Future, Part VIb (6b/6)
Title- Future (Part 6b/6)
Rating - PG-13
Pairing- Lee/Kara, a bit of Helo/Boomer
Archiving- BSG 2003, Fanfiction net, my website,all others please ask
Warnings- Some very minor sexual situations, violence, language, angst
Spoilers- Seasons 1 and 2 (however, the spoilers are interspersed with lots stuff from my brain so… ;-)
Disclaimers- I don't own these characters and I am not making any profit off them. I’m just borrowing them for fun (well, maybe not the poor characters’...). ;)
Many thanks go to Audrey for the great beta:-)
Summary part 6a and 6b- Lee, Kara and Roslin’s team are stuck on Kobol. They deal with finding a way to earth, and finding a way back to the fleet.
NB: Italics indicate characters' thoughts.
*****
-Surface of Kobol-
60 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica
Captain Roseanna Haynes raised her weapon and aimed at one of the centurions standing guard just above her. She and two of her marines had hidden themselves as best they could, and were now looking up towards the western side of the temple of Athena as they waited to draw attention to themselves.
They waited until the two centurions were right ahead of them before opening fire with their weapons. Amidst a succession of shots one of the two fell while the other began to rush towards them, shooting, before falling to their fire as well.
“Cease fire!” She ordered, and waited. Nothing happened -all was silent. It seemed that their false diversion hadn’t worked and that they had read the Cylons right.
*****
At the same moment Lee Adama, Kara Thrace, and Lieutenant Raymonds were creeping towards the eastern side of the rocky ruin that was the temple of Athena, under the watchful eyes of two marine snipers -one off to each side of their slow advance.
Kara threw herself to the ground as they suddenly found themselves in the midst of a storm of gunfire. Raising her head briefly, she let fly a shot into the trees ahead of her. There was no answering fire from the snipers as several centurions materialized out of the forest.
“Frak!” She yelled. Apparently, as they had expected, the Cylons knew the location of the tomb and had been waiting for them. And they had taken out the marines who should have been covering them.
“Fall back!” She called out to the others, and began to work her way back. After a short crawl she reached the cover of some trees and turned towards the forest, keeping low.
“Let’s go!” She ordered, and they began to run, slipping down the icy incline and weaving through trees. She threw herself to the ground as a shot whizzed by her, and heard a scream as another of the fiery bolts hit Raymonds in the chest. His scream was cut off abruptly as another shattered his skull.
Kara gasped in horror and her eyes snapped to Lee, who wore a similar expression on his face. They stared into each other’s eyes for an endless desperate instant, each wordlessly repeating one thing to the other.
I love you. I always will. No matter what happens.
Picking themselves up, they ran.
*****
President Roslin, Mother Elosha and the rest of the group stood on the north side of the ruins, gazing up at the icy slope of the mountain ahead of them.
“Do you have any idea where the passage could be?” Roslin asked Elosha.
“Well…” The woman replied, “I’m not sure, but the scriptures do speak of ‘the Arrow of the Gods’ in relation to this…” Her voice trailed off thoughtfully.
“You mean the Arrow of Apollo?” Roslin prompted.
Elosha shook her head. “Not… Not necessarily, ma’am.” She sighed. “You see, the scrolls do speak about what truly does seem to be the Arrow of Apollo, but they also speak of what appears to be something else which is referred to as ‘the Arrow of the Gods’. There’s actually a passage in one of the sacred texts which states that ‘the Arrow of the Gods shall come down from the sky with the new morn, to pierce the ground and show The People the way’.” She sighed. “But I have no idea what it means.”
“I see.” Roslin murmured as she turned, looking around her and trying to remember all the scripture she had read as a child -and which she had reread recently. She stopped when she found herself looking at the chain of mountains off to one side in the distance. She smiled, and raised her arm to point at them. “Could it be that the Twin Mountains of the Gods are the answer?” She asked, and Elosha turned, then smiled herself as she saw what Roslin was talking about.
The sun, rising up into the sky from the east, shone straight through the gap between two mountains and shot an arrow of sunlight… to fall to the ground twenty meters ahead and to their right.
They walked there carefully, and Roslin pointed down. If they hadn’t been looking, they would never have noticed it -a small hole in the ground, half-covered by frosted leaves and snowfall, visible mostly as a thinning of the leaves and other substances carpeting the ground.
Elosha nodded, agreeing. “That would be the passage.” She said.
