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Post by ajmarks on Feb 27, 2009 18:02:10 GMT -5
Martin walked into the briefing room where Colonel Pratt was standing waiting for all the pilots to arrive. They were going to be reaching their first planet soon which meant they would have to investigate the planet to see if it was Earth. Some hoped that this would be Earth but most did not believe that it would be.
Martin noticed that Bri and Nall were both already in the room. He would be working with them on this mission. Nall was again trying to pick up Bri who was again putting him down. It was actually quite funny to Martin. It seemed like Nall really did like Bri but he also knew that if Nall really wanted to woo Bri then he would have to change a bit for her. That was something that he did not see happening.
"Hey big M," Nall said as Martin sat down next to him.
"Hey Nall. If you don't watch yourself Bri will shrink your clothes again," Martin said.
"Nah, we don't have much in terms of replacement clothing," Nall replied.
"All right, I'll give you that. But remember she does have a wicked mind for paybacks," Martin said with a smile.
"I know," Nall replied also with a smile and received a smack to the back of his head. "What," he said turning and putting an innocent smile on his face for Bri.
"Don't what me," Bri said narrowing her eyes. "I know what you're thinking."
"All right, if we're done beating each other up can we get onto business," Pratt said seeing that the rest of the group had arrived. He sighed a bit as he realized that those three were going to give him fits.
Bri turned to the colonel and had a very innocent expression on her face that if he had not seen her smack Nall he would have been hard pressed to believe she was capable of violence. With a shake of his head he looked at the rest of the group. It was made up of green squadron. Troy, Nall, Martin, Nall and two others would make up the scouting mission.
"All right, now that I have your attention here is your mission," Pratt said. "We've made it to the first star. The Argo's scanners indicate twelve planets in the system. Your job is to investigate each planet and see if there are any life signs. Each of you will have a wing mate for this mission. Remember we do not know what we will encounter on this mission so everyone be careful. That and we are still not that far away from the Cylon Empire so keep you scanners open for any sign of them."
The group was dismissed from the briefing heading towards the launch bays. Pratt hoped that this mission went without any problems. There was enough that could go wrong and he hoped for a problem free mission for as long as possible. He did not believe that they would find anything on this patrol but anything was possible. He left the room for heading for the bridge to join Ares.
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Post by ajmarks on Feb 27, 2009 18:02:58 GMT -5
Troy made his way to his viper with the rest of the group. He was the squad leader of the group and realized that they should partner up now while they were all together.
"All right everyone go ahead and partner up. It will save time later," Troy said to the group.
"I'll be your wing mate," Bri said to Troy. She knew that both Nall and Martin were wing mates and would choice each other. She did not really know the other two and had decided to partner with Troy.
Troy looked at the others who seemed to have already paired off as well. That was easier than he thought. He was sure that Nall or Martin would have wanted Bri as a partner. He was beginning to see a bit more into the relationship between the three. There was a respect for each other as warriors as well as friends.
"All right if we're ready let's get to the vipers and get this mission rolling," Troy said.
"Right," Bri replied as she went over to her viper. Troy had to turn away from watching her bounce over to her viper before he bumped into something.
Troy cleared his mind as he walked over to his viper and climbed up into it. The viper crew chief handing him his helmet which he put on then radioed command that he was ready to receive the coordinates for the patrol.
Nall and Martin watched as Bri took off to her viper in her bouncy type way. Martin gave Nall a quick jab in the ribs and nodded his head in the direction of their captain. Nall looked over at Troy then back at Bri and smiled back at Martin.
"I see another one is falling to her charms," Nall said.
"Yep," Martin said. "And I think half the time she isn't aware of it at all."
Nall studied Bri for a second before replying. "No, I think this time she knows what she just did."
Martin raised an eyebrow at Nall's comments but said nothing. He wondered if this would affect their friendship at all. He would keep an eye on Nall and see how he took the oblivious flirting by Bri to another man.
He reached his viper and climbed aboard. The canopy closed as he put on his helmet. The coordinates for his patrol was transferred to his viper and was given permission to launch. He pushed the turbo button and felt the acceleration of the viper as he was launched into space.
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Post by ajmarks on Feb 27, 2009 18:03:40 GMT -5
Ares watched as the flight controller, Renee, gave the instructions for the patrol. She was a confident controller and he was glad that she was on this mission. He could hear her tell the pilots that the transfer was complete and that they could launch when ready.
He turned to view the monitors and watched as the six vipers launched out of the tubes. They would know soon if there was anything in the system worth investigating. Aries was not sure if he wanted to find Earth so soon or not. It was a bit too close to the Cylons Empire for him.
"Well, there they go," Pratt said as he stood next to Ares.
"Right," Ares replied. He wished that the texts that they had found on Kobal had described how far the thirteenth tribe was going to travel instead of just a direction. He figured that he should be grateful that he had that though. He had the feeling that this would be a long mission.
"Is it wrong of me to wish that they don't find anything," Pratt said turning to Ares.
"Nope, I was just thinking the same thing my friend," Ares replied. "But I did have another thought earlier."
Pratt turned to glance at his commander. Usually when his commander said something like that it meant trouble. He wondered what the man was thinking this time.
"We needed to brief the pilots in first contact rules," Ares said.
"First contact," Pratt replied not sure where that came from. Sure they would need it for when they found Earth but then it hit him. They were exploring a section of unknown space. They could come across an unknown alien race. That would require something else as well, the skills of a diplomat. That also meant that they might have to take time to make diplomatic relations with another race.
