Chapter Two: All Aboard
Battlestar Delphi, Flight Pod Airlock:
One by one, the occupants of the shuttle stepped through the airlock and into one of the corridors that looked as though it ran the length of the vast flight pod giving each of them a feeling akin to a parasite entering a large foreign body.
"What is with the air?" Spencer Glanville said as he stepped through the airlock and onto the deck, his nose crinkling at the scent of the stale air that permeated the decommissioned battlestar.
"We have the air circulation system working but the atmosphere scrubbers weren't activated," Moses Lindley, the Superintendent of the Inactive Reserve, said as he too stepped out of the airlock and walked over to the bulkhead where Glanville was standing. Lindley was used to the smell of old Battlestars and scoffed at their displeasure of the smell he had become so accustomed to.
"Colonel Lindley, I think Mister Glanville has a point about the air…it's not the most pleasant of smells," Robert McClintock said as he followed Lindley out of the airlock.
"We can only do so much to accommodate you and your people on here, Mister McClintock. Any more than that is simply out of my hands," Lindley said. "I'm afraid you will just have to adapt your senses."
"What do you mean by that?" McClintock asked.
"What it means is that the Inactive Reserve only has so much money to play with," Richard Dale said as he walked over to where the group was starting to gather. "I think that for a ship of this size it would have cost a nice size number of cubits to put in the atmosphere scrubbers and getting the air in here smelling better. If anything, you should be happy they even got the air circulating at all. We could easily do this sealed up in suits if you would prefer."
"I would rather we not," McClintock said before adding, "I served on a few battlestars during the Cylon War, I always wondered if the pilots felt claustrophobic in their flight suits."
Lindley thought for a moment before he said, "If they were I'm sure they must have gotten over it quickly or else they weren't much good in the cockpit."
"It looks a bit dim in here, I think my eyes need to adjust before I take another step," Ashley Halstead said as she looked around at the surroundings.
"We are using the minimal amount of power to get the job done. Some of these light bulbs haven't been changed in years. The light is a bit dim but you can see where you're going…for the most part," Dale added.
"We have flashlights with us and those will make up for the diminished lighting," Lindley said reassuringly before joking, "Just don't shuffle your feet or you might hit something hard and land flat on your...honor."
"I guess so, I'd be afraid to take a wrong step in here," Halstead said.
"You only need to worry about that once we reach the hangar," Reginald Essery said as he walked over to where Dale was standing.
"Is there a reason why the hangar deck is going to be of particular concern?" Harold Lawson asked.
"With the Delphi decommissioned she served as a source of spares for the other battlestars. If a battlestar, for example the Stryker, needed a hatch to replace an old piece of equipment it would be prudent to just cut a hole in the hangar deck and haul what was needed up that way."
"If that's the case then why not just weld the section of deck back into place?" Halstead asked.
"We've managed to weld pieces of steel into place but there are some areas where we haven't had the time or the money in the budget to do it. If the ship was in the Active Reserve then sure it wouldn't be a problem but here it's a different story," Vance said.
"Hey Vance, did you get our wireless handsets, flashlights, and digital maps?" Lindley asked.
"Yes sir, everything has been offloaded," Vance said.
Transport Shuttle:
'Gods, whatever I have done as of late to anger you, just let me know what it is and I will gladly do what I can to fix it. I think having me serve as a taxi service for this mission is punishment enough,' Anthony Kaiser thought as he went through the process of putting his shuttle into idle mode. That way it would stay powered enough that it could be brought back to full power if needed. Instead, it would stay minimally powered so that its power supply would not be wasted while the museum group looked over the Delphi.
"You look deep in thought," a woman's voice said.
Kaiser turned around and saw that Kimberly Ashfield, one of the members of the museum group, had clambered into the cramped cockpit.
"Just going through the necessary checks to put the shuttle into 'Idle' mode before we get off," he said.
"Funny thing, you look like you would rather close the airlock and get out of here," she teased.
