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Post by Brie on Oct 24, 2006 13:20:13 GMT -6
After landing Brie checked the status of the rest of Gold Squadron. Nothing had changed. At least the Cylon computer core had made it back safely. The deaths weren't for nothing.
Knowing that sitting around waiting was the worst thing that she could do, Brie decided to head to the med lab to see if she could visit Captain Lazant. She knew that he had been badly injured but nothing more. He had few friends and could probably use one.
Brie inquired at the desk. "What is Captain Lazant's condition?"
The medtech checked a chart. "He's stable. But he's not ready for a debriefing, Major."
"I'm not here for that," Brie said quickly. "Lazant is my friend."
"I didn't know he had any," the medtech mumbled. "Follow me, Major."
Brie followed the medtech to a small room outside of an isolation unit. "The chances of infection for him are still high, so we're taking every precaution." The medtech showed her the gown, gloves, and mask that Brie would need. "A word of warning, Major. He looks pretty bad. And it's too early to tell if his eyesight will return."
After putting on the necessary clothing, Brie slowly opened the door to Lazant's room. She wasn't prepared for what she saw.
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BRIK
Viper Pilot
Posts: 227
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Post by BRIK on Oct 25, 2006 2:00:18 GMT -6
Knowing that their situation was critical, Brik worked some quick calculations in his head without being truly aware of it and placed his hands on his side of the control panel and changed a few settings.
The prototype (and low quality, it seemed) Raider began to oscillate even as it maintained a steady course to the Callisto.
True to form, the Raider, so very small in the great sea of Space...began to WAGGLE.
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Post by Brie on Oct 25, 2006 7:57:00 GMT -6
Brie entered the room, slightly glad that Lazant couldn't see her reaction. She had seen burn victims before but this took her by surprise. Lazant's head was bandaged, with extra padding over his eyes. His hands, arms and neck were covered as well. "Who's there?" he asked gruffly.
"Lazant," Brie answered, purposely not using his rank, "it's Brie."
"Brie." Lazant repeated. "Are you here for my statement?"
"No," she replied, "I just wanted to know if you needed anything. Or if there was anyone you wanted me to contact. The statement can wait."
"More military felgercarb," Lazant muttered. "I want to make my statement. To let everyone know what a no-good, backstabbing, attempted murderer Captain Skyler is. I’m sorry, Brie, I know he‘s your SIC...”
“You mind if I sit down?” Brie asked. Lazant shook his head slightly. Brie pulled a chair to the bedside. “Yes, I picked Skyler as my SIC and also as a friend, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be objective. Tell me what happened.”
“The short version, though,” Lazant said. “This pain medication makes me real tired.” He paused and collected his thoughts. “First he sent me away from the computer mission. I was placed there as the mission’s second-in-command by Commander Sheba herself, but Captain Skyler told a bunch of us to oversee the fuel retrieval. I hadn’t even been briefed on that! As far as I’m concerned that was disobeying orders, but it gets worse.”
“What else happened?” Brie wanted to know.
“At the dropship, for seemingly no reason whatsoever, he shoved the computer core in my hands. I wasn’t good enough to retrieve it, but he did expect me to carry the fracking thing! That’s when I saw it...” Lazant shuddered.
“What did you see?”
“A centurion,” Lazant said slowly. “He had a projectile weapon, and it was aimed right at me. Captain Skyler had looked in the centurion’s direction before giving me the computer core, I’m sure he knew it was there. The centurion fired and I...” Brie nodded, even though Lazant couldn’t see it. “I didn’t mean to drop it. It’s just that the pain was unbearable.”
“No one is blaming you, Lazant,” Brie said. “And the information arrived intact and unharmed.”
Lazant sighed. “That’s good. I couldn’t handle the idea that the mission was for nothing. I know a lot of people don’t like me, but I’m good at what I do, no matter what Captain Skyler seems to think. Did you know that he actually had the nerve to call me out in front of the team that he had assembled? A team, I might add, that was late. Someone needs to remind him that even though we have the same rank, I'm the senior officer. That’s what you can do for me, Brie. Find Captain Skyler and remind him that I was made captain long before he ever was. Where is he, the Officers’ Club?”
