[Episode 244673] [Episode 244673]"Well…?"
A moan escaped the dirty blonde-haired woman with the bright blue eyes as she felt her companion's strong arms pull her closer to her. "Oh, God…" she moaned before turning to gaze into her dark-haired lover's stormy grey eyes. "I thought I was going to die after that last orgasm to gave me. You're like a spastic tiger…"
A laugh escaped her, and then they leaned together to kiss…
…just as the telephone on the nightstand beside the bed rang.
Both women paused, and then they moaned. "Frack!" Helena Cain breathed out before she gave Gina Inviere a knowing look. "Just as I'm getting into my groove…"
"Answer it. It's probably Lucy," Gina advised her.
Helena nodded, and then she reached over to pick up the headset, putting it to her ear as the link with Pegasus' bridge was formed. "Cain."
"How many was it this time, sis?"
A moan as the former rear admiral in the Colonial Navy closed her eyes. "Lucy…"
A laugh. "Sorry about that, Helena, but Colonel Tigh wants you to know that we've completed the jump and we're now in the inner part of the target system. We're commencing wide scans on DRADIS, picking up all sorts of sensor nodes around us."
Hearing that, Helena sighed. "Right. Put him on."
A second later, a gruff man's voice answered, "Tigh."
"Sound action stations, Colonel," the admiral ordered. "I want all Vipers and Raiders armed and prepared. CAP Vipers ready to go, along with the rescue Raptor. Heavy Raiders and Raptors on second stand-by."
"Right away, Admiral!"
The link was cut as both women moved to dress…
H.M.C.S. Ontario, now six hundred kilometres away (Welland time: 12:25 PM)…
"So what the hell is currently in my space, Miss Jones?"
The dark-skinned Avalonian leading seaman was tapping away on her board as she brought up images of the very large starship that had warped in just inside the Ceres orbit line and was now cruising very serenely in the general direction of Earth. "Doing full-spectrum scans of Seed 22 now, Captain," Laney Jones stated as the first bits of information came up. "Clearly a warship of some sort. Length almost 1.8 kilometres. Current population well over four thousand, divided into following classifications: Terran-type humanoid, 210; Terran-type cyber-bioroid, 944; humanoid-shaped android with organic components, 2420; unidentifiable sentient life form with mixed organic and technological components, 820." A whistle escaped her. "Quite a mixed bag."
"Do they match with any known humanoid race on records you folks brought with you when you came here from Phentax Twelve?" another person asked.
A shake of the head. "Negative, Commander Hunter."
Taking that in, Lieutenant Commander Ron Hunter — he stood out somewhat in comparison to his shipmates due to the fact that his epaulette slip-ons bore an inverted gold star over his stripes in lieu of the executive curl of his brother officers — nodded before he turned to gaze at Ontario's captain, Commander William Grant. Like most of the people currently aboard the slipstream boat, Grant and Hunter were former submariners. The former had graduated from the Royal Navy's infamous "Perisher" submarine command course at H.M.S. Raleigh four years ago before being promoted to command Canada's first star "sub," while the latter had experience in both attack and missile boats in the United States Navy, including a rough deployment a few years before aboard the missile submarine U.S.S. Alabama. Both men exchanged looks, and then Grant moaned. "E.T.A. of the deployed ready ship force from Earth, Chief?" he called out.
"Approximately seven minutes, Cap'n," the boat's coxswain — remembering that, Hunter could only smile at the show of respect that title always gained the man; on American submarines, he would be simply known as the "COB" even if he did the same work as a surface ship's command master chief petty officer — called over from his station.
"First contact," Hunter mused.
A shake of the head. "They don't train us for this shit at Torpoint," Grant muttered before looking over. "Mister Lance, I want a full, deep analysis of what we're dealing with here well before the reinforcements get here. Leading Seaman Jones' initial report shows something that hasn't been done by any of the known powers."
"Aye-aye, Cap'n," the sensor officer called back. "Recommend we open a data link to Québec so we can get all the scans we need done faster."
"Do it!"
"Aye, sir!"
Aboard Pegasus…
"So how deep is this sensor net?" Helena demanded.
"It covers the whole inner sector of the solar system from the median point of the asteroid belt straight to the orbit of the fourth planet, Admiral," Anastasia Dualla stated from her position at the main sensory station in the combat information centre, which served as the main control room for the modified Mercury-class battlestar. "Creates a bubble sphere that almost completely shields the four inner planets of Sol…"
"We don't know that yet," the admiral cautioned.
The former Colonial Fleet lieutenant from Sagittaron stopped before she blushed. "Sorry about that, ma'am," she whispered as she gazed apologetically at the older woman.
Helena grinned. "I want to believe it, too, Dee. But let's not get our hopes up."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Where are the holes in this net?" Saul Tigh, now standing beside the admiral, asked.