"That's not too far from the truth," Kaiser admitted and then added, "I had finished my deployment on the Romulus when I was informed that I was going to be reassigned to a planet-based facility. I thought I was going to a fleet air station. I thought, 'How could I live with spending my days in a city instead of on a battlestar. Imagine my shock when I found out that I was going to be sent to the Inactive Reserve to be a shuttle pilot."
"Sounds as if this job was beneath someone of your skills," Ashfield said taken by his confidence.
"I don't want to sound ungrateful, but this is not what I had in mind when I was removed from my Viper squadron. The only option I have is to make the best of my time here and maybe when I get my promotion, I can find my way back to a battlestar."
"So it's not that you disagree with what we're trying to do; it's more a case of something you think of as a waste of time," she asked.
"It's your time and money but I just think it's a waste of our time and resources. I would imagine that after all these years at the Inactive Reserve the old girl has to have been picked clean for anything useable. I hope McClintock and the Lawsons have some deep pockets, because that's about the only way you're going to get the Delphi looking anything close to respectable."
"Flint and I are heading out, how much longer until the two of you join us?" Joseph Bethell asked as he and Eric Flint made their way out of the airlock.
"It won't be too much longer," Kaiser said as he went through the last of the steps needed to set the shuttle to 'Idle'.
"My grandfather served on a few battlestars during the Cylon War; that's what got me so interested in them," Ashfield said.
For the sake of conversation, Kaiser asked, "Which ones?"
"The Victorious, Leonidas, Galactica, and finally on the Libran…I remember him telling me stories from his time on them, he even told me about the time on the Leonidas when Admiral Stryker shook his hand after he received an award for bravery."
Kaiser had to admit that was impressive. "I'm sure he was proud of that moment, is that why you're so set on saving the Delphi?"
"I suppose it's my way of making sure there's a memorial to him and those that didn't make it back from the war…" she started to say but it was then that there was the sound of the airlock doors clanging shut with a loud hiss before a loud clamping noise of metal hitting metal.
"What the frak?" Kaiser shouted as he bolted from his seat and ran to the airlock where the door was now securely closed.
"What happened?" she asked with the astonishment obvious in her voice.
"What's going on?" Jayne Sumner asked as she ran from the rear of the shuttle.
"The doors closed suddenly, and I have no idea why," Kaiser said as he worked the airlock controls in an attempt to get the airlock to open.
It was then that Lindley's voice came over the intercom, "Kaiser, what happened to the airlock?"
"Not a clue, sir, the thing slammed shut and it doesn't want to open for me. Can you do anything on your end?"
"Negative, we've tried to open it but it doesn't seem inclined to do what we want."
"The three of us can stay here and try to open the airlock. Until then, I suggest you give our guests the tour of the Delphi. By then I should have this sorted out."
"Good idea, we'll see you when the tour is over let…know…back…" Lindley's voice said over the intercom though at the end it seemed as though it was shorting out.
"I don't know what's going on here but there's nothing we can do about it. Okay, Sumner I want you to find some tools so I can remove this panel and try to get this airlock to open. Miss Ashfield, you just sit over there on the seat and look pretty until I need you for something," Kaiser said as he tried to decide the best way to proceed with solving their problem.
In the corridor, the group had moved away from the door but Lindley stayed there furiously trying to get the door to open. Repeatedly, he kept pressing in the numerical code that should override the lock and open the doors.
"Frak me, I don't know what's going on!" he exclaimed as he fought the urge to slam one of his fists against the bulkhead.
"Like you and your people have told us, it's an old ship," McClintock said as he walked over to Lindley.
"She may be an old ship but that is something that's not supposed to happen," Lindley said as he stepped away from the airlock and ran a hand over his head as he tried to make sense out of what had just happened.
"In my opinion, we might as well go ahead and start our inspection. By the time we get back perhaps the airlock situation would have sorted itself out or your pilot would have been able to get the doors to open," McClintock offered logically and he hoped that Lindley would listen to him.
There were a few moments of hesitation before Lindley nodded his head, "You're right, but it doesn't mean I have to like it."
There was a resounding thud from the deck above, as though an object had fallen loose and landed the deck.
