and hatred
Miles sighed and drew a gun from the inside of his overalls
The Shovel's crew dived for cover with some yelps and small screams while Telmaya's marines raised their own weapons and pointed them straight at the Cylon who smiled and put the gun to the side of his head
Before the marines could do anything, he pulled the trigger and a splat of blood sprayed onto the nearby wall and the body fell to the ground
"We searched his bunk but all we found was this" Tyber reported handing a small white device which was split into two and connected by a grey material with small holes in it to Seth who examined it for a moment before placing it into a secure box which Tyber closed.
"Take it to the Sheba's workshop, have her take a look" Seth ordered and Tyber nodded
"You going to ask the Cylon about it?" Tyber asked
Seth nodded "Doubt I'll get anything, but it's worth a shot" and Tyber fixed him with a curious look
"Why don't you just kill it?" Tyber asked
"Because there's nothing to be gained from killing her, while improbable we might get some information from her and at the very least, we can rest in the knowledge that we are not killers like them" Seth and Tyber nodded, the two men had managed to build a relationship of mutual trust and respect, they trusted each other to do their jobs
"What about the body?" Tyber asked
"Send it to the Pasteur and let the good doctor examine it, anything that might help us detect Cylons would be useful at this point" Seth ordered
Selena sat against the wall in her cell trying to think of ways to past the time, she wasn't allowed any thing and the guards generally just ignored her
Then the door parted and the Commander of this vessel entered, he stood tall in his full uniform and with a folder under his arm
She looked up from her position in the cell and regarded him with curiosity and he just gave a blank stare
He walked up to the cell door and opened it, stepping inside he motioned for Selena to sit in the centre of the cell, Selena decided it was better to comply and learn why he was here.
He sat opposite her and placed the folder on the floor and took out a picture which he placed in front of her
She knew the face on it immediately, it was a 5.
"We got this off the Raider's flight recorder along with two other faces" Seth told her and withdrew two other pictures one of a 1 and another of a 3.
"When we went to arrest this man on one of our ships" Seth told her indicating the picture of the younger man "But he shot himself the moment he knew that we had him cornered. I know it could have just be avoid capture, but its more than that, it's like you organic Cylons don't fear death"
Selena smiled "That's because we don't"
Seth regarded her careful before asking "Why?"
"When we die we will just wake up somewhere else in an identical body" Selena said still smiling
Seth just stared in stunned silence before regrouping "Why are you telling me this?"
"This knowledge can't hurt me and tells you that you can't kill us, at least not permanently" She said confidentially, before Seth picked up the file and photos and with one last look at her got up and left
After learning the information about Cylon Reincarnation Seth immediately went to the CIC and order an emergency jump to the Olympus Anchorage in case the Cylon they just kill gave away their position
Olympus Anchorage was very similar to the Ragnar Anchorage, a single space station inside an electromagnetic storm cloud. The fleet hoped to get enough ammunition to fill their stocks before leaving the star system for the Promar sector.
Descending through the cloud, the ships shook slightly as they were rocked by turbulence.
Then they came within Dradis range of the station
Then the alert klaxon sounded as an unknown contact came into range in orbit of the station, which looked to be intact.
Seth ordered action stations and the crew rushed to their positions, bracing for a fight
But the unknown vessel was not Cylon, it was 1625 metres long, had a main body with two pontoons one on either side.
And on each pontoon there stood a name engraved, five letters
Rycon
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