“Please, just wait a moment, ma’am.” One of the marines, Sergeant Ross, called out to them as Elosha and the President moved the branches covering the entrance aside and moved to step down into the passage. Nodding, Roslin moved aside and waited as Ross explored the passage. After a few short moments, Ross poked her head out.
“There’s no sign of Cylon presence, Madam President.” The woman said quietly as she gestured towards Roslin and Elosha, who stepped into the passage after her -the other two marines and the techs following behind them.
It was dark and cold inside the passage, though the cold was not as pronounced as it was outside. Rocky debris lay everywhere and made negotiating the passage difficult. Their lights shone eerily into the darkness as they walked, illuminating the trail of rocks and shattered rubble. They continued as the passage turned to the left, then stopped a short time later when the passage ended in front of a closed door.
“Could this be it?” Roslin asked as they looked at the door and Elosha bent closer, trying to examine the markings engraved upon it. They consisted of various items that could not be made out in some cases, and which seemed incomprehensible in others.
Elosha nodded as she moved away from the markings. “It looks like it might be… I’m no architect but it seems to me that the temple should just about be above us here.” She said reverently.
Roslin turned, gesturing to the marines behind them, who threw their weight against the door, trying to get it open. For a few tense moments nothing happened, and it seemed as if the massive door could not be budged. Then it began moving, and swung back to reveal another darkened corridor with a series of steps moving upward at the end of it. The marines stepped in, followed by Roslin and Elosha. Upon climbing the steps, they found a room containing yet more rubble.
Roslin couldn’t help feeling somewhat disappointed -was this the famed tomb? The sacred resting place of one of their Gods? She shook her head.
“Is this it?” She asked, turning to Elosha.
“It could be-” Elosha began, before cutting herself off as they came to face the far wall in the room. On it was a relief of a woman in ancient armor, bearing a shield.
“I think… This must be it.” She finished reverently, bowing her head for a moment as the marines clustered around them.
Roslin bent to examine the shield. It bore the image of a sharp-toothed female face, with hair made of serpents. She leaned closer, examining the markings near each serpent’s head.
Twelve serpents, with twelve heads.
“For the twelve colonies?” She whispered, looking at Elosha, who nodded.
“And it shall come down from the sky to show the People the Way.” One of the marines said reverently.
“Could these be the coordinates?” Another marine asked as he pointed to the symbols on the shield -three of which were numbers, while the rest seemed incomprehensible.
“It looks like it could be.” One of the techs said as he examined the numbers. “But what’s the rest of it?” He asked. “And if these are coordinates, we’re missing one number.” He pointed out, straightening up to face Roslin.
“Oh?” She asked, prompting him to continue.
“Yes ma’am. If these are coordinates, we’re missing an origin. A zero point, if you will. And if these are coordinates, how do we compensate for factors that would alter the coordinates -like the expansion of the universe? We don’t know how long this has been here -”
Roslin cut him off. “I suppose we must simply believe that the information we find here is valid and complete. We must have faith in the Gods to take care of us. Assuming these are indeed what we’ve been looking for.” She said firmly.
“What about the Arrow of Apollo?” Elosha asked. “The prophecies do say that it will ‘open the tomb of Athena’. Could it give us the information we’re lacking?”
Roslin turned and waved to one of the guards, who brought the Arrow over to them. Grasping it, she examined it. “There don’t seem to be any markings on it…” Her voice trailed off as she looked up at the representation of the Goddess before them.
“Could it be that…” Leaning over, she touched the Arrow to the figure’s empty but grasping left hand, and a loud click was heard. The Arrow fit into the figure’s hand like a key into a lock.
Nothing seemed to happen at first. Then, the figure began to move.
Its left arm extended slowly, until the arrow pointed to the wall off to their right. A lengthy series of symbols was suddenly visible along the walls, appearing first to their right, then successively all around the room. Symbols written in light.
“Holy Gods.” Someone said reverently as the sweet gentle light shaped as numbers and various other symbols shone at them from all around the room.
*****
-The Rising Star-
Colonial Fleet
60 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica
The room was a large one, and yet the shouting match going on inside shrunk it somehow. Indeed, each Colonial Representative to the Quorum of the Twelve was present along with various assorted aides and other support personnel, and each delegate seemed to be determined to establish the proper functioning of their vocal chords.
