Alignment of the Stars Part 1

Alignment of the Stars

by AJ Marks

Part 1

Cain limped his way across the bridge, having been summoned there by Tolan. The colonel requested his presence right away. The blonde-haired man stood at the scanner looking at something. Cain stood next to him, looking down at the scanner, seeing something he only hoped to see once more.

“We picked them up a few minutes ago, we’ll be in their scanner range in a few microns,” Tolan said.

“Excellent, open communications with them when they close in for a closer look, have them land in bay alpha, and then have the pilots report to my ready room” Cain said.

“Of course,” Tolan said, as Cain limped his way off the bridge again.

He almost felt relief at the thought of two vipers. Not the first time he would encounter pilots from the Galactica. He briefly wondered who might land on the ship, perhaps a pilot from his own squads, someone he knew. What a welcome that might be he thought.

Sure, there would be questions, like how the Pegasus survived a battle against three basestars. It had not gone quite as he expected, and yet went better due to a couple of vipers. Probably the reason the ship survived at all. Cain knew his last order had been to go to light speed, which the exploding basestars masked.

The Pegasus took severe damage, and a beam landed on his leg, forcing the remaining med-tech to amputate it at the knee, ending his days in a viper. A metal rod had been attached allowing him to walk around, and after a yahren had finally gotten used to it.

He thought back to the original plan, to return to the fleet after the battle. That plan was derailed by damage to the navigation system. It took some time for repairs to be completed, and by then Adama had changed course. Now a yahren later they had finally managed to track down the fleet and the Galactica.

The door opened, allowing two men to walk into the room. He recognized neither pilot, and both appeared to stare at him. One was tall, tan, bluish-green eyes and dirty blonde hair the other stood a bit shorter, with short dark hair and with a goatee.

“Welcome aboard the Pegasus,” Cain said, slapping his baton in his hand, hoping to make a good impression.

“It can’t be?” the taller one said. “You were killed almost seven yahrens ago!”

“Are we dead?” the other one said.

“No, neither of you are dead, and you should know, after all, you are from the Galactica, how is Commander Adama?” Cain asked, stopping any further question as he looked in their confused faces.

“Adama?” one said.

“Galactica?” the other stated, both appearing stunned by Cain’s questions.

“You are part of the fleet?” Cain said, now confused himself.

“I’m Captain Strider, Black Star strike captain of the Battlestar Excaliber, this is Lieutenant Erc” the tall blonde said.

“Excaliber, I’m not familiar with that ship?” Cain said, his defenses raising a bit in case this was a Cylon trap of some sort.

“Commissioned by Commander Paris about eight yahrens ago,” Strider replied.

“Commander Paris, eh,” Cain said, recalling the man. “Good man, retired before the massacre, died a yahren later.”

Cain wondered if the man could have done such a thing, then realized he could, after all he had done something similar almost fifteen yahrens ago. He paused at the thought, wondering how the mission went with the Argo, but turned his attention back to Strider.

“Well, regardless, the Pegasus and her crew need some help, and you can help us,” Cain said. “How about we contact your battlestar.”

The two still shocked warriors, followed him to the bridge.

“Now, you haven’t had contact with Cylons lately, have you?” he asked, not wanting to broadcast his position.

“No, haven’t seen any of them since leaving the Colonies,” Strider replied.

“They must have focused on the Galactica,” Cain said. On the bridge several men and women working looked at the newcomers with relief.

“Now, where is your ship so we can avoid needlessly broadcasting ourselves?” Cain said.

“About right here,” the other man said.

“Good, good, Tolan, send off a communications,” Cain said, settling in on his command chair with Strider and Erc standing nearby. “What’s your commander’s name?”

“Teck,” Strider said.

“Teck, yes, I know the man,” Cain said. “Never meet him much, but know the man, especially after the battle of Aries.”

The screen came to life, showing an older man with grey hair, and blue eyes. Cain watched in amusement once more as the man recognized Cain, sitting up slightly as many did when they recognized him.

“By the gods, Commander Cain!” Teck said.

