Starting Somewhere

Three Weeks after end of Second Cylon War, Massena II Fleet

The Massena II and its small fleet flashed into the space beside Ragnar Anchorage immediately two Viper Mk VII's launched from the Massena II and two more followed from the Agosta giving the fleet some much needed extra eyes in what was now hostile territory. It has only been four weeks since Commander Matthew Boyle had last been here but so much had changed, during that time he and his crew had helped save thousands of people from the Cylons and they helped fortify a refuge for humanity in the Vilnus Cluster.

Now with new direction he had to complete his mission by bringing Galactica's fleet back to the colonies and saving the human race. The problem was he had no idea where Adama's fleet currently were instead he'd have to follow the breadcrumbs left by Adama's fleet. Standing within the CIC of the Massena II he glanced over at newly promoted Colonel Will Stonagal, since Boyle had now officially taken a Colonial Military Rank it was about time that the rest of the crew received positions within the fleet as well reflecting the positions they had filled during their independent operations. "Contact the Caerphilly, have them scout the Anchorage see if the Cylons left anything down there after Galactica cleared out." He ordered the Colonel nodded and the orders were passed through the compact command deck.

"You really think we can track down the Galactica?" Stonagal asked looking back at Boyle

"We have to try" Boyle said watching as the Caerphilly broke formation with their five-ship strong fleet. Unlike a Battlestar which carried a dozen of them the one thing their small fleet lacked multiple Raptor scout vessels with only eight of the small craft available spread over their ships. Boyle wanted to use the Raptors sparingly for local scouting instead they'd be used to support the equally small Viper force providing missile support and Electronic Counter Measure support. Instead while the fleet was in local space, Boyle planned to use the Caerphilly exactly like the original Colonial Fleet did using the small Manticore-class Corvette's mobility to act as a heavy scout. On the DRADIS screens the Caerphilly disappeared into the atmosphere of Ragnar approaching the Colonial Fleet's hidden refuge. "I have to believe that Adama took the fleet along the old exodus road searching for Kobol." He said running his hand across the star map.

"That's way beyond the Red Line." Stonagal noted "which would make a lot of sense, draw the Cylons out and away from the Colonies, and more importantly away from known Cylon space." The Colonel noted moving his hand over the far end of the two-dimensional map but they both knew the old symbols represented on it were far out of date now all of known space was essentially Cylon territory.

"If anything, we previously thought was known counts for anything now?" Boyle said watching as the Caerphilly poked its bow back out of the Ragnar Anchorage the ship hadn't taken long to search the Anchorage meaning that there likely hadn't been much left in the area. Moments later a smaller ship followed the Caerphilly out into open space. Boyle grabbed the desk microphone and clicked the microphone "Massena Actual to Cassiopeia, I want a flyby of the additional contact Caerphilly has encountered."

"We're on it Massena!" The pilot called back as the two Viper Mk VII's shot forward when it came to acceleration there was very little that could keep up with a Viper on full burn. The fleets complement of Vipers had been replaced by those that were based on board the Rycon. The Mark Sevens was the newest of the Viper fleet used by the Colonial Fleet before the Second War. During encounters with Cylon forces they'd shut down the Mark Seven's with a computer virus making them almost completely ineffective, but since then based on data gained from encounters from the Cylons and from the defector Doral Aditya the fighters on board the fleets ships had been hardened against further Cylon tampering. "Oh, my Gods Massena!" Cassiopeia called out as she approached the new contact "Cassiopia to Massena Actual, we've got a Tauronese Gambling Frigate and she is a real beauty Massena, she'd probably give our Vipers a run for their money in a straight line." She said as the two fighters flew past the Caerphilly and then past the streamlined ship behind almost shaped like a winged bullet the ship was painted in a scarlet red colour that was unmissable. When this ship entered a system, it entered to make a statement.

While called a Frigate the ship was not a military vessel instead it was a luxury liner more often than not filled with money, drink and prostitutes when one of these ships visited a colony world law enforcement normally cancelled all of their holidays. The ships were capable of high sub-light speeds which were used more often than not to keep them ahead of ships like the Caerphilly and the Colonial Vipers now escorting them. Some of them also occasionally were armed with anti-fighter weaponry it was small compact and agile but it was still something they'd need to look out for making the search harder.

"Caerphilly reported Ragnar Anchorage has been vented to space the Frigate was the only ship there. There could be three hundred people on-board that thing" Stonagal said smiling at yet another survivor of the colonies being found he looked at his commander but he didn't look pleased "what's wrong?"

"We didn't come looking for more ships to tag along. We're going to have to check the crew on that thing for Cylons and then protect it if we come across Cylons." Boyle said he'd thought his guarding civilian ships was over for a while.

"More survivors, Commander, bottom line we're in it for our civilization." He reminded Boyle.

"Agreed" Boyle said nodding looking up at the DRADIS "Colonel, have Caerphilly guide them into formation. Then have our Raptors put marine squads onto that thing, I want it searched for all the known Cylon models."

"The Tauron Gaming Commission will likely have private security on board." Stonagal pointed out warning him of a potential source of resistance.

"You're right" Boyle thought for a moment "put all of our marines on it, overwhelm them, I don't want any incidents or resistance. If they want our protection they're going to have to agree to some Colonial law." Boyle noted watching as the ships moved into formation. As they closed on the fleet, he almost wished Wilkes was still alive, he'd know something about the Commission which could keep them in line unfortunately he'd been on board one of the Hunter craft destroyed when by the Baseship which had damaged the Lucky 9 in their last Cylon encounter. Instead, his eyes came upon the Lucky 9. "I'll speak with Brand; she might know a thing or two as well." He said looking at the Postal Frigate "once our marines are on board spin up FTL we're going to look elsewhere."

