Battlestar Galactica

Past, Present, Future

Chapter Twelve

The Lost Fleet

There was perhaps no duty in all the Colonial fleet more boring for a pilot then that of pulling a long range probe. A single patrol of this type could last well over fifty centars during which a person may find nothing more interesting then a small meteorite in all that time! And what was worse was, after one of those marathon patrols, it was almost impossible to stand up straight or walk normally for what seemed like days! But it was the price one paid for being among those few with the skill to become a Colonial Warrior and a Viper pilot.

Lieutenant Rader and Ensign Nagy were two of those. Rader had been a pilot for several yahren, but this was his first time leading a long range probe while it was Nagy's first time pulling this duty in the yahren since becoming a Viper pilot. They had had an uneventful patrol so far, finding nothing of any consequence lying in the path of the fleet and very little of interest. During their first few centars of the patrol, they'd conversed on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from the latest scuttlebutt from around the fleet to the finer points of Triad. The last few Centars however had been very quiet as neither man seemed to have anything else to say.

Rader kept himself busy scanning the next sector while Nagy supposedly was on a sleep period. Rader had just finished his scan's and was setting up for the next round when he glanced over at his wingmates ship and noticed the canopy light on and his head moving around. He decided to find out what his young partner was up to!

"Hey Nag! What are you doin over there? You're supposed to be on sleep period."

Nagy's head popped up so fast, he banged it on the back of his seat causing his helmet to be forced down over his eyes. The site of this gave Rader a good laugh. Nagy quickly pushed his helmet back up where it belonged and opened up his com unit.

"What do you want?" he asked testily, seeing Rader laughing at him.

"I was wondering what you were doing over there, you were suppose to be asleep!" Rader said, still chuckling.

"I'm ….. working on something!" Nagy said, sounding like a child that had just been caught with his hand in the mushie jar.

Rader knew his young partner was up to something. Nagy's tone of voice and indirect answer was a dead giveaway. He decided to have some fun with him.

"So Nag, what is it that has you so engrossed that you're forgoing your sleep period and almost knocking yourself out over?"

Nagy fumed a bit at his wingmate. He hated the name "Nag" and Rader knew it, but to his credit, Nagy's voice showed no sign of irritation when he answered back.

"I'm making a few adjustments to my scanners."

Rader understood why Nagy jumped the way he did now.

"Nag's, you know you're not suppose to be foolin around with the scanner main frame! The Colonel will have your ass if he finds out you've been messin with it." Rader said somewhat irritated. He knew his young partner was genius when it came to all that electronic felgercarb such as scanners and laser generators, but he also knew how the Colonel frowned of pilots messing around with their Vipers systems. If Nagy got caught screwing around with his scanners, it was a sure bet that the Colonel would call Nagy out on the carpet, and most likely him too since he was the senior officer and the probe leader. Rader really didn't want to go thru an ass chewing because of Nagy.

"Look Nag, I know you're into all that electronic felgercarb and all, but I really think it's a bad idea for you to be messin with your scanners while were on a mission. What if you botch them up and can't get em put back together? The Colonel will tear your head off …… and mine too!" Rader told him.

"Oh come on Rader, you know I won't screw anything up. I know more about these things then any of those maintenance techs aboard the Galactica!" Nagy replied somewhat defensively.

"Yes, I know, you know your stuff when it comes to electronics, but you're not a tech, you're a pilot, and pilots don't mess with the scanners! So knock it off before you get us both put in hack!" Rader said with a bit more anger in his voice then he should have. Then a bit milder he asked, "So what exactly are you trying to accomplish with all these "adjustments" anyway?"

"Well, if you must know, I'm installing some new hardware and programs that will boost the scanners range and resolution by at least a hundred percent." Nagy said sarcastically.

"A hundred percent! You're kidding me! How in Sagen can you do that?" Rader asked skeptically.

Nagy smiled at the tone of Rader's voice. He knew that he had peaked his interest.

"That's right, a hundred percent! Maybe more if I can get this secondary power coupling connected. If I'm right about this set up, I might be able to boost this Vipers scanner range and efficiency enough to equal the Galactica's scanners." Nagy said proudly. "I've been running test in the electronics lab in my off time and I've finally perfected all the programs and components. All I need now are a few successful field tests and I can make a full presentation to the command staff."

"And so you decided to use this patrol to test out all your equipment and theories, right!" Rader asked.

"Well, I knew I'd have plenty of time to get everything installed and run a few test scans before we returned to the Galactica." Nagy said. "I figured I'd be able to compare the scan's you're taking to the one's I'd take with the my new system and I'd be able to show the Commander and the Colonel what this new system can do."

"Why are you so hot after this project Nag's? You trying for a transfer out of Blue Squadron?" Rader asked.

"As a matter of fact, I am! You may not believe me, but I never really wanted to be a Viper pilot. I wanted to be an electronics technician." Nagy told him.

"What stopped you?"

"When I did my testing for the academy, they said that even thou I showed a great deal of talent in the electronics field, I showed an equal aptitude for becoming a Viper pilot, and since there was more of a need for pilots then techs, I was sent to flight school. "The needs of the service must be meet first before the wants of the individual" the recruiter told me."

Rader nodded his head, he'd heard the same thing many times.

"So how long before you have that felgercarb hooked up and ready to go?" He asked curiously.

"I'm almost finished now; I just have to get this secondary power coupling connected and I can start." Nagy said as he struggled with the small cable.

"What's the problem?"

"I must have mismeasured the cable length by a millimetron or two. I can't get it to reach!" Nagy said as he tried once again. It was just a hairs width short thou.

"Check the run of your cables; make sure their not catching on something!" Rader advised.

Nagy turned around as far as he could to see if he could find any snags in the cable. He didn't see anything at first, but when he pulled on the cable again, he could see that it was hanging up on one of the seat supports where he had spliced several small wires together. He reached down between his seat and the floor of his cockpit and worked the snag past the support. That done, there was more then enough cable to make the connection.

With all systems hooked up and all the programs downloaded, all that was left was to switch over to the new scanners. Nagy reached up and flipped the switch.

"I hope this works!"

The new systems immediately came to life as the power from the Viper's engines began to surge thru them. In the cockpit, Nagy was amazed by what he saw. The screen in his dash suddenly came to life with signals from not just the sector they were patrolling, but from the entire quadrant and beyond. He quickly began recording the readings from his new "hyper-scanners". The range they had wasn't a hundred times that of a normal Viper, but a THOUSAND times. Nagy kept checking the readings and was amazed, if what he was seeing was accurate, the scanners in this Viper were over ten times more powerful then those on the Galactica!

"Well, what's going on over there Nag's?" Rader said excitedly, seeing the light inside his partners Viper increase the way it did.

"You're not going to believe this Rader! It's fantastic! I'm picking up imagery from objects over a hundred million kilometrons away!" Nagy gushed.

Rader was dumbfounded. Nagy's scanner system not only worked, but it worked even better then the Galactica's scanners. It was a great technological achievement for the young man.

"So what do you see? Are you picking up anything?" Rader asked excitedly.

Nagy was so excited, he hardly heard his wingmate. He was too intent on what the new scanners were showing him. Not only was the range far greater then even he could have dreamed, but the resolution was fantastic! He focused the scanners beams on a small asteroid and was able to see every nook and cranny on it. When he switched over for a composition analysis of the asteroid, the detail that came thru from the new programs he had written were astounding.

"You're not going to believe the readings I'm getting Rader! I just did a detailed composition analysis of an asteroid over thirty million kilometrons away! If you looked at this, you'd swear it was only a few hundred metrons." Nagy gushed.

Rader began laughing again at his young partner's exuberance. He was sure that the Colonel would forgive him for breaking the rules this time if these new scanners worked as well as he said.

"I'm glad the thing is working for you Nag's, I know you've been working hard on it. But lets not forget why were out here pal. We still have to finish this patrol you know!" Rader said.

"Yea, yea, I hear ya!" Nagy said disappointedly.

"Hey, cheer up! You proved your system works! When we get back to the Galactica, you'll be a hero! They'll probably give you the Gold Cluster for this." Rader told him.

