((Sorry Raidne, it was quite long and I needed the Commander for Echo :P)) [b][u]BS-14 Battlestar [i]Columbia[/i][/u][/b] Things had picked up on the CIC as one of the other DRADIS contacts launched some form of fighter escort, nothing near the number of Vipers they had available however it was still something to be concerned about. Lorne looked over as people busied themselves around the comm station. “Status?””Sir, we’ve got two incoming messages from two of the unknowns bearing 234 carom 428 and bearing 379 bearing 221. One of them appears to be in an older dialect of Tauron while we’re still having trouble hearing the other language.””Have someone from Tauron report to CIC and translate the message as best they can, put the unknown language on speaker. See if we can’t make some sense of it.” A communication came on over the speakers filling the CIC, he looked at Phillips. It was distorted heavily obviously due to the difference in communication tech however there was an underlying pattern to it. “Tactical, clear up that communication. Get rid of the voice.””Sir.” It took several minutes until both a Tauron speaker came into CIC offering a salute as the message came back over the speakers, without the voice. He turned to Phillips. “Take charge of responding to the ship speaking in Tauron.””Aye sir.” He himself listened to the broadcast. There was a definite pattern to it. “Launch the SAR bird, give it an escort of two Vipers. Tell them to approach the ship and leave it 100m away from the vessel. Beacon light contact, have the Raptor take a surveillance packet.””Aye sir.” He clasped two hands onto his table as he listened to the pilots over the speaker. --- “This is Raptor 279er we’re away.””Copy that 279er, good luck out there Hotshot.” The Raptor pulled away, as two DRADIS contacts approached to escort them out. A female voice crackled over the speakers. “Hotshot, this is Red. Me and Bonzo have your back.””Copy that Red, its nice to have you join the party.””Roger that. Standard wedge formation.””Yes sir.” He turned around, back to face his ECO. A young female lieutenant who had replaced his last ECO on the last resupply run after his was killed in a battle against the cylons. “What’re you picking up?””A lot of strange looking ships. I don’t think its a fleet the ships deviate too much, most of them are cutting a path around the Columbia. The one we’re heading towards appears to be an old looking rocket.””All right, picking up anything?””Its venting something into space, its engines are emitting radiation so are obviously nuclear.””Copy that. Red, Bonzo. Hold back we’re going to try contact by signal light, wait. Are those, people floating outside the hull?” --- Lorne checked the screens as photos came in. “By the Gods-” He managed to catch himself before he went on any further. “Communications, inform Hotshot to identify ourselves via signal light, request ident and then offer assistance if necessary.””Copy that sir.” He listened as his orders were relayed and continued to look at the images up on the screen as they came in, images of the different ships however he kept bringing himself back to the one where people were streaming around the rocket, like fighters. That was definitely something new. --- Hotshot turned as Echo spoke. “Columbia wants us to inform them who we are before asking for ident and then offering assistance via signal light.””Copy that Echo, using the signal light.” He flicked several switches making sure weapons weren’t armed as he switched over to signal light, flashing it in succession to relay the message, which only took a couple of minutes. Once the message was sent he paused for two minutes before repeating it. He did this a couple of times before simply sitting looking at the men hovering outside of the ship. “Lets hope they understood that.” [u][b]||N1-B [i]Romanova[/i]_[/b][/u] Leytenant-kapitan Volkov soon settled into the familiar routine, drilled into him so many times that it was instinctive. His mind wandered. He was bored but had to stay alert. One wrong maneuver and he’d crash into another member of his flak. Then someone else would crash into them, and one horrible chain reaction later…. Volkov smiled at the familiar memories of training, of the first time they’d ever attempted this. “Unidentified craft approaching, two darts and a box,” came the maser. Volkov relayed the maser to the next cosmonaut in the chain and to the [i]Romanova[/i] itself. Orders came back on his next pass near the airlock: “Weapons hold; attempt communications.” For once, the familiar routine wouldn’t last for the dull hours of drilling or watch. As the three craft approached, the flight patterns of the flak altered. Fewer Cosmonauts spent time on the far side of the hull, more spent time close to the alien ships. On one of his passes, Volkov noticed the [i]Romanova[/i]’s auto sentry cannons swivelling to train themselves on the alien ships. The commander may have ordered a weapons hold, but that didn’t mean that they should show themselves as weak. Volkov rounded the monolithic primary tesla coil and masered new orders: “Aim at nearby darts and box, weapons hold.” As the orders propogated from cosmonaut to cosmonaut, the flak gradually assumed a new formation. Now, as cosmonauts streamed passed the Vipers and the Raptor, their laser rifles were aimed at the ships. A maser came to Volkov: “Box is broadcasting signal lamp.” Volkov absorbed this information. They weren’t attacking, which was almost disappointing. But Volkov didn’t [i]have[/i] a signal lamp. An idea occurred to him. He spent most of his flight pattern facing the target designated “Box”, watching the pattern of flashes. It repeated after a few minutes, and he was certain that he’d gotten it right. Leytenant-kapitan Volkov gave the flak new orders: “Commence rapid 5-second maneuvers. Formations as follows: shield, eye, shield, pattern alpha, shield, shield…” and continued on, repeating the pattern of flashes that Box had given them. He then went on to the standard Soviet signal light alphabet, and attempted to convey “ROMANOVA REQUEST HELP PLASMA LEAK”. After repeating that twice, Volkov proceeded to do the craziest thing he’d ever done. He stopped all his relative motion, directly in front of Box. He waited a few moments to make sure that they saw him, and then chucked his laser rifle into space. He made a beckoning motion to Box and then jetted toward the [i]Romanova[/i]’s large unionized plasma leak. They had to understand that. [b][u]BSG-14 Battlestar [i]Columbia[/i][/u][/b] “Columbia, Hotshot. They’re performing some kind of… synchronized formation. They appear to acknowledge us. There appears to be some kind of leak on the outer edge of their hull, they appear to need help fixing it. Please advise.” Lorne looked at the table as the message crackled through the speakers. “Launch a Raptor with DC teams 3-4 in EVA gear. Have them go seal the breach and then report back.” He looked back to the rest of the room. “All engines full stop. Turn us about, port facing the ship where our people will be working.””Full stop, aye sir.” The ship began to turn slowly in space, furthest away from the planet now its port side facing the planet. A great big lumbering beast, lying in weight. “Have Hotshot declare that we’re sending over teams to try and close the breaches along their hull. Launch the rest of Blue Squadron and have them escort the Raptors over there. Any sign of hostile intent and they’re to get the engineers back here and open fire.””Aye sir.””Tactical, keep me apprised.” --- Hotshot finished relaying the message as the other Raptors arrived, Blue Squadron held position behind the Raptors as the Raptor doors opened and the DC teams came out, sporting welding gear between them and small maneuvering packs. They waited, while they had a Viper Squadron sitting waiting behind them they didn’t want to be the ones to just fly up to possible hostiles who were all holding weapons. They waited for a signal that they were free to move forward. ---