Battlestar Galactica

Past, Present, Future

Chapter 13

The Carpathia

"Say that again, you found the whole Second fleet?" Apollo exclaimed, not sure he had heard Starbuck correctly.

"Well, maybe not the whole thing, but at least a good part of it!" Starbuck said excitedly. "Nagy and I were checking out that cruiser when he picked up another ship, so we went to check it out ….."

"Starbuck, two ships don't constitute a "fleet" Apollo interrupted.

"Yea, I know, but what would you say if I told you there were at least a half dozen ships in this dust cloud?" Starbuck shot back excitedly.

"A half dozen ships! Are you sure?" Apollo asked, thinking that what Starbuck was telling him couldn't possibly be true.

"At least that many, maybe more!" Starbuck said. "Nagy and I were able to confirm at least a half dozen contacts and we have positive ID on one of them, an "Alexandria" class Battlestar."

"A Battlestar, what Battlestar?" Apollo asked, now totally confused.

"The Carpathia!" Starbuck said.

"The Carpathia was one of the ships of the Second Fleet" Sabo cut in. "It was under the command of Commander Dienekes."

"Who?" Starbuck asked.

"Commander Dienekes. He was Commander Leonides's second in command and from all accounts, his best friend." Sabo told them.

"The Second Fleet, incredible!" Apollo said under his breath. Then to Starbuck he said, "Starbuck, I want you to hold your position until the rest of the fleet arrives. Don't try and search that dust cloud without more backup. Until we arrive, I want you to have Cadet Sabo go over the scans you and Nagy made of these other ships. See if he can tell you anything more."

"Sabo's already working on the scans. Hopefully he'll have something for us by the time you arrive." Starbuck said. "Hey listen, are you sure you don't want me and Nagy to go back in and look for more ships?"

"Not until the rest of the fleet arrives. If this is some sort of trap, I want to you to have more then just half a squadron for back up." Apollo told him.

"Alright, we'll hold our position here." Starbuck said somewhat disappointed.

It took the Galactica nearly two centars to reach Boxey's location and another centar before they came upon Starbuck and his group. Now with the Galactica there, Starbuck was ready to get back to the search for more ships. Unfortunately for him, Apollo had another assignment in mind.

"You want me to what?" Starbuck exclaimed, not believing what Apollo had just told him.

"I want you to go with Sabo and check out that Battlestar." Apollo repeated.

"But Apollo, don't you think it would be better if I went with Nagy to look for more of this fleet? I mean, couldn't Sheba or Bojay take Sabo over there?"

"Sheba and Bojay's squadrons are pulling patrol duty while were sitting here. I don't want to have any surprise visits from the Cylons or anyone else for that matter while the fleet is stationary." Apollo said to him. "Of course I could always have you and Blue Squadron take the extra patrols!"

"Ah, yea, I think I'd rather baby sit Sabo then pull patrol duty!" Starbuck said.

"I thought you'd see things my way!" Apollo chuckled. "I think Jolly and Greenbean can handle searching the dust cloud with Nagy, besides, I want a member of the senior staff in charge of the search teams aboard that ship. No telling what you might find there."

"Lovely, so what do you want us to look for exactly?"

"I want you to take Sabo and the rest of the techs you had with you before and find a way in to that ship. We need to know what condition she's in and if we can get her up and running again. I don't have to tell you how important it is that we try and salvage as many of these ships as possible."

Starbuck nodded his head, knowing full well that the one hundred sixty three ships that comprised the fleet were becoming woefully over crowded.

"Alright Apollo, I'll take Sabo. Who knows, Maybe I'll find some vintage ambrosia over there!" Starbuck said with a bit of his usual flair.

"Well if you do, you had better be ready to share it with your commanding officer!" joked Apollo.

"Well see!" Starbuck said with a smile and a wink as he headed for the launch bay.

Starbuck arrived in the launch bay and found that a shuttle was already loaded and set to launch. Piloting the shuttle were Captain Boxey and Lieutenant Kistler with Lieutenants Kell, Neel, and Trapp along to provide security, just in case there were any unexpected occupants aboard the ancient ships. Sabo was also there, already strapped in to one of the seats and going over more of the scans taken by Ensign Nagy on the first run thru the cloud. He had already identified half of the ships scanned and was working on the rest.

"Are we ready to go Boxey?" Starbuck asked as he made his way to the front of the shuttle.

"Yes sir, just waiting for final clearance." Boxey said in his usual non-emotional way.

"Good, as soon as you get clearance, go ahead and launch. The sooner we get going, the better." Starbuck said as he made his way to an empty seat and strapped in. It was only a few micros later that the bridge called down to clear the shuttle to launch. Boxey acknowledged the order and passed the word to those on the shuttle to stand by for launch.

With that, Boxey pressed the button on the control stick and the shuttle was on its way toward the cloud. At that same moment, a group of Vipers were being launched from Alpha bay. This group was being led by Major Jolly and consisted of himself, Captain Greenbean and Ensign Nagy. Their mission was two fold. First they were to escort the shuttle to the Battlestar Carpathia, once there, they were too begin a thorough sweep of the dust cloud to ascertain exactly how many ships were actually there.

It would be a slow and tedious process, but it was one that Nagy was looking forward to. He was thrilled as to how well his new scanners worked and even more so at the way the Commander and Colonel had accepted it. But what really had made his day was the news that he would be transferred to the electronics division once he had finished with this current detail. Doctor Wilker had already informed him that he would be put in charge of the team that would begin upgrading the scanners not only in all of the Vipers of the Galactica's squadrons, but of the Galactica itself! Quite a feather in his professional cap, but first they had to finish up with the mission at hand.

The three Vipers of Jolly's group rendezvoused with the shuttle carrying Starbuck and the technicians heading for the Carpathia. The group of four ships headed for the dust cloud with Nagy's Viper in the lead and Jolly and Greenbean flanking the shuttle. They slowed down almost to a dead stop just before they entered the cloud so as not to stir up the dust and to keep from running into any debris that might be hidden from sight. Nagy switched over his transmitting frequency so he could send his scanner readings to the other two Vipers and the shuttle to aide in navigating the cloud.

After about twenty centons, Nagy began picking up the ancient Battlestar on his scanner.

"Nagy to shuttle, I have the Battlestar on scan now." He reported.

"Shuttle confirms, we're picking it up too." Boxey replied. "Estimate twelve centons to intercept at present speed."