"I'm not interested in the Gold Clust ……" Nagy began before his voice tailed off. "Hey Rader, I'm picking something up on the lateral scanners, something big!"

"What is it Nag's? How far away?" Rader asked, the concern in his voice evident.

"I can't tell much about it; it looks like a huge dust cloud. WOW! This things enormous! I can't determine its full size, even with my scanners, it's that big!" Nagy said as he tried to adjust his new scanners. He tried to focus the scanners in tighter to get a detailed view of the cloud, but most of his signal was disrupted.

"How far away is it?" Rader asked again.

"I have it as fifty six million kilometrons, but it's hard to get a real accurate fix on it. Something in the makeup of that cloud is preventing my scanners from getting a good lock." Nagy said, still trying to get more information on the dust cloud. "Maybe we should swing by it and check it out?"

"I don't know about that Nag's" Rader told his enthusiastic young partner. "That cloud of yours is way out of our patrol grid. If we go check it out, we won't have enough fuel to finish our patrol, and that will piss the Colonel and the Commander off!"

"True, but this could be important." Nagy tried to reason. "For all we know, Earth could be on the other side of that cloud. I think we should check it out."

Rader didn't like this situation. The cloud was well out of their patrol sector and was nowhere near the path of the fleet, but it was close enough that if there was something there, the Commander should be made aware of it. He had to make a choice.

"Okay, we'll take a quick look, but you'll have to explain to the Colonel and the Commander why we didn't complete our deep probe as assigned." Rader said.

"No problem Rader, with these new scanners, we probably won't have to get very close anyway." Nagy said. "We shouldn't have to go more then ten million kilometrons out of our way."

"Oh, only ten million kilometrons!" Rader said sarcastically.

With that, the two Colonial Vipers veered away from their previous course to investigate this mysterious dust cloud. Nagy took the lead position so he could take full advantage of his new "hyper-scanners" as Rader had deemed them. He continued to focus the scanners on the leading edge of the cloud, trying to get a composition analysis of it, but was unable to get anything more then a few base elements. Something in the dust had a reflective quality to it that made a detailed scan impossible.

"So Nag's, you picking up anything yet?" Rader asked since the cloud was still well out of his scanners range, thou he was beginning to notice the lack of stars ahead of them.

"Nothing much, just the same felgercarb as before." Nagy said disappointedly. "Maybe we have to get closer?"

"Look pal, we're already way out of our patrol area. If we go any farther, we won't have enough fuel to get back to the Galactica. So get what scans you can from here and then let's go home!" Rader told him.

Nagy acknowledged his wingmates orders and began one last concentrated scan of the cloud. He had hoped for some better readings, but was unable to penetrate the cloud. Maybe the Commander would let him come back and take another crack at it once he'd seen the scans of this thing. He could only hope.

Nagy was just about to shut the "hyper-scanners" down when something appeared on his screen. It was only there for a micron, but it was there, something metallic and very large.

"Hey Rader, hold on a micron! I just had a contact on the scanner." Nagy said excitedly.

"What was it, a meteorite or something?" Rader asked impatiently. "Look Nag's, you had plenty of time to check this cloud out, now lets get moving. We might have just enough fuel to get back to the Galactica without going into our reserves if we leave now and stay off the turbos."

"Rader wait, I'm telling you I saw something inside that cloud!" Nagy said as he tried to focus his scanners on the spot the contact showed up. He fine tuned everything to an area of the cloud of about a hundred square metrons. He knew something was there.

"Look Nag's, whatever it is, it's gone now!" Rader said after several centons of waiting while Nagy continued searching. "We need to get going."

Nagy ignored his wingmate as he continued to search the cloud, narrowing the focus of his scans even farther. It had to be there!

"Alright Nag's, enough is enough! I'm telling you right now, stop what you're doin, and let's get movin, and that's an order!" Rader said, his patience at an end.

Nagy was just about to answer when his scanner began beeping. He had found something! And that something was big!

"Rader, I got it! I got it on my scanner right now! It ….. it looks like a ship of some kind. I can make out just a small piece of it, but it's there!" Nagy said excitedly.

"What do you mean you got it? You sayin you've picked up a ship hiding in that cloud?" Rader asked impatiently.

"Yea, yea I have a ship in the cloud. It's huge too!" Nagy said.

"What kind of ship is it? Can you get anything on it from the "warbook"?" Rader asked a bit more concerned now.

Nagy ran the ship thru his "warbook", a computerized listing of all the ships known to the Colonials, and waited for an answer.

"I wish I could see what it was you were looking at Nag's!" Rader said under his breath on the open frequency. Nagy heard this and had an idea.

"I might be able to help you there Rader!" Nagy told him and he made a few switches in the frequency of the scanners. Then he began transmitting the scanner feeds to Rader's Viper.

"How's that?" Nagy asked.

Rader was astonished! All of a sudden he was getting the same readings as Nagy. He could see the cloud in great detail, and there in the middle of his screen, he could just make out what looked like part of a very large ship. The readouts from the scanners showed it was made of some kind of material similar to those used by the colonies hundreds of yahren ago.

Rader was deeply engrossed in what he was seeing when an alarm went off in his cockpit. He looked away from the scanner screen to find his fuel emergency alarm had sounded.

"OH FRAK! Now we're in it up to our eyes!" Rader said. How was he going to explain this one? They had delayed there so long, they were into there emergency fuel reserve. That was a major breach of regulations and nothing they could say would change the fact that they broke one of the "golden rules" of being a Viper pilot. They had to leave now!

"Hey Nag's!" Rader began again, but before he could go any farther, Nagy cut him off.

"I know, I know! Mine just went off too!" Nagy said. "I think I got enough to prove my system works and to identify that ship!"

"You know what kinda ship that is?" Rader asked.

"I think so!" Nagy said as he turned his ship around to start back to the fleet.

"Well, are you going to let me in on it? What kinda ship is it?" Rader asked irritably.

"I'm not totally positive mind you ….." Nagy started, "But I think it might be a Battlestar!"

"A what!" Rader said, not believing what his young partner just said. "You can't be serious! What makes you think it's a Battlestar?"

"What else could it be, I mean look at the readouts Rader." Nagy began. "The size of the thing is incredible! And the material it's made out of are the same as what we used back in the early days of Battlestar construction. Even the general shape of the thing was the same as a Battlestar. I'm telling you Rader, I think we just found a Battlestar!"

Without saying another word, the two Warriors made their way back to the ship that they and thousands of others had called home for the past twenty four yahren, the Battlestar Galactica. It was a large, predatory looking vessel, built with one purpose in mind ….. Battle! War fighting was the soul reason for this ship and it was very, very good at it. The last of its kind, it showed the scares of its many engagements like badges of honor.

The two Warriors received clearance to land in the port side landing bay or "Alpha Landing Bay" as it was more commonly known. They both made their landings and taxied off to the debarking area of the bay. Their feet had no sooner hit the deck when an all too familiar voice was heard behind them.

"You two! Come with me, now!" roared Captain Boxey, the exec for Blue Squadron. From the look on his face, this was not going to be pleasant. The two pilots fell in behind the Captain, not saying a word as they made their way off the flight deck. They made their way to a nearby lift and began rising up thru the many levels of the great ship. They were somewhat surprised when they passed by the level where Blue Squadron was billeted and continued all the way up to "Flag Country". This was the part of the ship where only the senior officers and their staffs were allowed to go. Neither Rader nor Nagy had ever been in this part of the Galactica, and they were wishing that they weren't there now!

The lift stopped, and Captain Boxey stepped off followed by the two nervous pilots. Boxey hadn't said a word, nor even looked at them since they were on the flight deck. This made both men very uneasy. They continued down a short passageway to a large hatch with the Galactica emblem on it and stopped. Boxey pressed the call button and a moment later, a voice was heard.

"Come!"

The voice was that of Commander Apollo.