Billy sighed. During the President’s absence he was Chair of the Quorum meetings, representing the President in her absence -unfortunately, he had found that his temporary title did not command much respect.
It had already been yet another long day dominated by various arguments concerning President Roslin’s trip to Kobol, and it didn’t seem about to end. Half the delegates were determined to send a rescue mission to Kobol while the other believed such a venture to be the height of foolishness, and both sides had not budged a millimeter since the debate had begun hours before.
That fact however did not surprise Billy -the debate had remained the same since shortly after President Roslin’s departure.
He took a deep breath, and decided he’d had enough. Walking over to the center of the room, he waited. When no one paid any attention to him, he headed over to one of the heavy tables surrounding him and tipped it over.
A sudden silence fell over the room as papers, books and other materials crashed to the floor along with the table.
“Well, it’s nice to know that there are ways to get your attention.” He said with considerable sarcasm as he stared at the many people surrounding him, all of whom bore dumbstruck expressions. He sighed, and changed to a slightly more polite tone before continuing.
“I would respectfully propose that we adjourn and reconvene tomorrow.” Some voices began to raise a protest. “With all due respect, I have stood here all day for the last several days listening to you debate. Your positions have not changed in that time. Therefore I believe we should resume discussing this issue when we are all rested -or perhaps even move on to something on which we can reach a consensus.”
Without waiting for an answer he turned on his heel and walked out of the room. He was, however, somewhat surprised when the others began to file out after him -he had given them his opinion, but he hadn’t exactly expected them to listen. They certainly never had before.
Samuel Goldmann, a short, balding man who was the elected representative for Virgon, hurried his pace to walk alongside him. “Would you have a moment, Mr. Keikeya?” The man asked him.
“Um, of course, sir.” Billy said, somewhat confused.
Goldmann gestured towards a deserted passage behind Billy. “Shall we?” He asked. Nodding, Billy acquiesced.
“What’s on your mind, sir?” Billy asked when they were out of earshot of the other delegates.
Goldmann smiled impishly. “At the risk of annoying you even further, I wanted to ask you what your views are on the idea of sending a search party to Kobol.”
Billy couldn’t help but chuckle. “Do you know, sir, that no one has even asked me that yet?” He shook his head.
“Well… To answer your question sir, the truth is that I don’t know.” He sighed. “I can understand why so many people don’t think a rescue attempt is a good idea. Several people on board Galactica have pointed out to me that the most likely possibility is that there are Cylons in the Kobol system, and that in all likelihood any rescue attempt would meet with the same fate as the original mission.”
He paused. “I understand what they’re saying. I truly do. And I agree that sending another raptor, or more than one raptor, wouldn’t be justified given the loss of life that venture might entail. However…”
“However… You’d like to have them attempt something, wouldn’t you?” Goldmann interjected in a conspiratorial tone.
Billy looked over at the man. “What are you suggesting?” He asked with considerable curiosity.
The other’s face lit up with a wide smile, and he reached up to put a fatherly arm around Billy’s shoulders. “I think I’ve just had an idea, son. But why don’t we go to my office where we can discuss it over dinner?”
Billy smiled cautiously, considering, then finally nodded and let Goldmann steer him away.
“All right.”
*****
-Surface of Kobol-
60 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica
After recording the symbols on the walls the group made its way outside the tomb, all of them blinking as they stepped into midday sun reflected off the snow.
Suddenly, a shot rang out, and one of the marines fell to the ground, clutching his leg. It was quickly followed by a second, and Laura Roslin was deeply shocked as she felt fire eat its way up her arm. She looked down, only to have her shock deepen as she saw blood seeping through her clothing.
“Get down!” Someone shouted, and she felt the weight of someone’s body as she was thrown to the ground, as yet more shots were fired.
After several exchanges of weapons fire, there was silence, punctuated by the harsh breathing of the people around her. She felt the weight over her ease as a nervous male voice spoke, “I think it’s all right now, ma’am. I think we got them -we got lucky I think, there seems to have been only two of them…”
Roslin cut the man off, sitting up. “Thank you for your assistance, Corporal.” She paused to look around her. “Perhaps we should be on our way to the rendezvous point before more of them turn up.” She saw him glance at her arm. “I’m fine. It’s only a flesh wound, I think. And this probably isn’t the best time or place to assess it, wouldn’t you say?” The man nodded, and they quickly set out.