The four ships continued on until the form of the Carpathia began to take shape and become recognizable as a Battlestar. Once they had reached visual range, Jolly contacted the shuttle.

"Blue five the Galactica shuttle, I think this is your stop." Jolly said with a humorous tone.

Starbuck picked up a headset and replied to Jolly's jest.

"Hey Jolly, sure you don't want to trade places?"

"No thanks skipper!" Jolly laughed. "The last thing I want to do is to go traipsing around in an old ship like that! Too many ghosts!"

"Yea, I know what you mean." Starbuck said dejectedly. "Alright, go carry out your mission and don't forget to check in every two centars."

"Right skipper, every two centars, got it!" Jolly said. "Anything else?"

"Yea, be careful!" Starbuck answered.

"Will do Colonel, see you soon." Jolly said as he and the other two Vipers moved off to begin their search of the dust cloud.

Boxey meanwhile had maneuvered the shuttle in along the starboard side of the Carpathia and was moving along the landing bay. He was hoping that the landing bay would be clear enough to fly the shuttle in and land, but was not overly optimistic about his chances, believing that the centuries spent in the dust cloud had most likely clogged up the entire landing bay.

He was about to be pleasantly surprised because as Boxey brought the shuttle around to where the opening to the landing bay was, he was confronted not by a wall of dust and debris, but by a solid white wall of a substance he had never seen before.

"What in Hades is that?" he muttered loudly.

Starbuck, Sabo, and several of the techs stared out at the strange site.

"Plastizine!" Sabo whispered to himself.

"What?" Starbuck asked, turning to the young man next to him.

"Sabo looked at the Colonel with a huge smile and said, "Plastizine! They used plastizine to cover the landing bay opening! That's fantastic!"

Starbuck was a bit confused, "What in Hades is plastizine?"

Sabo looked at him with a rather amused expression on his face, wondering how it was that all the senior officers in the fleet seemed not to know about such simple things like the type and class of Colonial warships or plastizine.

"Plastizine Colonel, it's a preservative film used by the colonies for hundreds of yahren. It was used to seal off a ships electrical and electronic systems when they were being retired from service, but this is the first time I've ever heard of it being used to seal off an entire ship!"

"So what exactly does that mean, this ship's been preserved or something?" Boxey asked from the pilot's seat.

"That Captain is exactly what that means." Sabo said as he continued to examine the huge covering. "When they left these ships here, they must have been planning on coming back for them."

"So what do you think happened to the people that left them here?" Kistler asked.

"That Lieutenant is something we're going to try and find out." Starbuck said. "But first we have to find a way into this old girl. Any suggestions Cadet?"

"Well, I'd say cut a hole out in the plastizine and land inside the bay." Sabo suggested.

"How thick is that stuff?" Boxey asked.

"Not very thick, maybe a few millimetrons at the most, why?" Sabo said.

"If it's only a few millimetrons thick, why not just fly thru it?" Boxey asked.

"Well, I guess you could, but you'd shred the plastizine, thus losing the ability to keep the dust out." Sabo said as if he were talking to an idiot. "If we cut the plastizine neatly, we'll be able to replace it with a minimal amount of dust getting in."

Boxey turned in his seat and gave Sabo a look that left no doubt what he was thinking, but he said nothing, much to Sabo's relief. Starbuck jumped in before anyone could say another word.

"Okay then, we'll cut a hole large enough to get the shuttle thru and then reseal it to keep out the dust. Any volunteers to go out and do the cutting?"

"I'll do it Colonel." Boxey said as he took off his headset and restraints. "I'm the only one that's ever done anything like that besides you."

"Alright, Neel, help Boxey get into his EVA gear." Starbuck said as he took over the pilot's position. "Secure yourself to the shuttle before you do anything, then climb up to the front. I'll get you as close as possible. From there you can hook up to the landing bay and disconnect the tether to the shuttle. Then just cut a hole big enough for me to get the shuttle thru. Once we're in, go ahead and reseal the plastizine. Got it?"

"I got it Colonel." Boxey said as he placed the clear helmet on and secured it in place. After a brief safety check, he moved to the airlock at the rear of the shuttle.

"Give me a few centons to get into position before you move in on the plastizine barrier Colonel. Then Back the shuttle off a couple of metrons so you don't drift into me." Boxey said.

"What's the matter kid, don't trust me to fly this thing?" Starbuck joked.

"I trust you Colonel, but why tempt fate?" Boxey said solemnly.

Starbuck grimaced a bit at the tone of Boxey's voice.

"You got it!" he said.

Boxey entered the airlock and after the pressure was equalized with the vacuum of space, he exited thru the outer hatch and began his slow journey toward the front of the shuttle. It took nearly two centons for Boxey to climb along the outer hull of the shuttle and to a place along the front of the ship. Once there, he motioned to Starbuck to move in.

Starbuck piloted the shuttle to within a metron of the plastizine sheet and came to a dead stop. From there, Boxey was able to hook his safety line onto the side of the landing bay and disconnect his line to the shuttle. With that done, Starbuck pulled the shuttle slowly away from the landing bay so Boxey could have room to work.

Boxey watched for a moment as the shuttle backed away, then turned back to the task at hand. He pulled a small blade from a pocket on the leg of his EVA suit and made an incision in the plastizine sheet. He cut down a short ways then pulled the sheet open and peered inside. What he saw was far from what he had expected!

The landing bay was in pristine condition! It was extremely dark inside, but enough light was able to seep in from Boxey's helmet lights for him to see that the bay had fared extremely well over the centuries. He pulled back from the plastizine sheet and turned toward the shuttle, giving a thumbs up signal.

In the pilot's seat aboard the shuttle, Starbuck watched as Boxey worked on the plastizine sheet. After a few moments, Boxey turned to the shuttle and gave them the thumbs up sign. This brought some whispers of excitement from the techs.

"Alright everyone, settle down." Starbuck said as he switched on his com unit. "Hey Boxey, how's it look?"

"Unbelievable Colonel!" he began. "It looks like we could begin flight ops right now. As far as I could tell, the place is in perfect condition.

Starbuck could not believe their good fortune. Hopefully the entire ship would be in as good a shape.

"That's good to hear. Can you make the hole for the shuttle by yourself or do you need and extra pair of hands?" Starbuck asked.

"I think I can handle it, but you might have someone stand by to help me close the opening." Boxey told him.