As the three Warriors entered the room, they found they had just entered a large briefing room. But this was no ordinary briefing room; this was Commander Apollo's "War Room". It was an amazing thing to behold. At one end of the room was a huge veiwport, twice the size of the one on the bridge. It gave a spectacular view of the space ahead of the fleet. On the opposite wall, was a huge veiwscreen on which information could be displayed for the entire staff to see. The Center of the room was dominated by a massive pyramid shaped table with what appeared to be a holographic projector in the center.

At the head of the table sat three officers, none of which were smiling.

In the center was Commander Apollo, commanding officer of the Galactica and leader of the fleet. Both Rader and Nagy had met the Commander when they had graduated from the Warrior Academy, but they had never had an opportunity to speak to him since. On one side of the Commander was Colonel Starbuck, the commander of the Galactica's strike wings and leader of Blue Squadron. On the other side, Colonel Boomer, the executive officer of the Galactica.

Rader and Nagy both swallowed hard having been brought before the command staff like this. Rader knew it would be bad, but …….!

"Do you two know why you're here?" asked Colonel Starbuck, who was staring daggers at the two of them.

The two young Warriors exchanged a glance, then Rader stepped forward and said, "I think I have a good idea sir!"

The three senior officers exchanged glances then Starbuck continued.

"You think so? Why do you think we had you brought here Lieutenant?" he asked.

Rader gathered up his courage and began, "Because we failed to complete our assigned patrol, we went outside our assigned patrol area, we failed to report these deviations to the flight control officer, and we used our emergency fuel reserves without proper authorization sir!"

Once again the senior officers exchanged glances. This time Colonel Boomer spoke.

"Well, each and every one of those reasons would be good enough to call you out on the carpet, but they are not the reason we had you brought here."

Rader and Nagy looked at one another in shock. If it wasn't one of the things Rader had named off, what could have been so important that they were brought before the senior staff? Then it hit them!

The Battlestar!

Realization must have showed on their faces because Apollo began nodding his head knowingly.

"Is this about that ship Nagy found sir?" Rader asked timidly.

"Yes Lieutenant, it is!" Apollo said. "When you reported in late from your patrol, you said you'd found a "Battlestar" or some kind of ship resembling a Battlestar. So I wanted you and Ensign Nagy to report to me straight away before you had a chance to talk to anyone else about this. Until we find out just what it is you truly found in this "dust cloud", I want to keep a lid on this, is that understood?"

Both junior officers snapped to attention and in loud voices called, "yes sir!"

"Good! Now, for the time being, you two will be kept in quarters in "Flag Country" until we can download you're scanner logs and decipher whatever it is you found out there." Apollo began.

Rader and Nagy looked at each other, surprised.

"I'll want you to tell us exactly what it is we're looking at when we go over your logs."

Apollo turned to Boxey, who had stood off to the side quietly listening.

"Boxey, I want you to go back to the maintenance bay and supervise the removal of the scanner logs and bring them back here. Under no circumstance's are any of the scanner tech's to download any part of those logs, is that clear!"

"Yes sir!" Boxey said somewhat coldly then he turned and left the room.

Apollo frowned a bit at his son's grim attitude. He had been that way ever since the passing of his beloved grandfather, Adama. Apollo hoped that someday his son would begin to find joy in life again.

As Boxy left, another person entered the room. He was a dark skinned man of middle-late yahren, his once dark hair now nearly all white. He wore the long, white robes of a diplomat, but he still had the strong stride of a Colonial Warrior.

He was President Tigh, President of the Council of the Twelve and leader of the civilian government. He was also the long time friend, advisor and councilor to Commander Apollo, having served with his father for many yahren as everything from his wingmate way back in their Bronze Squadron days to the last moment of Adama's life as executive officer of the Galactica. Tigh had been made President of the council by Adama as he lay dying in the Life Center after the attack on New Genesis. He had maintained the position with strong and competent leadership and the strong support of both Apollo and of a most unexpected ally …… Siress Tinia! He had been summoned to the Galactica by Apollo to be briefed on the possible sighting of another Battlestar by their patrol.

"Apollo, I made it here as soon as I could." Tigh said, extending his hand to the Commander.

"Glad you could make here sir, I know how busy you must be!" Apollo said as he clasped the president's wrist in a Warrior handshake.

"You know I never turn down a chance to get my feet back on the deck of the Galactica!" Tigh said smiling. "So what's this about another Battlestar? Don't tell me we've finally found the Pegasus after all these yahren?"

Apollo smiled and shook his head at his old friend's good humor.

"No sir, I don't think we found the Pegasus, we're not sure what we've found just yet." Apollo said as he and Tigh walked over to where Rader and Nagy still stood at attention. Tigh looked the two men up and down and then leaned over to Apollo and asked, "What did you do to these two Apollo? They look like a couple of statues!"

Apollo laughed a bit then told the two junior officers to stand at ease. Apollo then introduced the two Warriors to the President.

"So, you're the ones that think they found a Battlestar out there hiding in some kind of a dust cloud. Are you sure it was a Battlestar?" Tigh asked.

Rader and Nagy exchanged glances, then Nagy began speaking.

"Well sir, I can't say for certain that it was a Battlestar, but whatever it was, it sure was big and it looked an awful lot like a Battlestar sir!"

Tigh looked at the young man for a moment, then asked him, "How far away from this ship were you when you made your identification Ensign?"

Rader let out a slight groan and closed his eyes. Nagy visibly stiffened and began to stutter out a response. This made Tigh and Apollo both wonder what had gone on during this patrol of theirs.

"Well sir, we ….. ah, I mean, ah …… Rader and I ….. I mean the Lieutenant and me …."

"Take it easy Ensign; just tell us how far from the ship you were when you made your ID of it." Apollo said.

Nagy took a deep breath and then mumbled his answer so much that neither Tigh nor Apollo could understand him Apollo told him to say it again. This time there was no doubting what he said.

"We were about forty million kilometrons from the ship sir!"

Tigh and Apollo couldn't believe what they had just heard, there had to be a mistake.

"You can't be serious, forty million kilometrons! The Galactica scanners don't even have that kind of range." Apollo said. "You must be mistaken."

Nagy shook his head and said, "No sir, that's not a mistake. We were approximately forty million kilometrons from the dust cloud when I first made contact with the ship."

Apollo and Tigh exchanged looks of disbelief before Tigh asked, "How is that possible Ensign?"

Nagy squared his shoulders and took a deep breath. This is the moment he had been waiting for.

"It was possible mister President, Commander, because of a new type of scanner I invented. I installed it into my Viper and it worked well beyond even my own expectations."

Starbuck had been silently listening to their conversation up till then, but now he wanted some answers too!

"Nagy, who gave you permission to install this "new scanner" of yours? Why wasn't I told of this?" Starbuck said, his anger beginning to build. Then he turned to Rader and said, "Did you know about this Rader?"

"Settle down Starbuck, we can figure all that out later." Apollo said to his hot tempered friend. Then he turned back to Nagy.

"You said "you" invented this new scanner system? How is it you know so much about scanners when you're a Warrior and a pilot?"

Nagy looked Apollo in the eyes and told him what the recruiter had told him when he joined the Colonial service. Apollo nodded his head.

"I understand, I've heard that many times before." Apollo told the young man, then he turned to Starbuck, who had softened his expression somewhat after hearing this.

"Starbuck, why don't you have Doctor Wilker and some of the scanner techs have a look at this thing, maybe go over the tech drawings of this new system of his and see if this thing is for real. If it is, it could be the greatest breakthrough in scanner technology of the last hundred yahren."

Starbuck nodded his head and headed for the door, then he stopped and turned around, looking at the two young Warriors.

"Don't think that this is over yet boys, there are a lot of questions to be answered dealing with regulations and protocols broken by you two."

Then Starbuck left.

Rader and Nagy looked at each other and you could see them both slump slightly with dread.

Apollo and Tigh almost laughed at the reaction the two young Warriors had to Starbucks threat. Apollo was about to say something when the door chime sounded.

"Come!" Apollo called and the door opened, admitting Captain Reese, the leader of the Galactica security force.

"Reporting as ordered sir!" Reese said.

"Reese, take these two officers and find them quarters in "Flag Country". They are to have no contact with anyone other then the senior staff until further notice. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" Reese responded turning to the two junior officers. "You two follow me!"