"Yeah, I'm sure that we'll encounter another race before we finally reach Earth. There are too many unknowns out there for us not to. It will be what happens when we do. We both know that the last thing the Colonies need is another enemy to fight," Ares said to Pratt.
"That would not be good," Pratt replied. The Colonial military was barely able to hold off the Cylons right now. If there was another group it might spell the doom of the Colonies.
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Post by ajmarks on Feb 27, 2009 18:06:07 GMT -5
Troy paired up with Bri and together they left for the four planets that they would be exploring. They had the inner planets. Most of them appeared to be a bit small with only a few moons. He did not expect to see any life signs on the first couple of planets. They were just way too close to the star to be able to support any life that they know about.
"Let's head to the one closest to the star first," Troy heard Bri say over the communicator.
"Right, that way we can limit our own exposure to the heat," Troy replied. He was keeping an eye on his thermal reading as they got closer to the star.
"Troy, I'm picking up another planet even closer to the star," Bri said as they got closer to the star.
Troy took a quick glance at his scanner and noticed the same thing. The thermal reading was still below critical and he wondered how close they would be able to go.
"I'm going to see how close we can get. Stay back just in case," Troy said as his viper turned toward the planet.
Bri wanted to protest but ended up saying nothing. She kept a close eye on her scanner as she watched him head closer to the planet. She knew that they vipers could get close to stars but no one had ever really tried to get real close.
Troy kept a close eye on his thermal readings just in case. His biggest concern was his fuel. If that got too hot it could explode. The scans of the planet indicated that it was a barren rock. There were no buildings or anything else that the scanners could pick up and with the thermal reading approaching a critical point Troy decided to head back away from the star.
"Find anything," Bri asked watching as his viper came back to where she was.
"Nope, just a dead planet. Didn't think we'd find anything but you never know," Troy replied as he joined back up with Bri. The thermal reading slowly came down a bit and he knew that he was no longer in danger.
The next two planets were also barren. Their surfaces were scarred from the intense solar winds and asteroids that bombarded it. If there had ever been anything on the surface it had vanished a long time ago.
They approached the next planet while reporting what they had found on the last planet. The other two groups had not found anything either. So far three gas giants, several ice moons and one ice planet had been scanned. There was nothing to indicate that any of the planets had any life on it.
Troy then noticed that the next planet had what appeared to be building on it. The scanners did not indicate any life forms but there was definitely something down there.
"Bri, are you reading the same thing I am," Troy replied.
"My scanners are picking up ruins on the planet's surface," Bri replied hoping that it was what Troy was talking about.
"That's what I'm reading as well," Troy replied. "Scout party one to Argo."
"Argo here what did you find," the voice of Renee replied.
"We're going to investigate some ruins on the third planet of the system," Troy told them. "We'll keep in constant contact."
"Understood patrol one," Renee said.
Troy and Bri piloted their vipers towards the surface of the planet. They headed right for one of the ruins and looked for a landing spot as close as possible. They were looking for a clue as to who might have once lived here. The one thing that went through Troy's mind was it was Earth. He just hoped that was wrong.
"Atmosphere is breathable," Bri said as her scanners tested the air to make sure that they did not need any special equipment to breathe with.
"And gravity is about the same," Troy said.
They landed their vipers near one of the ruined buildings. It was beginning to fall apart and both wondered at the structural integrity of the building. Troy was actually a bit reluctant to even try and enter the building. It looked like it might collapse at any moment.
"I think one of us should try and enter the building," Bri said.
"I don't," Troy stated as he looked at the building. He wondered what had kept it up for so long.
"We landed on the planet to find out who built these buildings. We'll never know if we don't investigate it," Bri replied turning to face Troy.
"And the building would come down around anyone who tried to enter it," Troy replied.
"I'll go, if something happens you can rescue me," Bri said with a smile which Troy did not really appreciate.
"That is not funny," Troy replied. "You could be hurt, or worse."
"Didn't know you cared," Bri said as she took a few steps towards the building. "Wait here, I'll be right back."
Troy stood there wondering what had just happened as he watched Bri walk towards the building then disappear inside. He finally shook himself out of his stupor to realize what she had just done.
"Bri," he said into his communicator. When she did not answer right away he repeated her name a bit louder.
"Shh," he heard Bri's hushed reply. "The sound echoes quite well in here. I'm just going to try and be cautious."
"Right, sorry," Troy replied and realized that he had to wait until she returned.
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Post by ajmarks on Feb 27, 2009 18:07:07 GMT -5
Bri walked quietly around what appeared to furniture. It did not look quite like anything she had ever seen. That and it did not look like it was something that was comfortable to a human. That led her to believe that this planet was inhabited by a race other than humans.
She was looking for something that might contain a record of who there people were and what had happened to them. She was pretty sure that they were not human but she wanted proof. Gently making her way around the large room she could hear the creaking of the floor as she put weight on it. It probably had not supported anything but itself for hundreds of yehrens. A fine cover of dust blanketed everything giving it all the same color look.
Bri noticed one object and gently picked it up to inspect it. It looked like a strange flat object. She blew the dust off it to see what the color really might be. It turned out to be a black color. The one thought that she had was for it to be a very thin screen. That was ridiculous though. She was sure that such a thing was technically impossible. However she almost dropped it when it suddenly came to life.
Bri watched intrigued when an image sprang from the flat thing. It appeared to be a hologram. That was something that she had read about in science fiction novels and entertainment shows. However the scientists of the colonies were too involved in the war against the Cylons to develop such a thing. That and she was sure that it would have taken a much bigger device to use.