"Will do, you just be careful out there. I don't want to have to explain to your father why his son went floating off into space!" Starbuck joked.

"Affirmative!" was his only response.

Once again, Starbuck had to shake his head. He wondered if he would ever see the "old" Boxey again. Ever since the death of Commander Adama, Boxey had rarely, if ever smiled. His somber attitude had become a major concern for Apollo and Sheba over the yahren.

Boxey began cutting the plastizine sheet so as to make a hole for the shuttle to enter the landing bay, cutting it in a large semi-circle so it would be easier to close up once the shuttle was inside the landing bay. He had no problem making the cut in the weightlessness of space, as a matter of fact, it seemed to help as Boxey had to make the hole well over eight metrons high to accommodate the shuttle. After finishing the cut, Boxey pulled out one end of a small hose that was connected to an air tank slung to his back and opened up the nozzle on it. This sent out a strong jet of air that Boxey used to blow away the ever-present dust. After a few centons, he had cleared a space of perhaps thirty metrons in all directions of at least most of the dust. It was enough for Starbuck to easily see the opening and fly the shuttle thru without any trouble.

Once the shuttle had cleared the opening, Boxey began resealing the plastizine to keep the dust from working its way inside. By the time the shuttle had landed and the personnel inside began to emerge, Boxey had finished sealing the opening and was making his way over to them.

"Plastizine barrier sealed Colonel." Boxey reported.

Starbuck glanced back toward the huge white sheet and could just barely make out the place where the hole had been.

"Good, that should keep the dust out until we leave. Now lets see what we can find out about this old girl, shall we?" He said. "Boxey, I want you to take Kell and Trapp with you and the engineering team. Head for the engineering spaces and see what shape their in."

"Right Colonel, we'll see if we can get main power going and get the environmental systems up and running."

"Um, I wouldn't do that if I were you Captain!" Sabo said sheepishly.

"Is that so? And why is that?" Boxey asked irritably.

"Because if you don't follow the proper startup procedure, you could set off the "self-destruct" sequence." Sabo said defensively.

"Startup procedure? What startup procedure?" Starbuck interjected.

Sabo was once again amazed at the lack of knowledge amongst the senior officers of the fleet. Once again, Sabo took on the air off instructor as he explained.

"Many yahren ago, back during the early days of the war, the Cylons were in the habit of capturing the ships of their enemies and using them against the people that built them. It was a common practice of theirs to infiltrate their enemies defense's with these captured ships and launch attacks on the unsuspecting foe."

Starbuck, Boxey and the rest of the search team were all gathered around Sabo, listening intently to his story. Sabo had to force himself not to laugh as he continued.

"To keep this from happening to our forces, the designers of the various fleets began incorporating into the computer programming a specific procedure by which, if a ship was forced to shut down operations for any reason, that it could only be restarted by following a set order of procedures. That way, if the Cylons did get control of a ship that had been shut down, they would not be able to use it against the colonies."

"I've never heard of this startup felgercarb before! When did this all happen?" Starbuck asked.

"It started over eight hundred yahren ago and was used throughout the fleet until about a hundred and forty yahren ago. At that time, a newer system was introduced and replaced it." Sabo told him.

"So this baby here has the old "startup procedure", right?" Starbuck asked.

"Yes sir, I believe so!" Sabo answered.

"Do you know what this "startup procedure" is Sabo?" asked Boxey.

"Yes sir. I took the liberty of writing it down on these pads for everyone before we left the Galactica, just in case we needed it." Sabo said with a slight smile as he began handing the small, electronic pads out.

"Good job Cadet." Starbuck said as he took a pad from Sabo and began reading thru the information.

"This can't be right!" Boxey said. "You have communications and scanners before weapons, thrusters and life support. Why?"

"That's correct Captain. Think about it, if the Cylons were to try and restart one of our ships, what do you think would be the first thing they would try and get working?" Sabo asked.

"Most likely the thrusters and weapons!" Boxey offered.

"Exactly! That's why we have those systems down toward the bottom of the list. Because they wouldn't think about anything but getting the ship moving and ready to fight." Sabo said.

"But why this order?" Boxey said. "It doesn't make sense!"

"It's very simple Captain," Sabo explained. "You start with restoration of auxiliary power because it has such a low amount of voltons, it won't overload any systems that might be damaged. Once that's done, you restart the secondary computer system and run a ship wide system diagnostic to be sure there are no major problems that could cause a massive failure when you go to restore main power."

"What if you find something wrong?" asked a young technician named Brim.

"The computer will tell you if there are any major discrepancies and how to fix them. Once the repairs are made, you rerun the diagnostic until you get a satisfactory result." Sabo continued. "Then you go for a restart of the main energizers, but you have to be sure to increase the power slowly, or you could blow out the entire electrical system. Once those are up and running, then you bring the main computer core online. Once that's done you do another diagnostic to make sure that the computer is fully functional. If everything checks out, then you begin restoring the various operational systems in the order on the list."

"But why comm's and scanners before the other systems?" Boxey asked.

"That was part of the "thinking like a Cylon" theory they used." Sabo said. "The thought was to try and figure out what order the Cylons would try and restore things in and mix them up in as illogical a manner as possible. The programmers believed that the Cylons would go for the weapons and thrusters first, then scanners, communications and last of all, life support."

"So the programmers decided to put communications and scanners first and leave weapons and thrusters for later." Starbuck said. "But why is the last item life support?"

"It was believed that the Cylons might try and restore life support as soon as possible thinking that because humans need it, it would be a priority for us." Sabo told them. "It was hoped that the Cylons would not take into consideration that if we humans were trying to restart one of our ships, that we'd be in EVA suits and wouldn't need life support anymore then they would!"

This brought a round of understanding nods from everyone so, since it seemed that everyone understood now about the startup procedure, so Starbuck went back to issuing assignments.

"Okay, now that we're all clear about the startup procedure, Boxey, take your group and head for the engineering section. I'll take Sabo, Neel and the rest of the techs with me to the bridge. Stay in contact and give a yell if you find anything. Understand?"

"Yes sir!" Boxey said.

"Alright then, let's get moving. We only have six centars of air in these things and we've wasted ten centons already!"

With that, the two groups moved off in different directions.

As Starbuck's team moved thru the empty passageways of the ancient Battlestar, they became more and more enthralled by what they saw. Every work station and electrical panel had been covered by a sheet of plastizine, protecting them from the ravages of time. There was also a thin film of dust that seemed to cover everything.

