Part 1 Battlestar Galactica: Back To The Colonies: Of Droughts And Grudges

Chapter 1

I

"CAG, XO, you're at Bingo fuel, gonna send out the tanker bird for in-flight refueling. We need the practice"

"Copy Churchill tankers to top us off", replied Lieutenant Nicholas "Axman" Bond. The 37-year-old was the Air Boss for all the Falcons on the recently christened Terran Class Battlestar Winston Churchill. "Old Winnie" had been aloft for eleven months now and was getting close to ending her shakedown cruise. "Can you clear it with The Boss for us to run some C.B.D.R drills after the top-off?"

"Copy Axman will check with the Admiral about that. He's in his quarters doing some paperwork right now." Churchill's XO was Commander Rudi Beck, Call Sign "Reaper". He had been one of the aces flying off of Pegasus during the 2027 War under Admiral Lee Adama and had come to Churchill with Karl Agathon, who was now Admiral of the Old Winnie.

Admiral Karl Agathon hated paperwork. And unfortunately, it came in bunches when you were The Man on a Battlestar. There wasn't as much paper as there used to be for the commander of a ship of the line, but it still existed. Most things were stored on the computers that did almost everything on the Churchill. But he still had to print up copies of flight logs, and duty rosters and incident or accident reports, and even if crew members needed new uniforms. All that would go to UED in San Diego via computer but it also required that he have a hard copy of much of that information as well.

He lived to be out in CIC. That's where his blood got pumping. Despite the horrors of the two wars he'd been, in nothing got his blood pumping more than being in CIC during a tense situation. He felt it had always brought out the best in him. Peacetime obviously wasn't as exciting but he approached every day as if the Cylons had just jumped right on top of his ship. It was the best way to keep himself sharp.

His computerized phone system chortled and the LED displayed "XO", indicating that Rudi Beck was calling him. "This is the Admiral, what's up Reaper?"

"Sir just wanted to let you know that Axman wants to do some C.B.D.R work after the tankers finish with the Falcons."

"Tell him to go for it. Never hurts to do some extra work during CAP.", Helo turned to his computer to enter the information about the request into his long. "Tell Nick that they need to rotate out within two hours. They've been up there for five already. No need to beat them to death."

"Aye, Admiral, two more hours then rotate. Thanks, Skipper", and Beck vanished from the line.

He went into the refrigerator in the back of the kitchen to get a cold bottle of water. About the only thing he hated more than paperwork was warm water. He was just headed back to his desk when a familiar face popped out of the private living quarters.

"Hey Helo, still working to kill a few more trees?", Athena Agathon said playfully, knowing her husband's hatred for the bureaucracy.

"Gods I hate this paper-pushing!", he groaned, "but it's part of the life of being the Top Dog, Athena", he replied with his wry smile. "Fortunately I'll be back in CIC in a few minutes. Axman is doing some C.B.D.R work and I want to see how they run it this time around."

"C.B.D.R's aren't a whole lot of fun from what I remember. Fortunately, you're not training a rookie at CAG." She said with a knowing air.

"Yeah, Nick's a helluva CAG, no question about it", he paused for a chug of the ice-cold water, "Remember when I named him CAG how some people were alluding to the fact that maybe he hadn't earned it and he got the position because of his father or his sister?" He intoned with wonder. "I can't remember anyone picking a CAG for personal reasons."