Shadows Gambit - part 3

<leatherknight@hotmail.com>Mike</a>

The twin canopies closed with a whine of hydraulic motors.

"You sure about this, Starbuck?" Apollo asked.

"Yup," Starbuck replied without hesitation.

Apollo actually let a smile cross his face. "I gotta be honest," he said. "I've always wanted to fly one of these monsters."

"Funny," Starbuck countered. "I was thinking the exact same thing. Shall we?"

Apollo's finger hovered over the initiate button.

"Let's go," he said quietly.

A low whine began in the Beta launch bay. By the time it had reached a quiet wail, the techs were scrambling from their quarters, running towards the two ships.

"Fire em up!" Apollo ordered, and the four massive engine outlets glowed white hot, throwing gusts of heated air behind them.

"Remember, Starbuck!" Apollo cautioned. "Quarter throttle till the launch mark, and then go full. No turbos!"

"No problem!" Starbuck actually sounded like he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

The two ships turned lazily, taxiing towards the launch point. Beyond the invisible bubble of the opening, the stars beckoned.

Over the com speaker, Apollo heard the voice of Colonel Jodas.

"Milesar! You little snitrad!" He shouted. "I'll have your tail in a sling if you move an inch further! You hear me?"

Starbuck looked over at Apollo, his entire face, begging to reply to Jodas's ranting, but Apollo shook his head and crossed his hand over his throat. Then he pointed out towards the stars.

Starbuck grinned and pushed the throttles to full, sending the Raptor speeding out towards the stars.

Apollo looked over and saw several armed security men running toward him, and he quickly throttled up, following after Starbuck.

The two ships shot from beneath the Galactica and turned their dark noses towards the depths of space.

The power of the Raptor felt like a low thrum, moving through the ship in waves. Starbuck reached over and activated his scanner. Then he switched the com to a different frequency. He signaled the channel to Apollo, via hand signals.

"What is it Starbuck?" Apollo asked.

"I'm not sure I know which way I'm looking, but my scanner shows a whole bunch of blips coming at us." Starbuck replied.

Apollo craned his neck and saw the tri winged shapes of a squadron of Vipers, rocketing towards them, turbos blazing.

"You locked on course?" Apollo asked.

"Yup."

"Good," Apollo continued. "I think we need to pick up the pace a bit."

Starbuck craned his neck and saw the twelve ships heading for them.

"Oh, boy!" he said, and he activated the boosters, his finger hovering over the turbo button.

"Let's go," Apollo said, and the two ships spewed fountains of flame as the massive turbos propelled them forward.

Despite himself, Starbuck let out a whoop of exhilaration as they began pulling away from their pursuers.

"Frack!" Sheba thought as she watched the two rogue ships pulling steadily away from her group. She keyed the com for the Galactica.

"Core Command," she said. "The Raptors have engaged turbos. We are unable to keep up. Requesting further instructions."

She knew the answer, even before Rigel's voice came back to her over the speakers.

"Silver-Spar squadron, return to base."

"Understood," Sheba replied. "Come on Bojay, let's take them home."

In his Viper, Bojay watched the two drive tails as they faded into the darkness. Both of them knew that Apollo was in one of those ships, and Starbuck was most likely piloting the other.

Sheba pursed her lips, wondering quickly if she should hail them. She had known, by the way Apollo had been distancing himself that he was on the verge of doing something like this. She also knew that Starbuck was the one person who would get him to act on that impulse.

"Good luck, Apollo," she whispered as she reluctantly turned her ship around and headed back home.

Colonel Jodas came boiling onto the bridge, his eyes alive with the brilliant fire of anger as he stepped up to the command station. Commander Adama, likewise, had a dark, ominous look in his eyes.

"Commander," Jodas said darkly. "Permission to take some more Raptors and run those daggits down?"

Adama thought for a long micron. "Can you catch them?"

"If we launch quickly enough," Jodas replied. "We just might."