Starbuck had to suppress a chuckle as he watched Sabo who was like a kid in a mushie shop as he almost ran from one thing to another, trying to look at everything at once. One thing Starbuck found interesting was that everything he saw was labeled not only in Colonial standard, but in what he believed was the ancient Scorpion tongue. There were also a large number of artworks attached to the bulkheads depicting scenes of great battles and of what Starbuck believed must have been former Commanders of the great war ship. Seeing all this was a bit humbling for the usually brash Warrior.

It was then that Starbuck noticed that Sabo had stopped in front of a large picture. As he approached, he could see that it was an image of two men, each holding the head of a Cylon centurion and brandishing large swords.

"Who are they?" He asked.

The young mans eyes never left the picture as he answered in a voice so soft, Starbuck could barely make out the words.

"Leonides and Dienekes."

"Who?"

"Commander Leonides and Commander Dienekes, Leonides was the Commander of the Second Fleet and the last of the Warrior-Kings of Scorpia. Dienekes was the last Commander of this Battlestar. They were two of the greatest Warriors of all time!" Sabo said with great reverence.

Starbuck stood for a moment staring at the image of the two men. In the background he could see the remains of hundreds of Cylons and the bodies of nearly as many Colonial Warriors. It was an eerie thing to look upon.

"What is this a picture of?" he asked Sabo.

"The Battle of Primaria." Sabo said, still enthralled by the picture.

"Primaria, I've heard of that. Wasn't that a planet in the Hasaris system?" Starbuck asked.

"Yes sir, it was one of their primary planets and the last one to fall." Sabo said, taking his eyes away from the picture for the first time, surprised that the Colonel had known that. "It was three hundred ninety nine yahren ago that the Second Colonial Fleet defeated a Cylon invasion fleet there."

Starbuck looked at the picture and remarked, "They look so young, how old were they?"

"Leonides was only forty or so at the time. Dienekes was only slightly older." Sabo told him, his eyes drifting back to the picture as he spoke. "This was taken three yahren before the Second Fleet disappeared and five yahren before the fall of Primaria."

Starbuck glanced at the young man and then placed his hand on his shoulder.

"C'mon kid, lets get moving. We have a lot of work to do."

Sabo nodded his head and slowly began walking down the corridor that led to the Carpathia's bridge. It only took a few centons to reach the bridge and once there, the technicians began looking over the equipment. They were amazed at the condition of work stations as they began unwrapping them. There was a slight covering of dust that had settled on most of the surfaces, most likely from a small breach in the plastizine somewhere as yet undetected. The technicians broke out small vacuum cleaners and began cleaning up the majority of the dust.

Sabo and Starbuck made there way up to the command dais and began inspecting the bridge officer's console. Like all the other surfaces they had encountered, it too was covered in dust. Sabo pulled a small brush from the bag he had been carrying and slowly sweep the dust away from one of the panels on the console. Then he pulled out a small knife and began to cut away the plastizine. Once he had exposed the panel, he pulled a small piece of equipment out of his bag and connected it to one of the ports. Instantly, the console came to life as, for the first time in nearly four centuries, power had been restored.

"HEY! What are you doing?" Starbuck said loudly as he saw the lights on the console come on.

"It's okay Colonel, this is an emergency power unit." Sabo told him. "I'm going to try and get the auxiliary power up and running."

"You can do that from here?" Starbuck asked.

"Yes sir, I can also get the secondary computer system online and run the diagnostic from here." Sabo told him as he entered several commands into the console keypad. "But they'll have to get main power online from engineering."

"How long will this take?" Starbuck asked.

"Not long, maybe, twenty or thirty centons." Sabo said as he watched the readouts that were now popping up on the monitor. "This will run thru its cycle and give us a full readout of any discrepancies it finds. I guess until it's done, there's nothing to do but explore!"

"Okay, what would you suggest we look at first?" Starbuck asked.

Sabo smiled slightly and motioned for Starbuck to follow.

"I know just the place Colonel!" he said as he began heading for a passageway that Starbuck had not noticed before.

It was a short passageway, hardly more then an alcove really, with only one hatchway in it. On the bulkhead next to the hatch was a small plaque, covered with dust. Sabo pulled out his brush again and sweep the plaque clean, revealing two sets of words. One set Starbuck couldn't read, but recognized as being Scorpion in nature. The second set of words were Colonial standard and these were crystal clear.

"Commander Dienekes"

"Is this the Commanders quarters?" Starbuck asked.

"Yes sir." Sabo said as he examined the small panel next to the hatch. He pulled out his knife and carefully cut away the plastizine, exposing a keypad. Sabo then pulled out a second power unit like the one he used on the bridge and plugged it into the keypad, lighting it up immediately. Then he took out a small electronic pad and began scrolling down thru the information on it. After a few microns, he found what he was looking for and punched in a twelve digit code on the keypad. As the last symbol was entered, there was a loud, grinding sound within the bulkheads as mechanical locks, undisturbed for centuries, began to release their hold on the metal door. As the last of the locks disengaged, a loud, hissing sound was heard and the dust at the foot of the hatch was displaced by a gust of air.

"Did you see that?" Sabo shouted excitedly. "There was still air inside there!"

"Well' that would explain why we could hear the locking mechanism." Starbuck said. "There wouldn't have been any sound had there been a total vacuum here."

"Well Colonel, would you like the honors?" Sabo asked as he stepped aside so that Starbuck could be the first one to enter the Commanders quarters.

Starbuck shook his head and smiled at the young man and said, "No, this is your expedition; you should have the honor of seeing it for the first time."

Sabo smiled back at Starbuck and nodded. Then he pushed open the hatch and stepped thru into the past.

He stopped just inside the hatchway and looked around the chamber. It was the commander's office by the looks of it. The ever-present dust they had seen everywhere, was totally absent from the room. It would seem that the seals on the commander's quarters had survived the ravages of time. Sabo could see a number of items in the darkness, a large desk, several chairs, pictures on the bulkheads, overall, a very Spartan room. He glanced down at the deck and could see that the dust just outside the hatch had been stirred up by the release of pressure and his movements, causing it to float into the room now that the seal had been broken.

"You know something Colonel, were the first humans to walk these passageways in nearly four hundred yahren." Sabo said with a touch of awe in his voice.