"Naturally, above and below the star's poles, Colonel," Anastasia reported as she pointed to the readout on the screen. "If I was whoever it was that invented this net, I would post patrol ships there. It's a good bet that we've been detected…"
"DRADIS contact!"
Helena looked over. "Report, Master Chief!"
"Small group of ships approaching from aft starboard, Admiral," Sarah Rigel stated as she grinned in delight. "One cruiser-class, five destroyer-class ships. Moving to commence life scans of the vessels…" She then blinked. "Weird."
"What?" Saul demanded.
"They're staying on the outside of the asteroid belt, Colonel. And…" She then blinked. "What in the name of the Gods…?" she breathed out.
"What is it?" Helena prompted.
"The life scans are indicating that the crews on those ships are humanoid, fully organic…" — the young Caprican then turned to stare at her commander, her eyes wide with shock and considerable confusion — "…but the temperatures on those ships are well over twenty degrees below freezing!"
The others in CIC all gaped. "Amazing," came from the man at the central plot.
Eyes looked over. "What's so amazing, Professor?" Helena asked.
A chuckle escaped Gaius Baltar as he looked at her. "Well, if we do believe THIS is the home star system of the Thirteenth Colony, Helena…" — the Aerilon native was the only one outside the "pure-born" humanoid Cylons now serving aboard Pegasus to be granted the right to address the admiral by given name even in public — "…then we are dealing with a system that may have TWO native humanoid species, not one."
"What?!" Saul demanded. "But that's…!" He then caught himself before a wry chuckle escaped him. "Oh, what the frack am I talking about?!" he wondered as people around him fought back the urge to laugh as hands flew to mouths to hide their smiles. The former executive officer of the destroyed Galactica was well known for his willingness to question everything that they had been involved with since the ship deployed from Ragnar Anchorage several months before. "Ever since we ran across that damaged probe two years ago, we KNOW there are a whole bloody battlestar's worth of humanoid species across the whole gods-be-damned GALAXY!"
"Would the Terrans — if they are indeed the Thirteenth Tribe, of course — know of this other race being so close to them?" Natasi Baltar then wondered from beside Gaius.
Eyes gazed on Gina's sister Model Six, and then people paused to consider that. "Possibly, if these people are native to this system, dear," Gaius mused as he gazed fondly on his wife. "But if they're not, could they be actually…?"
"New DRADIS contact!"
"Report, Master Chief!" Helena barked.
"New group of ships approaching from the third planet, Admiral," Sarah Rigel stated. "Seven in all. Two destroyer-class, two frigate-class, three escort-class ships. All now travelling at sub-light and on direct intersect course with us. E.T.A. close defence zone, eight minutes. Recommend we launch alert CAP."
A sigh. "Get them in the air!" Helena ordered.
"Yes, Admiral!" Saul barked…
On H.M.C.S. Fort Erie, now approaching Pegasus…
"She's launched two fighters, Commodore!"
People in the operations room watched as two jets of flame rocketed clear from the port-side pod of the large alien ship — clearly a combination battleship and aircraft carrier design given the through-deck hangar bays on the pods and the heavy weaponry mounted on the hull — to race out in front of the alien ship, forming what was a "loose-deuce" formation (as Tariko, now standing beside her wife, reported to everyone else) as they move to block the direct approach between their mothership and the approaching Canadian formation. "I can see that," Nanase Yū stated. "A type of CAP?"
"Yeah," Tariko affirmed with a nod.
"Life scans?!" Shinobu called out.
"Only one life sign each, Captain," Suzuki Miho reported from her station as she relayed an image of her scans to the main view screen, which now showed a three-dimensional tactical plot of local space. "Both — if the data we're getting from Ontario is correct — are two of the cyber-bioroids we detected on this ship, both female."
"Third craft launching from the starboard pod!" Naruse Kaori called out. "Different type of craft from the first two that launched from the port pod."
"Commencing full combat analysis of the approaching craft," Nishina Kurumi reported.
"Scanning that ship now," Miho declared as she relayed her scanning results to the main view screen. "Two crew, both cyber-bioroid. One male, one female."
"Male…?"
Eyes locked on Yū. "We definitely need to talk to these people," the commodore mused.
Others in the room all grinned…
Now jetting away from Pegasus…
"Starbuck, Athena, Pegasus Actual. Are both your Vipers' weapons tight?"
"Tight as they can be, Actual," Kara Thrace said as she visually confirmed the safeties were locked in place. "As tight as Athena's playbox, believe it or not!"
"Keep saying that, Starbuck, you're sleeping on the couch tonight!" Grace Agathon snarled from the cockpit of her own fighter.
"Hey! Cool it, you two lushes! Delete that trash-talk from your central processors!" came the scolding voice from the pilot of the Raptor now rising to hover over the bow of the battlestar so its crew could move to rescue the pilots if required (even though as human-turned-humanoid Cylons, they also had the resurrection coding in their minds that would allow their souls to be downloaded into a new body if required, as disorientating and sometimes quite painful as such a process could be).
