Battlestar Argo
by AJ Marks
Part 6: Ghost Ship
Troy made his way down the hallway towards the pilot’s ready room, knowing that was where many of the pilots spent their off duty time. He noticed Nall and Bri in the room and wondered if he would be welcome there. Bri still had yet to calm down. Nall was right when he said she could be mad but had yet to see her calm down. Nall kept urging patience with Bri.
Nall motioned him over to which he tentatively walked over. Bri avoided eye contact with him which he had expected.
“Nall, Bri,” Troy said as he sat down at the table and ordered a drink, seeing Bri ignore him again.
“Hey Troy,” Nall said gaining his attention. “Did Martin know about your vision?”
“Yes,” Troy replied. “I told him what I could about it just before we parted ways for the last time.”
“What did he say,” Nall asked wanting to know what his friend had thought of such a thing.
“He said something to the effect that he was glad that he would not die alone. We might even be able to pick him up on the way back once the mission is done,” Troy said.
“I still don’t see why we couldn’t have gone on the rescue mission,” Bri said.
“Two reasons,” Troy said. “One is that it was out of any ships range and the second, it is his fate. If we take him off his path it could have tragic results for thousands of people.”
“I still don’t like it,” Bri said from where she sat, her arms crossed. She reminded Troy of a pouting child, a cute pouting child.
“I think one day we might know what really happened,” Troy said. There was a feeling that they would be back one day.
“I hope so,” Nall said. “I hate not knowing what is going to happen.”
“That’s ‘cause you keep using the same plan over and over again with your women,” Bri replied.
“Ha-ha, well at least they like it,” Nall replied with a waggle of his eyebrows.
“I’m surprised that you haven’t tried getting into the women’s showers by mistake,” Bri said shaking her head. Nall remained quiet as Bri turned to look at him. “By Kobal, you have. Just tell me that I wasn’t in there at the time.”
As an answer Nall just grinned and looked Bri up and down with a grin on his face. Bri’s head dropped to the table as she groaned.
“Did anyone see you,” Bri mumbled from the table top.
“Not yet,” Nall finally replied before beginning to laugh.
“Great, now I’ll be paranoid next time I take a shower. And no I’m not going to tell you that I am taking a shower,” Bri said as she sat back up giving Nall a sharp look.
“Ohh, I’m scared,” Nall said with a smile on his face again.
“Remember the steam burn,” she said with a grin watching as Nall lost his grin.
“Steam burn,” Troy asked with a questioning look on his face.
“He was going out with the flight controller at the time and decided to play around with another crewmember. Now everyone knows that during off times one of the best places is the launch tubes,” Bri explained.
“Oh no,” Troy said almost wincing with Nall.
“Yeah, and someone opened her mouth telling everyone what I was doing,” Nall said.
“I just told one person,” Bri replied gaining an innocent look on her face.
“Yeah, only Vanessa’s best friend,” Nall said.
“That was only because I couldn’t find Vanessa,” Bri said with a smile.
“Troy, if you date anyone, make sure it isn’t the flight controller,” Nall said very seriously to which he began to laugh.
“All right I won’t,” Troy said.
They would have done more but the ship went to red alert at that moment. Everyone glanced at each other wondering what was going on. They raced to their ships just in case there was something wrong. It could just be a drill but usually squad leaders were told a little bit in advance about such things.
*****
Ares quickly made his way to the bridge with the sounding of the general alarm. He had been read over the reports of the repairs to the Argo since the last battle. Most of the damage had been repaired already. Now with the alarm he hoped that they had not stumbled across even more Cylons.
“What’s wrong colonel,” Ares asked, once he got onto the bridge.
“We’ve lost contact with patrol three,” Pratt replied. “We lost them about ten centons ago and have yet to hear anything from them.”
“Any contacts on the long range scanners,” Ares asked not sure what was out there.
“Nothing that we can see. We might also be just too far away for the scanners to pick it up if the ship is small enough,” Pratt said.
“Send six vipers to patrol the area. I want constant radio communication with them at all times,” Ares said.
The crew went to work as six vipers were launched to the area where patrol three went missing. This was a mystery that needed to be uncovered fast. The six were part of green squad which made Ares feel a bit better. They should be able to uncover what was going on.
*****
“Green leader, take your group and head to patrol three’s last reported position and scan the area. The patrol has gone missing,” Renee said over the intercom to Troy. This was a bit more serious than he had thought. He had really been hoping for a drill and not the real thing.