"What was that?" Glanville asked with a voice that did nothing to hide the shock he felt.
"As quickly as that airlock closed it probably jarred some equipment loose and it fell to the deck," Dale said and from the look on his face, he was clearly amused by the man being startled.
"It's nothing to get scared over," Vance added before smirking as she uttered, "Unless it's one of the ghosts calling this place home!"
"Oh please, don't get started on that again," Essery said with a shake of his head.
"I'm just saying, there were some Cylons that crashed their Raiders into the Delphi just to inflict more damage on the ship. That reminds me, if those Cylons could also come back as ghosts then maybe they're fighting the dead crew in some eternal battle!" Flint said.
"Why won't you die, human," Bethell said as he pretended to shoot an imaginary gun at Flint, "My shots seem to be going through you."
Flint, becoming easily caught up in the fun, got into the act as well. "Why can't I unplug you, how come I can't flip your switch from 'On' to 'Off'. I thought you Toasters came with a manual…not to mention my shots are going through you too!"
"Colonial-scum-what-shall-we-do?" Bethell asked in his best robotic voice.
"Have a drink with me; the water will do your insides good!" Flint exclaimed as he pretended to fill an imaginary glass with water.
"By-your-command…" Bethell said and he pretended to drink the glass only to act as though the Cylon circuitry was shorting out. "Mal-func-tion. Mal-func-tion. Bzzzzzz tsssssst."
"You two shape up and stop goofing off," Lindley chided as he pushed by the two and started heading aft down the corridor, "Follow me, we'll set up our headquarters in the Officer's Wardroom. Bethell and Flint carry the supplies, and no…that's not a suggestion."
"Aye, aye, Sir," Flint said as he motioned for Bethell to follow him to where the bags of supplies had been dropped at.
"Dale, let Kaiser know what's going on so he won't think we've completely abandoned him," Lindley said to Dale who quickly nodded that he understood and walked over to the intercom.
"Hey Kaiser," Dale said once he pressed the intercom button, "Not to worry you too much or make you think we're abandoning you but we're going to go ahead and carry out our inspection. I'm sure the boss would want you to wait for us here once you get the airlock to open."
"I'd like to argue with the boss on this one but he is the boss so I guess I'd better do that," Kaiser said knowing that if Lindley wanted something done then there was little point in trying to change his mind.
"You know as well as I do that if you hadn't have come along for this ride, you'd be stuck at Headquarters waiting for someone to need you to fly them out to a ship so they can strip a part out of it," Dale said . In the back of his mind, he knew that since he had recommended Kaiser to the boss that got the pilot roped into this trip.
"Dale, you do realize that I had plans tonight. I was just a few precious minutes from being able to travel down to Scorpia for a weekend on Argentum Bay with a girl I know. Instead of soaking up the rays on a beach, you had to ruin my date plans, which in turn led me to ruin my date's plans. If I get the chance to make it up to her, you're supplying the cubits."
"Now that hurts me, here I am giving you the chance to stretch your legs and your flying skills and all you can do is whine and complain like a Caprican with a bellyache. There is no shortage of women out there, If she won't let you make it up to her, there are plenty of others. Take it from me; they're a cubit a dozen."
"That would explain why you've been divorced three times and can't keep a steady girlfriend. I'm switching the intercom off, see you when you're done," Kaiser said before the intercom was switched off on his end.
"He really doesn't like you," Christy Vance said.
"One day he's going to wake up and realize that I was right, and he'll thank me for getting him on his job. What about you, how does it feel to be back on your old ship?"
She gestured to the space around them, "It's like I left home and came back to find it stripped bare of everything useful and looking like a sad shell of its former self."
"I had a feeling you had fond memories of this place," Dale responded.
"It wasn't that bad an assignment, but by the time I was stationed here the old girl was badly showing her age. It is kind of sad to see her in this shape though."
Dale fixed her with a look. "Not that you're the sentimental type, eh?"
Vance looked at him and shook her head. "It's the nature of the job, Dale; we can't afford to get overly sentimental over this. Even if she's saved, she won't be the same as when she was in service, which is something only those of us who were part of the crew can remember."
