Post by LucianG on Apr 26, 2005 11:59:40 GMT -6
<Note: Most of Chapter 9 was lost when the SciFi Board deleted the posts and then had problems with the remainder. The following are brief synopses of the events that occurred…>
The Callisto came out of the very long jump and entered the Garrano System. The system had a large number of planets. The Callisto would not be staying long, so resource surveys were not conducted, but Vipers were launched to explore the system, to determine whether there were hostile forces present, and to determine the best jump nodes to other systems. As they were doing this, Commander Sheba ordered navigation to begin calculating various jump possibilities so the Callisto could begin its jump to an alternate system as quickly as possible. She hoped that in one or two more jumps, the Callisto would be able to catch up with the Fleet.
However, just after arrival in the system, signs of Cylons were detected. The Callisto’s sensors picked up an old Cylon distress signal. In trying to determine what the signal meant, old Solon, the science officer, discovered a second signal piggybacked on the first. Initial indications were that the second signal was actually an old Colonial code, which Solon and a team began working to decipher.
One of the Viper flights soon located the source of the primary signal: a malfunctioning Cylon relay beacon, believed to be a faster than light (FTL) transmitter, with an emergency distress call. Because of the malfunction, it was broadcasting the message at very low power in standard format rather than opening the link to jump, where the message would have crossed vast distances much more quickly. At such low power with a dispersed broadcast pattern, it wasn’t known whether the signal would have reached anyone, even if it had been broadcasting for untold yahrens.
As the Warriors searched and Solon’s team deciphered, Commander Sheba had a couple of important decisions to make. First, the direction of the source of the signal was not in the Callisto’s planned direction of travel, but she felt that it was important the Callisto investigate the signal if it was indeed a distress signal as believed, particularly if the second signal was of Colonial origin. However, delaying too long could result in the Callisto missing the planned rendezvous with the Galactica, and might possibly mean that the lone battlestar would never be able to reunite with the Fleet. Ultimately, Sheba decided that investigating the signals was too important to ignore; besides, if they could be tracked quickly, the Callisto could perform a rescue if needed, and then still be on its way to catch up with the Rag Tag Fleet.
As the Callisto moved toward the beacon, Solon’s team had a degree of success. It was confirmed that the second signal was an old Colonial code being beamed from one of the planets to the beacon, where the signal was embedded with the Cylon message and rebroadcast. Unfortunately, the message itself could not be decoded.
Sheba’s second decision was regarding whether to destroy the Cylon buoy. Old records showed that the Cylons had used such buoys in an attempt at long-range communication about 150 to 200 yahrens before, but their use had largely been abandoned since the Cylon devices appeared to have been highly unreliable. The persistent problems with the system had eventually led the Cylons to revert back to their former, and largely current, system of messenger ships for most important communications. The old records also showed that the Colonials of the time had never captured one of the Cylon communications buoys, so relatively little was known about them. Furthermore, Colonial FTL relays were typically rigged to explode if disturbed, often quite violently, to prevent the more advanced, more reliable Colonial technology from falling into the Cylons’ hands, so it was guessed that the Cylons would likely follow the same pattern. Any Warriors attempting to destroy the beacon might be endangered in the attack; however, if it was not destroyed, the Cylons might be able to track it if they were not already doing so. Finally, it was decided to destroy the beacon, but only after the source of the Colonial signal was located.
Lieutenant BatGal and a party of Warriors was dispatched to land on the planet believed to be the source of the Colonial signal, with orders to locate, investigate, and ultimately destroy the Colonial beacon, and facilitate a rescue if needed. When the team landed, they found a wild and verdant world, with strange plants and animals, most of which appeared hostile, though some more so than others. It took some time, but they finally succeeded in locating the beacon in a cave after encounters with a couple of strange and dangerous creatures. They found no one there or anywhere nearby, but they did find a metal plate with the word ‘GASTONOV’ embedded on it placed in front of the transmitting device. The Warriors planted solonite charges, blew the device and the cave, and then rushed back to their Vipers for the return trip to the Callisto.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Lucian led Black Ice wing to destroy the buoy in space. Upon being informed that the Colonial device had been destroyed, the Warriors approached the buoy and quickly destroyed it without encountering any defenses. However, the attack on the buoy activated a pair of nearby Cylon missile platforms that initially started pursuing the Viper flight, but then, on detecting the Callisto, locked onto the larger target, and started following the battlestar. The Vipers attacked the missile platforms, but their armament seemed to have little to no effect on the missile ships. They continued to move toward the Callisto, but the Viper wing was ordered to at least slow them down if not stop them altogether.