“Roger core command,” Troy replied. As Renee named off who was going to be with him. Bri and Nall were named along with three others. This was going to be the first flight since the attack had happened. They also were not near any planets at the moment so this was a mystery to everyone.
The six vipers launched and formed up quickly near the Argo. They then turned their vipers to the last known location that the patrol had been at. They flew out there while keeping in constant communications with the Argo. The group was on high alert as they neared the area that patrol three had disappeared from.
“Anyone see anything on their scanners,” Troy asked, receiving several no’s as a reply. There was not even a hint at debris or anything else that might indicate what had happened with the patrol.
“Core command we still have nothing on our scanners,” Troy said.
“Understood green leader,” Renee replied to his report.
“This is getting creepy,” Bri said more to herself than anyone else but she had said it over the intercom for everyone to hear. Troy had to agree with her. There was a lot of different things that could happen out here but he did not see anything. His scanner showed nothing at all, not even debris if the patrol had been attacked.
“Green six to green leader,” one of the pilots said interrupting Troy from his thoughts.
“Go ahead,” Troy said.
“I’m picking up a mysterious signal coming from just up ahead of me,” green six said.
“Green leader to core command we are receiving some mysterious signals. I’m going to try and have the signal boosted and sent back to you,” Troy said.
“Roger green leader,” Renee said.
“Green six, can you boost the signal and send it to the Argo,” Troy asked.
“I’ll try,” came the reply.
“Green two and three you’re with me the rest wait here and keep a lock on our signals. Keep the Argo informed as to what it going on,” Troy said.
“Understood green leader,” everyone said.
Bri and Nall formed up on Troy as the others stayed with green six. The three vipers started to pick up the signal and they tried to home in on the source. Troy still saw nothing on his scanners to indicate where or what was producing the signal. The warbook was not able to identify the signal and he felt some relief that it was not Cylon.
Suddenly Nall let out a shout over the radio as his viper made a sudden turn. It was almost a one hundred and eighty degree turn prompting Troy and Bri to turn as well and go back over to him.
“Nall, what happened,” Troy asked concerned about what happened. Something spooked the pilot, and Troy knew Nall enough to know that while he was not the greatest pilot, he kept his calm under fire.
“There’s a ship there,” Nall replied. “It doesn’t show up until you’re almost on top of it. I came real close to hitting it.”
Troy thought that it was interesting. If it really was a ship then it had some sort of advanced stealth technology he had never seen before. There was not any threat against them yet and he still could not see the ship. But if it was black and a bit reflective then he may not see it until he was almost on top of it as well.
“Green leader to green six come in,” Troy said over the intercom. He waited a few seconds before receiving no response. “Nall, head out there and see if they are still there then get back here to help us figure out this ship.”
Nall turned his viper back towards the Argo and within a few moments had established contact with green six and told them what had happened. He then turned around and headed back to where Bri and Troy were.
Troy figured they could glide very slowly towards the ship. He hoped a slow speed might allow them time to see the ship better. If they could see it then they might be able to find a landing area on the ship and figure out what it was. He had already tried to hail the ship but had been met with only silence.
Troy, Bri and Nall continued to glide towards the last known position of the ship according to Nall. Troy still could see nothing, and hoped whatever type of ship it was did not end up being hostile. They were sitting duck if that happened, and with such stealth technology, why would it be a civilian ship. The thought chilled Troy a bit, but pressed on anyways.
“See anything,” Bri asked Nall as they watched where he was.
“Yeah, I’m at the ship now,” Nall replied. “I think that it easily as big as the Argo is.”
“Any weapons,” Troy asked hoping that the answer would be no.
“None that I can see, but nothing conclusive,” Nall replied.
“Do you see anything that we could use as an entrance,” Troy asked as he and Bri slowly made their way closer to where Nall’s viper was.
“There may be but we’ll have to investigate it a bit more,” Nall replied.
“Be careful, we’re moving up to where you are,” Troy said, as they began to get closer to where he was.
It was not very long until the ship came into view. Troy saw the dark reflective surface on it that made it very hard to see in space. What was blocking it from the scanners was something else. Troy decided that they would take a bit of time and look around to see if they could find a way inside.
The signal had grown stronger the closer they got to the ship. The computers were still not able to decipher the code that it was using. Troy had no idea what the signal was saying. It could be saying stay away or a call for help.