Seven Minutes Later:
Officer's Wardroom:
The group entered the wardroom and found a room that looked like a pale imitation of what it had once been. It seemed as though the tables and the chairs that remained had developed a fine layer of dust over the course of the years spent in Inactive Reserve. Also present were tags from various museum groups attached to different items that they intended to remove from the ship before the Delphi was hauled away to the scrapyard.
"At least the wood paneling looks to be in good shape," Cecil Lawson said as he took in the sight of the room.
"Not to mention they still have carpeting on the floor," Halstead said, after looking down to see that the room still had its blue carpeting.
"This place has been picked over by either the Fleet or by museum groups," Dale said as he took a seat at a nearby table.
"How do you plan on carrying out this inspection?" Harold Lawson asked.
"The plan was for us to split up into groups of two, with one of us accompanying one of you museum people. My people and I have at least spent time on the Delphi carrying out inspections so we know where we're going and that will keep you civilians from getting lost. For now, let's take a few minutes and grab a quick bite to eat and some water. We'll head to the hangar and explore the hangar deck together before we split up into our groups," Lindley said to the group.
"What do we have to eat?" Bethell asked.
"Nutrition bars, it should give us the energy needed to inspect this ship," McClintock said. "Providing you like your food lacking in any identifiable flavor."
Somewhere down the corridor, there was the sound of a hatch slamming shut with a resounding thud.
"Are you sure this place isn't haunted?" Halstead exclaimed as she and everyone else in the civilian group jumped from the shock.
"Just gravity kicking in," Lindley said as he hoped he sounded reassuring enough for everyone.
"Are you sure about that?" McClintock asked.
"You've spend enough time on these old ships and your mind can play tricks on you, one minute you are alone in one of these things and suddenly someone off in the distance down the corridor makes a noise and you jump," Flint said.
"Has that happened to you before?" Glanville asked Lindley.
"As a matter of fact it has. It was about two years ago, I had gone over to the Gemenon to supervise some equipment removal. There was a hatch that had been left open near the ship's laundry room. When we stepped near the room, the vibrations from our feet caused the hatch to slam shut. If you let the rumors of ghosts get to you, then you'll be jumping at the slightest noise; then Gods knows when we'll be able to finish our inspection and leave."
Bethell reached into one of the bags and tossed a bottle of water to Vance and Flint, "Since our guests were kind enough to bring supplies for us I think it'd be a shame to let their kindness go to waste."
Vance twisted the cap off and took a long satisfying drink from the bottle. "That hit the spot. I never got to see this part of the ship when I was serving on her. The officers had it pretty nice compared to us enlisted."
"Part of the benefit of being an officer I suppose, they always seem to get the best of everything;no offense to you, Colonel," Dale said.
"I'll let that one go but if you keep it up I'll make sure you're the one who gets to inspect the heads on here as well as the other less desirable areas," Lindley said though it was clear from his tone that he was teasing Dale.
"I think we can afford a fifteen minute break and then we'll head down to the hangar," McClintock said and there were murmurs of agreement from the group.
Twenty-Three Minutes Later:
Hangar Deck:
Viper Aviation Engine Shop:
The group exited the corridor, entered an area at the rear of the hangar deck, and found themselves in a large room with several empty workstations. The benches were now empty of any equipment that had to have been on them. Near the far end of the room was what appeared to be a separate room.
"What is that?" asked Glanville.
Lindley immediately knew what that was. "That was the room where the crew tested the Viper engines that had been repaired to make sure they fired up properly."
"What are those over there?" Cecil Lawson asked.
"Those are the Delphi's battle decorations; I'm surprised they are still here."
Lindley shrugged, "Something would have been done with them, I'm sure there would be some museum in Delphi that would have wanted them to display."
"I recognize some of these awards. The ship took part in Operation Dragon Fire, Operation Arc Light, Operation Big Horn, Operation Bull Run, Operation Capricorn, Operation Cutlass, Operation Emporia, and Operation Iron Hand."