“Um...Skyler didn’t make it back,” Brie said slowly.
“Oh.” Lazant paused. “I’m sorry. I know that you were friends. But it still doesn’t excuse things.”
The door opened and a doctor entered. “The Captain needs his rest, Major,” the doctor said. “You can visit again next cycle.”
Brie stood and headed towards the door. “If you need anything...”
“Thanks for stopping by,” Lazant replied. “Funny how when you were in charge of the mission I survived with barely a scratch.”
“You almost didn’t make it back from that one,” Brie reminded him, "and I went to the brig because of it."
“How’s Amy?” Lazant asked, uncharacteristic concern in his voice.
“Improving,” Brie replied.
“Send her my best.”
Brie exited, took off the sterile outerwear, and left the small room. She stood outside the door for several microns, motionless.
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Post by LucianG on Oct 25, 2006 11:27:41 GMT -6
<earlier and longer post about this didn't post to board, and of course, I lost the text, so>
* * *
On the Battlestar Galactica, Commander Apollo and Colonel Starbuck reviewed the vid taken by one of the Red Squadron pilots of the Cylon Base Star breaking up in the thin atmosphere of the planet. Because of the morale boost it would give the people of the Fleet, they agreed to release a low resolution version of it to the IFB for broadcast. One of the junior officers quickly made a copy and released it to the IFB's Roxzanna-Rizou. It was marked:
Destruction of Cylon Base Ship, shot by Red Squadron
* * *
Within centons, it had been broadcast with Roxzanna-Rizou's usual level of intensity and drama....
* * *
As he approached the Bridge, Lucian was walking behind a couple of junior officers heading for their upcoming duty shift.
"Yeah, it was a great vid! That's really neat how she said Red Squadron's Vipers dived in and shot up the surface of that ship like that! All those little explosions!"
"I don't know," said the other. "Must have been Red and Blue and maybe Silver Spar, too, to have caused that many explosions that quickly if they were caused by laser fire like she said. Now, if they were using HE cluster bombs, it might have looked like that."
"Nah, get with it, Sonneib! If Roxzanna-Rizou said it was Red Squadron with lasers, then it was Red Squadron with lasers and no lousy clusters. She's the best!"
A sudden burst of coughing behind them caused both of the young officers to look around. Seeing Major Lucian behind them, they asked, "Major, is something...wrong?"
"No, no pardon me, guys," replied a red-faced Lucian. "I think something, ahem, just went down the wrong way." He coughed several more times to disguise his laughter.
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Post by JustinB on Oct 25, 2006 21:46:34 GMT -6
As there was nothing for me to do, I decided to head over to Beta Launch Bay. I had the date with Brie stuck in my head. Upon arrival in the launch bay I went over to one of the storage lockers. I pulled out a pair of overalls and put them on. I saw my crew chief Zane working on a viper next to mine.
"Hey Major, how are you sir?" He asked.
"Fine chief and you"
"Couldn't be better. I noticed you didn't launch with the others."
"I was preoccupied with the arrivals in alpha landing bay. Plus it will give them some experience to fly without me holding their hands. I am just gonna tinker with my ship for a while."
"If ya need a hand just holler sir"
After informing the bridge of my whereabouts I picked up some tools. There wasn't much to fix on my ship as Zane being as good as he is always kept it in excellent condition.
"Major," Zane yelled from the next viper, "The intercept vipers that launched are close to landing. Apparently got recalled so one of my techs just told me."
"Thanks Zane." I quickly got out of the overalls and made my way to the landing bay.
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Post by Amy81 on Nov 3, 2006 13:10:00 GMT -6
Bulk-up wandered slowly toward Bronze Squadron barracks, but he was in no hurry, and wasn't really concentrating much on his destination. He kept looking around the bay, which had turned into half landing bay half emergency medical treatment area. Ally had been whisked away to medlab barely clinging to life, and Bulk-up had been in a walking daze ever since.
"Bulk-up!" a familiar voice called out, and Bulk-up turned to see Grease walking toward him. Unlike Bulk-up, who looked battered and had seen better days, Grease looked pretty intact.