“Over here,” Bri suddenly called out. “I think I’ve found a way in.”
“Here’s the plan,” Troy said as he thought about it. “Nall and I will head into the ship. Bri, I want you to head back to where the others are waiting and tell them and core command what it happening.”
The two of them made their way over to where Bri had been as she turned and headed away from the ship. Troy saw the opening in the ship that looked like a hangar. Troy decided to move slowly ahead in case there was a shield covering the hangar. He slowly made his way into the ship and was thankful when his viper touched down on the surface of the hanger. Nall joined him a moment later.
Glancing around he noticed the missing vipers also on the hanger deck. That meant that patrol three was on board the ship. The question now was how had they made it on board. Were they a prisoner or guest or like them stumbled across the ship and went to investigate it.
“Atmosphere readings are normal,” Troy said as he looked at the scanner.
“What do you say to looking around a bit,” Nall asked.
“Let’s do it and maybe we’ll find patrol three,” Troy replied.
The two plots got out of the ships making their way over to where the other two vipers were. There was no signs if damage to them and nothing that would indicate that the pilots had encountered trouble.
“Looks like the power is low or being conserved,” Nall said, indicating the low lights, as he glanced around the hangar. Troy nodded his head in agreement.
“Shall we explore a bit?” Troy asked, watching Nall agree.
*****
Ares waited patiently for information to come in. The latest he heard from Troy was they had found a ship in the patrol area. Ares knew that it was not a Colonial or Cylon ship. Nothing that either of them had could cloak a ship that well. But if they could find out it would make a huge difference in the war against the Cylons.
Pushing those thoughts aside he turned back to the scanners. They still had a lock on three of the vipers. But the closer the vipers got to the ship the more they disappeared. There must be some sort of damping field that the ship generates to create such an effect.
“Sir, we’re getting a report from green squad,” Renee said, gaining Ares’ attention.
“Put it through,” Ares ordered, anxious for news. “What have you found?”
“There is a ship, probably about as big as a battlestar. It doesn’t look to be a military ship but its cloaking abilities are tremendous,” Ares heard Bri reply. “We found a way in and Troy and Nall are proceeding inside to see what they can find.”
“Very well,” Ares said, ending the conversation and turning towards Pratt. “Have a new patrol formed up ready to relieve green squad when their fuel begins to run low. I want to keep a group as close to this ship as possible while still keeping radio and scanner contact with them.”
“Yes sir,” Pratt replied as he went to carry out the orders.
Ares wanted to make sure that they had as much warning as possible if the ship turned hostile. It disturbed him that they were not able to pick it up on the scanners. If the ship was hostile then the Argo would be at a disadvantage.
The one thing that he did not like was the fact they were unable to communicate with the ship. There was a communications coming from the ship but nothing that Weaver had ever seen before. Now he had to wait to see what happened inside the ship. He could only hope that Troy and Nall did not do anything to insult the aliens of the ship.
Troy, he really was not too concerned about. Nall had the ability to cause a problem but when he was on duty the man was usually a true professional. Then there was also the question of what happened to patrol three. Had they run into the ship and been destroyed. Bri had not mentioned anything about that yet. Either they were on board the ship, or hidden close to the ship. Unfortunately now all he could do was wait until he heard something from them.
*****
Troy and Nall had made their way down the corridor but had so far seen or heard no indication of patrol three at all. Troy hoped they would be able to quickly pick up on the trail of the patrol but there was nothing to indicate which way they might have gone much to everyone’s disappointment.
“Do you remembered where we parked,” Nall suddenly asked as they made another turn.
Troy looked at the corridor and realized that they all looked alike. “Uh, that way,” he replied vaguely pointing in a direction.
“That’s what I thought,” Nall replied. Troy was not sure about anything either and realized how easy it was to become lost in this ship which is what probably happened to the other patrol if they had decided to explore the ship.
“Great, they are probably as lost as we are,” Troy said as they continued to walk, feeling slightly uneasy they hadn’t met anyone else.
“Let’s try inside one of these rooms. Maybe we can find something out or find someone,” Nall said.
Troy agreed and at the next closed door they tried to open it. He looked around for anything that might be a way to open the door that they could recognize. There was little around the door except for a flat piece of metal. With a shrug Nall pushed against it. The panel gave a bit and the door opened.