Taking a look at what had appeared it was apparent that the inhabitants were not human. The figure that she could see had four arms and was not humanoid at all. The figure also had four legs which accounted for the unusual furniture that she saw. Taking the 'thing' she quickly and as carefully as she could make her way out of the building. The creaking and groaning of the floor did make her a bit anxious but she finally emerged from the building.
"Find anything," Troy's voice said and Bri was sure that she heard a bit of concern in the voice.
"This," Bri said with a smile holding up the flat black object that she had found.
"What is that," Troy asked not sure what it was.
"Don't know, some sort of holographic display I think," Bri replied handing it to Troy.
Troy gently inspected the object. It was a rectangular black object that looked like it had a screen on it. There was something that looked like a button which he pressed. Again Bri watched as the strange figure appeared.
"Well that's not human," Troy said handing it back to Bri. "It should be enough evidence that this is not Earth."
"I would hope so. That and all the furniture in the building would not have been human friendly," Bri said.
"Then I guess we can head back to the Argo," Troy said as they turned to head back to their vipers.
Bri carefully stored the object in the viper before closing the canopy. The two of them then lifted off from the planet and headed to the last planet on their list. It turned out to barren as well. There was little else in the system as they headed back to the battlestar for debriefing.
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Post by ajmarks on Feb 27, 2009 18:07:56 GMT -5
Commander Ares waited on the bridge of the battlestar waiting to hear from the patrols. He had learned that there was one planet had the remains of building on it. There was little else that he had heard yet.
The last report had the patrol inbound from the system with the results of their scans. The initial result was there was no life in the system nor was there anyone left. There was only the one planet that seemed to have had at one time supported life in the system.
Captain Troy and Lieutenant Bri had been the ones to land on the planet's surface. Ares would have to wait until they came out of detox to see what they had found. There was also an object that was found that they had brought back. It too was undergoing detox just to be on the safe side.
"Commander, Troy and Bri are waiting for you in the debrief room," Pratt said bringing Ares out of his thinking.
"Tell them I'll be right there," Ares replied to Pratt. "You have the bridge."
"Yes sir," Pratt replied as Ares walked off the bridge heading for the pilot's briefing room.
Ares walked into the room a short while later seeing all six pilots that had gone of the patrol there along with Doctor Weaver. On the table was a flat black rectangular object that he had never seen before. He was sure that it was the object that had been found on the planet's surface.
"Let's begin," Ares said as he stood in front of the room.
"Well sir, according to Nall and Trevor the planets that they scanned uncovered nothing important. None of the moons were capable of supporting life either. Most of the planets they scanned were gas giants. Their moons were ice worlds with no major thermal readings," Troy said addressing the commander for the group.
"I see, what else," Ares said knowing that they had found something.
"My patrols found out there was another planet close to the sun that was obscured by our scanners. It had nothing on it," Troy said.
"So there were thirteen planets," Ares said.
"Right," Troy replied. "We scanned the next to with nothing on it. The third uncovered the remains of buildings on it."
"Interesting," Ares said picking up the object. "I suppose that it was there that you found this?"
"Correct sir," Troy said. "We landed close to a group of buildings. I thought that the buildings were too unstable to enter but Lieutenant Bri had other ideas."
Ares turned his eyes to Bri to see her reaction. She just shrugged a bit and continued to look at him with what he was sure was her innocent look.
"I figured that one of us had to go in, and I was the lighter of the two of us, it was a logical choice," she said with a shrug of her shoulders.
"All right, I'll ask it slide this time," Ares said looking at Bri. "But next time, radio it in and we'll send a team over with special equipment."
"Sure," Bri replied with a smile on her face. It made a person forget why they were mad at her. He would have to watch her otherwise she would get away with just about anything with that look.
"Now, seeing how you went in anyways what did you find," Ares asked moving on to the next part.
"Well, everything was covered with dust. By the amount of dust it looked like it had been there for quite a while. Gave everything the same color," Bri replied. "The furniture, though someone decayed, was not recognizable as anything that we might use. Then I found that," she said pointing to the object that Ares held in his hand.
"All right, what is it," Ares asked.
"We believe it is a holographic device," Weaver replied coming into the talk. He had been able to study the object for a few moments before the briefing had been called.
"A holographic device," Ares said a bit doubtingly.
"Yes, the technology that it represents is quite ingenious if I may say so. Whoever they were they were thousands of years more advanced then we are right now," Weaver said. "The power supply is not even recognizable."
"All right," Ares said. "Any idea what it might have been used for?"
"I believe that it was their equivalent of a picture," Weaver said getting up and taking the object. "Observe," he said pressing the button where the alien figure appeared. "There might be more 'pictures' in it but we haven't been able to study it very long."
"That isn't human," Ares said as he stared at the figure in front of him. If you took away two arms and legs then it might had a humanoid look, somewhat. "Did you find anything else," he asked Bri.
"I didn't think it was wise to stay in building too long, not with the floor creaking under me," Bri replied. She had felt a thrill when she was in the building yet it scared her at the same time. She knew that if the opportunity came up again she would do it again.
"As long as you got back in one piece. Good work everyone," Ares said. The question had been answered. This was not Earth, or even a human colony. He made his way back up to the bridge to tell the helm officer to set course to the next system in the list. Their search would continue
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Post by ajmarks on Feb 27, 2009 18:08:59 GMT -5
Ambushed Squared
Bri made her way down the corridor to where the computer room was. It was there that the crew could read about what was going on with the colonies. The last thing that she had heard was the Delphians were going to war against the Cylons. That would help out the colonies as it might split off some of the Cylon forces and allow the Colonies to rebuild the fleet a bit. She had heard of a rumor that the Battlestar Pegasus was going to be the center of a new battle fleet. That would be exciting, especially if they were led by Commander Cain.