“Nope, no gods, just me,” Cain said. Taking a moment to think about the situation. “I have a couple of your men, they wondered off a bit,” he said, motioning for the two to step over and into the view.

“Strider, Erc, glad you’re all right,” Teck said, still sounding a bit confused.

“I think we should meet up, exchange information. I’m sure we both have some exciting stories to tell,” Cain said.

“Yes, that would be a good idea,” Teck replied.

“You’ll either have to send a shuttle over, or come over here I’m afraid, I don’t have any shuttles,” Cain stated.

“I think I can manage that,” Teck stated.

“I look forward to seeing you commander,” Cain said. He gave the commander their position and decided to wait. “You two can either go back, or wait here, you’re choice, we don’t have great accommodations at the moment though.”

“We’ll think about that, but first off, we’ll help move our vipers,” Strider said.

“Good men,” Cain said. He looked forward to meeting with Teck.

---

Teck looked back at Colonel Voss, who still seemed in a bit of shock over what happened. Commander Cain had hailed them. After all that time of not seeing another ship, and trying to find the Galactica and her fleet, they found someone.

“What do you think?” Voss finally asked.

“As unbelievable as I think this is, I have yet to wrap my mind around it all,” Teck finally said. The Pegasus would make a fine addition to the Excaliber. He had a feeling Cain never knew about the ship, after all it had been commissioned by Commander Paris.

“At least we don’t have to worry about those two running out of fuel,” Voss stated, the very thing Teck had started to worry about when they had yet to return to the scanner.

“Do we have the coordinates of the Pegasus?” Teck asked.

“Yes sir,” Shelby said.

“Lay in a course, and let the rest of the fleet know what’s going on,” Teck said turning towards Voss.

“Of course,” Voss stated.

Teck looked at the scanner, and the direction of they would be going in. He realized close by was a system with four planets. They might find something there useful.

He turned seeing Colonel Stonic walking up.

“Heard we had some excitement?” he said.

“Yeah, seems like our patrol ran into someone,” Teck said, watching as Stonic got excited, unusual for him.

“What? The Galactica?” he asked.

“No, but how does Commander Cain and the Pegasus sound?” Teck asked, watching as Stonic’ eyes went wide.

“But the Fifth fleet was destroyed,” Stonic exclaimed.

“I know, but I just got a communique from him,” Teck said. “We’re headed to check it out.”

“Sir, one battlestar appearing on the scanners,” Shelby said.

“Thank you,” Teck said, seeing that at least one part was true. They were headed to a battlestar. He watched the scans come up, and the damage indicated. Whatever happened, the battlestar had been through one hell of a fight.

---

The sound of running feet caused him to turn, seeing the blonde head of a young girl come running onto the bridge, heading straight towards the commander, before jumping into his arms.

“Ugh,” Tagget grunted, holding onto the six year old girl who snuggled closer. Ever since their escape from the Colonies she had thought of him as a father, and as a result he thought of her as a second chance at being a parent. He understood what happened, another bad dream. He looked up seeing Valeri walk in.

“Sorry commander,” she said.

“Don’t worry, nothing going on anyways,” Tagget replied, gently rubbing circles on the girl’s back. “Been a while since one happened.”

They both understood what he meant. Early on Sara had terrible nightmares about what happened during the attack. He gradually learned she witness her parent’s death by the Cylons, and had lost her sister and pet cat, seeing them die as well. Someone so young who had seen so much death, it almost made his heart break when he learned what happened. Each time a really bad one occurred, she would run looking for him.

“Commander, I’ve picked up something strange, some communications,” Yvette said, the communications officer of the Sunflare.

“Where?” Tagget said, turning so he could see.

“In this sector,” Yvette replied.

“Hmm, might be anything from a glitch to another race,” Zaga said.

“Well, let’s head that way, we might find someone to trade with,” Tagget said.

“We don’t have anything to trade,” Zaga said.

“I know that, but they don’t,” Tagget replied. Anything different might pick up the fleet’s spirit. Five warships, and two civilian ships, and they had to stop repeatedly for food. What he would give to have an Argo ship in the fleet.