“Well, I guess that’s how they open these doors then,” Nall said as he glanced inside the room. Troy followed right behind him with his hand on his blaster hoping he had no reason to use it.
“Interesting décor,” Troy said as they glanced around in what appeared to be someone’s quarters. What was surprising was the lack of dust on everything. It was almost as if someone was still here, or something was cleaning everything.
“Let’s try another room and see if it’s the same,” Nall said as they left the room to continue their exploration.
After the next three rooms, which were all decorated the same, and all dust free they began to wonder about the ship being deserted. They made their way down another corridor when they could hear faint footsteps. Nall and Troy looked at each other and cautiously approached where the sounds were coming from. It did not take long before two figures turned the corner right into them.
Four weapons were quickly drawn in reflex to each other before recognition set in. Troy lowered his blaster while shaking his head.
“Frack Gunther,” Troy said. “Scare us all the way back to the Colonies why don’t you.”
“I could say the same for you,” Gunther replied. “What are you doing here?”
“You two disappeared and we were sent to investigate,” Troy replied. “We came across this ship and found a way in just like you did.”
“Yeah, in fact we’re parked next to you,” Nall said.
“Then you know the way back,” Gunther replied having some relief in his voice.
“Ah, not really. We were kinda hoping that you did,” Troy said having to admit that he really did not know where he was.
That makes all of then,” Gunther said. “We got a bit lost.”
“But I think things are beginning to get a bit more familiar,” his partner replied. “See these symbols,” he said pointing to the wall. “Each corridor’s is a bit different. A bit like the markings on board the Argo.”
“But we can’t read that language,” Nall said.
“True, but we can see if we’ve seen them before and hopefully avoid going in circles,” Troy said. “It’s an idea.”
“Have you come across anyone,” Gunther asked.
“Nope,” Troy replied knowing that the other two had not either. “We did go inside a few rooms. Everything is very clean, neat and ordered.”
“Like the crew is still here,” Gunther replied.
“Right,” Troy said. “I guess maybe we should look around some more then,” Nall said. “Perhaps we can find our way back as well.”
“Sounds good to me,” Gunther said.
They continued to walk around for a few more moments when they came to a door that they had not seen yet. It had writing on it and looked to be important. Deciding to head inside the door opened revealing a large room. Inside were all types of equipment that they had never seen before. Along one side of the wall was a huge screen. Nall cautiously walked over to that side of the room while the others spread out in different directions.
“Identify,” a voice said causing all of them to spin around looking for what might have said something. Looking around they still were not able to find anything that might be the source of the voice when it said it again.
“Where is that coming from,” Gunther asked as they continued to look around.
“Name not found, identify,” the voice said again.
“Computer,” Nall said snapping his fingers.
As he said the word the screen along the wall came to life. There were marking all along the screen that none of them could read.
“User identify,” the computer asked. The four men looked at each other with a shrug of their shoulders. They really did not know what they should do.
“Lieutenant Nall of the Battlestar Argo,” Nall finally said as he stepped closer to the wall.
“Lieutenant Nall of the Battlestar Argo, user name not found do you wish to create a user ID,” the computer asked. Again the group looked at Nall who was looking at the group. Troy motioned with his hand for Nall to continue going while he motioned for the others to remain quiet.
“Yes,” Nall said.
“Homeworld,” the computer asked which Nall replied. The computer then asked a few more questions which seemed to get more detailed about where he was from than anything else.
“User ID created, Welcome Lieutenant Nall of the Battlestar Argo,” the computer said. “Access to general systems granted.”
“That does us a lot of good,” Gunther said. “We can’t even read it.”
“Don’t be so sure,” his partner said as they watched the screen. It changed from unreadable words to words that they could read.
“This is freaky,” Troy said as they began to read.
They realized it was a history of the people. They were leaving their homeworld for good as their sun no longer could support life on the planet. They were making a voyage to a far off planet on the other side of the universe. They knew about the war of the Colonials and Cylons. Troy realized that the history was quite old as it mentioned nothing about basestars and battlestars. The heaviest class of ships were guncruisers which had not been a main ship in almost seven hundred yehrens.
While on the voyage there had been a problem with the engines on the ship. They failed leaving the ship drifting in space with no help. It was moving so slowly that it would be hundreds of yehrens before it made it to a habitable world.
“That’s interesting,” Nall said as he finished reading.
