They were lucky to have the Battlestars out here at all. Sometimes, Adama wondered how long the Colonial alliance would really hold. The Cylons, after all, had never really been defeated. The Colonies had to stay united. But the politicians, eager for the approval of each separate world, already seemed to have forgotten. If the Battlestars wanted to keep exploring the edges of space, they needed to find results. This exploration of the outer reaches, delayed though it was, was the last piece of putting all the far-flung pieces of the Colonies back together.
"Sir, I'm getting some strange readings here."
Adama looked over at the technician. "Explain, Lieutenant."
"I'm seeing bursts of radiation out of this new ship. I think their engines have been breached. We've got a very unstable situation on our hands."
"Sound the alarm," Adama said. "Let's get the senior staff up here."
The Klaxons rang out around the room.
The first thing they had found out here was about to blow up in their faces.
Saul Tigh showed up first. The ship's doctor and head engineer were right behind him.
"I was on my way to the morning briefing. What have we got?"
"Admiral on deck!" The shout rang out before Adama could even begin to explain. The crew snapped to attention.
"At ease!" Admiral Sing announced as he strode into the room, then stopped to return their salute. He was a compact man with skin that looked like aging parchment. But while the admiral might look ready for retirement, Adama often thought his superior's energy rivaled that of a raw recruit.
"Colonel Adama, please report."
"We've picked up the signal of an unknown ship, a potential hazard. It seems to be leaking radiation, sir."
"Are there any signs of life on board?" Sing asked. "We've attempted to establish contact, but we've gotten no response.
"We're close enough to get a visual, sir," one of the techs called.
"Put it up on the forward screen," Sing ordered.
"It's an old B-class freighter," Tigh said with surprise in his voice. "Bill—Colonel Adama—and I shipped out on one of those when we first met. Just looks sort of dead in space."
Sing frowned at the still image in front of them. "Could the ship have been damaged in a fight?"
"It doesn't look like it has a scratch," Tigh replied.
"And it's leaking radiation?"
"Intermittently." The tech checked the dials before her. "Sometimes, there's hardly any reading. At others, the sensors are going wild."
"Captain Frayn." Sing addressed the ship's engineer. "What could cause those sort of readings?"
"It has to be the engines. They must have been stripped of most of their shielding. That sort of damage had to have been done internally."
"Sabotage," Adama added. "They wanted to blow up the next people to board her."
"Quite possible," Frayn agreed. "Without getting close enough to get blown up, I think it's a reasonable assumption."
"This isn't the friendliest of gestures," Sing remarked. "Who do we think is responsible?"
"We've been trailing scavengers for some time," Adama replied. "I've mentioned it in my reports."
The few abandoned Colonial sites they had managed to find had been well picked-over.
"I recall," Sing replied. "Seems our scavengers don't like being followed."
"They're probably trying to cut out the competition," Frayn ventured.
"Won't they be surprised when they find their competition is a Battlestar?" Tigh asked with a smile.
"And I think we need to find these folks before they leave any more gifts." The admiral looked to Tigh. "Let's get some pilots out there to take care of this, shall we?"
"Yes, sir!" Tigh saluted and left for the flight deck.
"Colonel Adama, you believe the scavengers are exploring the same area we are?"
"The evidence suggests that we've crossed paths half a dozen times. I'm guessing they have the same intel that we have."
"Knowing how difficult it was for us to get the intel out of the Colonies, they may have more." Sing shook his head in disgust. "Let's increase our speed, do a sweep of the area. Maybe we can pick these characters up."
"And if we find them, sir?" Adama asked.
"A bunch of crazy scavengers who leave bombs behind as gifts? We may just have to blow them out of the sky."
About The Author
Jeffrey A. Carver is the author of fifteen popular science fiction novels, including The Infinity Link and The Rapture Effect. His books combine hard-SF concepts, deeply humanistic concerns, and a sense of humor. His last novel, Eternity's End, was a finalist for the Nebula Award. He is currently completing Sunborn, the long-awaited fourth volume of The Chaos Chronicles, a cosmic-scope series inspired by the science of chaos.
Carver has taught science-fiction writing to young authors both as an educational television host and as the author of Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy, an online guide to the craft of storytelling and writing. The guide is now available online, free, at www.writesf.com.
A native of Huron, Ohio, Carver graduated from Brown University with a degree in English. He has been a high-school wrestler, a scuba-diving instructor, a quahog diver, a UPS sorter, a private pilot, and a stay-at-home dad. He lives with his family in the Boston area.
Discover more at www.starrigger.net.
Battlestar Galactica (New Series) Page 26