"Yea kid, kinda makes you wonder what happened to them, why they would leave all these ships behind?" Starbuck said from behind him.

Sabo nodded to himself and stepped farther into the compartment followed by Starbuck. They moved toward the center of the room, looking about as they made their way. The shelves on the bulkhead to the right of the hatch held a number of books and scrolls as well as other personnel items that the former commander had left behind for whatever reason. Sabo walked over to the shelves and looked at the books more closely. The majority of them were written in Scorpian or Sagittarian, but there were a few that were written in Colonial standard. It was a marvelous collection and one he would be sure to examine more closely once he had the chance.

Starbuck made his way to the private quarters of the former commander, hoping to find some clue as to what happened to the ships crew and the Second Fleet. He reached the hatch and found it was still sealed. He pulled one of the small power units from a pocket in the leg of his EVA suit and a blade from another pocket on his left arm. He cut away the plastizine around the keypad and inserted the power unit. The pad lit up and when he pressed the release, the hatch slide open smoothly.

"Looks like some of the doors in the old girl still work okay!" Starbuck said to himself.

He stepped thru into the dark room and was amazed at the condition. The bed was made up as if it had been done that very morning; eating utensils were put away in their holding racks, waiting for the next meal, uniforms were still hung in the closet. It looked as if the Commander might walk in at any moment. Starbuck was walking toward a chest of drawers when he heard Sabo yell in fear over the com unit.

Starbuck rushed into the outer office, laser pistol drawn, ready to face whatever it was that had frightened Sabo so badly. As he entered the room, he saw Sabo leaning on the desk, his head hung as if he was trying to control his breathing. Starbuck made his way over to the young man, still looking for what could have frightened him.

"What happened Sabo? What did you see?" Starbuck said.

Sabo couldn't speak, all he could do was point to a large set of doors behind him. Starbuck moved toward the doors cautiously, ready for anything …….. or so he thought! He reached up and took the handle of the door and quickly pulled it open. What he saw there made his heart skip a beat.

Inside the closet stood a Cylon centurion!

Starbuck immediately brought his laser pistol up and was about to fire when he noticed that the centurion did not move. He looked at the metal monstrosity standing before him and realized that it had been deactivated.

"Holy Frak!" Starbuck said as he closed the door to the cabinet. "What in Hades is that thing doing here?"

"A trophy." Sabo said, finally able to get his breathing under control. "The Scorpions use to take trophies from their victories. It would seem that Commander Dienekes partook of this."

Starbuck simply nodded and patted the young man on the shoulder. Sabo began to stand up straight when he noticed that there was a small folder sitting on the desk. He had not noticed it until just that moment. He picked up the small folder and read the cover. He gasped at what it said.

"Final personnel log of Commander Dienekes."

"Colonel, have a look at this!" He said holding the folder out to Starbuck.

"What's this?" Starbuck said, taking the folder and looking at it. Inside the folder, he found a small silver disk, an infodisk, with the words "Final Entry" written on it.

"This could be just the thing we need. There's probably information on this that will lead us right to the survivors of the Second Fleet. We'll take this back to the Galactica." Starbuck said as he placed the folder in Sabo's bag. "Take good care of that Sabo."

"Yes sir, I won't let it out of my site." He said.

"Good, now let's head back to the bridge and see if that diagnostic thing of yours is done."

When Starbuck and Sabo arrived back on the bridge, they found Captain Boxey and Chief Engineer Vitron waiting there. Vitron was a short, stocky Leo who had joined the Colonial service over fifty yahren before the holocaust and had served as the Chief Engineer aboard the Galactica for the past eighteen. Starbuck went over to speak with them while Sabo checked on his diagnostic scan.

"Tell me you have good news!" Starbuck said expecting the worse.

"Well Colonel, it could be a whole lot worse!" Vitron said with a smile. "We did a complete check of all the primary systems and found only one major problem ….. this old tub has no fuel!"

Starbuck looked at him dumbfounded.

"What do you mean no fuel" he said.

"Yep, not a drop! Whenever these folks abandoned this ship, they drained the fuel cells dry." Vitron told him. "I'll bet all the other ships in this frakkin cloud are the same way!"

"Great! What about the rest of the engineering section? Is everything else okay?" Starbuck asked the engineer.

"From what I could tell, this ship is in perfect condition. This plastizine felgercarb did a great job of keeping this frakkin dirt out of the electronics." Vitron said. "I'd be willin to wager a sectar's pay that I could have this tub up and runnin in less then a secton once we get the energizers back online and the atmospheric systems going so we don't have to keep walkin around in these damn EVA suits!"

Starbuck let out a bit of a chuckle at the engineer's comments. He too thought it would be of great advantage to get the life support system online, but Sabo had said that they would have to follow the "startup protocol" or the ship could blow itself up. It was then that Sabo walked over with his report.

"Excuse me, Colonel. I have the results of the diagnostic scan."

"Really! And what does it say?" Starbuck asked expecting some sort of bad news.

"Well, the scan shows a couple of minor discrepancies, but nothing too serious. I think we can continue the startup procedure right away if you like." Sabo said happily.

Starbuck turned to Vitron and asked, "What do you think Chief? You and your people ready to get this old girl operational?"

"Vitron smiled broadly and said, "You bet your ass I am Colonel. You just give the word!"

Starbuck gave him one of his signature grins and said "Consider the word given!"

And so the startup procedure continued. The relief teams landed a short time later and were given the task of getting the energizers and main computer core online and then running the system diagnostic. Doctor Wilker was in charge of the technicians while Major Deitra was in command of the Warrior contingent. Starbuck, Boxey, Sabo and the rest of the first group boarded their shuttle and departed for the Galactica and some well deserved rest. All except for Starbuck, who still had to make his report to Commander Apollo. Once the shuttle landed and the techs and Warriors were dismissed, Starbuck made his way to the bridge.

Starbuck entered the bridge and found Apollo and Boomer on the command dais discussing the latest patrol reports. Apollo saw his friends rumpled and sweat stained uniform and the haggard look on his face and knew that it had been a very long day for him. To his credit, he did greet them with one of his usual warm, friendly smiles.

"Well what do you want first? The good news or the bad?" He asked.

Apollo and Boomer exchanged a glance then Apollo asked, "Might as well get the bad news out of the way first!"

"The bad news is that the dust from that cloud is everywhere on the Carpathia. Luckily everything was covered in plastizine, so ……"

"Covered in what?" Boomer asked.