Adama gave a nod, and Jodas keyed the com for the Black Raptors Ready Room.

"Raptors?" Milesar's voice came back over the speaker.

Jodas blinked in surprise.

"Captain Milesar?" Jodas asked, barely hiding his surprise. "Who's unaccounted for in your squad right now?"

"Sir?" Milesar sounded genuinely surprised.

"Who's not there!" Jodas barked, quickly losing patience.

"One micron, please, Colonel," Milesar clicked off.

Jodas's fingers tapped angrily on the side of the console as his rage built to explosive levels.

In the Black Raptor's office, Milesar sat at his desk, stifling a laugh as he looked over to Brie, Justi, and Nagon.

Quickly composing himself, Milesar took a deep breath and reconnected the circuit.

"Colonel?" he asked.

"What!" Jodas's voice practically blasted from the speaker.

"Uh," Milesar paused, stalling as much as he could.

"The only people currently unaccounted for are Flight Sgt. Brie and Lt. Nagon." He looked at Brie and Nagon's face as their eyes went wide with surprise. Nagon flashed Milesar a threatening gaze. Milesar waved his hand at them, stopping protests.

"I believe Lt. Nagon was taking a shuttle over to see his family on the Gemonise Freighter, and Flight Sgt. Brie is in the Officers club, according to her RO?"

The slight hiss of the speaker only added to the long, growl that they heard.

"Captain Milesar," Jodas said with a razor edge in his voice. "Confirm the whereabouts of Nagon and Brie, and then get your astrums to my office, pronto! Is that clear?"

"Yes, Colonel," Milesar replied.

"Have the four ER Raptors ready to fly in five centons!" Jodas finished.

"You got it," Milesar finished, his smile spreading. He broke the connection as Jodas signed off with a huff.

"I can't believe you did that!" Brie shouted at him in shock.

Justi squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to stifle her own laughter while Nagon and Brie both verbally assaulted their commanding officer.

Milesar looked down at his chrono, allowing the tirade to run for a few microns. Then he held up a finger, commanding silence.

"You," he pointed at Nagon. "The Canaris leaves in twenty centons. Go visit your parents." He turned to Brie. "And you, young lady," He began to smile again. "Go to the Officers Club and get a drink."

Both verbal barrages ceased.

"You both have air tight alibis now," Milesar continued. "Don't mess them up."

"And what are you going to do?" asked Nagon. "We all know that the Colonel didn't believe you for a micron."

"Doesn't matter," Justi jumped in. She nodded towards Milesar. "He bought himself about twenty to thirty centons while he goes out and "confirms your whereabouts" and then also discovers that two of the extended range Raptors were the ones stolen. The fact that the Colonel doesn't believe him is irrelevant." Her smile widened as she saw the understanding in Milesar's face. "The Captain here, as "plausible deniability" on his side. All of us have been covered. Me because I reported that I saw Brie heading for the Officers Club, and the two of you because your whereabouts can be confirmed by eyewitnesses or passenger manifests." She looked respectively to Brie and then Nagon.

"Provided, of course, that you're there in time to catch the shuttle," Milesar finished, looking at Nagon.

Quickly, Nagon and Brie exited the room, one heading for the launching bay, and the other towards the Officers Club.

Milesar looked at Justi and smiled.

"Wait five centons, or so," he said.

"I know," Justi said. Then her face sobered. "Do you think they'll make it?" She asked, referring to Apollo and Starbuck.

Milesar shrugged. "I hope so."

Shadow looked at the newly constructed and activated Centurions standing at attention in front of the processing center. They were physically identical to the other Centurions, with one exception. Their armor plating lacked the silver shine that was common to the Centurion soldiers.

It was only a matter of aesthetics, really. Besides, the dull gray of these Centurions would be less visible than the shining counterparts.

"Phalanx four," Kadal droned. "Move to guard positions around the perimeter."

The thirty gray centurions turned and marched to their appointed positions.