Grease walked up, extending a hand, and Bulk-up grabbed it and pulled Grease in tight, embracing him. After a long moment, he let him go. "Good to see you" Grease said. "Where's everybody else?"
Tears popped up immediately in Bulk-up's eyes. "Didn't make it" he said weakly.
Grease smiled in disbelief, then the smile was gone. "What...?"
"Only Ally came back" Bulk-up said, "and she's in bad shape. Bad shape..."
"Oh man" Grease said as the truth sunk in. "Weasel? Janey... Hush?" He said the names as if they might appear if he spoke them aloud. "Holy frack..."
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BRIK
Viper Pilot
Posts: 227
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Post by BRIK on Nov 5, 2006 2:05:39 GMT -6
Brik had caused the Cylon Raider to "waggle it's wings", just as his honored predecessors of the Galactica had done so many yahrens ago, hoping to the Lords of Kobol that the results would be equally joyous.
He felt that they'd all been through way too much today to be blown into a fine mist by their fellow warriors.
Meanwhile, Skyler had them working on a way to communicate with their fellows without wasting precious resources needed to take them home. Skyler was absolutely correct...but the alien cylon technology that was now even more foreign by being in a prtotype vessel was making their already difficult task near impossible.
"Sir, I have an idea that you won't like. I know so because I don't like it either. If we manage to conserve enough fuel to make it home, it won't matter if the Callisto mistakes us for a suicide raider and blows us to bits because we couldn't identify ourselves in time."
He pasued to let that sink in.
"So, I propose that we use regular voice communications to establish confirmed communications. That way, even if we run out of fuel, the Callisto can send help. Besides..." he checked his instruments. "Right now we're the only Cylon vessel this close to the Battlestar. I think. Besides, if we can see her with the naked eye then we're well within communication range, even at reduced power levels."
He didn't say to them that he really hated the idea a LOT because he was afraid his plan might mean a turn-for-the-worse for Janey if their return was delayed for too long. But he also, Lords help him, thought it to be their best bet. Especially since they were quickly coming into the extreme-but-still-effective range of Callisto's defense batteries. And he knew for certain that the human gunners were quite good at their jobs...right alongside the computer targeting systems which were well-programmed and maintained.
Both were quite deadly.
"Orders, Sir?"
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Post by Logan on Nov 6, 2006 15:21:18 GMT -6
"If we don't do something soon, it'll be a moot point," Logan said, tapping the fuel readout on the screen. "We have visual on the Callisto. Hush, how's that comm coming?"
"Its no good. The output won't be strong enough to do more than appear as static from the rogue Raider heading towards them." Hush still worked futilely on the comm unit in his hands, parts and wires haphazardly scattered in his lap.
Logan felt her face getting hot. Her leg was throbbing, but she was getting good at ignoring it by this time. She looked over her shoulder at Skyler, who seemed to be paler than usual. "We've got to risk it."
She knew he was concerned about alerting any other Cylons to their location, but Brik was right. There was nothing on any scanners besides the hulk of the Baseship falling into the planet's atmosphere, breaking apart as it went. All the squadrons had been recalled to the Callisto. This was there only chance at getting home.
"Do it." Skyler said.
Turning to her console, sweat dripping down into her eyes, she keyed the comm panel and started transmitting their coordinates as she said ,"Battlestar Callisto. This is Lt. Logan, Gold Squadron, requesting permission to land...she couldn't help smirking...permission to land the beat up piece of tin can felgercarb thats heading towards Landing Bay Alpha. Please acknowledge."
"Start praying to the Lords now, my friends." She put the message on loop and sent a general alert call on the carrier wave that identified herself as a Colonial Officer in distress. Distress? Yeah, thats an understatement. Now all I have to do is stay conscious long enough to land this bucket of bolts.
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Post by Logan on Nov 7, 2006 12:48:19 GMT -6
The Ensign on duty at the communications station on the bridge felt keenly out of place. She was just getting used to her new assignment on the bridge and couldn't help still feeling a bit in awe of the officers she found herself working in such close contact with. Especially Col. Charybdis. She felt her face flush and looked at her monitor with an intensity that was more than necessary considering the fact that all the squadrons launched during the assault had been recalled.
