It was the waiting and not knowing that made Lee Adama nervous. Flying a viper blind into a Cylon mine was nerve wracking but not as nerve wracking as sitting in a parked Raptor wondering what his team members were up to. It wasn't that he didn't trust the people that were currently assessing the damage on the Aurora, in fact they had been chosen by him precisely because they were the best that the Galactica had. It was just that he preferred action. Instead, he had to rely on the team and as much he trusted them, he still would have preferred being the first one to climb into the Aurora's wrecked carcass.

That dubious honor had gone to Chief Tyrol and Specialist Cally, followed by Helo, Venner, and then Gaeta and Dualla, leaving the rest of them to sit and stew. The chief was supposed to access the physical damage and see if the damaged area could be sealed off. Cally was to help him and Helo and Venner had volunteered to assist with the heavy lifting since it would involve manually closing the safety airlock doors. Gaeta and Dualla were to start checking the power systems. The whole salvage mission depended on both teams being successful. Worse, both teams had to be successful in a very short time frame or else they would have to head back with nothing to show for the effort. If Tyrol couldn't seal off the damaged areas, or if Gaeta couldn't get the ship systems on line, the mission would fail.

"How about an update?" he said into the wireless in his helmet. Things had been pretty quiet. Everyone else still in the Raptor looked up with interest. They were getting bored and as the minutes ticked away, they were getting worried as well. They all knew the time frame involved. If the holes couldn't be sealed in time, or the life support systems brought back on line soon, the mission ended.

" We're almost done with the last door," Tyrol's voice crackled with static. " Cally is sealing up the holes. Fortunately it looks like they were happy to let the air out. Just enough to blow the hull. I'll make sure all the patches are reinforced but she's almost sealed, sir."

That was good news. Lee doubted that the ship could be brought back to battle status but if the damage wasn't extensive, then it was a positive. " That's good news, Chief. Lt. Gaeta, what's the status on life support?"

" Just waiting on the chief right now, sir," came the reply. " No one ever kicked on the back ups when the ship was attacked. The air will be breathable in about a half hour once we turn on the back ups and we'll have emergency lighting, but I recommend everyone keeping flight suits on and handy. The backup systems are disconnected from main so they aren't affected by the Cylon virus but they'll only run so long. The main systems will be a lot harder to bring on line." Gaeta paused. " The back up power will last for three, possibly four days and I can divert some power to the port landing deck so we'll be able to do some salvage even if main power can't be restored."

Lee allowed himself a moment to feel relief. Even a few days meant weapons, food, and fresh Vipers for the fleet. He wanted the full three weeks, but three days made the mission a success. If Tyrol could close off all of the holes. And that seemed likely. Things were going well. It was hard to believe that anything could go well any more. He could remember, and at times even laugh, about how stressed out he had felt over things like bills and relationships. He didn't even know how to relate to such minutia any more.

" Last door is hard sealed," Tyrol chimed.

" Thank you, Chief. Go ahead and flip the on switch, Lt. Gaeta." Lee ignored Gaeta's reply and turned his attention to the crew remaining in the Raptor. " All right, I know everyone was listening in. Racetrack, you stay here with the Raptor until we're certain the air situation is stable. Lt. Thrace, Corporals Davids, and Zarrell, you're with me. Jammer, you will join the chief and send Lt. Agathon to us. The chief and his crew will continue reinforcing the repairs while we head down to the landing deck. Seelix, you'll stay with us until I'm certain the ship is secure. Right now we're looking at a three day window which means we're focusing on the most vital needs of the fleet. That means checking the Raptors out, getting them fueled and ready to fly and packing them to the brim with as much weaponry as we can find. Then food and parts for the Vipers and Raptors and vital medical and electronic supplies. Everyone keeps their suits on and helmets within hand reach, and there will be no side trips." He made sure to glare at everyone there. If they were able to get main power up, then he would be a little more amiable about people engaging in personal salvage. It didn't sound like the Aurora was all that safe and he had no intention of having someone lose their life over finding new towels or extra clothes.

He was the first down the hole they had cut into the deck. Once they were certain that the landing deck was going to get powered up, Racetrack would detach the Raptor from the hull, and land it in the landing bay. Until then, she was their ride out of there. He didn't mind leaving her alone. Racetrack was a steady hand, as steady as could be expected in their post holocaust world.

It was darker than he expected. The emergency lighting was dim and even through the helmet he could hear the pounding of metal on metal. The chief was very good at what he did, but Lee was more than happy to let him spend as much time as he wanted plugging up holes. He could see signs of patching everywhere. He nodded as Jammer left the pack to follow the sound of repairs. He glanced down at his copy of the ship schematics. Gaeta and Dualla were supposed to be in the back up life support hub.

And they were, with panels pried off. Gaeta had his hands deep in a panel, with Dualla holding small electrical tools that they had brought. It was odd to see two people that he always associated with the CIC in flight suits, but he let the amusement pass as Dualla looked sharply at him. Best to get down to business, he decided.