Shadow watched them depart, trying to ignore the rainwater weighing down his robes.

"What progress is there in the excavation?" he asked.

"The work proceeds," Kadal droned. "Drill team seven breached the main bridge, three centons ago."

"Excellent," Shadow said. "Come with me."

Athena and Backis knelt in the brush, high above the growing Cylon operation.

Backis watched the group of gray Centurions as they moved to perimeter positions.

"They're really cranking those ground troops out fast," he said. "They must have hit a really good batch of raw materials."

Athena nodded, taking the micro-binoculars from Backis and panning them over the growing complex.

As she gazed around, her eyes fixed on a massive hauler. The silver cable extended into the massive opening.

As she watched, the load at the end of the cable came out into view. Her mouth fell open in disbelief as she stared at the age-tarnished hulk. She pulled the binoculars away and found the zoom control. With the image enhanced and sharpened, she made out the dark details of a wrecked ship, dragging across the muddied earth.

"This is a dream," she whispered. "A very, very bad dream."

"What?" Backis asked.

She handed the micro binoculars to her partner. "Tell me I'm seeing things," she said.

"That's the second time you've said something along those lines," Backis smiled. He found the wreck as it was being dragged towards the furnace building.

Much to her surprise, Backis reacted with calm certainty. "Definitely an antique," he commented. "Boy, Nagon would love this."

"You're not as surprised as I am?" Athena asked.

"Not really," Backis replied. "The shuttle we found appeared to have been shot down. We normally won't send a shuttle out without fighter protection unless we're VERY sure that the area is secured. I doubt that policy has changed much over the millennia."

They stayed on that hilltop, taking turns watching the progress of the operation.

When the number of ships pulled from the hole hit six, Athena and Backis concluded that the shuttles escort must have crashed close together. When the number reached twelve, that theory was cast into considerable doubt. As night fell, and the harsh yellow lamps of the complex came on, the count had reached thirty-two ancient derelicts pulled from the cave.

Athena looked over at her sleeping companion. Despite the fear of being out in the open, and the fear of being discovered by the swelling ranks of Cylons working below her, she was powerfully curious. The fact that the commander of the Base Ship had stayed on the surface, risking exposure to both the elements and attack merely fed the curious drive that built within

her. She felt an almost irresistible pull towards the gaping maw down below. The rational side of her mind told her that walking into that place was suicidal. Still the desire grew.

She watched as yet another pile of debris was pulled from the opening.

"What in blazes is down there?" she whispered out loud.

She watched the blue robed IL series Cylon move gingerly through the muddy yard into the cave.

When the Cylon leader failed to emerge after forty centons, Athena knew she had to get inside the complex and see what in the nine skies was in there. She glanced over at Backis's sleeping form and then stared down at the complex, a daring and dangerous plan forming in her mind.

Shadow stood amidst the dust and decay, and felt the opportunities arise in his consciousness.

He stood motionless in the hatchway, taking in his surroundings with acute interest. All the terminals, computer stations, monitors, equipment,

command consoles, and readouts were dark and smashed, black scorch marks looked like stained blossoms on the walls or painted weeds growing from the edges of the equipment. Chairs rested in front of long abandoned stations, or lay discarded on the dust covered metal floor. Several Centurions were in the process of removing the final piles of rubble, caked against the wall where the thick transparent viewport used to be.

"My, my, my," Shadow chuckled. He stepped into the room and began strolling slowly about, inspecting the layout and storing it in his memory.

"So, this is the bridge of a Colonial Battlestar," he continued, turning slightly to acknowledge his golden second in command. "Very interesting."

He slowly climbed the steps to the command platform and looked out towards the viewport.

"What is the condition of the main computer core?" he asked. One metallic hand lightly touched the smashed keyboard in front of him.

"Unknown at this time," Kadal droned. "Survey team seven has not yet reached that chamber."

"Hmmm," Shadow mused. "What about the identification of this vessel?"

"Markings indicate that the vessel was called Prometheus." Kadal replied.

