The Gunstar Trireme was on it's usual duty,10 km off battlestar raven's port bow;In CIC,There was A discussion on the Caprica MMA championship,broadcast on the CUBN the evening before; Chief navigator Geiken was in A not so good mood; His favorite fighter lost in the semifinals,and, geiken lost A fair amount of cubits:
" It's not fair! Had the ref not been blocked,He would have caught that below the belt stuff!"
"You're not the only one who lost; I was banking on smith to reach the finals" said helmsman shawn doyle " Didn't expect him to fade at the last minute.." Col. Leonidas,walking by, said: I won 300 cubits last night;I knew pasternos would pour it on..
"DRADIS contact sir!" announced TAC/OPS officer 'Faceman' ursiny "just came within our max range."
Heading? " mark 537,carrom 42 sir..straight for us" Where's the raven's CAP? "on the other side"
Leonidas picks up the phone " ALL HANDS...SET CONDITION TWO THROUGHOUT THE SHIP...ALL GUN BATTERIES TO STANDBY " What's his speed? "one-five-zero,sir"
A minute later: "sir, I'm now picking up A colonial transponder signal...from that ship!"
Have we got A type on that inbound? "It appears to be A Mk.II viper."
Strange...Other than our own CAP,there shouldn't be any solo flights out this far....Any ID on the transponder?
"Cross-referencing it now..stand by..." 30 seconds later: "This can't be..."
What? "According to fleet records...this is someone who was confirmed KIA two years ago..Yet, the transponder ID is confirmed authentic.."
Just who is this? "According to data.... VTN 74451NC.....Lt.jg Daniel Blutarsky...Last assigned to spartan squadron,battlestar raven"
Leonidas thinks ' BLUTO???...How in the frak is that possible?? '; XO 'bunny' nonemaker says " We saw him get killed running from A old cylon base star...how is he just popping up now? " We both saw that ,bunny;This makes no sense.
A minute later, Comm officer 'DJ' fish reports "Sir....i'm getting RT from that viper...it's requesting permission to land." On the raven? "No..It's requesting hands on landing on the Trireme,sir" "Sir,whoever's flying is asking to speak to YOU...by name.." ME? "Your callsign,sir."
Picking up A headset 'patch me through'
'Bluto...this is leonidas...where the frak have you been?'
" It's good to hear your voice sir! I got some stuff to tell you!...If i could just land and talk to you face to face.."
'What stuff?' "Can't say it now....don't want the toasters to get wind of this.."
After A pause 'Very well...hands on,port side...don't frak up my deck,please'
"see you soon,sir!"
Any radiologicals detected? " None" confirms faceman
Well, we've got A mystery to solve; Have Tusker meet,and escort that pilot to the plot room;Get me the hangar deck... "Main hangar,Chief cool.." This is the CO..we've got A viper coming in...where it came from is unknown; As soon as the marines escort the pilot,I want that viper checked for cylon IFF devices..Inside and out..If you find at least ONE device,I want that viper pushed off my ship IMMEDIATELY,clear? "Crystal clear,sir."
Bunny, you're with me; Fish,contact the raven,and give them the SITREP;Tell them we will keep them apprised.
"On it, sir."
The phantom viper lands on the trireme; 'Bluto' disembarks and is escorted by MGST 'Tusker' and two marines
So far,nothing unusual,Except,his flight suit and helmet are all white..like he had jumped into A pool of bleach.
Five minutes later,in the trireme plot room; Leonidas and bunny are standing....looking like A ghost had walked in...maybe...
Bluto pops to attention and snaps off A salute.....the salute is returned.
"It's frakking great to see you sir! I knew they would give you your own ship...never doubted it!.....And,I knew bunny was on the fast track!"
Thanks bluto...it looks like you pulled through...even though we confirmed you dead two years ago.
" I know it's kinda freaky sir....me,looking like this and showing up after all this time..but,i'm here for A real good reason...just to tell you some important stuff."
OK, first, start off with the last time we saw you...we saw your ship get hit and destroyed by A cylon base star,just before it exploded,and sealed off the void.
" Oh yeah! Well, I remember the last transmission I sent out...I was taking fire from that base star...then....I didn't hear no explosion....there was A big,blinding light...just white all around....I thought I was gone for sure; Then, I woke up...and there was this place..like A luxury suite at the caprica city hilton...but,I really can't describe it...I was then surrounded by these people in glittering white robes covering everything except their eyes...I dunno...they kinda reminded me of angels for some reason..."
OK..go on
" It was like so peaceful...like being in the promised land.. only better...then, they started telling me that they are like beings of light....and they've been watching us...they said that we're going to be like them someday..Evolved,or something like that....Frak if I ever believed in that,until now! Anyway,they said they've been fighting evil in another dimension or something like that..and,they want to help us."
Help us......How?
" They sent me here to tell you this: There are some bad times coming for us..those frakking toasters are gonna find A way to shut down our defenses..and the fleet..then, they're gonna bring the kitchen sink to take us all out....the human race will be close to going down for good..!"
Go on....
" But...there will be survivors..... they'll be A bunch of civilian ships...led and protected by A single battlestar...they'll be travelling beyond the red line to find A new home....A place called.....earth,I think... And, they say that this earth is where the 13th tribe of kobol went..sorry,I never studied mythology in school...anyway, they'll be other survivors...they said YOU would be part of A fleet trying to hit back at the toasters..Hey,I told them that if anybody knows how to stick it to the cylons,it's my old boss!"
Really interesting bluto....Anything else they said?
" That's all I think they want you to know..they really didn't give me A lot of details.......this 'archon' guy just started blabbing about destinies , and..."
Just then, before the eyes of leonidas,bunny,and tusker, 'Bluto' starts to fade away
BLUTO??? "Ooops..I guess my time's up...sorry boss..But hey,they said we'll see each other again...and the first round's on me...!"
And bluto vanishes completely..into thin air
Standing flabbergasted,they try to describe
" Sir, what the frak just happened?" asks tusker
There's one thing about this universe... not everything's A constant.
Then, a call from the hangar deck: "Chief Cool,sir... that viper that just came in? Well, we were about to examine it; I was about to lay hands on it when IT FRAKKING DISAPPEARED! Just Like that! How in hades does that happen,sir?" The pilot did the same thing,chief..disappeared.... frak if I can tell you how or why.
Bunny asks " you going to brief raven actual on this?"
Yes;However, I can tell you,she's going to be as skeptical as I am.
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