“Helm, lay in a course, inform all ships of the course change,” Zaga said. Within minutes the ships started to make the turn heading in a new direction.

---

Adama sat looking over the latest reports. So far things appeared well, but the every dwindling number of their fuel always worried him. He had gotten used to mentally calculating how much fuel they had left. From the number, excluding any emergencies, they had about half a yahren before things got serious. The chime caused him to look up, seeing Tigh walk into the room.

“Adama, just received this report,” Tigh said, handing him the report. Adama looked it over seeing that another ship’s life support system had gone critical.

“Estimates on the repairs?” Adama said with a sigh. Such things did not surprise him, yet he wished for more than a few days between problems. The life systems were critical, and no surprise they were going down given the stress many were operating under. Most ships were almost beyond capacity.

“They say a day or so, but the repairs will be temporary at best,” Tigh replied.

“Is there any system around that we might be able to find some supplies?” Adama asked.

“Sheba stated she found a system with four planets during her patrol, it’s the closest one,” Tigh replied.

“How much do we have to change course?” Adama asked.

“Not much commander,” Tigh replied.

“Then make the change, tell the fleet, we’ll head there and hope we find something. Send a patrol when we get close enough,” Adama ordered. He watched Tigh acknowledge the order then walk out. Some days he wished he had never survived the massacre, his life would be easier.

---

Waiting in the meeting room, Cain watched the door open, and Commander Teck walked in followed by Colonel Tolan.

“Cain, I never thought I’d see you in person,” Teck said. “Though, looks like the Pegasus has seen better days.”

“Yes, tangled with three basestars, but better her than the Galactica,” Cain said.

“The Galactica, so it survives,” Teck stated, half sounding relieved by the words.

“Had an encounter with them a yahren ago,” Cain said. “They were almost dead in space, running out of fuel. About two hundred and twenty ships, all civilian ships, all packed.”

“And one warship, amazing,” Teck said.

“I take it you haven’t seen them then,” Cain said. “I know Adama’s looking for Earth, and heading in this direction, somewhat, and moving slowly.”

“Yes, with that many ships, what a logistical nightmare. I thought three ships was bad,” Teck said. “I can’t imagine the problems he’d had to deal with.”

“First off, can you help any repairs on the Pegasus?’ Cain asked.

“We might have some supplies, especially if we can get at least one landing bay operational,” Teck said.

“Oh, you have a lot of vipers?” Cain asked.

“Normal compliment is three hundred,” Teck said. “However, we’re using one landing bay as housing, and we can probably do the same with the Pegasus.”

“Well, our beta bay is heavy damaged,” Cain said, thinking it over. He disliked the idea of civilians, but also knew it would make sense. His ship had lots of room, especially considering most of the staff had transferred to the Galactica. He then thought of something, the number of vipers seemed awfully high for a battlestar. “Three hundred?” Cain finally asked.

“The Excaliber is a new design, three hangars, ten viper squadrons, lots of new advances, especially in scanner range, weapons, armor, and just overall improvement that should have gone into refits,” Teck said.

“All the stuff I said should have been in there,” Cain stated, nodding his head. He wanted to head over and check everything out about that battlestar. But it would have to wait for now. He had to look after the Pegasus and her crew.

“You said you knew where the Galactica was going?” Teck said.

Cain brought up a map. “We encountered the Galactica here, and had the battle here,” he said, pointing to two spots. “I know Adama was moving off in this direction, and based on how far he went from the Colonies, he’s moving in this general direction at a slow speed.”

“I’ll send some scouts around, see if we can pick up on their trail,” Teck said.

“That would work,” Cain said.

“We still have to work out who is in command?” Teck said. They both knew that Cain was the senior commander. Cain also understood something over the past yahren, his attitude had changed slightly. He always wanted to attack, however the philosophy did not work well in the current situation. Every ship now was precious. He also knew the men and women serving under Teck probably would be like the ones who served under him. Teck had brought them through, survived, and would look unkindly upon him coming in and taking over.

“I think you should remain commander of the fleet, I’ll retain command of the Pegasus,” Cain said. “Something I learned from Adama, though I wish I could tell him that. Besides, you’ve done well for your men and women, I won’t undermine such loyalty.”