"The Delphi had a very active war, and these awards show it. I'm sure if your museum bid falls through, this will at least find its way to Delphi. For all we know it may even end up in the Museum of the Colonies or at the Delphi War Memorial," Lindley said.
"Just imagine how this place must have looked back in the day," McClintock said.
"This place was busy; we always had to take engines out of the Vipers and Raptors for maintenance. Once we finished the repairs, we took them into the other room to make sure they still worked properly," Vance said. In the back of her mind, she could still remember how this place looked back when the ship was in commission. Even if she would not admit to it, seeing this part of the hangar in such disarray did tug at her emotions.
"Once we have this ship for our museum, you can help us with refurbishing her to how she looked back when she was in commission," Harold Lawson said.
"You do realize that there is still more of this ship that will need to be fixed up before you can do that. I don't even think you have the money to pull that off," Dale said.
Lindley shot him a warning look before saying, "You'll have to forgive Dale; it would appear that as a teenager his ability to stop his mouth from saying what his brain was thinking somehow short-circuited."
"I think either here or the hangar deck would be a good place for the 'Project Archon' exhibit," McClintock said.
Lindley stopped in his tracks. "How could you put an exhibit up on something that I last checked, was classified?"
"President Adar has promised that if we manage to obtain the Delphi then he will be more than happy to declassify the documents related to Archon so we can make a proper exhibit," McClintock said as he wondered why Lindley was so defensive about his knowledge of the project.
"Of course he would," Lindley muttered under his breath. He pinched the bridge of his nose as though doing that would relieve some of the tension he was feeling. He had heard bits of information on Project Archon but what was known was mostly rumor or conjecture. All that was known was that Project Archon was the forerunner of Project Ptolemy and that project was so highly classified that only the name was known and not much else.
"He's already shown us the documents and photos that we'll be able to use, I think it will make quite a story when the public gets wind of it," Cecil Lawson said.
"I really have a hard time seeing this working, all you're going to do is give the conspiracy nuts a present that they'll run wild with," Flint said.
"There are conspiracy nuts everywhere; I think people give them the same kind of credit as those who say the Cylons are going to attack us again," Halstead said defensively.
"We'll worry about that later, let's head to Hangar Bay Three and divide up into our groups," Lindley said as he motioned to the hatch on the far end of the room.
Transport Shuttle:
"Any luck yet?" Ashfield asked.
Kaiser stopped his work on the panel and sat against the airlock, "I wish I had good news but so far it looks as though the circuitry is fine. I honestly have no idea if something on the Delphi caused the airlock to close or some mechanical problem with the shuttle that I haven't found yet."
Sumner called out from the rear of the shuttle. "I'm checking the circuitry from this end and so far it looks like everything is fine."
"So what if the two of you can't find a problem?" Ashfield asked loudly enough for both to hear.
"We sit here and hope someone on the Delphi can figure out what the problem is," Kaiser said.
"Better yet, we disengage from the ship and see if a different shuttle has better luck," Kaiser said.
"What if you try a different airlock?" Ashfield asked Kaiser.
"It is an option I'll consider once we've eliminated everything else. I don't want to try to look too deeply or I may strand us here," Kaiser said as he shined a flashlight into the area behind the panel.
"Take a breather and relax, you're not going to accomplish much if you get stressed," she said as she took a seat by him and handed him a bottle of water.
"Since we're taking a break, what colony are you from?" he asked.
"Caprica, I grew up in the city of Clermont, I also forgot to tell you that my grandfather actually served on Admiral Nelson's staff during part of the war."
Kaiser was impressed. "That's an impressive claim, what did he do for the admiral?"
"He was an intelligence analyst and courier when needed. However, it was decided that he should serve as an intelligence officer on battlestars so he found himself on the Victorious and then the other ships I mentioned to you. He said he was sure that Admiral Stryker had no idea he had served on Admiral Nelson's staff when he was given his commendation. What about you?"
"I'm from Libran, grew up in Themis, and believe me when I tell you that all my life, piloting was what I wanted to do. My parents thought it was a phase I was going through, kind of like how some kids want to grow up to be racecar drivers. I never lost my taste for flying, and for me flying a Viper was the ultimate thrill."