Entering the room she noticed that Troy was there reading something on his screen. She took a seat next to him hoping that he would notice her. When he did not she wondered what had his attention.
Brining up the main screen she tried to act like she was looking at her own screen without anyone knowing that she was really trying to figure out what Troy was reading. After navigating several screen she thought she finally had what he was reading. It was an article about ancient Kobal and the thirteenth tribe, or at least that is what she thought she was reading.
Bri scanned down the article until she came to the part where it described what type of system the tribe had settled in. There were eight or nine planets; it depended on what one considered a planet. Earth was the third planet from the local sun. It also had four gas giants with the furthest planet which was a small planet. That was the one that seemed to be in doubt. Bri wondered how small the planet really was.
"Hey Bri, I didn't notice you come in," she heard Troy's voice say. She looked up to see Troy was now looking at her.
Now that she had his attention she was not sure what to say. She had been a bit disappointed when he did not notice at first but now she felt a bit uncomfortable.
"Yeah, you looked like you were pretty engrossed in your reading," Bri said as she quickly changed her screen to another article.
"Yeah, when I get involved in articles about Earth I seem to forget where I am sometimes," Troy replied not sure if he should comment about the article that Bri had up on her screen or not.
"Yeah, well that can happen. Happens to me all the time," Bri replied with a smile.
"Really, even that one," Troy said with a nod of his head to her screen.
"Huh," Bri replied then looked at her screen. In her haste to change the article she had not seen where she was going. Now she wanted to somehow disappear from the room, either that or start over. "That, well I ah, well it’s like this I wanted some information, well," Bri mumbled as she looked at the screen. There in front of her was an article with Troy's picture at the top. "I was curious all right," she finally said.
"You could have just asked me," Troy said as wondered about why Bri was at that article. It was one that he had written about a yehren ago about the lost thirteenth tribe for one of his old professors at school.
"Well yeah, but you seemed to be into your reading and I didn't want to disturb you," Bri replied.
"It’s no problem, disturb me anytime," Troy said with a smile. Then exiting out of the article he was reading he got up. "Well, it about time for the briefing."
Bri glanced at the clock and realized it was about time for their patrol. "Right," she said also exiting her article then quickly walked out of the room. Troy watched her actions with a bit of interest. Perhaps she did like him after all.
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Post by ajmarks on Feb 27, 2009 18:09:46 GMT -5
Colonel Pratt waited again in the briefing room. This one was only a simple patrol to a system that had only two planets. The Argo's scanners had not detected any movement from the inside of the system of ships or anything like that. Commander Ares wanted to make sure that the scanners were not wrong about anything.
He watched as the patrol came into the room. This one would be manned by Captain Troy and Lieutenant Bri. So far he had watched them closely. They had been getting along quite well lately. He had a feeling that they liked each other. That also meant that he would have to keep an eye on them as well for any signs of trouble.
The one thing that Pratt did not want was a lover's quarrel. That would disrupt the workings of the ship too much and it was his duty to make sure that everything worked.
"All right we'll get down to business," Pratt said. "We have just approached the second system on our journey. It should be a short patrol as the scanners have not picked up anything in the area. We do not expect you to find anything here either."
"Is there anything else colonel," Troy asked hoping that the mission sounded as straightforward as it sounded.
"Nope, just be careful as always otherwise good luck," Pratt said with a nod of his head. Bri and Troy got up and walked out heading to the alpha launch bay.
Troy made his way to the launch bay only to be intercepted by Nall and Martin. The two of them were standing in the launch bay.
"Hey, we heard that we weren't going to be there to watch your backs, so be careful," Nall said to the two of them.
"Didn't know you cared," Bri said with a teasing smile on her face.
"Always my dear," Nall replied then turned serious. "If you run into any trouble do hesitate to call."
"We won't Nall," Troy replied.
"Then I'll see you later at dinner time," Martin said giving Troy a clap on the back.
"Right," Troy said slowly. He shook his head to clear what he had just seen. It was the second time that he had seen that vision.
"You all right," Bri asked seeing the look on Troy's face.
"Yeah, we should get going," Troy replied saying another good-bye to the two men. He walked over to his viper and climbed on board.
He gave Bri a thumbs up as he listened to Renee transfer the coordinates to the viper. He was feeling quite uneasy right now about this mission. There was an underlying current that he could feel about this mission. It was almost as if something was waiting for him out there.
He finally acknowledged the transfer and that he had control of the launch. He pushed the turbo button and within a few seconds was out in open space. Bri joined him a moment later beside him.
"Well, let's get this one over with," he said. He wanted it to be over that was for sure.
The trip to the system was quite uneventful and they began to scan the planets. They went to the furthest planet first. It was a giant gas planet. One of the largest they had ever seen. The three moons were all good size but did not have anything that contained life. The atmosphere was very deadly to any known living organisms.
The two of them then approached the second planet. Troy noticed his nervousness was creeping up again as they approached the planet. He was always one to take heed of his gut feelings and he had the feeling like something was wrong.
"Bri, stay back at the gas giant," Troy said to her. "There's something wrong here."
"Then perhaps we should both go," Bri replied.
"No, let's minimize the risk," Troy replied. "And be prepared to head out as soon as possible."