They looked at Apollo, who nodded and said, "Dismissed", then they followed the tall security officer out of the room.

Tigh and Apollo went back to the table where Boomer still sat quietly and sat down.

"So Apollo, what do you think they found out there? Do you really think they found a Battlestar? And at forty million kilometrons, it seems too wild to be true!" Tigh said.

I'm not sure what to think sir, at least not till we've had a chance to see those scanner logs. I think most of what we need to know will be found there." Apollo said. He turned to Boomer, who had been very quiet the whole time and asked, "What do you think Boomer?

Boomer looked up from the small screen he'd been looking at for the past few centons and leaned back in his chair.

"I think their telling the truth! I was just checking over that Nagy kids file and if he said he built some kind of "super-scanner" system, he built one!"

Apollo and Tigh both leaned forward in their seats.

"What makes you say that Boomer? Apollo asked.

"Nagy's file shows that he wanted to be an electronics tech when he entered the academy."

"Yea, he told me that." Apollo said.

"Did he tell you he had the highest score on the academy aptitude test that's been recorded since the fall of the colonies?" Boomer asked.

"No, what were his scores?" Apollo asked.

"He scored a nine ninety eight on the mathematics, a nine ninety seven on the scientific, nine ninety six on the mechanical and a perfect score on the electronics. He never should have been made a pilot with scores like these!" Boomer told them.

"There must have been a reason for assigning him to flight school!" Apollo said. "What were his scores on the Warrior skills test?"

Boomer scrolled down to that section of Nagy's file. When he found them, a low whistle escaped from him.

"Here's the answer to that question, he scored extremely high in all phases of Warrior testing, especially those areas dealing with piloting. With the premium we've placed on Viper pilots, the recruiters must have disregarded his other scores when they saw these. He never had a chance at anything else." Boomer said.

"What's the status of our squadrons now? Do we have enough pilots to man all billets?" Apollo asked.

"Last time I looked, we were one hundred percent manned in all active squadrons with a whole new group of graduates ready to start filling the reserve list." Boomer told him.

"Good, then I see no reason why we can't transfer Ensign Nagy to the electronics section when this is all taken care of." Apollo said with a slight smile on his face.

"I'll take care of Commander." Boomer said with the same look on his face.

The door chime sounded just then and Boxey entered the room carrying several info disks in his hand. He approached Apollo and handed them to the Commander.

"Here are the scanner logs from Rader and Nagy's Vipers. That is some kind of setup Nagy has in there! I've never seen anything like it." Boxey told them. "I took the liberty of having their Vipers moved to a seclusion area and placed under guard until Doctor Wilker has a chance to check them out."

"Good idea! Wilker's already been notified, so he should be here soon." Apollo told him, then he turned to Boomer. "I want to get the senior staff up here to look at these with us. Who do we have that could identify this ship from Nagy's scans?"

Boomer shook his head slowly, saying, "I don't think we have anyone aboard the Galactica with a real broad knowledge of colonial designed ships. Let me get in touch with Colonel Croft over on the academy ship and see if he has anyone for us. He should have someone on staff with that kind of expertise!"

"Alright, while you're doing that, I'm going to take a look at what Rader and Nagy found!" Apollo said as he placed the first info disk into the computer.

Forty centons later, the senior staff had finally all gathered in the "war room" to view and analyze the scanner logs. Assembled there along with Apollo, Tigh and Boomer were Starbuck, Colonel Sheba from Silver Spar Squadron, Colonel Bojay from Gold Spar Squadron, Major Jolly from Red Squadron, Major Deitra from Green Squadron, Major Athena, the scanner operations officer for the Galactica, Rader, Nagy and Doctor Wilker, the chief scientist for the fleet.

They were looking at one of the images from Nagy's "Hyper-scanners", a view of what was most defiantly a ship of some kind, but was impossible for any of them to identify.

"I don't think it's a Battlestar, but it could be colonial. There are some similarities in the materials that Nagy picked up on the composition scans." Boomer said as he looked up at the "Big Picture" as they had dubbed the large viewer at the rear of the war room.

"These scanner images are unbelievable!" Wilker said as he moved closer to the screen. "The clarity and resolution are way beyond anything we currently have, even on the Galactica. What range did you say these were taken at?"

"Forty million kilometrons or so!" said Starbuck, still a bit ticked off by his pilot's disregard of regulations.

"Amazing! Simply amazing!" Wilker said under his breath.

"Does anyone have a clue as to what part of the ship were looking at?" Sheba asked no one in particular.

"That's the forward section of a Pulsar Class Battle Cruiser!" came a voice from the direction of the doorway.

Every head turned to see the young man that had entered the room unnoticed by anyone. He was very young, perhaps no more then eighteen, wearing the uniform of a first yahren cadet and carrying an arm load of tablets. He stood there staring up at the screen, not really paying much attention to the senior officers in the room.

"Excuse me, can I help you ….. Cadet!" Starbuck asked loudly.

The young man's focus left the screen and fell on Starbuck first, then he saw for the first time the other officers in the room. The cadet's jaw dropped as he realized he had just barged in on the senior staff as they were having a meeting. The young man immediately stood to attention, which unfortunately caused him to loose his grip on the stack of materials in his arms sending them falling in all directions. The cadet dropped to his knees trying desperately to retrieve his lost tablets and scrolls.

Apollo and Sheba both tried hard to fight back laughter as did several other members of the staff. Starbuck stood with his hands on his hips shaking his head at the sight of the young man crawling around on the floor.

"Would you like some help with those cadet?" Starbuck asked.

The young man, still on his knee's, came to attention and in a loud voice said "No sir! Thank you sir!" In doing this however, he dropped half the tablets he had just managed to retrieve. The cadet let out a loud sigh and started picking them up again.

Starbuck cast a glance over to where Apollo stood chuckling into his hand, and shrugged. Then he walked over to where the cadet was and said, "Maybe you should let me give you a hand with those!"

The young man said nothing, he just nodded his head and handed Starbuck some of the many items he had retrieved. When they had gathered the last of them, the cadet got to his feet and muttered a soft thanks to Starbuck, who led him over to the table and motioned him to put his materials down.

The young man complied and then stood there for a moment to gather his thoughts. It was then that he remembered where he was and who was there with him. He cast a quick glance about the room at all the smiling faces and snapped to attention.

"Sir! Cadet Sabo reporting as ordered sir!" he said loudly.

Apollo stepped over to where the cadet stood, still trying to suppress his laughter, and asked, "Who ordered you to report here Cadet Sabo?"

Sabo turned to face Apollo and said, "Sir, I was ordered to report to the Commander by Colonel Croft sir!"

"Croft? Why would he send a cadet here?" Apollo said.

"Sir, I was told you needed someone to identify a ship." Sabo said as his eyes wondered to the screen once again. "Is that the ship sir?"

Apollo glanced at the picture on the screen and told him it was.

"Can you identify that ship Cadet?" he asked.

Sabo looked at the ship a bit more closely then nodded his head.

"Yes sir, that's a Pulsar Class Battle Cruiser, Theta configuration. They were built between four hundred twenty and four hundred seventy yahren ago at the Caprican Shipyards."

The members of the senior staff were in awe! They had stared at the same picture for over twenty centons and couldn't make anything out about the ship except that it might be of colonial design and that it was made of similar materials as those used by the colonies. Then here come this first yahren cadet from the academy ship and with just a casual glance is able to tell not only what type of ship it is, but when and where it was built! Who was this kid?

"You're sure about that?" asked Starbuck, looking at the screen and trying to see what the young man saw. "How can you tell?"

"It's quite easy sir, although this image is a bit distorted and fuzzy, may I?" Sabo asked, indicating he wanted to use the computer.

Starbuck looked over at Apollo, who simply nodded consent, and said "Sure kid, go ahead."

Sabo sat down at the computer console that operated the screen and entered a few commands. The picture on the screen instantly became much clearer, so much so that small details that were invisible before where now crystal clear.

"That's better!" Sabo said as he entered a few more commands.

"Do you see these laser cannons here and here sir?" Sabo asked.