"We have no record of such a ship ever existing."

"Indeed," Shadow replied. "Yet, here we are?"

Kadal stood still, his red eye sensor bouncing back and forth ominously.

The golden centurion did not answer, and Shadow understood that he probably would not. Despite the memory upgrades done to command level centurions, they were still limited to strict logical lines of reasoning. Any extraneous or illogical lines of reason were usually disregarded or dumped.

Shadow let his eye sensors scan his surroundings again as he mused.

"The Battlestar Prometheus," he said to himself. "I have a suspicion that this ship was not built in the colonies."

"But it is a Colonial Battlestar," Kadal replied.

"Kadal," Shadow said impatiently. "You really must learn to appreciate the creative aspects of the universe. Accept the illogic as well as the logic."

"That statement does not correlate," Kadal replied.

Shadow sighed. "Nevermind, Kadal. Nevermind. Supervise the recovery of the ships' computer core, and make sure it is transferred up to the Base Ship without delay."

"By your command," Kadal replied, and he withdrew, leaving Shadow to his musings.

Shadow quickly accessed the neural net and downloaded the history of the Colonies, searching for any correlation. When he finally whittled the possibilities down, he chuckled to himself.

"Of course," he thought. He turned and began wandering throughout the wreck.

Jodas was seething with fury and frustration as he paced back and forth in Adama's office.

"I know the damned daggit did it!" he growled. "After the back and forth we had in my office, he HAS to be the one behind it!"

"You need to be absolutely certain, Colonel," Adama cautioned.

"I AM certain!" Jodas's voice fell to a more respectful tone as he realized whom he was venting at. "There isn't anyone else that could have pulled this off - " He stopped the thought as a possible realization hit him.

"No one?" Adama raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, Hades no," Jodas said under his breath as the door chime sounded.

"Enter!" Adama said, and the hatch slid open.

Captain Milesar strode quickly and smartly into the room.

"Well, Captain?" Adama asked, already knowing the answer.

"All Black Raptor personnel are accounted for, sir," Milesar said. He flipped open a binder and produced a copy of the Canaris Shuttle's passenger manifest. "Nagon boarded the shuttle for the Gemonise freighter fifteen centons before departure, and Flight Sergeant Brie was found in the officers club. All other personnel were in the billet room or simulator on regular training rotation."

Adama took the report, his eyes scanning it quickly.

"What about the pursuit team?" Jodas growled.

Milesar swallowed and put on his best apologetic face.

"Team two's ships were disconnected and the backup batteries discharged," he reported with as much grimness as he could muster. He hesitated slightly as he continued. "Uh - team two's ships were the ones that were stolen - " he let his voice drop off. In the back of his mind, he thanked the Lords of Kobal for the classes in theatrics back in his middle school days.

Jodas let both fists open and close as his breathing began to increase in depth and speed.

"How long?" he asked, indicating the delay in refitting and re energizing the ships.

"We'll have two ER teams ready to go in - " he consulted his chrono.

"About fifteen centons. I ordered a refit on two other ships instead of recharging team one's systems."

Jodas gave a grunt and a nod. "Too long," he admitted.

"Sir?" Milesar asked. He was beginning to feel the weight of the two men's eyes on him.

"I will not crack now," he thought to himself.

"It would appear that the thieves have covered all the bases," Adama admitted. He sighed.

However, Jodas was not so easily dissuaded. "Are they still in range of the standard Raptors?"

Milesar thought for a micron and slowly began to shake his head.

"Chancy," he said. "We might be able to catch them, but if they decided to get nasty, we wouldn't have enough fuel for a sustained fight."

Jodas turned and paced a few steps away from his subordinate, cursing elaborately as he did so. Then he wheeled around and jabbed his finger in Milesar's direction.

"You - !" he began.

"Colonel!" Adama said sharply.

Jodas fought the fire of his rage back down. "Dismissed, Captain." He growled.