Bri was not sure what to make of Troy's request. Her scanners showed nothing in the area that would be a cause of concern. She decided that they would talk about it later and turned around for the larger gas planet. It was from here that she watched as Troy made his way carefully towards the other planet.
Troy was real nervous about approaching the planet. There was something about it that made him weary. He kept on eye on his scanner and the other on the planet. It was just before he approached the planet that he saw what it was he was looking for. Just coming up from the planet was something that he did not want to see.
"Get out of here, hit your turbos now," Troy said as he quickly turned around. "We have Cylons."
Bri heard that last part and quickly accelerated away from the system and towards the Argo. She was not sure that she liked the idea of Cylons in the area. Checking her scanner for any sign of pursuit she was glad when she did not see anything behind her or Troy.
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Post by ajmarks on Feb 27, 2009 18:11:10 GMT -5
"Commander to the bridge," Ares heard the call. He got up from his bed and quickly walked over to the intercom.
"What's going on colonel," Ares asked hoping that it was not anything important. He knew that a mission to the system was underway but that it would not be Earth. According to the legends there were too few planets in the system.
"The patrol picked up something and are coming in hot," Pratt replied over the intercom.
That had Ares wondering what would have had two experienced pilots running back to the battlestar under full turbos. Whatever it was it just did not sound good to him.
"I'll be right there," Ares said quickly pulling on his uniform and headed to the bridge.
There were several things that he could think about as he walked to the bridge. The one thing that he thought of was they had found some intelligent life forms on one of the planets. Entering the bridge he was astonished by the amount of activity that was going on. People were bustling around quickly doing their jobs.
"Pratt, what's going on," Ares asked quickly walking up to where Pratt was standing near the command center of the bridge.
"Our patrol ran into Cylons," Pratt replied.
"Cylons, here," Ares said not liking what he had just heard. "All right, keep the long range scans on the system. I want to know about everything that comes into and out of that system. I also want to meet with the patrol and see what happened."
"Yes sir," Pratt replied. "So far there has been no movement from the system to indicate that they had been seen."
"Good, that means either they didn't see the patrol or they are massing for an attack," Ares said. "Put the ship on yellow alert. I want red squad ready to launch on a microns notice."
People went about their jobs making sure that everything was ready just in case. People were nervous about an impending attack by the Cylons that everyone hoped would not happen.
"Sir, Captain Troy and Lieutenant Bri are waiting for you in the briefing room," Pratt said watching as Ares nodded and walked off the bridge for the room.
Ares quickly walked down to the elevator to take him to the mission briefing room. His mind swirled around with the implementations of having Cylons in the area. It was a bit disturbing to him as well. They really needed to figure out what they were doing our here so far away. The other thing that he was aware of was the fact that they had to avoid capture. If the Cylons found out about this mission then everything might be in danger.
Troy and Bri were waiting in the room for him. Usually there would be nothing much to talk about. He would inform fleet command about what had happened and they would make the decision of what to do. This time he was in charge and had to figure out what they had to do.
"I hope that you have some more news for me then you found a group of Cylons," Ares asked the two.
"The Cylons are orbiting the first planet in the system. From what I saw there was at least one Cylon basestar along with some sort of platform," Troy said recalling what his scanners had picked up. "I don't think that we were detected leaving the system."
"I don't think so. If they had then we would have seen a patrol or an attack wave already," Ares replied calmly. "Now the question is what do we do about it?"
"We could warn the fleet," Troy replied seriously. "They would be able to send in a couple of ships and wipe it out."
"Yes, but we are ordered to maintain radio silence," Ares replied. "That and we do not know exactly what we are up against just yet either."
Ares rubbed his chin in thought as he pondered a few options that they had. The easiest course of action was to warn fleet command. That however brought up the problem that the signal could be intercepted by a Cylon listening station. That would mean questions on the Cylon side as to why a ship was so far out here.
A second thought was that he still needed more information about what was here. Even if he decided to warn fleet command he would have to have information about strength of the Cylon position. That still led him to the question as to why it was here. What were the Cylons doing?
"Was there any indication of what the station was for," Ares asked Troy and Bri. He was looking for more information.
"I didn't get a good scan on it," Troy replied. "That and I left Bri at the other planet."
"Yeah, I just wish you had mentioned something about Cylons though," Bri said with a look at Troy.
"Hey, at the time I didn't know," Troy replied honestly. "I just had a feeling that something was wrong."
"I know the feeling," Ares said. He had been in combat before when he had a strange gut feeling. He had learned to listen to such feelings when he got them. "Did you see anything on your scanners?"
"Nope, I was hidden behind the other planet," Bri replied. "The only thing I saw was Troy getting out of there like a daggit on a hot roof."
"All right, assemble the squads for a briefing," Ares said then left the room to head back to the bridge. He wanted to make sure that nothing else had happened. This was definitely going to be a sticky situation.
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Post by ajmarks on Feb 27, 2009 18:11:42 GMT -5
Troy watched the commander leave the room and wondered what was going though his mind. He had a small feeling that he knew what was going to happen. He walked out of the room on his way to the pilot's quarters to find red squad leader with Bri right behind him.
"What do you think is going to happen," Bri asked as she drew even with Troy.
"I'm not really sure just yet. Probably wants our opinion about what to do," Troy replied. "I think that he'll ask for a new patrol for more information. Right now all we know is that there is at least one basestar orbiting the planet, perhaps more. That and what type of station is nearby as well, is it a combat station, or other type."
"Well, that clears things up a bit more. The only question is how will they be able to get close enough to scan the Cylons without getting caught," Bri asked.