"Plastizine, it's a kind of film covering that the crew put on all the panels and consoles to preserve them." Starbuck said as if he had known about the substance forever instead of having learned about it only seven centars before. "Anyway, with all that dust inside the ship, Chief Vitron is afraid it will get into the electronics and foul them up, so he wants to move the Carpathia out of the cloud before we initiate the restart sequence."

Apollo and Boomer exchanged another glance before Apollo asked the question they both were thinking.

"And just exactly how does the Chief expect us to move the Carpathia?"

"Yea, well ah; actually he suggested that we tow it out of the cloud." Starbuck said.

"Tow a Battlestar! Is he crazy?" Boomer asked, not believing what he was hearing. "How in Kobol does he expect use to do it? We don't have any space tugs in the fleet."

"The only ship powerful enough to tow a Battlestar is a Battlestar, so that would mean using the Galactica to do it." Apollo mused aloud. "I don't think I'd be willing to risk damaging the Galactica to tow the Carpathia out of the cloud. Why can't we just fly her out?"

"Well, besides the fact that we can't uncover any of the control panels without that dust getting inside and fouling em up, the Carpathia doesn't have a drop of tylium in her fuel cells. Without that, we won't be able to get the thrusters up and running."

"We can't fly her out and we can't tow her. Seems we have a bit of a problem here." Apollo said.

"We could use shuttles to haul the towing cables into the cloud." Boomer suggested. "We could have them attach the cables to the Carpathia, then fly out of the cloud trailing them behind until they reach the Galactica. Then we hook them up to the Galactica and tow her out."

"That might work, so long as there are no other ships in the way." Apollo said. Then to Starbuck he asked, "Do you know if there are any ships obstructing the path out of the cloud?"

"Just the Aegis, but it's a good thousand metrons or so in front of the Carpathia so we should be able to pull it out right underneath." Starbuck told him.

"Alright, lets give it a try then." Apollo said. "Starbuck, you take care of the shuttles and the towing cables. Boomer you take care of the hook up on this end. I want you to make sure that if there's a problem; we can disconnect the towing cables and get clear."

"Will do Apollo." Boomer said.

Boomer and Starbuck left the bridge to make the arrangements for the attempted towing.

A centar later, everything was in place and ready for them to attempt to tow the ancient Battlestar clear of the dust cloud that had held it prisoner for nearly four hundred yahren. Starbuck would fly one of the shuttles while Ensign Uhle and Lieutenant's Rader and Quinn flew the other three.

Each of the shuttles was equipped with a huge spool of thick cable which would be connected to the forward section of the Carpathia and then hauled back to the Galactica where it could be attached. Once the two ships were connected, the Galactica would slowly begin the tedious task of pulling its older cousin out of the cloud. If all went well, the Carpathia would emerge within a centar after nearly four centuries.

The four shuttles made their way into the cloud assisted by the "super scanners" of Ensign Nagy's Viper. Once they had reached the Carpathia, it took a maximum effort for them to hook the monstrous cables, each one as big around as a large mans leg, to the towing ports on the forward section of the ship. Even though the cables were made of an ultra-light, ultra-strong tritainium alloy, they were extremely heavy due to their extraordinary length. So flying the overburdened shuttles was a difficult task at best. After what seemed like a centar, all four cables were finally hooked up to the Carpathia and were now unreeled toward the waiting Galactica.

Apollo had the Galactica moved into a position just a few thousand metrons from the dust cloud in anticipation of the arrival of the shuttles. This whole operation did not set well with him, but he could come up with no other viable way of pulling the Carpathia out of the dust cloud, so they would have to risk using the Galactica. Chief Vitron had assured him that it would be perfectly safe and that no harm would come to the Galactica, but Apollo still had his doubts.

The shuttles finally emerged from the cloud hauling the enormous cables behind them, looking like huge serpents. One shuttle, that flown by Starbuck, continued to approach while the other three held their positions five hundred metrons aft of the Galactica. He flew the shuttle to the pre-determined attachment point along the port side of the primary hull and with the skill born of thousands upon thousands of centars of piloting the various craft of the fleet, Starbuck brought his ship to within a metron of the attachment point.

This made Boxey's and Vitron's job of hooking up the cables much easier. The two men were wearing magnetic boots that helped them move along the hull and perform the task of hooking the cables to the Galactica. With the first one done the two men made their way to the next attachment point while Starbuck moved off slowly to a safe distance to observe the operation.

The next two cables were connected without any problem, but the last one turned out to be a bit more troublesome. It was the shuttle flown by Lieutenant Quinn that for some unknown reason had lost its helm control. Quinn was able to fly forward but was unable to steer the shuttle into position.

"Colonel, I have no helm control here." Quinn told Starbuck. "I still have main thrusters but the maneuvering thrusters won't work."

"Frak!" Starbuck exclaimed loudly as he heard the report from Quinn. "Alright, here's what we're going to do. I want you to pull your shuttle up even with the attachment point. When you get in position, I'll use my shuttle to push you into position."

"Are you sure that's safe Colonel?" Quinn asked, not sure about Starbucks plan.

"Sure, safer then fighting Cylons anyway!" Starbuck said as he began moving his shuttle into position.

"I'll have to take your word on that Colonel. I've been in the Colonial service for twelve yahren and haven't seen a Cylon yet." Quinn said.

"Trust me kid, you don't want to!" Starbuck told him.

Once Quinn's shuttle was in position, Starbuck moved in slowly to push Quinn toward the Galactica. There was only the slightest thud and an almost unperceivable jostling aboard either shuttle as contact was made. The two craft slow began to move closer to the spot where Boxey and Vitron stood on the hull of the Galactica watching, neither of them believing what Starbuck was doing. After just a few light touches of the thrusters, Starbuck reversed the trust on his shuttle and the two ships separated. Inertia from the slight push from Starbuck's shuttle sent Quinn's shuttle slowly floating into position right where it was needed. Both Boxey and Vitron shook their heads in amazement as they witnessed the incredible skill with which Starbuck had executed the nearly impossible maneuver.

Once the last cable was attached and Quinn's shuttle was towed aboard the Galactica, all was in readiness for the attempted towing.

"Alright, let's give this a shot!" Apollo said. "Boomer, I want you to monitor the cables on the Galactica. If the hull stress even comes close to the red zone, cut the Carpathia loose, understood?"