Tolan looked a bit shocked, but did not say anything. Cain understood his colonel’s shock at the announcement. He had expected Cain to take over, but what he did not know was he was taking his time. He would look for the opportunity to go on the offensive again, but not today. Today they had to rebuild and play defense.

“Once the Pegasus joins up with the Excalber, you and anyone else who lost limbs should come over. We have a fully functioning med-lab.

Cain looked down at his lost leg. While he got used to the limp, it would feel better, and there were a couple of others on board who would benefit, one having lost both arms.

“Only if you give me a tour,” Cain said, smiling.

“Deal,” Teck replied.

---

The clicking of heels on the floor echoed in the hallway, as a man with short black hair made his way towards a door. It opened allowing him into a large command room. People all around working at consoles, and a large three-dimensional map of known space in the middle of the room.

“Commander Ares, we’ve picked up some very faint signals,” a man said.

“Where?” Ares asked, looking at the map.

“From what we’ve been able to determine, around this location,” the man replied.

“Interesting,” Ares said, rubbing his chin in thought. “What do you think Pratt, Boris?”

He looked at the other two, one who had been with him a while, the other a new person.

“Well, one is defiantly Cylon in origin, the others, we think they are colonial,” Pratt finally said.

“The Galactica?” Boris asked.

“Possible, but we have no idea which direction it went,” Area replied. “But Cylon signals, that is disturbing.”

Ares thought about the situation a bit. It was the first time they had encountered such signals. He realized it was probably a scout ship, heading out to see what was out this direction. He would have to think about this carefully.

“Problem?” a new voice asked. He turned to see Troy standing there, along with Bri and Nall.

“You might say that, Cylons here,” Pratt replied before Ares could.

They looked at the scanner before looking back up at Ares.

“So what do we do?” Bri asked.

“We can’t allow them too close, so we’ll wait and see what else develops. I don’t want to rush out without any information,” Ares finally replied. “But let’s be alert in case they are closer than we think.”

“Understood,” Boris said.

---

Cain looked out the windows of the shuttle, seeing the Excaliber coming into view. Larger than a normal battlestar, and with the additional hangar slung on the bottom, it made an impressive sight. He went over her specs once more. He wished for an entire squad of such ships. He could take them and go all the way to the Cylon capital, and perhaps end this war. The excitement of planning such an offensive kept his mind busy. Mentally pushing the thoughts from his mind, he felt the shuttle land and finally park.

“Permission to come aboard,” he said, standing by the door a few microns later.

“Granted,” Teck said.

“This is Lieutenant Gries, and Cammern,” Cain said, introducing the other two, one lost a hand, the other both arms.

“We’ll get you three up to med-lab, fixed up and then I’ll give you that tour,” Teck said.

Cain looked around the ship as they walked along. He saw the same signs here as he did on the Galactica. A few kids ran up, stopping when they spotted Cain and the others. They seemed to stare at the metal leg, and the other two who were missing limbs before running off again.

“We took in the crews of the base, several families,” Teck stated. “We were about to become operational when the armistice occurred. When we lost contact with the fleet, and then the attacks on the homeworlds, I gathered up the crew and everyone on the base onto the Excaliber, and left the base. It took a while to get everything ready, by then the Galactica had left, and we went after, hoping to catch up.”

Cain felt glad the Excaliber had not caught up when he encountered the Galactica. He would have wanted to go on the offensive, and pushed harder.

Entering the med-lab, he found an up-to-date facility, as a young woman walked up to him.

“I’m Lieutenant Jules,” she said. “Head of the medical team.”

Cain looked over at Teck.

“They are young, but good, we never got our doctor, he was scheduled to arrive a couple of days later,” Teck said. “But they’ve had a yahren of experience, and I would trust my life to them.”

“If you trust them, that’s good enough for me,” Cain said.