"That I don't know," Troy replied honestly as they entered the pilot's room. He glanced around and finally saw Gunther the leader of red squad.
"Hey, Gunther," Troy said walking up to the man.
"Troy, tell me you know what is going on. We're hearing all types of rumors from Earth to Cylons," Gunther said as he approached Troy.
"It’s Cylons," Troy replied. "I ran into a basestar and some sort of station while on patrol of the system."
"The Cylons, what are they doing out here. Seems a bit strange if you ask me," Gunther said musing this over as well.
"Yeah, Commander Ares is asking for a meeting of all available pilots," Troy said.
"When," Gunther asked.
"As soon as we can all get together," Troy replied to him.
"Then we'll be right there," Gunther said turning to his squadron. "Listen up," he said gaining everyone's attention. "Everyone in the briefing room now. We have a situation going on."
Troy walked out of the room to head to his own squads barracks. They would also have to be in the meeting as he did not know what Ares had in mind. There were several ideas and the most probable was a patrol back to the planet.
Walking into the room he noticed that most of the squad was sitting around waiting for whatever to happen. Nall and Martin noticed him walk in and got right up.
"What's the commander say," Nall asked. He had already heard about the Cylons and had already informed the rest of the squad. Now they were just waiting around to see what the next step was.
"He wants a briefing with all pilots. I'm not really sure what he'll say to do, probably another patrol," Troy replied.
"Perhaps we should get back and find out," Martin replied.
Green squad got up and walked out towards the briefing room to see what the commander had decided. There was no panic in their steps just a determined mind set of whatever needed to be done they could do.
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Post by ajmarks on Feb 27, 2009 18:12:57 GMT -5
Ares stepped back on the bridge to gain the latest information about the system. He walked over to where Pratt was sitting listening to the reports as they came in to the bridge.
"Anything changed," Ares asked watching as Pratt replied that there was not. "I'm sending in another patrol. We need to know what type of Cylons forces are there."
"Understood commander," Pratt replied. It was something that he had already figured would happen. It was the next part that had him worried. There were a lot of different scenarios that went though his head. It all depended on what type of forces the Cylons had orbiting the planet.
"Keep us at a distance for right now. I don't really want them knowing that we are there just yet," Ares said. "And keep an eye out for any other movement from the nearby systems."
"Yes sir," Pratt said as Ares again left the bridge to his command.
Ares went back down to the mission room where he found almost both squadrons there. There were a few people missing but that was probably due to the fact that they were on combat patrol right now. The extra pilots were also in the room waiting to see what was going on.
"Our last patrol encountered a Cylon base of sorts. We're not sure what it is just yet, but it doesn't look good. The fact that it’s all the way out here means that it’s probably going to be used to attack the Colonies," Ares said having given it much thought.
"But that would mean the defenses would be looking the wrong way," one person replied.
"Right, and by the time the fleet could arrive to help out it would be too late," Ares said. "The more I think about it the more I'm sure that this base is designed to attack the Colonies."
"And the fleet probably would not be able to help due to a Cylon frontal assault," Nall said as he thought about it.
"Right, this is why I believe that we need to destroy it as soon as possible. But first we need to know what type of forces we are going to be up against," Ares told them. "For that I need a couple of volunteers to take a patrol into the system. Using the gas giant they will approach the planet when the Cylons are on the other side of the target planet. They will then land on the planet and observe the Cylons as they pass overhead. Then they will have to carefully return back to the Argo safely with the information. Any volunteers?"
The group of pilots digested the information that Ares had just given them. It was a daunting task that had been put before them yet was very much needed. A couple of red squad pilots stepped forward to take the mission. So far red squad had not had much action yet but that was about to change.
Troy wanted to volunteer but knew that Ares would want him to rest a bit longer. The commander did not like to send people out on patrols right after they had just been on one. Ares believed in giving his crew rest time to keep them at the top of their job and to avoid burnout and mistakes.
"Very well, report to you vipers when you are ready. Everyone else is dismissed unless you're on ready combat alert," Ares said then walked out of the room.
The two pilots were wished good luck by everyone on the mission and to return safely. The one thing that was on everyone's mind was what would they find and what would be the next course of action.
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Post by ajmarks on Feb 27, 2009 18:13:28 GMT -5
Ares watched on the bridge as Renee gave the permission for the scouting team to launch. So far there had been no movement from the system which meant that they had not been discovered yet. That had him worried as well. Why had the Cylons not seen the first patrol when they left the system? What was going on there?
On the monitors of the bridge Ares saw as the two vipers made their launch. The scanners indicating that they were moving towards the target system. They would learn soon enough what forces the Cylons had there.
Ares was already thinking of different tactics to use against the Cylons. It was a dangerous situation that they had found themselves in. He really thought that it was a slow buildup by the Cylons for an attack against the Colonies. It would be easy to do. The Cylon fleet provides a distraction then this group attacks. Then a different idea came to him. What if this group was the distraction? It would draw a major part of the battle fleet's attention away from the Cylon boarder that it might allow an attack to surprise the fleet thereby destroying it.
"Anything wrong commander," Pratt asked seeing Ares rub his eyes.
"Yeah, I think it doesn't matter what we find there anymore," Ares replied not really answering Pratt's question.
"What do you mean," Pratt probed wanting to know what was going on.
"It will be up to us to destroy them here and now," Ares replied. "It is an ambush squadron. I'm also thinking that it's more of the diversion then a major attack force."
"Diversion," Pratt repeated not sure that he followed what Ares was thinking.
"Yes, this Cylon force here is part of a group that will probably attack the Colonies, diverting and drawing the battle fleet attention away from a real threat," Ares said.