On the Callisto, Lieutenant Kiwi had proposed an idea and received quick approval following discovery of the missile platforms. Modifying the shuttles used on Shonada Delta, a fuel dispersion bomb was planned. Kiwi flew the first shuttle and laid an oxygenated fuel cloud in space in front of the missile platforms. The Vipers veered away just before reaching the edge of the cloud, but the first missile platform, on seeing a clear path to the Callisto, entered the cloud and was destroyed when its own engine exhaust ignited the dispersed fuel. However, it had damaged Lieutenant Lucian’s Viper, and Ensign Kris had to tow it back to the Callisto. While the flight wing was returning to the battle, it was announced that Captain Joey was being promoted to Major and was moving to the Bridge, and Lieutenant Lucian had been elected the new squadron leader of Black Squadron and was being promoted to Major.
Shortly afterwards, two Base-Stars arrived and began launching large numbers of Raiders in pursuit of the Callisto. Gold Squadron took on the Raiders from the nearer Base-Star while the two shuttles laid down one last fuel dispersion field in the path of the Raiders from the second ship. The shuttles then return to the Callisto. At about the same time, with part of the Colonial message finally deciphered, all of the Vipers were recalled. Ensign Mara’s Viper had been damaged in the fight, and she had a hard landing in Alpha Bay, and was whisked away to the Med Lab. With the Raiders closing in, the Callisto jumped from a different node point in a different direction than originally planned. Just as the Callisto was leaving, Solon had a new signal broadcast….
At the end of the chapter, a small disk dispatched itself from one of the Vipers that had been on the planet. It sprouted “legs,” spun completely around once or twice, and then entered the ventilation system unseen.
* * *
Interlude: On Smedelac’s Base-Star
Smedelac, the IL-4 Cylon Commander of the lead Base-Star pursuing the Callisto, had the captured Lieutenant Martinzi brought to his command room, and then had a recording of Martinzi’s voice broadcast to try to attract the attention of the crew of the battlestar believed to be the Galactica. When the “Galactica,” receiving only parts of a garbled, unintelligible message, failed to respond, Smedelac taunted the captured Lieutenant Martinzi, saying that his friends were running away, and wouldn’t negotiate for his release. Smedelac made Martinzi stay with him as they viewed the combined power of the surviving Raider flights of two Base-Stars go in pursuit of the Battlestar. A short time later, the lead Raiders flew into the large fuel cloud dispersed by Kiwi and company, and Smedelac viewed the lead Raiders destroyed as they ignited the dispersed fuel, just as the battlestar was jumping away from the system, though the Cylons were able to record most of the important data leading up to it so they were able to calculate the probable course and most likely arrival node.
Just as the Callisto was going into the jump, Science Officer Solon had sent a code and successfully overrode the old programming of the remaining missile platform, causing it to launch its full complement of missiles at the second Base-Star. As Smedelac observed the missiles suddenly streaming toward the other Base-Star, Lieutenant Martinzi laughed hysterically….
The Callisto came out of the very long jump and entered the Garrano System. The system had a large number of planets. The Callisto would not be staying long, so resource surveys were not conducted, but Vipers were launched to explore the system, to determine whether there were hostile forces present, and to determine the best jump nodes to other systems. As they were doing this, Commander Sheba ordered navigation to begin calculating various jump possibilities so the Callisto could begin its jump to an alternate system as quickly as possible. She hoped that in one or two more jumps, the Callisto would be able to catch up with the Fleet.
However, just after arrival in the system, signs of Cylons were detected. The Callisto’s sensors picked up an old Cylon distress signal. In trying to determine what the signal meant, old Solon, the science officer, discovered a second signal piggybacked on the first. Initial indications were that the second signal was actually an old Colonial code, which Solon and a team began working to decipher.
One of the Viper flights soon located the source of the primary signal: a malfunctioning Cylon relay beacon, believed to be a faster than light (FTL) transmitter, with an emergency distress call. Because of the malfunction, it was broadcasting the message at very low power in standard format rather than opening the link to jump, where the message would have crossed vast distances much more quickly. At such low power with a dispersed broadcast pattern, it wasn’t known whether the signal would have reached anyone, even if it had been broadcasting for untold yahrens.
As the Warriors searched and Solon’s team deciphered, Commander Sheba had a couple of important decisions to make. First, the direction of the source of the signal was not in the Callisto’s planned direction of travel, but she felt that it was important the Callisto investigate the signal if it was indeed a distress signal as believed, particularly if the second signal was of Colonial origin. However, delaying too long could result in the Callisto missing the planned rendezvous with the Galactica, and might possibly mean that the lone battlestar would never be able to reunite with the Fleet. Ultimately, Sheba decided that investigating the signals was too important to ignore; besides, if they could be tracked quickly, the Callisto could perform a rescue if needed, and then still be on its way to catch up with the Rag Tag Fleet.
As the Callisto moved toward the beacon, Solon’s team had a degree of success. It was confirmed that the second signal was an old Colonial code being beamed from one of the planets to the beacon, where the signal was embedded with the Cylon message and rebroadcast. Unfortunately, the message itself could not be decoded.