Sometime later, after a lot of work, he stood shifting his weight back and forth. It felt wonderful to stand once more almost like normal. The artificial leg obeyed his command, and he paced around slightly feeling no limp. He looked over at the others, seeing Greis working his first arm, opening and closing the hand, a small smile coming to his face

“Well, I see everything is going well,” Teck said, walking back into the room.

“Yep, some lovely women here,” Cain said, watching as one, Hera, blushed slightly. “Now, I think you said something about a tour?”

“Yep, come on,” Teck said.

They walked out of the med-lab and down a corridor and to the elevator.

“I read about the battle of Aries, good job,” Cain said.

“Wasn’t a pretty battle,” Teck replied. “And the fact the council didn’t do anything to improve our defenses.”

“Ah yes, I remember that well,” Cain stated. “Had quite the argument over that. Was the very thing I had been warning against for a while, and they never listened. I sometimes wonder what might have happened had they listened.”

“Here we are, the third hangar,” Teck said.

“So, this can detach?” Cain said.

“Yep, for different types of assaults and such, we house two squadrons here, three in bay alpha, and beta is used for families.”

“Amazing,” Cain said, the possibilities going through his mind. “What I could have done with such a battlestar.”

Cain glance around the hangar, seeing vipers parked everywhere, a bit crowded.

“My engineers say we can get alpha bay on the Pegasus operational with some work,” Teck said. “If that happens we could transfer one squadron over to the Pegasus.”

“I’d appreciate that, feel a bit vulnerable without any vipers on board,” Cain said.

He went around the ship with Teck, seeing many of the innovations he and others proposed to update the battlestars, and for a new class. They finally made their way to the main operations room, the bridge. He spotted the new scanner display, centered in the middle of the room, and large enough for everyone to see, and have a few people stand around. Something he tried to get. Off to one side navigation, another weapons and damage control, and the last area viper squadrons.

“Very nice,” Cain said, looking at the scanner for several microns. “You have a longer range than the older ships.”

“Yep, innovations in scanner technology, we have about thirty percent longer range than the older models,” Teck said.

“Very good,” Cain said, pausing to look closer at the scanners. He saw a nearby solar system, which they were headed for. A planet indicated the conditions might be good for life. Four planets, and two very large asteroid belts. A bit unusual for such a system, but nothing out of the ordinary. He saw the Pegasus, and the other two ships making up the fleet. He froze seeing something on the edge of the scanner.

“What’s that?” he asked, pointing to the spot.

“Hold on,” Teck said, was someone else quickly worked the controls, and a clearer scan came in. “I don’t like that.”

Cain had to agree, two basestars, and as they watched a third appeared. If the Pegasus was in fighting condition Cain knew what he would do. However, his ship was in no condition to tangle with a basestar.

“The Excaliber could take on two, but a third, I’m not as sure,” Teck said.

“Relax, I’m not going to suggest attacking, instead, run for the asteroid belt. We should be able to hide there until they go past.”

“Yes, that might work, or even an ambush?” Teck stated.

“Perhaps, but we only have one battlestar, the Pegasus is barely operational,” Cain replied, hating the fact that the last battle took so much out of the ship. “Once they’re past, we’ll explore our options, but right now, survival is more important.”

“Yeah, I just wish we could strike back,” Teck said.

“I know, but we have a mission to fulfil,” Cain said, understanding the urge perhaps more than anyone else. His instincts were shouting at him to attack, gain the upper hand, he had the tools, and could win. The only problem he had no backup vipers, ships or anything else. The human race could hardly afford the waste of life right now.

“I’ll send the word, you want to head back to the Pegasus?” Teck asked.

“No, I’ll wait here, you’re scanners are better, I can communicate with Tolan, he can take command for now,” Cain said. “Besides, if the situation changes you might need me.”

Teck looked a bit doubtful, but said nothing, instead giving the command to all ships.

Cain continued to watch the scanner, watching everything that was going on. Teck had gone to go over a few things with the other ships captains, and normal operations, leaving him alone to watch the scanners. The normal bridge chatter had slowly returned as they got used to his presence. Something about this made Cain uneasy. He watched the asteroid belt closely, hoping they were not falling into a trap.