"Will do. Do you have someone on the Carpathia watching things from their end?" Boomer asked.

"Yea, I have four teams on the Carpathia watching the cable connections and one on the bridge monitoring the hull stress. I also have Ensign Nagy out there providing imagery from his scanners so we don't drag the Carpathia into the Aegis or any other ship that might be out there."

Apollo turned to Major Omega and asked him to put him on the Unicom.

"Attention people of the fleet, this is Commander Apollo. We are about to attempt to tow the Battlestar Carpathia out of the dust cloud. Because there is some risk involved in this, I have ordered that all ships stay no less then one hundred kilometrons away from the Galactica until such time as we have deemed it safe to approach. Because of the significance of this event to all of us, I have granted permission for the IFB to set up there vidcom units aboard one of our shuttles near the action so that they can transmit the events about to take place for all to see. Thank you for your cooperation. Galactica out!"

With that announcement made, Apollo switched over to the Blue Squadron frequency to finalize the preparations.

"All units, this is Commander Apollo. Stand by to commence towing."

All the various units acknowledged and so Apollo gave the order to begin.

"Helm, ahead slow, maneuvering thrusters only. I want to get the slack out of the towing cables." Apollo ordered. "As soon as we have a strain on the cables, bring the maneuvering thrusters slowly up to full."

"Yes sir, ahead slow, maneuvering thruster's only." the helmsman repeated.

The Galactica slowly began to move forward, powered by dozens of powerful thrusters. In a matter of microns, the slack in the towing cables was gone and they know began to take a strain.

"Slack has been taken up sir, increasing thrusters to full power." the helmsman called out.

Apollo nodded to the man and then opened up the Blue Squadron frequency again.

"Apollo to all units, stand by, we're increasing to full power."

There was a slight "jerking" sensation at first as the helmsman slowly increased the power to the thrusters. For several microns, the mighty Battlestar shook and bulkheads creaked, as the strain increased. The Galactica stood still for several microns, her thrusters now at full power fighting to push her forward. Then she started to move forward again. Slowly at first, very slowly, but after nearly a centon, the powerful thrusters began to win the battle with the massive vessel.

The cables began to stretch and creak as the strain on them increased. Those personnel that were assigned to monitor the cables watched this in fascination. They were amazed at the load factors that were showing on their instruments, finding it hard to believe that the cables could hold under such extreme force.

"Helm, alter course by ten degrees negative inclination." Apollo called out.

"Negative ten degrees acknowledged." the helmsman repeated.

The Galactica continued its slow forward progress as it started to move in a downward direction from its previous inclination.

"Nagy, what's it looking like on your scanners?" Apollo asked.

"Everything looks good from here sir. The Carpathia should clear the Aegis by at least a hundred metrons." He reported.

"I want at least two hundred metrons clearance." Apollo said. "Helm, increase to twenty degrees negative inclination."

"Increasing to twenty degrees negative sir."

The Galactica increased the angle of incline as it continued to move forward.

"Nagy to Galactica, clearance has increased to two hundred forty metrons."

"Excellent! Continue to monitor until the Carpathia has cleared the cloud."

"Will do Commander."

Apollo switched frequencies again to the Delta frequency he had set up between the Galactica and the Carpathia, where Starbuck was watching the progress of the operation.

"Galactica to Carpathia, how's it going Starbuck?"

"Well all things considered, I'd rather be in my Viper watching this show from out there." He told Apollo.

"What's wrong Starbuck, you don't like walking the bridge of a Battlestar?" Apollo joked.

"It wouldn't be too bad if I could at least see what was happening!" Starbuck said. "But standing here in the dark wearing one of these EVA suits isn't exactly what I call fun! How long before you drag us out of this felgercarb?"

Just as he finished that statement he got his answer as for the first time in nearly four hundred yahren, the Battlestar Carpathia emerged from the confines of the dust cloud and sailed into the vastness of open space.

"Holy Frak!" Starbuck whispered.

Throughout the fleet, a cheer of excitement sprang up as the IFB broadcast was seen by nearly every member of the fleet. It was a glorious site to behold as the ancient warship glided out of the cloud and into the open.

On the bridge of the Galactica, applauds and shouts of triumph rang out as well. Apollo turned to Boomer and the two Warriors clasped wrists in the traditional Warriors hand shake. Both smiled widely, both from joy and relief that everything had gone off so smoothly. But the operation was not over yet.

Apollo turned back to the view screen that showed the Carpathia floating along behind them. She was a magnificent site to behold. The ravages of time didn't seem to have affected this behemoth of a past era.

"Helm, reverse thrusters." Apollo ordered.

The helmsman reversed the mighty thrusters causing the great ship to slow its forward progress. This caused the towing cables to slacken some.

"Omega, release towing cables." ordered Apollo.

Omega acknowledged the order and with the touch of a few buttons, the four massive cables that connected the two Battlestars were released.

"Helm, come around to five two nine Beta by zero seven six Tao. Bring us to within one thousand metrons of her port quarter."

The Galactica swung around to the left in a full circle and slide in to a position just off the left side of the Carpathia. Apollo switched back to the Delta frequency where he heard Starbuck giving orders to the various teams aboard the old ship.

"Hey Starbuck, is everything alright over there?" he asked.

"Everything's just grand!" Starbuck told him. "I'm just working on getting this thing operational. First thing I want to do is get these damn cables off the hull!"

Apollo chuckled at Starbucks frustration. He had seen this many times before with his old friend, always wanting things done ten centons ago.

"Keep your shirt on Starbuck, I already have the shuttles moving in to spool the cables. They should have them cleared in about forty centons or so."

"Alright, I guess that will do!" Starbuck stewed. "Hey listen, unless you have any objections, I'm going to go ahead and have the techs continue with the startup."

"Excellent, as soon as you get that going, I'd like for you and Sabo to come back aboard the Galactica. I want to go over Jolly's report with the senior staff. Evidently, Nagy's scanners found quite a bit more then we thought." Apollo said.

"Sounds good to me! It'll be nice to get out of this felgercarb for a while. We'll be there in a centar." Starbuck said.

A centar later in the Galactica's war room, the senior staff had assembled to review the findings from the search of the dust cloud by Jolly, Greenbean, and Nagy and that of Starbuck, Boxey, Vitron and Sabo aboard the Carpathia. Among those in attendance other then the senior staff were President Tigh, Siress Tinia, Chief engineer Vitron, Lieutenant Nagy and Cadet Sabo.

