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Day 53
Omega Sector System 15377
Chiron Pilots Ready Room

"I would like to congratulate Ensigns Cohen, Jacobs, Nolan, Ricks, and Lopez as passing their ECO test and officially becoming Raptor crewmembers" said Commander Ronda Jasper .

That they had 11 Raptor crews to operate the now 9 Raptors would take a some of the strain off the overworked Raptor crews. There had been a lot of changes among the pilots the last two weeks. Commander Jasper had decided to make Captain Hamlin the official CAG since "Limes" would be off the Chiron most of the time and "Warlock" was doing the job so might as well get the title. There had been some discussion about whether to split up the established crews but it was decided best to keep them together and have the new ECOs and pilots work up their training. Most of them the time the Raptors would be working in pairs and a "senior" Raptor crew would work with the new crews. Also it was decided that the former Ensigns should be promoted to LT JG as they were no longer the "nuggets" with the longevity of 7 months out of flight school. Some of the Viper nuggets showed promise but combat landing on the Chiron's smaller flightpod was challenging to say the least. Still "Warlock" thinks that that the first class should be ready in a few more weeks.

Things were currently fairly calm. The missile defenses were put on all ships with the training being completed by Captain Kristis. According to him and Major Anders the Linnet and the Vega were now as good at emergency jumps and damage control as any of the other civilian ships. 'Well time to leave the pilots to their party and to do paperwork' thought Commander Jasper.

Day 57
Omega Sector System 15227
Herse CIC
LT Geri Casar (Silk) and ECO LT JG Laura Wysohi (Turtle)
LT Reggie Donaldson (Oatmeal) and ECO Ensign Sasha Lopez (Juniper)

Captain Odom might be a prick and a pain for Major Limaki to deal with as the Herse's XO but LT Geri Casar (Silk) was impressed that he found these three ships. They were hard for "Turtle" to find much closer and with the information given by the Herse. The three ships were just floating in space and were drifting apart. Something clearly was wrong here.

These appeared to the missing ships from the Rycon's fleet. Two mining and one cargo ship. They also appeared to be more stripped than destroyed. The Cylons would have simply destroyed them not taken two of the engines from the cargo ship and then left them floating. "Oatmeal head back to the Colonel and let him know what we found." The Marines and their shuttle had been added to the Atlis as they would be doing most of the hands on exploration.

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Sgt. Becker and his squad were checking out the cargo ship that was named the Rambler. Whoever had taken it over had done a thorough job of stripping anything of value. The shuttle bay had the shuttle and all parts taken. As they went further they also saw that the quarters appeared to be stripped of all clothing, bedding, and personal items. Same thing with the bridge. Most items of value or as parts had been stripped out. So far though no sign of the crew.

"Sarge we found something in the cafeteria" said Cpl. Ryan. "Get down here ASAP."

Sgt. Becker and the rest of his group headed to the cafeteria. There they found the Rambler's crew. There were 61 people stripped naked with their hands tie behind their back with a single gunshot to their heads for most. Some appeared to have tried to run or attack their assailants but were just as dead.

"Shit why the frak would anyone do this" asked Sgt. Becker.

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Chiron CO's Office

"Sir all three ships were the same thing. Pretty much everything of value stolen with the crews tied up naked and then shot" said Colonel Marton. "127 people total which matches the personnel log for the three ships."

"It is very unlikely it was the Cylons as I doubt they care about clothing or pillows" replied Commander Jasper. "That leaves pirates. In some way these people seem worse than the late unlamented Captain Gorman and his group. Certainly better organized in a horrible way. Also I agree that we should destroy the three ships. Other than spare parts of things we can make ourselves they are more a tomb than ship now we will give last rights to the crew and then destroy them."

The information they had picked up from the Squall and Chalice showed that Gorman's group was one of the larger pirate groups around. Most of the information they had was more names of ships or Captains than any real data. Need to track down these people and deal with with them ASAP.

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Thank you everyone for reading. Any questions or comments are appreciated.