Now as they entered the asteroids, looking for large objects to sit beside and power down to minimal power to avoid detection. A small cry caught his attention, turning to the person.

“What is it?” he asked.

“We picked up a signal, very brief,” she replied.

Cain paced around the scanner thinking about that.

“Cylon?” he asked, tapping his baton against his chin.

“No.”

His uneasiness increased with each passing centon, especially after they powered down, and only life support and scanners were operational.

“Well, what’s your opinion?” Teck asked, coming up beside him.

“They’re up to something,” Cain said. “Look at them, heading right towards us. It might be possible they spotted us as well.”

“You think so?” Teck asked, worried.

“It’s possible, but I’m not convinced of that,” Cain replied. “No, I’m not convinced, but they do have something planned here. They haven’t changed course, nor have they launched any raiders.”

He watched as the basestars entered the asteroid belt.

“Prepare a laser transmission to the Pegasus,” Cain said. He did not have to wait long until Tolan’s face appeared.

“Commander, are we attacking?” Tolan asked, anxious to head into battle.

“No, they’re up so something, we need to figure out that that is,” Cain said.

“You know, it’s almost like they are setting up a trap,” Teck said finally. Cain turned to look at the scanners again, as the basestars seemed to be doing the same thing they had done. In fact, one approached close to their position, and he looked outside the viewport. There he could see among the asteroids, the grey hull of the basestar.

“They are powering down!”

“They are setting up a trap,” Cain said.

“The Galactica?” Teck said.

“It has to be,” Cain said.

“Um, commander,” the communications officer said.

“Yes?” Teck said.

“We just had another communication burst when the Cylons entered the belt,” she said.

Cain thought about that, someone else was now watching, an unknown. Drumming his fingers on the rail he thought about everything. If it was a trap for the Galactica, he had to get involved. The questions swirled in his mind. How long did he have? What forces did the Cylons have? Did he attack now? What if the Cylons were not waiting for the Galactica, but some other race?

“And what is the legendary Cain thinking of?” Teck asked, breaking his concentration.

He thought back to a moment when Adama said something similar to him. This time, the answer was much simpler. “The lack of information,” Cain replied. “I have a ton of questions and no good information to base my answers on.”

“Yep, but we’ll have to think of something,” Teck said. “If not for the Galactica, then for us as well.”

That brought another piece of the equation to Cain, the Excaliber carried families, children, and others.

“I think you should make an emergency plan to evacuate all families from the landing bay, if we go into battle it’s a prime target for the Cylons,” Cain said, watching Teck realize that, turning to Colonel Voss.

“You and Stonic coordinate with the families in Beta bay for quick evacuation,” Teck said.

Cain watched the two men walk off the bridge to carry out the orders.

“I think for now, we should remain running silent,” Teck said.

Cain reluctantly agreed with the commander. As much as he disliked sitting around, he needed time for more information.

---

Boomer and Jolly made their way to their vipers. Another patrol to a system in the hope they could find something of value. The importance this time, a breathable atmosphere and fuel according to Colonel Tigh.

“Glad I’m not paired up with Starbuck or Apollo this time,” Boomer said.

“Yeah, those two are always finding something, or running into something,” Jolly replied. “Perhaps we’ll have a nice quiet patrol and actually find something the fleet can use.”

“That would be nice,” Boomer said. “Though we’ve had our own problems.”

“What, you mean when we forgot to go through detox?” Jolly stated.

“Yeah, what a mess,” Boomer said, recalling how sick he and Jolly got everyone. “But remember, we were rushing because of Apollo’s sealing.”

“Oh yea, so I guess we can blame him for that,” Jolly said.

“Yeah, yeah,” a voice said behind them. “Can’t blame us for everything.”

Boomer turned to see Starbuck walking towards him. “We can try,” he said.

“So, you guys got this patrol,” Starbuck said. “Sounds easy.”

“Great, we’re cursed,” Jolly said, causing Boomer to laugh.

“Well, it does seem like everything that happens, happens to you and Apollo,” Boomer said, watching as Starbuck opened his mouth to reply before closing it again.

“And here I was wishing you two luck,” Starbuck finally said.