"Thank you, Colonel," Milesar replied sharply. Then, with a quick nod to Adama, he turned and strode out of the room.

Adama waited till the hatch slid completely closed after the retreating Captain. Then he turned his eyes back to Jodas.

Jodas simply watched the sealed hatch for a micron and then began to nod, his whole body trembling. "He helped them do it," he said with barely contained fury. "I KNOW it!"

"How?" Adama asked.

"Because, I trust my gut," Jodas replied. "And my gut says that he is involved!"

"We both know who has those ships," Adama said grimly. "I can only hope that they will be alright."

Milesar heard the hatch hiss behind him, and he let out a breath that he didn't even realize he had been holding. The adrenaline rush hit him in a wave and he fought the slight dizziness from his mind. Quickly, he withdrew and headed for the officers club and a much needed strong drink.

Brie and Justi were in the club waiting for him when he entered, a thin sheen of perspiration glistening on his face.

He slipped into the couch across from the two ladies and took a long drink, wiping the sweat from his face with a napkin.

"Well?" asked Brie nervously.

"He knows," Milesar admitted. "But he can't prove a thing."

The three conspirators all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"So, what now?" Justi whispered. Her eyes flitted around the room, afraid that someone might hear her.

"Now?" Milesar answered. He shook his head. "Now, we wait, hope, and a prayer or two might also be in order." He drained his first mug and signaled for a second.

"So?" Starbuck asked, glancing over at the ship next to his. "What do you think?"

Apollo looked back over at his partner.

"About what?" he asked.

"About what?" Starbuck repeated. "The Raptor! What do you think?"

He saw Apollo give a shrug. "I think I prefer my Viper."

"Are you kidding?" Starbuck asked.

"Maybe if we hadn't stole them, I'd be enjoying myself more," Apollo said after a long pause.

"Yeah," Starbuck answered. "But, if you think about it. We really didn't steal them."

"What?" Apollo replied.

"Think about it!" Starbuck retorted. "We received permission and instruction from the Squadron Commander, prior to takeoff."

"So?"

"So, I would call that a pre-flight briefing," Starbuck smiled. "Wouldn't you?"

"That's thin, Starbuck," Apollo commented. "Very, very thin."

"Well," Starbuck shrugged. "I can't have a full pyramid ALL the time, now can I? Besides, I kind of like this type of mission. Short, direct, to the point, and OFF the books."

"So if we don't make it, no one will know," Apollo finished.

Starbuck was silent for a short time before answering simply.

"Yeah."

They continued through the void, each one familiarizing themselves with the different controls.

"Apollo," Starbuck called a few centars later. "Got a delta class planet on my scanner."

"I see it," Apollo replied. He fiddled with his scanner controls, checking different bandwidths. "No sign of the Cylon Base Ship."

"Well," Starbuck replied. "We're still a long way out."

Apollo nodded. "Okay," he thought. "So far, so good."

"Stay sharp," he finally said. "No one said that Base Ship HAD to be in orbit of that planet. She may not even be in this sector."

"Are you sure, or are you trying to convince yourself?" Starbuck retorted.

Apollo sighed. "Both."

Backis watched Athena as she moved steadily closer to the guarded perimeter. Athena crouched near a small cluster of moss covered rocks.

"That's close enough," Backis whispered nervously. He watched as Athena peeked cautiously out from her concealment, watching the newly constructed gray Centurions as they walked their posts.

Backis watched her body language, knowing in advance what his partner had in mind.

"No," he whispered. "You don't need to move clo -" He winced in anticipation of disaster as Athena crept stealthily from one pile of cover and over to another.

Reluctantly, Backis watched Athena just miss being seen by another of the gray roving sentinels.

He watched her eyes as they scanned the darkness, measuring distances and timing.

Backis knew she was contemplating a mad dash to the first temporary structure. A dash that was out in the open for at least thirty to forty metrons.

"Oh, no," Backis said. "You're not that crazy. No one in their right mind is that crazy."