The next jump several jumps were uneventful with the Massena II's ships detecting little sign of the Galactica's fleet. The Gambling Commission's Frigate hadn't put up any resistance the internal security not even trying to resist the incoming marines. Instead, onboard they found a crew and passengers who were low on food and water and had been alone for some time, now they were glad to have the support of the Massena and its people.

Four Weeks after end of Second Cylon War, Massena II

The now six strong fleet flashed onto space after several jumps of searching immediately several Vipers launched from the Massena II's underside hanger. On several occasions they'd encountered fragments of Viper, Cylon raider and even parts from what was possibly Galactica's hull showing signs of combat. As they emerged from the jump Matthew Boyle looked over at Doral Adiyata who stood near the sensor console the Cylon stood in his dark green jumpsuit away from the consoles with a pair of marines watching his every move. Doral had proven his loyalty time and again and stood on the CIC without handcuffs or shackles but he could still be a threat leading to the heavier than normal marine presence. "Contact debris field off our bow."

"What do we have?"

"100% a Colonial ship" Lieutenant Victoria Kryvych said from her seated position at the sensor console beside Doral Adiyata "90% certainty a Civilian Liner maybe a thousand people on board. Hard to tell what ship though the debris is pretty well spread out." She said glancing up at Doral. Boyle could see the anger and almost felt sorry for Doral while he was a Cylon he hadn't been involved in the destruction here.

"Galactica's fleet had a couple of liners, I guess one of them must have taken a hit." Stonagal noted as the fleet slipped passed them. The Vipers made a closer inspection of the debris as they edged their way passed.

"Prepare for another jump when the fleet is clear of the debris, there's no need for us to linger here too long."

"Commander, one thing you may find interesting" Doral said turning towards him Boyle felt the marines on the bridge tense up a little, even the presence of a Cylon made people nervous. "On a piece of that debris is one of the Cylon tracking transmitters. I sent the activation code when we arrived." He said Boyle looked at Victoria Kryvych who nodded that she'd sent the signal "the Cylons were following that ship."

"So, the Cylons could have had a mole ship within Galactica's fleet." Boyle said adding things up "which might explain how they tracked the fleet to Ragnar to start with?" Doral nodded "thanks" Boyle said nodding to the man. He couldn't forgive what he was but he hadn't done anything to threaten Boyle's fleet so he wouldn't miss-treat him. "Hold to my orders, prepare us for a jump XO." Boyle said glancing up at the DRADIS before walking out of the CIC heading towards his quarters which were on the same deck and further aft of the command deck.

Outside his quarters there were a pair of marines waiting one of them pulled open the door and allowed the commander in while the other saluted. As a civilian ship his original Massena hadn't had on board marines until Sinclair's group had been rescued. Many of the cadets who had been part of the group were now serving marines within his fleet including these two. Boyle classed them both as members of his crew even if they'd come to the crew by a different path than others serving on board.

Inside his quarters Boyle had slowly made the suite of rooms feel more like a home, like the quarters he'd had on his old ship. Due to the destruction of the original Massena, he didn't have any personal mementos from his old ship since or even his old life, he'd been able to acquire a few things that made it feel more at home but what made it feel more like home was who was waiting for him. "Amy Brand" he said walking into the quarters, he heard one of the marines pull the door closed behind him "welcome aboard." He said having not seen her since they'd last jumped.

"Thank you, Commander" she said she'd taken one of the Sweeper craft over from the Lucky 9 just before the last jump "how goes the search?" She asked as a commander of the one of the ships in the fleet he knew she'd have been up to date before she moved over to the Massena II.

"We found a destroyed colonial ship, a civilian liner. This far out it's probably a ship from Galactica's fleet, I couldn't imagine many others being this far out." He explained a civilian ship didn't have the ability to range this far from civilization before support she nodded her understanding "how are you doing?"

"Oh wonderful, Commander" she said remaining formal with him even as he opened his uniform jacket. Since officially re-joining the Colonial military, he'd begun wearing the uniform again, it felt strange especially now standing in a room with Amy Brand who was still dressed in her civilian gear a red pair of engineering dungarees over a black t-shirt.

"Why so formal? You alright Amy?"

"I'm fine Matt" she said using his name "I'm just not sure if you've called me here for business or for personal reasons. Being the last time, you called on me was to deal with those Taurian daggets." She said swearing about the Gambling Commission ship, he'd turned to her because she still had links to Wilkes people and still had fingers in their old life but by the sound of it, this particular experience had not been a good one.

"My apologies" he said raising his hands in surrender. "Are they going to be an issue?"

"Depends do you have anything that they could buy or win off of you?"

"Probably not" he admitted the Gambling Commission Frigate's crew had needed food and water but so far, they'd caused little issue for his ship in a fleet sense. He had heard from Stonagal that there had been several leave requests from crew to go to the ship.

"Then you'll be fine" she said sighing, "unfortunately, I have a ship full of antiques so you can imagine every one of the 'customers' on that yacht wants something to remind them of their glorious past. I don't think I've ever had so many wireless messages. There was a reason after you left, I went into business with the postal service." She said bringing up their past life "I liked the quiet!" She snapped "me and lucky 9 in open space. She's not the military ship she was built as but she can fly even with the changes that the Postal Service made to her my ship is a dream to fly, it was glorious." She said musing about her past freedom.

"And now you're supporting the survival of our race" he said reaching over to the side picking up two glasses of ambrosia he guessed she'd poured when she arrived. "Welcome on-board Amy." He said handing her a glass chinking his against hers making it clear he classed this visit as a personal one "no more business for tonight?" He suggested she nodded as long as they didn't have any incidents until the next jump then it would just be the two of them for a while and that made Matthew Boyle happy enough.