Apollo and the rest of the staff stepped closer to the screen as a small arrow appeared on the screen and began outlining the areas Sabo had just indicated.

"Yes, I see them now." Apollo said.

"The Pulsar class Battle Cruiser only used this type of alignment for a short time. Later versions moved the forward batteries from the forward dorsal to the port and starboard sides to provide better overall coverage of the space ahead of the ship."

Once again the senior staff were astounded by the young mans knowledge.

"Where did you learn so much about old colonial war ships Cadet?" Apollo asked.

Sabo looked away from the screen and answered, "From my father sir. He was the curator for the Colonial Fleet Archives at the academy on Caprica before the destruction. He managed to save a large part of them when he left the colonies."

"I see, and where is your father now?" Apollo asked.

"My father was killed on New Genesis sir." Sabo said sadly. "He was building a new place to house the archives in New Caprica city when the Cylons attacked."

Apollo's heart went out to the young man seeing as his own father had died in that very same attack. He knew just how he felt.

"How could you have learned all this from your father?" Jolly asked. "You couldn't have been more then a yahren or two old when New Genesis was destroyed."

"Very true Major, I was only a yahren old at that time." Sabo said.

"But you see, my father had been transferring the old hand-written archives like these onto info disks." He continued as he held up one of the old tablets. "I've listened to each and every one of them a hundred times, memorizing every detail. Before I enlisted in the academy, I had even started transferring data from these tablets to disks."

"So where are the archives now?" asked Boomer who had been studying the picture more closely.

"Their in the quarters my mother and I shared up until I joined the service. We've kept them there ever since my father took them from Caprica." Sabo said.

"Why hasn't anyone been informed of these records before now?" Apollo asked. "Did your father tell anyone he had them?"

"Yes sir, he did." Sabo said defensively, "He informed Commander Adama when he brought them aboard. From what my father told me, Commander Adama ordered him to keep them safe until such time as they could be made available to everyone. When my father died, my mother and I took over the care of them."

"You know Apollo, it seems to me that your father did mention something about the archives once, but you remember how chaotic those days were just after we left the colonies, with all that went on, I'm sure your father must have forgotten all about them." Tigh said as if trying to remember something from the distant past.

"Well, it seems that they've been rediscovered." Sheba said as she began looking thru the volumes of records the cadet had brought with him. "What are all these?"

Sabo looked to see what she was referring to and told her, "When I was told about this ship you wanted identified, I stopped off at my quarters to pick up a few things I might need to help. Those are some of the older records that have yet to be put on info disks."

"What else can you tell us about this ship? You said it's definitely colonial, can you tell us anything else about it? Is there any way to find out the name of it?" Apollo asked.

Sabo looked up at the screen for a moment, looking for any identifying markings. He didn't see anything right away but then saw a very small patch of color between two of the laser cannons. He began entering commands into the computer and a small box appeared around the color patch. After a few more commands were entered, that box grew in size to fill the entire screen. Sabo enter another command and the image, that had been fuzzy, became clear. The patch of color had become part of a symbol of some kind. Sabo followed the same procedure and enlarged the image once more. This time the image could be seen much more clearly then before, and Sabo couldn't believe what he saw!

"I don't believe it!" he whispered under his breath.

"What is it? What's that you focused in on, I don't recognize it." Apollo said, staring at the image.

"I've never seen anything like that on a colonial ship before." Boomer said.

"Is that a scorpion?" asked Sheba.

"Yes it is." said Sabo softly, almost reverently as he stared wide-eyed at the screen.

Apollo saw the look on the young mans face and asked him, "You know what that is?"

Sabo sat very still for a moment then turned to Apollo and said, "Yes sir, that's part of the Seal of the Royal House of Scorpia!"

"The Royal House of Scorpia? Are you sure?" Starbuck asked. "Why would somebody put that on a war ship?"

"In the early yahren of the war with the Cylons, each of the colonies built and maintained their own fleets of war ships." Sabo told them. "Sagitaria was the first, then Scorpia and Caprica and so on and so forth. After about six hundred yahren though, the cost of maintaining these fleets became too great for several of the colonies to sustain, so they turned over control of their fleets to the new Central Command. It was the beginning of what we know …… knew as The Colonial Warrior Service."

"So how does that explain this ship with the royal seal?" Starbuck asked.

"Well as you know, for most of the past five to six hundred yahren, the three biggest military powers in the colonies were Caprica, Sagitaria, and Scorpia." Sabo continued as if he was an instructor on the academy ship and the senior staff were a group of cadets. "Those three colonies accounted for over eighty percent of the personnel that made up the fleets. Scorpia was up till nearly four hundred yahren ago, ruled by a monarchy and their king was also the head of their military forces and held the rank of Commander."

"You said up till four hundred yahren ago, what happened to change that?" Sheba asked. "I thought Scorpia was a democracy?"

"It was, after the end of the monarchy." Sabo continued. "But before that, it was ruled by a line of Warrior-Kings that could trace their lineage back all the way to the royal halls of Kobol itself."

This bit of information brought a few shallow whistles.

"The last of the Warrior-Kings of Scorpia was a man named Leonidas." Sabo continued. "It was said that he was the greatest of the Warrior-Kings and perhaps the greatest Warrior to ever come from Scorpia. He was only twenty two yahren old when he ascended to the throne of Scorpia after his father's death in battle with the Cylons. Legend has it that Leonidas took command of the Scorpian fleet when his father was struck down and routed a superior Cylon force."

"They made him a Commander at twenty two?" Starbuck said surprised, "How can that be? Nobody's ever made Commander before they were in their thirties; even Cain was thirty six when he made Commander!"

"That may be true sir, but the Colonial Service was a lot different back then. The Central Command didn't start issuing commissions until three hundred forty nine yahren ago. Before that, each fleet had its own command structure." Sabo told him.

"You said this Leonidas was the last of the Scorpian Warrior-Kings, what happened to him?" asked Sheba.

"Nobody really knows! He disappeared, along with his entire fleet." Sabo said. "And this ship with the royal seal on it was one of them."

Sabo turned to Apollo and in a soft, almost reverent tone said, "Commander, you've just found a ship of the missing Second Colonial Fleet!"

Apollo stared at the young man for several moments then up at the big screen. Memories from his days at the academy came back to him as he remembered a story about an entire fleet that disappeared a long time ago. He turned back to Sabo and said, "I remember something about a fleet that went missing a long time ago, a fleet that was supposedly destroyed in battle by the Cylons. Do you think this is one of those ships Cadet?"

Sabo nodded his head, "Yes sir, this ship is definitely part of the Second Fleet. The Scorpian Commanders always had the royal seal placed on the ships of their fleet, they were also painted with blood red strips along the length of their hulls; this made it easier for them to spot their forces in battle."

"So you're saying that this ship we've found is part of a missing fleet from the colonies?" Starbuck asked.

"Yes sir. The Second Fleet left the colonies three hundred ninety six yahren ago; their mission was to stop an intrusion into a region of space called Thermopylae by the Cylons. Commander Leonidas took the Second Fleet and was never heard from again. It was assumed they were wiped out."

Everyone was quiet for several moments, lost in their own thoughts about the people of the Second Fleet, wondering what could have happened to them? Did any of them survive? If so, where did they go? Are their ancestors out there somewhere?

"We need to have a closer look at that ship!" Apollo said finally. "If this ship was a part of the Second Fleet, there might be some clues as to what happened to them onboard. Maybe we can download the ships records and logs, they may tell us something!"

"Do you think any of them survived? I mean maybe some of them survived and landed on a planet somewhere, started a new life, ya know?" Starbuck said hopefully.

"I guess anything is possible." Apollo said, "Starbuck, I want you to take part of Blue Squadron and check this ship out. Take Nagy and his new scanner system with you too. He might be able to use it to get you some better readouts once you get closer."

"Right, I'll take two flights with me!" Starbuck said.

Starbuck was starting to leave when Sabo asked, "I'd like to go too!"

Apollo and Starbuck both turned to look at the boy. He walked over to where they stood and said to them, "I think I should go with the Colonel."