“Okay, I hope to find something as well, maybe something we can use that won’t kill us,” Boomer said.

“An ally would be nice,” Starbuck said.

“Now you’re pushing your luck,” Jolly said, as they continued walking towards the vipers.

“Hey, I can wish,” Starbuck said.

“Yeah, but if it was you, they probably would want us to do something weird for them,” Boomer said, knowing his friend. “Time to go.”

He and Jolly walked up to the vipers where the crew handed him his helmet and he climbed into the cockpit. Getting the course from the bridge, he quickly went over the systems seeing everything was operational. He received permission to launch and pressed the turbos, feeling himself pressed back into the seat. Watching Jolly line up with him, he turned his viper towards the system in hope of finding something.

---

Cain spent most of the past two days on the bridge of the Excaliber, looking at the scanner. He tried to will information out of it, give up the secrets that lay hidden from him. He paused a moment to look at the basestar, still visible in the viewport. None of the three basestars had moved since entering the asteroid belt. He wondered what they would think if they knew within visual distance were two battlestars.

“Commander, scanners have picked up something,” Shelby, one of the bridge crew said.

Cain glanced down at the scanner, seeing two craft enter the scanner, still beyond the Cylon’s range.

“Do we have an ID?” Teck asked, beating Cain to the question. They both had been on edge with the situation.

“Coming in now, Colonial vipers,” Shelby replied.

Cain felt a bit relived, and yet terribly concerned now. “Those must be from the Galactica,” he said.

“Appears their headed right for the system,” Teck stated.

“Yes,” Cain said, now pacing around the scanner in the middle of the bridge. “We could attack now, give a warning to the Galactica?” he mused. “On the other hand, if we attack, I don’t want them to get off any reports of us. If the Cylons know we’re here, it might bring other basestars to the area. If we warn them, and are not able to join up with the Galactica, they could fall for another trap. The Cylons could have such traps all over the area.”

He paused, tapping the baton on his chin for a second thinking about the situation, what he might be able to do, and what he could do. Nothing appeared to solve the situation very well.

“The Pegasus is still too damaged for prolonged combat, and sacrificing the ship is a waste,” Teck said, almost reading Cain’s thoughts. “It’s still a valuable ship even in her condition.”

“Yes, yes, you’re quite right,” Cain said, turning his thoughts to other ways he might influence this battle. He had the upper hand, at least at the beginning. He had to plan the opening move now.

“Vipers are going over the asteroid belt, they appear to be headed to the nearest planet,” Shelby said.

Cain turned back to the scanner. If they were headed to the planet, it made perfect sense. Adama would always be looking for supplies from passing planets for the fleet. A tremendous responsibility the man had on his shoulders, and few men could have undertaken it without cracking.

He wished now the vipers had the ability for laser transmissions, but instead had only short range transmissions and could focus for longer transmission in a single direction.

“Picking up communications from the pilots,” Ofica, the communications officer said.

With a word from Teck, the conversation was patched through.

“Don’t know, you think he’ll ever get around to asking?” one voice said.

“Possible, but you know Starbuck, hates commitments,” the second one said. Cain recognized the name, the same pilot who was also in love with Cassiopeia.

“What about Apollo and Sheba?” the first voice asked, causing Cain to stop and listen in real close.

“They do make…”

Cain looked over to the communications officer.

“They are out of range,” she said.

Cain resisted the urge to open a communications to learn more. His daughter and Apollo, what were they doing? Were they married? Dating? That thought made him realize how much he missed her growing her up.

“Are they from the Galactica?” Teck asked.

“Yes, I’ve met Starbuck and Apollo before, and Sheba, she’s my daughter,” Cain said.

“Seems obvious they have no clue about the trap,” Teck stated, causing Cain to nod his head in agreement, watching the vipers circle around the planet.

“Recon Patrol to Galactica, we’ve found a planet with breathable atmosphere, and the moon has fuel supplies, suggest stopping by,” a voice said over the communications.

“So, the trap is set,” Cain said.

“It appears so,” Teck replied.

End Part 1

Go on to Part 2

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