" I want you to give a signal when the air is breathable," he said. " Then I want updates on the hour. We need as much time as possible."

"The virus definitely did the bulk of the damage," Gaeta said as he withdrew himself from the electric panels. " I may be able to take down the hard drive if the computers still respond to the fleet overrides. If that works, then the start up will go pretty smooth. If not, then I can't promise anything. Dualla and I are going to need to go up to the CIC in order to be effective."

" How long will this take?" The Aurora was just a little bit bigger than the Galactica, but it was a hike to the CIC. If there was a serious problem, Dualla and Gaeta would be the farthest from the safety of their escape Raptor. As far as he was concerned, the mission wasn't worth anyone dying.

Gaeta blinked. " Maybe an hour. If it goes smoothly."

" I want updates as soon as you know more. Both of you, keep the wireless open in your helmets." He made sure to be forceful. Neither went on missions normally, and while he trusted both, the reflexes and instincts needed to work flawlessly in the CIC didn't always translate to combat. Not that they were in combat, but the possibility existed. Until he was certain that the ship wasn't going to kill them, either by Cylon trick or simple malfunction, he didn't want anyone to get complacent. " We'll be down on the port landing deck."

He took the lead on the walk down to the landing deck. The dimly lit corridors were surprisingly empty. It seemed odd, he had expected more signs of a fight. The decompression would have blown the bodies out of the area nearest the holes in the hull, but there were hardly any signs that the ship had ever held a crew at all.

"It's like a ghost ship," Zarrell muttered. Lee didn't acknowledge it, but he saw several nods of agreement.

" I hope you weren't expecting something different," he said. " We all knew coming in that this was a dead ship."

" I expected more bodies," Kara offered from the rear. " You know, artfully decorating the hallways. Like in one of those scary videos where the dead come back to life."

" Just be glad we're not in one of those videos," Lee said. The landing bay had several entrances according to the map, and it followed the pattern of the Galactica, if somewhat more modern. Of course, Lee thought darkly, it was that modern technology that had destroyed the ship.

And the port landing bay was the first real sign that the Aurora had gone down fighting. There were bodies littered everywhere. Most had sidearms and even in the dim light Lee could guess what had happened. The ship had been attacked, an alert had been called… and then the virus struck. The dead were mostly concentrated around the emergency gear. It had to have been quick, he realized. Only a few had donned masks or flight suits. He didn't consider them to be the lucky ones, all things considered.

He shook that thought off. " All right. We all know the clock is ticking. Zarrell, Davids, there are weapons storage rooms right over there. Every bullet counts. Seelix, there's storage lockers down near that row of Vipers. Start pulling the supplies. Starbuck and I will start bringing up the Raptors." The Raptor was a good design, a workhorse, but cold starting one after months of idleness was going to be difficult.

The nearest Raptor had a dead pilot and ECO inside. They had apparently decided to use the remaining air for a last fling. " Well," Kara said, a grim smile on her face, " isn't that nice? Good to know fraternization was alive and well here too."

He chose to ignore it, satisfying himself with a long glare in her direction. They didn't have time for joking around. They went to work and he was pleasantly surprised that the Raptor came on line quickly. It boded well. The fleet used Raptors all of the time and while the Pegasus metal shop could pound out a Viper pretty easily, Raptors took more time. The Aurora was supposed to have twenty Raptors assigned and if they all were as easy to get up to speed, that gave them that much more time to run supplies to the fleet.

And of course, the situation just got better if main power could be restored. Which reminded him. He toggled his wireless. " Lt. Gaeta, I'd like a report."

A moment of silence. " It's only been forty minutes, sir." There was more than a touch of pique in Gaeta's voice. " However, as it happens, I have been successful in wiping the hard drive and rebooting the system."

" Then turn on the main engines, Lieutenant." The sooner he did, the sooner they knew how much time they really had.

Another moment of silence. " I suggest we turn just one of the engines on, sir. For now, it is safer. Let it run, make sure it'll stay up before we do more. Turning on all of the power on a cold start can be… potentially bad."

That was nicely ominous, Lee thought. " Could you define that more clearly?"

" The electric pulse of a massive cold start could fry everything. Or not. I don't recommend testing it, sir." Gaeta spoke as calmly as if he was looking at an empty dradis screen.

" Just one engine then. Then you and Dualla need to access the FTL drive." Lee turned off the wireless. All around the Raptor, the lights flickered on. He could also hear the air scrubbers start to hum. He turned the wireless back on, pulling in all the channels. " All right people, it looks like we have power and more time for now. Keep flight suits on and helmets near. As soon as we're sure the power is stable, I'll reassess the mission priorities."

He let himself enjoy the moment. So far, everything seemed to be working. The fleet needed a success. Turning on the lights on the Aurora was a good start.

Of course, it wasn't until later that he realized that someone else saw the lights go on.