"Oh, and why is that?" Starbuck asked.

"Because you'll need me! I mean who knows more about that ship then me? You'll need me to help identify it and show you where everything is." Sabo said. "Unless of course, you already know the layout of a Pulsar Class Battle Cruiser."

"He has a point Starbuck; you might want to take him along as a technical advisor." Apollo said smiling.

Starbuck looked at the young man for a moment, then slowly nodded his head.

"You're right; we might just need you over there. Okay, you come with me!" Starbuck said. With that settled, Starbuck, Nagy and Sabo left the "War Room" and made their way to Alpha bay.

A centar later in Alpha landing bay, a shuttle was being prepared for launch along with two flights from Blue Squadron. The ground crewmen hustled about the ships checking and double checking the ships, making sure that "their" Vipers were in the best condition possible before they let the pilots "borrow" them. That's the way every man and woman of the ground teams felt about the Vipers of the Galactica. They felt that those ships belonged to them since they were the ones that looked after them, fixed them, fueled them, made sure that when the klaxon was sound, their ships would be ready to defend the fleet. The pilots were only allowed to "borrow" the Vipers on those occasions, they didn't belong to the pilots, they were the ground crews Vipers!

The pilots were all gathered around Starbuck getting their last micron instructions as to what their mission was and what was expected of them.

"Alright, listen up. We're going to be checking out what appears to be an old Colonial war ship."

This brought a number of startled looks and whispers from the other pilots.

"As you were!" Boxey said loudly, quieting things down.

"There will be two flights on this mission. I'll be leading the Alpha flight, Captain Boxey, will have Beta flight. Alpha Flight will take the point and lead the way in, Ensign Nagy here will be my wingmate on this one, Commander Apollo wants him and his fancy new scanner system to show us the way to the ship he found. Beta flight will escort the shuttle with a repair crew and our "expert" on Colonial ships. Our mission is to locate, identify, and find out how it got all the way out here. We'll also evaluate the condition of this ship to see if it can be salvaged. We'll be launching in fifty centons, so everyone stay near the ready room. Any questions?"

No questions were forthcoming so Starbuck dismissed his troops, then added quickly, "and no drinking!"

This brought a few good natured groans as the pilots retired to the squadron's ready room. Starbuck headed for the bridge to see if Apollo had any last centon instructions for him, and he might have just enough time to swing by the Life Center and see Cassie before they launched.

He reached the bridge a short time later and found Apollo on the command dais going over something with Athena. It had been nearly twenty three yahren since he and Athena had been an item and twenty since he had been sealed to Cassiopeia, yet every time he saw Athena, he still got that same familiar feeling in his chest, like a whole group of flutterer's flying around. Did he still have feelings for Athena after all those yahren?

"Nah, couldn't be!" he said aloud. This was heard by Apollo and Athena who both turned to see him standing at the foot of the steps that led up to the dais.

"You say something Starbuck?" Apollo said quizzically.

Starbuck looked up at his friend then at Athena, who was seated at her console, a friendly and yet, knowing smile on her face. Did she know?

"Nah, just a passing thought I had. Nothing important." Starbuck said as he climbed the steps. "I wanted to see if you had any further instructions for us before we launch since we'll be out of communications range for awhile."

Apollo smiled and said to his friend, "Actually, I've had the fleet change course. We'll be heading along this course here" Apollo said as he used a holographic projector to show the new course in relation to the "dust clouds" last known location. "This course should keep us within communications range with your teams while keeping us out of scanner range, just in case this is some kind of trap."

Starbuck nodded his head and asked if there was anything else. Apollo told him that was it and that they should be away in forty centons. Starbuck said his goodbye's to Apollo, cast a glance toward Athena, who gave him a quick smile and a wink, and was on his way to the Life Center.

In the Life Center, Starbuck found Cassiopeia treating Captain Barton from Gold Spar Squadron for some kind of shoulder ailment.

"I keep telling you Captain, "You're not twenty yahren old anymore." But do you listen to me?" Cassie was lecturing to Barton. "You can't keep playing Triad against all these younger Warriors at your age. You're going to end up getting yourself hurt a lot worse then the simple broken collarbone you got this time."

"I'd listen to her if I were you Barton." Starbuck said as he walked over. "She gave me the choice of quitting Triad or going thru that physical rehab again, and believe me, it was much easier to give up the game."

Barton and Cassie looked over at Starbuck as he stepped up next to the table Barton sat on.

"You might be right Colonel, maybe it is time I let it go. These kids are just too fast and strong for me anymore." He said sadly, not wanting to admit that he was getting older.

Starbuck patted him on the back as Cassie had one of the med techs take over treating Barton's shoulder. Then the two of them retreated to her office to talk in private.

"I hear you're going on a mission!" She said bluntly.

"Well, yeah, it's nothing dangerous or anything, just a simple recon mission Cass!" Starbuck told her as if he'd been caught doing something wrong …… again!

"From what I've heard, you're going to check out some kind of old Battlestar or something!" she said definitively. "And you're taking half of Blue Squadron with you. That doesn't sound like a simple recon mission to me, not when the strike wing commander is leading it!"

"Okay, Okay! Yes, we are checking out a ship, and yes, it is Colonial; it's an old Battle Cruiser. We think it came from the Second Fleet, at least that's what our "expert" says."

"Well if that's all this mission is about, why are you going? Can't Boxey handle it? I was hoping we could spend some time together when I finished work." Cassie said, disappointment obvious in her voice.

"Apollo wants me to go so I can evaluate the condition of the ship. He wants to try and salvage it if possible." Starbuck said.

"Well, how long will you be gone?" she asked him.

"Not very long at all, five or six centars at the most!" he said. "I should be back by the time you get off work."

Cassie moved into his arms and held him tightly. Even after all those yahren and all the missions, she still worried that the next mission he went on would be the last time she'd see her husband alive.

Starbuck gave her a tight hug, then looked her in the eye and said, "I'll be back as soon as possible, I promise!" Then he kissed her and was off on another mission.

In the landing bay, everything was ready to go for the pilots of Blue Squadron. The final checks had been made, all fuel and oxygen lines were disconnected and stowed away and non-essential personnel had left the area. All that was left was for the pilots to climb into their Vipers and launch.

Lieutenant Komma, the flight deck officer, was making his final check of the area before releasing the deck to the flight control officer on the bridge, Lieutenant Rigel, who would pass the word along to Colonel Starbuck that his mission team was cleared for launch.

Komma found everything in readiness and gave the okay to the bridge. Once Rigel had been given the all clear, she passed the word along to Major Omega, the officer of the deck and her husband, who then informed Colonel Boomer and Commander Apollo that they had a "green deck" for launch. Apollo gave his approval to launch and Rigel passed the word down to the pilot's ready room. The pilots made their way quickly to the flight deck were they mounted their Vipers, donned their helmets, and closed their canopies in readiness for launching.

Those personnel assigned to the repair teams that were aboard the shuttle were strapping in while the two pilots, Lieutenants Qualls and Vache, were busy in the cockpit running thru their pre-launch checklists. When this was done they sent word to the flight control officer that they were ready to launch.

Then, when all units had reported in, Rigel sent word to the Commander that everyone was ready. Apollo gave the go ahead to launch all ships, which Rigel passed along to the ships on the flight deck.

"Core Command to Blue Squadron Leader, you are cleared to launch!"

"Roger that Core Command, Blue Squadron Leader launching!" responded Starbuck as he hit the button on his "joystick" to launch. Instantly the sleek ship was catapulted down its launch tube and flung into open space. He was followed closely by the rest of Blue Squadron and the shuttle, which was launched from the aft section of the landing bay. Once all the ships were launched, they rendezvoused and headed out in search of the mystery ship.

It took nearly three centars for them to get within scanning range of the dust cloud where the ship was located. Only Nagy's ship was able to scan the vessel from that range, but he was able to transmit his scanner readings to the other ships of the squadron with little trouble. The power of this new scanner technology amazed them all; even Starbuck, who's earlier anger was dissipating after seeing the scanners in action. The readings coming in were especially interesting to Sabo because he was able to pick up more and more details about the ship. He was now convinced he knew what ship it was, but he would hold back telling anyone until he was absolutely certain, not wanting to appear a fool in front of the members of Blue Squadron.