"Where did you attend school?" she asked.
"I ended up attending Aquaria Military, my dad was friends with one of the professors there and that helped to get my foot in the door."
Sumner had been hanging out near the airlock and decided to say something. "Now you know that our favorite pilot is every bit the pampered Viper jock. When we found out he had been assigned to us we had to install larger mirrors in the head so he could admire his reflection."
"Seriously, Sumner, you know you enlisted personnel need to show us officers more respect," Kaiser said in a teasing manner.
"Well, sir, if you can get that airlock to open up before I do I promise I will show you all the respect a Lieutenant deserves. In the meantime, mind if I take a break with the two of you?"
"I don't mind," Kaiser said.
"I don't either," Ashfield said.
"Good," she said as she took a seat across from where they were sitting, "I've been using every bit of know-how I can think of to find the problem and so far the only thing that airlock has done is stay closed like it's mocking me."
"I'm not used to being mocked," Kaiser said.
"That's because you're not around whenever Dale talks about you," Sumner says.
"If Dale is enlisted and you're an officer then should the two of you be socializing?" Ashfield asked.
"Well, Colonel Lindley takes a very hands-off approach to that sort of thing. Especially since I think he and I are the only two officers here at Inactive Reserve. Believe me, the two of us would quickly run out of things to talk about. If the knuckle-draggers want to come up to our level and breathe the air that's above their pay grade then so be it; as long as the higher-ups don't get wind of it," Kaiser said.
"I think between the two of you, that airlock doesn't have a chance of staying closed," Ashfield said before adding, "For now ,take a break and have another go at it."
"You won't hear me argue that," Sumner said.
"Does it bother you that you're not getting to explore the Delphi?" Kaiser asked.
Ashfield shrugged."I admit it's disappointing, but perhaps when this is over the Colonial Fleet will okay the transfer and then I can explore the ship to my heart's content."
Hangar Bay Three:
It was apparent to the group when they stepped out of the Viper Engine Maintenance Room and into Hangar Bay Three that the statements about the floor being cut to remove equipment had not been an exaggeration. There were entire sections of floor missing and it was possible to see down into the deck below.
"That is something we'll have to work with when we get the ship," McClintock said.
"I made a point to put yellow caution tape up so that none of you civvies will find your way down these holes," Lindley said.
"Before we go further, perhaps we should go ahead and divide into our groups," Halstead said.
"That's not a bad idea, I have a list of names here in my pocket," Lindley said as he produced a sheet of paper with their names printed on it.
Over the next few minutes, he called out the names and paired them up. The pairings ended up being Harold Lawson and Joseph Bethell, Cecil Lawson and Christy Vance, Eric Flint and Spencer Glanville, Richard Dale and Ashley Halstead, with the final group being composed of Robert McClintock, Reginald Essery, and Lindley himself.
"With that out of the way…civilians, you will listen to your Colonial Fleet counterpart, if they give you a warning or tell you something you should or should not do, then you need to listen to them. Also, be careful for any hazards; the Delphi is an old ship and has been stripped heavily during her time here at the Inactive Reserve. You each have wireless handsets and a computerized map of the Delphi. I encourage you to use your map at all times and stay in constant wireless contact with us. If your map fails and you get lost or if you need help of any kind do not hesitate to call for it. Not many people outside of the military get to inspect a ship such as this, enjoy it, but above all else, be as careful as you can be," Lindley said.
Eventually the groups stepped off the hangar deck and began their exploration of the Delphi. Little did they know the danger they were about to step into…
Author's Note:
I looked and could not believe that I had not updated this story in over two years. I would like to assure that it will take me nowhere near that long to post Chapter Three! I would like to take this moment to thank Tony Wilkins and Pam Barker for taking the time to assist me with the development of this chapter. I would also like to thank Olaf74 and the anonymous reviewer who each left a review this year and spurred me along to finally get started on this chapter.
I hope you enjoy this chapter and once again know that the next update will be in a considerably shorter amount of time!