Apollo entered the room followed by President Tigh, Siress Tinia, Boomer and Starbuck. They all took seats at the head of the table and Apollo began the proceedings.

"First I'd like to thank President Tigh and Siress Tinia for joining us here today. I know they, like all of us have a great many questions. I hope that we'll be able to give you both the answers you desire."

"Thank you Commander, I'm sure you will!" Tigh said.

Apollo turned to Major Jolly first.

"Jolly, you were in command of the Team searching the cloud for more ships, what did you find?"

Jolly stood and picked up an electronic notepad from the table.

"Captain Greenbean, Ensign Nagy and myself began our search using the Carpathia as our starting point and made a sweeping search of the cloud for a distance of approximately one quarter parsec. In addition to the Carpathia and the Aegis, we discovered a total of thirty seven vessels of various types; these included two Battlestars, five Gunstars, two Star Carriers, five Battle Cruisers, eight Destroyers, seven Frigates and seven Brigantines. Of these, perhaps half are in salvageable condition."

"Two more Battlestars! Five Gunstars! Star Carriers, Battle Cruisers …… Lords of Kobol, it's an entire fleet!" Tigh said almost gleefully. "Were you able to identify any of them Major?"

"No sir, but we did get some very good scans of each and every one of them. Hopefully Cadet Sabo will be able to identify them."

"You said only about half of them are salvageable." Apollo said. "Can you tell us which ships these are Jolly?"

Jolly ran thru the information on his electronic pad and began to read off a short list of ships.

"From what we could tell from the scans, we believe that both of the Battlestars are salvageable as well as two or three of the Gunstars."

This brought some very positive comments from the others at the table. Jolly continued.

"We also believe that two of the Cruisers and maybe four or five of the Destroyers can be salvaged. The rest of the ships we found had numerous hull breaches and in some cases, they were missing entire sections of their hulls. Those were in too poor a condition to be of use for anything more then perhaps spare parts."

"What do you think caused the damage to those ships Jolly?" asked Boomer.

"As far as we could tell, they looked as if they had been hit by meteors or possibly asteroids. There were large fragments of various minerals detected in most of the hull breaches we found."

"How difficult do you think it will be for us to tow them out of the cloud, given their present locations?" Apollo asked.

"Most of them won't be that big a problem Commander." Jolly told him. "There are only a couple that are blocked in by non-salvageable ships."

"Maybe we can use the lasers on our Vipers to cut a path thru the damaged ships?" Sheba said, the first time she had spoken since the briefing began.

"I wouldn't advise that course of action!" Chief Vitron said quickly. "That there cloud has high concentrates of Therminite and Korium, both highly explosive elements when exposed to extreme levels of heat, such as laser fire. You go shootin them there lasers in that cloud and you're likely to set off one Hades of an explosion!"

"What would you suggest Chief?" Apollo asked.

"Simple, we tow them ships we can salvage out one by one, the rest we leave behind!"

"You want to leave perfectly good ships behind?" Sheba said incredulously. "Why?"

"I'll give one very good reason young lady!" Vitron said in his deep, Leonis accent, causing Apollo and some of the others to snicker slightly. "There be too great a risk trying to pull those tubs out. Most likely we'd lose more ships trying to pull them out then we'd gain by leavin em behind! Besides, we don't have enough trained people to run that many ships anyway!"

"You're kidding me! There are over three hundred thousand adults in the fleet Chief, all of which have gone thru basic Warrior training. You can't tell me there aren't enough people to man a dozen or so ships!" Sheba argued heatedly.

"Well, you might be right if all of those ships out there were as modern as the Galactica Major, but were talking about ships that were hundreds of yahren old when the Galactica's keel was being laid." The Chief said, his voice rising to meet the anger heard in Sheba's. "Those old girls are ancient, and their technology is centuries out of date. It will take two to three times as many people to operate one of those old Battlestars as it does the Galactica. Add to that the fact that many of the systems used on those ships haven't been used by the colonies for centuries, so that means training people to operate them. And if that wasn't enough, throw on top of that the fact that everything on those damn ships is labeled in Scorpion! Can you read Scorpion Major?

Sheba said nothing. She just stared in disbelief at the Chief as he stood there and berated her.

"I didn't think so!" Vitron continued. "Let me tell you something, unless you're going to learn to read Scorpion and want modernize each and every one of those ships, I'd strongly suggest you listen to those that know better!"

Sheba didn't say a word. She was totally speechless. The old Chief had told her in no uncertain terms that she had no idea what she was talking about and should shut her mouth! But what made it worse was …… he was right!

Vitron turned to Apollo and said to him, "I'm sorry to have been so short with the Major sir, but what she was suggesting was foolish and would have placed the entire fleet in danger. If you have a mind to bring me up on charges, I'll not contest them sir."

Apollo glanced at Sheba for a moment, she still hadn't said a word, she just sat there looking as if she had been slapped in the face, then he looked back to the Chief engineer and said to him.

"Under normal circumstances Chief, I would prefer charges of insubordination, but in this instance, I'm inclined to overlook this one incident." Apollo told the old Warrior. "This whole thing has gotten us all a bit tense. I think we all need to take a deep breath and relax."

The Chief simply nodded his head and gave him a nearly unperceivable, "Yes sir."

Then, before the mood grew any gloomier, Apollo turned to Starbuck.

"How are things going on the Carpathia? Do you think you can get it up and running soon?"

"The Chief thinks he can have her fully operational in a secton!" Starbuck replied.

"Excellent, that will be a tremendous boost to our people's morale!" Apollo said.

Starbuck leaned back in his seat, turning back and forth slowly, his usual smile firmly in place.

"Yea, things could have been a whole lot worse I guess. The Carpathia's crew wrapped everything in that plastizine felgercarb so all the ships electronics are in great shape. From what Chief Vitron and Cadet Sabo could tell, the only thing she really needs is fuel."

Everyone at the table smiled at this piece of good news. Perhaps fortune would smile on them this one time.

"That is good news, anything else?" Apollo asked.

Starbuck leaned forward and pulled a small, silver disk from a small folder that had been sitting on the table in front of him. He held it between two fingers.

"Just this!"

"What's that?" Apollo asked, staring at the disk.

"Oh nothing really, just the final log entry from Commander Dienekes." Starbuck said with an impish grin.