At a range of just over a million kilometrons, Starbuck called back to Boxey, "Boxey, I want you to hold position here with the shuttle until we have a closer look at this thing. Have your flight scan the area for intruders just in case it's a trap. You know what to do if it is, right?"

"Yes sir, we're to turn back on our pre-determined egress routes and get a warning off to the fleet and under no circumstances are we to lead the enemy back to the fleet." Boxey said almost robotically.

"Right, we can't take any chances. I'll take my flight and try to get a positive ID on this ship." Starbuck said to Boxey, then to Sabo in the shuttle he said, "Cadet Sabo, I want you to stay on this frequency and monitor the scanner readings. If you see anything of importance, I want you to speak up immediately, understood!"

"Yes sir!" Sabo responded sharply to Starbucks orders.

Starbuck smiled widely hearing the Cadets snappy reply. Then he contacted Nagy.

"Alright Nagy, do you still have a lock on that ship of yours?"

"Yes sir, the dust in this cloud is playing Hades with my scanners, but I still have a good lock on it!" he replied.

"Alright then, Nagy, you take the point with me, Alpha Flight, follow us in. Beta Flight, hold position till I contact you." Starbuck issued his orders, "Let do this!"

With that, the first group of Vipers moved out toward the cloud.

The journey took an additional centar to make as they kept their speed down to optimize their fuel consumption. Nagy continued to scan the cloud and the ship therein for any signs of life, but found none. They did however get some greatly improved scans of the ship that thrilled Sabo back on the shuttle. He and the other technicians crowded around the monitors, fascinated by every detail of the unknown ship.

When they had finally arrived at the leading edge of the cloud, Starbuck had three Warriors, Nagy, Lieutenant Quinn and Ensign Uhle, join him while the rest of the group held their positions outside the cloud.

"Okay, Nagy, you take the lead. I'll follow just behind you. Quinn, you follow on my left, Uhle on my right. We'll proceed at extreme slow speed." Starbuck ordered. "Once we get a visual on this thing, I want you each to move along one side of the ship. Look for anything that might be a landing bay or maybe a hatch we can enter thru. Scan for any kind of life signs or power emanations from inside the ship. Is everyone ready?"

All three Warriors said they were, so off they went.

Nagy took the lead position and entered the cloud. The signal from his Viper was somewhat disrupted by the dust of the cloud, but it was still strong enough to show that the ship within was in fact a Colonial Battle Cruiser, just as Sabo had said.

"I've lost my link to Nagy's scanners!" Quinn said after just a few microns.

"Mine's gone too!" Uhle added.

"Same here, okay you guys, go to visual spacing. Stay within sight of Nagy's ship and use your own scanners. They won't be of much use, but they're better then flying blind." Starbuck said.

"Not by much!" Uhle quipped.

It took another two centons to come into visual range of the ship. It was an awe inspiring sight, this giant ship of a nearly forgotten era. The four Warriors stopped for a moment to get their bearings and re-focus on the task before them.

"Wow! Would you look at that!" Quinn said excitedly.

"Look at that thing; it looks like it was hit by supernova or something!" Uhle said.

"Alright you two, lets knock off the chatter!" Starbuck admonished them, though he was feeling the same things they were. The ship before them looked as if it had gone thru a battle with the entire Cylon fleet. The hull of the great ship was burned and scared as far as they could see, with several huge holes ripped thru the outer hull, leaving the interior sections of the ship exposed to space. They seemed to be sitting just off the forward section of the Cruiser, just above the one of the laser cannons, or at least what was left of one, most of the weapon had been blasted away long ago.

"Okay people, listen up!" Starbuck said. "Quinn, you got the left side, Uhle, you take the right. Nagy, I want you to take the underside while I take the top. Go slow and watch out for floating debris, I don't want any of you getting hit by a piece of this old girl by accident."

"Yes sir, I'll see you on the other end!" Nagy said as he touched off his maneuvering thrusters and began heading for the underbelly of the ancient warship. Starbuck and the others did the same as they headed for their search areas. The visibility was not very good, only a hundred metrons or so, making it difficult to see much of anything. What they saw along the sides of the ship were remarkably similar to the front section, huge holes in the hull, scorch marks from tremendous fires, and weapons that had been completely obliterated. Each man wondered how anyone could have survived.

Starbuck made his way along the top of the old Battle Cruiser and was amazed that the ship was still in on piece. There was a huge hole where the bridge should have been, the result of a Cylon missile no doubt. He doubted seriously that anyone could have survived aboard this ship.

Quinn moved slowly along the left side of the ship, looking for the landing bay or any other way to get inside the ship. There were a number of large holes in the hull, but there was no way to land a Viper safely on the old derelict. He continued along until, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something moving toward him. He instinctively pulled away from the object, a little faster then he probably should have, and nearly ran straight into part of what was left of one of the massive laser cannons. He managed to avoid crashing, but the sudden increase in speed and movement caused the dust in the cloud to begin swirling around, obstructing what little view he had. All he could do was come to a complete stop and wait for things to settle down while thanking the Lords of Kobol for protecting him.

On the opposite side of the Cruiser, Uhle was having much better luck. He had found what looked like one of the landing bay arms and had followed it down to the bay. It seemed to be intact, thou it did show a good deal of damage. He slide slowly down the side of the bay and saw what looked like a nameplate. He maneuvered his Viper closer for a better view, but the letters on the plate were nearly unreadable.

"Hey Colonel, I think I found the name plate of this thing!" he announced on the com system. "Most of the name is gone, but I can make out the first and last letter. The first letter is an "A" and the last one is an "S". Looks like there might be room for two or three letters in between."

"Are the letters written in standard or in the ancient Scorpion?" asked Sabo excitedly over the com unit in the shuttle.

"What I can see looks like colonial standard, but there is a symbol above the "S", but I don't know what it is!" Uhle said.

"An "A" and an "S", does that tell you something Sabo?" asked Starbuck.

"It tells me that I'm right about what ship this is." The young cadet said. "There was only one Pulsar Class Battle Cruiser built in the Theta configuration with a name that began with an "A" and ended with an "S". This has to be the Aegis!"

"The Aegis, never heard of it!" Quinn said, not believing this "cadet" truly knew what he was talking about.

"That doesn't surprise me "Lieutenant"," Sabo said with a slight edge. "I would have been surprised if you had!"

Before Quinn could respond, Starbuck cut him off.

"So you're sure this is the Aegis?"

"Yes sir, there's no doubt about it."

"Alright then, we need to report this back to the Galactica. Boxey, send a message to the Commander. Tell him we have a positive ID on the ship and we are continuing with our survey."

"Right, I'll fill them in on all the details." Boxey said almost devoid of any emotion.

Starbuck shook his head slightly. He wondered if Boxey would ever come out of the emotional funk he had been in since Commander Adama died. Only time would tell.

"Alright, now that we know who she is, let's see if we can find a way inside. I'd say she's beyond salvaging, but there might still be some useable parts on her." Starbuck said.

"We might be able to download the computer core as well." added Uhle.

And so, the four Vipers continued on with there recon of the ancient vessel.

Nagy was moving slowly along the underside of the Battle Cruiser, not wanting to stir up the dust any more then he already was. Visibility was no more the thirty or forty metrons and less in some places. There were also a fair number of pieces hanging down from the old war ship that could entangle a Viper if the pilot was not paying attention. Nagy was almost to the end of the ship when he began picking up another contact.

"Nagy to Blue leader, I just picked something new up on my scanner."

"What do you got Nagy?" asked Starbuck a micron later.

"I'm not sure, but it looks like another ship!" Nagy said as he tried to focus his scanner on the new blip.

"A ship, where? What direction?" Starbuck asked quickly.

"I have it about a thousand metrons behind and below the Aegis." Nagy said as he continued to work his scanner. "I can't get a good reading on it because of the dust though!"

"Can you tell if it's moving or not?" Starbuck asked, thinking they might have been drawn into a trap.