"By the lords of Kobal," Pratt replied gaining the true measure of what could happen. "They would be caught in an ambush. If they were destroyed then the defenses of the Colonies would not be able to defend themselves against the entire might of the Cylon Empire."
"No, which is why we must destroy them here and now," Ares replied. "There might not be time to warn fleet command either."
"Then what about our mission," Pratt asked.
"If we survive, we'll continue on our way," Ares replied logically. "It depends on the damage."
Pratt nodded his head in agreement. This was a situation that he had not envisioned when he signed on. He had visions of encountering strange new alien civilizations and perhaps finding Earth on day.
Now the only thing left to do was wait until the report came back from the scouting team. That would tell them what they would be up against when they finally attacked.
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Post by ajmarks on Feb 27, 2009 18:14:54 GMT -5
Ambushed Squared: Goodbye Friend
Martin and Nall sat at the table waiting to see what would happen next. They had been talking about the Colonies and what they would miss and what they would not miss while they were on this mission. There was also a group of odds on a far board as to if they would ever find Earth and when. So far most people figured that they would never find Earth. The odds just seemed to great for people to believe.
"What will you miss," Nall asked Martin.
"Jesse," Martin replied referring to previous girlfriend. Nall shook his head in disbelief.
"Martin, she dumped you ten boyfriends ago," Nall said. "She goes through them faster than I do girlfriends."
"But she was special," Martin replied not really budging. He knew that she would never get back with him but a man could dream.
"I even heard she had a few girlfriends as well," Martin said. "I don't think she knows what she likes."
"I liked her. She even told me that the time we spent together was some of her best memories," Martin replied.
"Then why did the blonde ditz ditch you," Nall said. He had never liked Jesse. Unlike him he never said that any of his relationships with a girl were for long term and made sure that they knew that as well. A few tried to make it long term but it was not his style. They had been upset and even angry with him but they moved on. Jesse however said that she was looking for a long term relationship. Her relationship with Martin lasted less than half a yehren.
"Hey," Bri said as she and Troy sat down next to them. "So whatcha talking about?"
"Jesse," Nall said with a roll of his eyes.
"Oh, that ditz," Bri replied. "You’re better than her Martin."
"You keep saying that, maybe someday I'll believe it," Martin said. "But the blonde hair, gorgeous body."
"Don't need that info," Bri said holding up a hand.
"I got info," Nall said waggling his eyebrows.
"Way too much info," Bri replied burying her head into her hands. "I should have stayed in the cafeteria."
"Finger foods," Nall said with a grin. Martin started to laugh who was joined by Troy when Nall found himself on the floor having been pushed off by Bri.
"I'm surrounded by perverts," she said closing her eyes.
"Not our fault that you’re still pure," Nall said from the floor. That earned a raised eyebrow from Troy who watched as Bri blushed red.
That was unexpected to Troy who figured that with the company that Bri kept she would be different somehow, he was not sure why though.
"God kill me now," Bri groaned then glanced over at Nall who was getting back into his chair.
"We love ya anyways though," Nall said with a smile. He knew that he had ruffled her a bit and that he would probably pay for it later, but the look on her face at that moment had been priceless.
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Post by ajmarks on Feb 27, 2009 18:18:32 GMT -5
Ares leaned back in the command chair. So far there had been nothing from the scouting party. That both worried him and relieved him. He knew that it would take time to gather the information properly but he was also ready for action.
"Commander, we have the scout ships approaching," Renee said not looking up from her screen. She was looking to make sure that there was no other movement from the system.
"Have the pilots meet me in the debriefing room as soon as they detox," Ares replied. He wanted to know what they were going to be up against right away.
"Yes sir," Pratt replied.
Ares did not have to wait long until the two pilots entered the room. They did not have the attitude that they were going to be up against far superior numbers but he would wait to see what they had.
"Lieutenant Lycieus and Hearld," Ares said as the two men sat down at the table. "What did you find?"
"We took several scans to make sure and to time their orbits," Hearld replied. "It appears that there is one basestar and only one station."
That made Ares feel a bit better. They would be able to dictate the term of the battle a bit better now, that and the Argo would not be facing more than one basestar.
"What about the station, what was it," Ares asked.
"It was an unknown configuration. The warbook was not able to identify it," Lycieus said. "Here is what it looks like."
An image of the station came up on the screen. Ares had to admit that it was not like anything he had seen before either. That could be an unknown element. The more he stared at the station however the more it looked vaguely familiar.
"Does it look familiar to you at all," Ares asked the two men.
Both of the men looked at the station trying to figure out what their commander was talking about. It took a few minutes but Hearld finally said that something did look familiar to him.
"This area right here," Hearld said pointing out a part of the station.
Ares looked at it for a few seconds before realizing what it was. He looked at the other parts of the station to confirm his suspicions.
"This is a combo base," Ares finally said. "This part here and here are from a combat base."
"Yes, and this is a part of a factory base," Lycieus said pointing to another part.
"That's why the scanners couldn't identify it," Hearld said.
"Judging by the looks of the station it probably holds only about fifty to a hundred additional fighters plus the three hundred that the basestar carries," Ares said calculation the best plan of attack. "Were there any patrols on the surface of the planet?'
"We didn't see any, nor did we observe any patrols coming out from the basestar," Hearld replied.
"Good, I have an idea," Ares said. "Have all pilots report to the mission room immediately. We need to put the plan in action right now."
"Yes sir," Pratt replied then walked off the bridge to inform the pilots.