"Yes, sister dear!" Grace said as she allowed a smile to cross her face.
From her pilot's seat aboard the Raptor, Sharon's sister Number Eight, Sharon Valerii, tried not to grin too much at her sister's whining voice before she gazed at her electronic countermeasures officer. "You'd think they'd ever learn.
"I'm glad you're the brains of this family," Samuel Anders stated as he winked at her.
Sharon shrugged. "Well, God probably intended it that way."
"Braggart!" echoed over her earphones.
"Cut the chatter, you idiots!" Saul Tigh's voice called out from Pegasus. "This isn't a damned strip club in Caprica City, you know!"
"Pity that, Colonel," Sharon stated as Grace and Kara both laughed…
Fort Erie…
"They're all bonded to each other."
Eyes locked on Tariko. "What do you mean, Tariko-chan?" Oyuki asked.
"The pilots of those two fighters and that support ship over the Pegasus," the air detachment commander reported; Ontario had just relayed close-up hull shots of the alien ship, which showed the vessel's name — in ROMAN letters! — on the flight pods.
The others all turned to look at the screen as the eyes of every Avalonian there all narrowed as their empathic senses reached out. "I feel it!" Lum said. "The girl to our left's really close to one of the ones on that shuttle in the rear. The other two…" She then shook her head. "More a sister bond between the girl on the right…and the same shuttle on the boat, I think. As for the other one…"
"Definitely the guy," Tariko mused. "He feels really old…"
"He does, doesn't he," Oyuki noted…
Now approaching the Canadian ships…
"Hey, Grace…"
"Yeah, Kara?"
"You feel that?" Kara wondered.
Grace blinked as she considered that, and then she nodded. "Yeah. A really fuzzy feeling…like what I felt like when I came out gestation the first time…"
Kara tensed. As a human-turned-humanoid Cylon, she had experienced that only once when she had awoken in her new body shortly after the Galactica had been lost, William Adama had been killed and the Twelve Colonies plunged into a civil war that was tearing them apart to this very day. "What do you think it is?"
The other Viper pilot mused. "Well, the people who made that probe were high-order psychics. The chances are there that whoever's ahead of us…"
"Might be the same," Kara concluded.
Grace nodded. "Possibly."
"Frack!" the blonde pilot hissed, and then she relaxed. "Wait…"
"What?"
"Let me try something," Kara noted as she tapped controls on her Viper. "This is the pilot of Viper Silver Spar One, hailing from the battlestar Pegasus, calling the commander or any officer of the Earth fleet now in front of us. This is Lieutenant Kara Thrace, callsign 'Starbuck,' of the Free Colonial Alliance. We come in peace but we need to open communications with you right away. Please respond."
On Pegasus…
"Gods-DAMN that girl!"
"Stow it, Colonel!"
Saul jolted as he found himself staring warily at Helena. "But Admiral…!"
"I trust her instincts," Helena stated. "I know the mistake she made with Bill's younger son, Saul. She won't make it again. And she's the one on point, remember?"
He blinked, and then he nodded. "Yeah. Sorry, ma'am…"
On Fort Erie…
"Captain! We're being hailed!"
Shinobu looked over. "From who?!"
"A woman named Kara Thrace, representing a 'Free Colonial Alliance,'" Tamachi Hiromi reported. "The signal's coming from the approaching fighter to our port."
"Let's hear it," Yū ordered.
"On speakers."
Everyone looked up as a woman's voice came out in accented English over the deckhead speakers, "…One, hailing from the battlestar Pegasus, calling the commander or any officer of the Earth fleet now in front of us. This is Lieutenant Kara Thrace, callsign 'Starbuck,' of the Free Colonial Alliance. We come in peace but we need to open communications with you right away. Please respond."
"Response," the commodore called out.
"Go ahead, Commodore."
"Lieutenant, this is Commodore Nanase Yū of the Canadian Forces Naval Star Services, representing the United Nations Earth Defence Force, currently aboard Her Majesty's Canadian Ship Fort Erie," Yū called out. "We acknowledge your call, but I would like to speak to your commanding officer if I may."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
And then…
"Um…no disrespect, ma'am, but did you just say 'EARTH?!'"
Yū blinked, quickly sensing the hopeful tone in the other woman's voice. "Yes."
Aboard Pegasus…
"Gaius…"
Gaius blinked. "Yes?"
The blonde woman standing next to him had a million-megawatt smile on her face. "You are going to be SO lucky tonight," Natasi whispered into her husband's ear.
The professor found himself blushing as the crew in CIC all broke out in cheers…
…which was now audible in Fort Erie's operations room.
"It must've been something you said, Commodore," Shinobu mused as we now…
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(Posted Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:10)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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