Everything around them remained quiet as they carefully made their way down the mountain and into the thick forest of trees to the north of the temple. The silence surrounding them grew deeper as they made their way deeper into the forest of frost covered trees.
As they walked, Roslin held her wounded arm, trying to keep it from being jarred by her movement, and pondered what they had found. There had been numbers which appeared to be coordinates including an origin which seemed to be Kobol itself, and many symbols which Elosha believed were an ancient form of writing, but which they had not been able to decipher. Hopefully they would be able to do so once they got back to the fleet.
Assuming they could return to the fleet.
She raised her head and steeled her spine. As she had told her people, they all needed to have faith. And she needed to take her own advice.
*****
Lee Adama and Kara Thrace had run for what seemed to be an endless period of time, trying to take any Cylons following them as far away from the others as they could. They had run until they couldn’t run anymore and were forced to stop for a moment, both of them panting and catching their breath.
As their breathing evened out, the silence around them became heavier.
“D’you think we lost them?” Kara asked, trying to break it.
Lee shrugged. “It looks like it at this point, but who knows.” He stood up straighter and began to look around them.
“Lee…” Kara began, not sure what she was going to say. His back stiffened, but he didn’t turn to face her.
She stood and walked over to him, reaching out to take his hand. “I… I’m really sorry.” She said softly.
He pulled his hand back. “We’d better get to the rendezvous point and find the others.” He said in a flat voice, walking away.
Her eyes filled with tears as she watched him go. When he saw she wasn’t following him he stopped and turned, waiting for her silently. She walked up to him, wiping her eyes and steeling her spine.
“Let’s go.” She said firmly as she reached him, and they set out.
*****
-The Rising Star-
Colonial Fleet
78 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica
“And in conclusion… I vote to amend the Representative of Geminon’s motion to vote on sending a rescue mission to Kobol in order that the motion read ‘if it can be shown that there is no danger associated with said mission’…”
Billy fought to keep his head from crashing onto the table before him as he listened to yet another run-through of the debate concerning President Roslin’s overdue mission to Kobol. The present debate was identical to that which had been held for the last eighteen days, and no one’s position had budged. Those who believed in the Prophecies and those who didn’t were essentially split down the middle, so that while the Quorum was able to deal with the other issues relevant to its mandate, it was deadlocked on this one.
But then, Billy had known that to be the case for some time now.
Keeping the smile off his face at that thought, he watched and played his part as the aforementioned debate ended for yet another day, with neither side the victor. Following the delegates, he ambled out of the meeting hall, and strolled into one of the luxuriously furnished lounge areas adjoining it. This was a place where delegates often met with one another outside the official setting of the hall -one of many locations where good old-fashioned wheeling and dealing went on behind a façade of comfort and relaxation.
Sitting in a comfortable cushioned armchair, Billy ordered a drink from one of the hovering waiters. When it arrived he nodded in thanks, and surveyed the room. There was much less activity here today than was usual, owing to the fact that today was Workers’ Day, which was a well-known civic holiday -it had been tradition in the colonies for government workers to take a long weekend’s vacation on this date. That tradition did not appear to have suffered greatly from the destruction of the Colonies, and Billy watched as the room slowly emptied, with many leaving to return to their ships. Finally he stood and set aside his drink, and walked back to the meeting hall -which was far from empty.
“Ah! Mister Keikeya! So nice of you to join us!” Representative Goldmann said loudly. The others present nodded in agreement. “Shall we reconvene?” The man asked, only to be interrupted loudly by the Representative for Saggitaron.
“I protest!” Tom Zarek put in immediately. “Many Quorum members are not present -we are in fact missing many key members-”
Goldmann interrupted him in return. “With all due respect, I would point out to my fellow representative that the Colonial Parliamentary Rules do allow the Quorum to reconvene with a minimum of half the delegates present, if the President of the Colonies or the person designated in the President’s stead to Chair the Assembly allows it. I would point out to my esteemed colleague that that particular stipulation has been fulfilled.”
Zarek looked around at the other delegates. “This is outrageous! It’s evident to me -as it should be to anyone with any semblance of intelligence- that this is a blatant attempt to sway the vote on the crucial question of sending a rescue mission to Kobol. I truly doubt that it is a coincidence that all delegates present save myself are in favor of such a venture -as is our young Mister Keikeya. It is quite evident that only delegates in your personal pocket have been informed of this little meeting.” He sputtered.