Athena waited until several sentries had passed by her, then she gripped her rifle, checked both directions, and vaulted from cover. Backis heard the whine of fear escaping his lips as he watched her moving across the open space. She seemed to be moving slower than she actually was. When she vanished around the shadowed corner of the building, he lost sight of her

. A few microns later, she poked her head out again, and stared up to where Backis hid. He saw the smile on her face, and then she gave a half wave and vanished from sight.

Backis let the binoculars drop from his eyes, breathing heavily.

"I thought her flying scared the pogees out of me," he muttered.

Athena crouched low, her back against the plasteel wall of the building.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she looked about. She thought immediately about going back, and turned around, only to see the sentries pacing by again. She began moving back, deeper into the complex and froze as several more centurions strode across the open yard between the processing center and the cave opening. She felt the vibration of the building behind her as machinery broke down the components of the derelict ships, processing them

into new components.

"You are so stupid," she thought to herself as she crouched in the shadows. "What in Hades are you doing here, anyway?"

She scanned the area quickly and found a small cluster of supply containers off tot he side of the clearing.

Moving quickly between various pieces of ground equipment, she crept, like a shadow, towards the cover of the containers, and stopped underneath a huge ground assault vehicle.

One of the ancient wrecks sat pitifully in the mud, apparently set aside for further investigation. It seemed to Athena that it looked like a wounded bird, limping on one side with a broken wing. Taking a deep breath, she sprinted quickly to the side of the wreck, ducking underneath the bent

edge of the wing. She froze there, like an extension of the darkness.

Slowly, she began to move around the ancient ship, taking in the differences and similarities between the ship before her and the fighters of the fleet.

Where the Vipers had the tri-winged configuration, these were flatter, with only one engine instead of three. It was smaller than the Viper, maybe six metrons long, with two laser emitters on either side of the fuselage, mounted into the forward edge of the wing. The canopy lay, like a discarded piece of transparent eggshell, half buried in the mud. She pulled on it and yanked it free of the shallow mire. It was more like a transparent dome than the angular tylinium reinforced canopy on the Viper and Raptor.

As she continued her quiet inspection, the sound of voices carried across the breeze to her ears. She froze as she realized the voices were heading toward her.

In a panic, she looked around for a place to conceal herself, and settled on the cockpit of the tiny craft. She climbed quickly in, feeling the ship creak and groan quietly as she squeezed herself down into the shadows. The remains of the control yoke broke off under the pressure of her weight, and she could feel the corroded and frozen remains of the flight pedals under

her heels. The ship smelled of must, earth and ancient grime. The hide covering and padding of the seat was gone, leaving a slightly raised metal place that bent at the back, forming the backrest.

"..was the best specimen of all the wrecked ships?" a smooth, accented voice said. It had to be the IL Cylon! Athena gripped the handle of her rifle a little tighter.

A second, deep mechanical voice droned. "Affirmative. However, we have not yet excavated the rest of the ships."

"And the core?" The smooth voice of Shadow continued.

"The core has been removed and is in the process of being transported to the surface." The deep voice droned in reply.

"See that it is secured immediately it arrives here." Shadow instructed. "I want it transported back to the Base Ship without delay."

"By your command." The mechanical voice responded, and the two sets of footsteps slowly walked off, the sound of their feet making a slight squishing noise in the damp and muddied ground.

Athena waited a count of ten before she risked a peek out side. She saw the figures of two Cylons walking slowly away. One of them was shorter, wrapped in fire blue robes, with a swirl of white lights in the transparent dome of its head. The other was a massive, golden Centurion.

"You're suicidal, Athena," she whispered to herself. "You know that?"

Out in the open, she knew that she was a target, and that fact began to twist into panic as, everywhere she turned, she saw or sensed a Cylon threat, dangerously close to catching her.

She fought the rising fear down as she moved closer and closer towards the gaping maw of the cave.

End Part 3

To Part 4