"Negative Colonel, it seems to be stationary. From what little I can pick up, I'd say it's another derelict."

Starbuck thought about it for a moment and decided Nagy was probably right.

"Alright Nagy, you meet me at the rear of the Aegis. We'll check out this new ship. Quinn, you stay here with Uhle and keep searching for a way in. Let me know if you find one."

"You got it Colonel!" Quinn replied.

With that, Starbuck moved slowly to the after end of the old Battle Cruiser, where he meet up with Nagy and then proceeded in the direction of the new contact. Progress was slow thru the dust cloud as it seemed to get thicker the farther they penetrated it. If they moved too fast, they risked stirring the dust up and losing what little visibility they had. They continued forward, using Nagy's "hyper-scanners" to lead the way to the new contact when Nagy began picking up several other blips on his screen.

"Hey Colonel, I'm picking up three ….. no, make that four new contacts. Wait, now I have five new contacts, their all over the place!" Nagy said excitedly with just a hint of fear in his tone.

"Five, are you sure that new scanner of yours isn't screwing up!" Starbuck asked with a bit of anger in his voice.

"No sir Colonel, my scanners check out fine. From what I'm seeing, there are at least six ships within scanner range." Nagy said defensively. "I have solid locks on the Aegis and the ship directly aft of it and intermittent readings on four farther on."

"Alright! Alright! I believe you! Can you get an ID on any of them?" Starbuck asked.

Nagy worked on the contact nearest them and what he saw was almost unbelievable!

"Colonel, I've got an ID on the ship closest to us, but you're not going to believe it!" Nagy said.

"Really, why?" Starbuck asked.

"According to the "war book", that ship is a Battlestar of the "Alexandria" class!" Nagy told him. "But according to this, the last ship of that class went out of service over three hundred yahren ago!"

"Alexandria class huh, well, if this is part of the missing Second Fleet that would be just about right." Starbuck said more to himself then to Nagy. "Let's go have a closer look at her!"

The two Vipers proceeded ahead until they were in visual rage of the gigantic old warship. It loomed in the dust cloud, a huge, dark shape before becoming a more recognizable form as they grew nearer. The two Warriors were in awe as they closed in on this behemoth of another era. They moved in from above the great ship directly on its nose where they could just make out some of the details of this long forgotten vessel.

"Would you look at that!" Nagy exclaimed softly as he stared wide-eyed at the old ship. "Have you ever seen anything like that before Colonel?"

"Is that some kinda crack about my age Ensign?" Starbuck asked jokingly.

"No sir, not at all! I only meant ….."

"Easy kid, easy! I was only kidding!" Starbuck said quickly before Nagy lost his concentration on the task at hand. "What do you have on your scanners? Any energy readings or life signs?"

Nagy got his mind back on his duties and began running scans of the ship. After several microns he signaled Starbuck.

"Nothing on my scanner Colonel, no power emanations, no life signs, nothing!" Nagy reported.

"Okay, let's have a look at the Alpha landing bay. Maybe we can find out who this old girl is." Starbuck said as he pushed his stick forward. The two Vipers slow turned and descended to the port side of the ship until they reached the forward section of the landing bay. Once there, they made their way carefully to where they hoped to find the nameplate for the ship. They were not disappointed.

"Looks like we're in luck, the nameplate looks to be intact!" Starbuck said. "There's a lot of grime on it, but it doesn't look to be damaged."

"Maybe I can blow some of the dirt off the nameplate if I fly by and hit my turbo's when I'm on top off it." Nagy suggested.

"It might work, but if you hit your turbo's too hard, you could fly off into a piece of floating wreckage or lose your bearings on the way out of this felgercarb." Starbuck warned him.

"I've got a solid lock on this ship and the Aegis so I shouldn't get lost and there is no debris in the area so I shouldn't have any problems." Nagy told him. "What do say Colonel? Should I give it a try?"

Starbuck wasn't sure this was such a good idea, especially since it sounded like something HE would have come up with, but there was no easy way to do it, so ….

"Alright Nagy, Let me get in position to read the nameplate and you make a slow pass. When you get over it, hit your turbo's …… only for a micron or two! Anymore then that and you might end up plowing into the side of one of those other ships."

"Right, I'll take it easy!" Nagy said reassuringly as he moved off slowly so he could line up on the nameplate. Starbuck slide around to the side of the landing bay where he would be able to get a good view of the nameplate if this worked. He was only about twenty metrons from the ship; to move farther away would make it nearly impossible to see the name. Nagy made his turn and began moving slowly toward the landing bay.

"Colonel, I'm beginning my approach." Nagy reported. "Let me know when to hit my turbo's."

"Right! You just be careful where you go after you hit them." Starbuck said.

Nagy continued forward slowly. He was just passing over the forward edge of the landing bay now, then he caught site of the nameplate's leading edge. It looked so much bigger at this range. It was then that Starbuck's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Okay Nagy, get ready! You're about thirty metrons out …. twenty ….. ten ….. NOW!"

Nagy hit his turbo's and was thrown back into his seat as his Viper accelerated swiftly away. He almost immediately hit his braking flaps and reverse thrusters, slowing his forward momentum almost to a dead stop. He slowly turned his Viper around and proceeded back to the old Battlestar.

Starbuck sat watching the approaching Viper slowly make its way forward. As it neared the nameplate's leading edge it seemed to drop down closer to the surface of the ship. Starbuck hit his com switch and said to Nagy, "Okay Nagy, get ready! You're about thirty metrons out …..twenty ….. ten …..NOW!"

When he said that, white flame shot out from Nagy's engines, thrusting it forward at an incredible rate of speed to disappear in a flurry of dust. Behind it however, for a short period of time, there appeared a relatively clear area of space. It was centered right over the forward section of the Alpha landing bay of the ancient Battlestar. Starbuck was shocked that their plan had worked so well, because there before him, the name of this old ship of war had been revealed. For the first time in centuries, the name of the ship was visible.

Carpathia

"Did it work Colonel?"

Starbuck made no response. He had hardly even heard Nagy's voice as he sat there staring at the nameplate of the old Battlestar.

The Carpathia.

Starbuck remembered the name. It was on the list of ships that had been assigned to the Second Colonial Fleet nearly four hundred yahren ago. It had disappeared along with all the others and now, here it was! He remembered something that Apollo said about it, a story about how the Second Fleet was sent out to stop a Cylon armada and was never seen again. Was it possible that this dust cloud held …..?

Then Starbuck's revere was broken by the now insistent voice of Ensign Nagy.

"Hey Colonel, are you okay over there?"

Starbuck turned his head to find Nagy's Viper just a few metrons away, a look of worry on his face.

"Yea kid, I'm fine." He said weakly as he looked back at the Battlestar. Then in a voice with much more of his usual bravado, he said, "I see you didn't crash into anything, I might just make a Viper pilot out of you yet!"

Nagy smiled and said, "Thanks Colonel."

Starbuck flashed him one of his famous smiles and then got back to the business at hand.

"Well, now that we know what we have here, we need to find out just how many ships there are in the felgercarb!" Starbuck said. "But first I think we need to get back to the others and contact the Galactica. Apollo will want to know what we found here as soon as possible. You lead the way Nagy!"

"Whatever you say Colonel!" Nagy replied as he pulled slowly out in front of his commanding officer. Starbuck tucked himself in right behind Nagy and followed him back to the Aegis where Quinn and Uhle should still be. As they pulled away from the ancient Battlestar, Starbuck continued to glance back at it until it was nothing more then a dark shape. A few microns later, it was gone from site, once again swallowed up by the dust.

Starbuck and his three pilots slowly emerged from the cloud almost at the same spot they had entered. There they found the rest of Alpha flight waiting.

"Did you find it Colonel?" asked Lieutenant Firova.

"Yea, we found it alright, and more!" Starbuck replied. Then he switched frequencies and sent a message to the Galactica.

"Blue leader to Galactica, come in please."

A few moments later, the familiar voice of Apollo came thru the speaker.

"Go ahead Starbuck. What did you find?"

"You're not going to believe this buddy, but I think we just found the whole Second Fleet!