Troy glanced at Nall who pointed at the bottom of the screen. There on the bottom was what happened to everyone on the ship. They had gone into an electronic stasis. An entire population was being stored in the ships computers until the day that a planet came into range of the ship or help came aboard.
“Can we fix it,” Troy said glancing at Nall.
“I don’t know,” Nall said as the screen switched to the damage to the engines.
It amazed Troy that for such an advanced ship the engines were so simple. They had the parts on board the Argo.
“We can fix it,” Troy said. “Let’s see if we can get a blueprint of the ship so we can head back and get help.”
A video grid appeared displaying the interior of the ship, where they were and where their fighters were along with a path. That helped out a lot.
“I’ll stay here and see what else I can learn,” Nall said to the others. We might need someone here to help out.”
“Right,” Troy said. Gunther decided to stay as well and see if he could find the engine room so when the repair crew came aboard he could show them the way easily.
“Let’s go,” Troy said to the other one. They moved out of the room easily and Troy was amazed to see the writing on the wall now in Colonial writing helping them out. They found their fighters quickly with the help of the map.
*****
Ares was summoned over to where Renee was. The squad was heading back to the fleet minus two vipers which stayed in position so they could locate the ship. Captain Troy was asking to talk with the commander as well.
“What did you find out captain,” Ares asked.
“It’s a colony ship,” Troy said. “A group of aliens was heading across the universe to leave their dying planet behind when they ran into trouble. We can fix their engines sir.”
Ares thought about that for a few microns. He was not sure if this was the wisest decision but he wished to help out others. Troy told him the rest about what had happened to the crew and people on the ship. That seemed to make up Ares’ mind. He told Troy that a repair team would be waiting for him in the landing bay. He then went to the landing bay himself as he told Pratt that he was going as well. Pratt was not sure about that but allowed him to leave.
Troy was shocked when Ares insisted on coming along. The flight back to the ship was quick as they landed on the ship. Ares went to the computer station where Nall was as the repair team went to the engine room.
Ares was given updates by the repair crew and they had to work for a few moments to create an adaptor to fit the alien ship. It was not long before the engines were ready to be tested again. They asked the computer to start the engine.
Power flowed throughout the ship as lights came on to full brightness making it to where they could turn off the lamps they had brought with them. In the corner of the room in what looked like a open shower a humanoid figure appeared. It was similar but a bit taller and thinner. The neck was about twice as long as a humans and the face appeared to have been stretched.
Another one appeared shortly after that one and they approached the small group. It glanced at the screen and then back at the men.
“You helped us,” it said in a high pitched voice.
“It seemed like the right thing to do,” Ares replied taking a step forward so they knew he was in charge.
“You are human yes,” it said. “From the Colonies.”
“Correct,” Ares answered wondering what would happen now.
“How long,” the other alien asked.
“About seven hundred yehrens,” Nall replied.
“War,” the first one asked.
“Unfortunately yes, we are still at war with the Cylons,” Ares replied knowing that they knew about that war.
“I see, then we must continue our journey,” the first on said.
Ares realized that this was going to be the end of the conversation and motioned for his men to leave. He too was about to walk out when he thought of one more thing.
“You will be able to bring everyone back,” Ares asked.
The one that had moved over to the computer replied that they would then went back to work.
“One last thing, have you heard of a human planet called Earth,” Ares asked wondering if they would be able to help them out.
“I’m sorry, but we have not. The galaxy is a large and strange place even for travelers such as ourselves,” the first one said. “Now we must part ways.”
Ares nodded his head and left the room.
*****
Nall relaxed in the lounge with Bri and Troy when Ares walked in and sat down with them.
“I can’t believe it, we help them out and they tell us to leave,” Nall finally said to them, not sure he understood them.
“Perhaps it is for the best,” Ares said.
“Yeah, best for them,” Nall said.
“I’m sure they have their rules and reasons just as much as we do,” Ares replied. “Besides, we did learn one thing.”
“What,” Nall asked curious what that might be.
“They didn’t know where Earth was either,” Ares said.
“That would have been helpful,” Troy said.
“Well we continue on our mission then,” Bri said.
*****
Renee was sitting at her computer watching as a one of the patrols launched when she thought she saw something strange on her computer. A quick flash then it was gone.
Quickly checking everything and noticing that everything was fine she shrugged it off and went back to work.
*****
Hidden deep inside the Argo’s computer a file lay hidden. It had a mission and would wait until it was time.
End part 6