Ensign Rowan was still learning her way around her job, but her work was flawless. It was interacting with people that she had the problem with. She was shy to the point of ridiculousness, which was odd for a Comm Officer. She almost felt like she was playing a part in a play when on duty and could hide her lacking social skills behind her console.
Her board lit up and she noticed something unusual before the electronic blip even sounded. Someone was sending a distress call. But, the patrols are all back... Her eyes grew wide and she had to swallow before she found her voice. She looked around and saw that Commander Sheba was still on the bridge, watching the viewer as the Cylon baseship plummeted into the atmosphere of the planet it had recently been orbiting.
"C-Commander..." She cleared her throat and spoke louder. "Commander Sheba!"
Sheba was standing with her arms folded over her chest as she listened to the streaming reports coming over her personal comm. At the urgency in the young Ensign's voice, she turned. "Yes, Ensign Rowan?"
"We're receiving a distress call from....from a Cylon Raider just in range of the Callisto. It carries the personal authorization code of Gold Squadron embedded on the carrier wave." She watched as the Commander's eyes reflected her confusion and surprise.
"Open a channel and lets hear it." Sheba walked to Rowan's console and bent over her as the girl's fingers flew over the controls.
"Battlestar Callisto. This is Lt. Logan, Gold Squadron, requesting permission to land...permission to land the beat up piece of tin can felgercarb thats heading towards Landing Bay Alpha. Please acknowledge."
************* On the Raider, Logan's console beeped and she leaned forward as a voice she hadn't expected to hear came over the frequency. "Lt. Logan, this is Commander Sheba. What's your status?"
Logan almost collapsed with relief, but took a steadying breath. "Well, Commander, we're still in one piece for now. Fuel is almost gone, but if you can clear a space for us in the Landing Bay, I think we can make it."
"We?" Sheba left the question open.
"Captain Skyler, Lt. Brik, Lts. Hush and Janey of Bronze. Request a Med Team meet us there, Commander."
"Acknowledged." Sheba could be heard issuing orders on the bridge to prepare for an emergency landing in Alpha Bay.
Logan could feel her hands sliding on the console and jerked herself upright. She looked down to see the pool of blood she had at her feet and took a micron to look at Hush and Janey. The girl was unconscious and Hush was nursing his shoulder.Their eyes met and he looked at the floor to the blood there and back at Logan. She attempted a reassuring smile to show that she was alright but it didn't feel convincing even to her. But Hush's eyes followed the trail of blood past his feet and went in Skyler's direction.
She realized that there was a second line of blood moving back to under the command chair and looked at Skyler with alarm. His hands were locked on the console in front of him. "Good work, Logan. Let's go home."
She could tell he was hurt and hadn't told them. Just like she had. trying to ignore the injury to get the team home. Doing their jobs as Colonial Warriors. We really are too much alike. But, I swear, he's more stubborn than I am.
"Lt. Logan. This is Ensign Rowan. You are clear to land in Alpha Bay."
The all clear made Logan turn around at her station. She looked at Brik. His face was stony and determined. Which meant he was getting ready to say something she wasn't going to like. "Logan. How bad is it?"
She knew what he was asking. He knew she was hurt and wanted to know if she was capable of landing the ship. "Honey, under any other conditions I'd fight you for the honor of landing this bird, but I need your help." They shared a look that needed no explanation. Brik knew how much it cost Logan to ask for help. She transferred primary flight control to Brik's console and collapsed face forward onto her own console. Her body didn't even have time to start slipping from the chair. Brik had reached out and slowed her descent before anyone in the compartment even knew anything was wrong.
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Post by Col. Charybdis on Nov 7, 2006 12:57:06 GMT -6
"Emergency crews, prepare for posssible crash landing! Emergency crews, prepare for crash landing!" the call went out.
Immediately, the vehicles and personnel were in a mad dash to clear other ships from the landing bay and to get their firefighting equipment at the ready...
It had been a long time since a Cylon Raider had made a landing onboard a Battlestar...
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