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Post by ajmarks on Feb 27, 2009 18:19:40 GMT -5
Troy was sitting at the table watching the banter between Nall and Bri wondering how they kept it up. Taking a glance at Martin he noticed that he seemed to find all of this funny. They had currently moved away from Bri being the topic to Nall being the center of attention. Troy believed that the man enjoyed being the center of attention even if he was being the brunt of all the jokes.
Troy noticed Colonel Pratt walk into the room and realized that they would be finding out what the next mission was going to be. He had heard that the two pilots from red squad had landed and were debriefing the commander. Now it appeared that that debriefing was over and now they work on the next part.
"Commander Ares had requested that your squad report to the briefing room right away," Pratt said to Troy who nodded his head as Pratt went in search of Gunther to tell him the news as well.
"Everyone report to the briefing room now," Troy said standing up to make the announcement. When the colonel had walked into the room everything had gone silent waiting to see what he had said to Troy. Now everyone moved quickly out to the room.
It did not take very long to get to the mission room. Pilots filed into the room as the air was tense with nervous anticipation. They all had the feeling that they knew battle was coming soon but it was how it was coming that had them nervous.
Commander Ares quietly watched as the pilots made their way to the seats. He had already thought of a course of action and which squad would do what. It would take a bit of time to put into place but Ares was sure that it would work.
"Thank you all for coming so soon. I know that you're all wondering what we found on the scouting mission," Ares said looking at as many pilots as he could. He could see that many were looking at him for what to do. That was fine with him. He had become accustom to bearing the weight though it was a bit different this time. Now he was a commander and not the colonel. "Tell me, how does blue squad feel about roughing it for a short time?"
Troy was taken by surprise by the question but with a quick glance at his squadron he noticed that while there were a few surprised faces there was nobody shaking their heads.
"I think we can handle it commander," Troy replied with a slight grin on his face.
"Good," Ares said with a nod then went ahead with his plan. "The scouting report shows that there is one Cylon basestar and one combo station," he said as a picture of the station and basestar. "We've estimated that the two have a combined fighter compliment of three hundred fifty to four hundred."
Several pilots were shocked at that number but did not say anything. They had been outnumbered for every fight so far so this one was no different. The Argo carried on hundred vipers, or two extended squadrons. This meant that they would only be outnumbered by about three or four to one.
"I doubt that being outnumbered will be anything new to any of you but I think we can manage a surprise and take out several before they get a chance to launch their fighters," Ares told his pilots. "We have on board ten bombers that I plan to use in this battle."
Troy was not sure about this. The bombers were not as fast or maneuverable as the vipers. The pilots flying those craft would be in trouble for sure.
"I plan to use the planet as a staging area for the attack. We have shown that we can move small groups of ships to the planet without being noticed, I plan to use that to our advantage," Ares said. "For some reason the Cylons are not sending out patrols which is also to our advantage. I want to send blue squad to the planet along with the ten bombers. Once everything is set blue squad will attack from the planet's surface. The close proximity of the Cylon forces to the planet's surface should give you the element of surprise."
Troy glanced around to see how everyone was reacting to the news that had been given. This was an ambush in every sense of the plan. Troy realized that it would take a bit of time to get his entire squad on the planet's surface without the Cylon's noticing.
"I'll be sending the shuttles to the planet's surface as well with the supplies that will be needed. You will not be able to group your fighters close together in case they are spotted by the Cylons," Ares said to the group. "Once blue squad is in place we well set up a time for the attack. With the Cylons attention focused on blue squad I'll bring in the Argo out from behind the gas giant of the system. Red squad will then be launched for a two pronged attack. Hopefully the bombers will have been able to hit the launch bays of the basestar to limit the amount of fighters and inflict some damage on the basestar. After that the Argo will close in and launch her missiles to destroy the basestar and station. Any questions?"
The room was silent as they absorbed the plan. There was a lot of risk in the plan but it was simple enough. The only thing they had to worry about was the Cylons finding them on the planet's surface. No one said anything for many moments.
"Who will be flying the bombers," Troy finally asked.
"I would like people with experience but I'll also take volunteers," Ares replied.
Troy figured that it would take ten of his pilots away from the fighters, but they needed the heavy weapons of the bombers to take out the launch bays. Troy knew that he had experience with the bombers but did not know who else did.
"One the bombers have completed their attack runs they have the choice of returning to the Argo to switch to their vipers or to continue to attack until they run out of ammo," Ares said.
Troy thought about that for a few moments. A quick run in the bombers then switching to the viper and coming out fresh into the battle might help out. The only thing was they would have to be sure of their targets so no one attacked the same target as someone else.
"I'll volunteer, I have experience," Troy said taking the lead.
"Me too," Martin said from behind Troy. Several others quickly joined them as well. Each of them had some experience with the bomber. It did not take long before they had ten pilots.
"Looks good, let's get this plan into action," Ares said. "We should send the fighters to the planet's surface in groups of two or three. The first three groups will also have a shuttle along with it for the supplies. Then when everyone is there we'll attack. The last group down will have that information as we are not sure how long this will take."
"Yes sir," Troy said. "I think I should be one of the first ones down though."
Ares nodded his head in agreement. It was true leadership that was coming though from Troy that he sensed in the man. "Anyone you want to be in the last group."
"Nall, let him and whoever goes with him to know when the attack is going to occur," Troy said.
"I will, and good luck captain," Ares said as the meeting ended.
Everyone left the room to get ready for the upcoming battle. Red squad would continue to maintain the combat patrol in short range of the battlestar just in case.
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