Sheba’s second decision was regarding whether to destroy the Cylon buoy. Old records showed that the Cylons had used such buoys in an attempt at long-range communication about 150 to 200 yahrens before, but their use had largely been abandoned since the Cylon devices appeared to have been highly unreliable. The persistent problems with the system had eventually led the Cylons to revert back to their former, and largely current, system of messenger ships for most important communications. The old records also showed that the Colonials of the time had never captured one of the Cylon communications buoys, so relatively little was known about them. Furthermore, Colonial FTL relays were typically rigged to explode if disturbed, often quite violently, to prevent the more advanced, more reliable Colonial technology from falling into the Cylons’ hands, so it was guessed that the Cylons would likely follow the same pattern. Any Warriors attempting to destroy the beacon might be endangered in the attack; however, if it was not destroyed, the Cylons might be able to track it if they were not already doing so. Finally, it was decided to destroy the beacon, but only after the source of the Colonial signal was located.
Lieutenant BatGal and a party of Warriors was dispatched to land on the planet believed to be the source of the Colonial signal, with orders to locate, investigate, and ultimately destroy the Colonial beacon, and facilitate a rescue if needed. When the team landed, they found a wild and verdant world, with strange plants and animals, most of which appeared hostile, though some more so than others. It took some time, but they finally succeeded in locating the beacon in a cave after encounters with a couple of strange and dangerous creatures. They found no one there or anywhere nearby, but they did find a metal plate with the word ‘GASTONOV’ embedded on it placed in front of the transmitting device. The Warriors planted solonite charges, blew the device and the cave, and then rushed back to their Vipers for the return trip to the Callisto.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Lucian led Black Ice wing to destroy the buoy in space. Upon being informed that the Colonial device had been destroyed, the Warriors approached the buoy and quickly destroyed it without encountering any defenses. However, the attack on the buoy activated a pair of nearby Cylon missile platforms that initially started pursuing the Viper flight, but then, on detecting the Callisto, locked onto the larger target, and started following the battlestar. The Vipers attacked the missile platforms, but their armament seemed to have little to no effect on the missile ships. They continued to move toward the Callisto, but the Viper wing was ordered to at least slow them down if not stop them altogether.
On the Callisto, Lieutenant Kiwi had proposed an idea and received quick approval following discovery of the missile platforms. Modifying the shuttles used on Shonada Delta, a fuel dispersion bomb was planned. Kiwi flew the first shuttle and laid an oxygenated fuel cloud in space in front of the missile platforms. The Vipers veered away just before reaching the edge of the cloud, but the first missile platform, on seeing a clear path to the Callisto, entered the cloud and was destroyed when its own engine exhaust ignited the dispersed fuel. However, it had damaged Lieutenant Lucian’s Viper, and Ensign Kris had to tow it back to the Callisto. While the flight wing was returning to the battle, it was announced that Captain Joey was being promoted to Major and was moving to the Bridge, and Lieutenant Lucian had been elected the new squadron leader of Black Squadron and was being promoted to Major.
Shortly afterwards, two Base-Stars arrived and began launching large numbers of Raiders in pursuit of the Callisto. Gold Squadron took on the Raiders from the nearer Base-Star while the two shuttles laid down one last fuel dispersion field in the path of the Raiders from the second ship. The shuttles then return to the Callisto. At about the same time, with part of the Colonial message finally deciphered, all of the Vipers were recalled. Ensign Mara’s Viper had been damaged in the fight, and she had a hard landing in Alpha Bay, and was whisked away to the Med Lab. With the Raiders closing in, the Callisto jumped from a different node point in a different direction than originally planned. Just as the Callisto was leaving, Solon had a new signal broadcast….
At the end of the chapter, a small disk dispatched itself from one of the Vipers that had been on the planet. It sprouted “legs,” spun completely around once or twice, and then entered the ventilation system unseen.
* * *
Interlude: On Smedelac’s Base-Star
Smedelac, the IL-4 Cylon Commander of the lead Base-Star pursuing the Callisto, had the captured Lieutenant Martinzi brought to his command room, and then had a recording of Martinzi’s voice broadcast to try to attract the attention of the crew of the battlestar believed to be the Galactica. When the “Galactica,” receiving only parts of a garbled, unintelligible message, failed to respond, Smedelac taunted the captured Lieutenant Martinzi, saying that his friends were running away, and wouldn’t negotiate for his release. Smedelac made Martinzi stay with him as they viewed the combined power of the surviving Raider flights of two Base-Stars go in pursuit of the Battlestar. A short time later, the lead Raiders flew into the large fuel cloud dispersed by Kiwi and company, and Smedelac viewed the lead Raiders destroyed as they ignited the dispersed fuel, just as the battlestar was jumping away from the system, though the Cylons were able to record most of the important data leading up to it so they were able to calculate the probable course and most likely arrival node.
Just as the Callisto was going into the jump, Science Officer Solon had sent a code and successfully overrode the old programming of the remaining missile platform, causing it to launch its full complement of missiles at the second Base-Star. As Smedelac observed the missiles suddenly streaming toward the other Base-Star, Lieutenant Martinzi laughed hysterically….