Goldmann smiled mischievously. “Why Mister Zarek, I’m shocked. Truly shocked that you would even suggest that anyone might stoop so low as to use undemocratic means to arrive to their ends.” His smile turned wolfish. “And unlike your means, Mister Zarek, mine are both legal and nonviolent.”
The hall was silent for a moment as Tom Zarek struggled to find an argument in his favor -or a way of catching up with the absent delegates. Before he could say anything else however, Goldmann stepped forward.
“Shall we, Mister Speaker?” He asked happily.
*****
-Surface of Kobol-
80 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica
It was always colder when it didn’t snow than when it did snow, Kara reflected as she gazed around her. And since it wasn’t snowing presently, the cold was colder than it usually was.
Yep, that did make a whole lot of sense. She commented to herself sarcastically as she readjusted the scarf covering her face -an unpleasant but necessary way to avoid having her face fall off because of the constant blasting wind.
Lee was walking ahead of her -or rather making his way forward by a less than graceful combination of climbing, slipping and sliding interspersed with walking, which had become their only way of progressing as the ground beneath their feet had progressively grown more icy.
They had reached the rendezvous point days ago, only to find that the others had already come and gone, taking most of the supplies with them. That had not been completely unexpected however, as the three groups heading for the temple of Athena had agreed that they would wait only a short time at the rendezvous point for the others before moving onward to the raptor hidden to the north -due to the Cylon presence at the temple.
And so Lee and Kara has begun to make their way north. After roughly twenty days of hiking through icy, rough terrain, they had agreed that they should be nearing Raptor Six’s landing site.
Or so they hoped.
Shoving that thought aside for when she really wanted to be depressed, Kara hurried to rejoin Lee just as he reached the top of a small rise. Reaching down to help her up as she began to slip, he pointed downward.
Raptor Six was there, waiting for them. A few of their people were visible around it as well, obviously working on some repairs.
“It looks like they’ve got it up and running.” Lee pointed out as they waved towards the others and began to slide down the hill.
Kara nodded. “Looks like. And I guess we got lucky in that the toasters didn’t find it before we did…” She said thoughtfully.
“What’s our status?” She called out as they neared the raptor.
“You’re right on time -we’re almost ready to get underway, Lieutenant.” Williams, one of the techs, replied. She nodded.
“Right. I’ll start a preflight check, then.”
Making her way to the pilot’s seat and nodding to both Roslin and Elosha, she put everything else aside and buried herself in the work. She looked up when someone placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Is there anything I can do?” Lee asked quietly. She turned to look up at him.
She frowned distractedly. He knew perfectly well there wasn’t anything to do. Why in the Gods’ name was he asking such a question? Then she got a good look at his face.
She couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to be in this situation and to feel useless besides.
“You can help me with the pre-flight.” She replied, and scooted over to give him some room to squeeze into the small amount of standing room near her consoles. They finished the preflight checks in record time.
“We’re ready to go over here.” She said somewhat unnecessarily as he looked over at her and nodded.
“Right.” He said, strapping himself into the seat beside her. She looked at him for a moment, then shook herself.
“Everyone set?” Kara asked the others -just as the techs were coming back in.
“Everything’s ready on this end.” Williams replied.
Kara smirked. “Well, I guess things do come out all nicely synchronized sometimes.” She said, and waited as everyone strapped themselves in.
“I guess there’s no time like the present…” She said to herself as she set the ship aloft.
Of course, we still have to dodge a whole lot of toasters before we can get home. She thought absently as she kept an eye on the raptor’s sensors. There were no Cylons to be seen as she took the ship into the outer atmosphere then, taking a deep bracing breath, into the darkness of space.
“I’ve got multiple enemy contacts on our sensors, sir!” One of the techs called out immediately as she did so.
Frak. She’d really been hoping the frakking toasters would have found something useful to do with their time.
But no… She thought angrily as she began to dodge incoming weapons fire from a great many raiders. Despite her throwing the raptor into a series of intricate evasive maneuvers, one of the shots grazed the ship’s hull.
“Frak!” She yelled. She pitched her voice louder so it would carry over the noise of the engines. “Anytime one of you guys wants to come up with a jump coordinate solution is fine by me, by the way!” She said to the tech manning the ECO station.
“We’ve inputted the parameters! The computer’ll need a few more minutes to finish calculating though, and we need to clear the planet’s influence…” He replied. She rolled her eyes. Right.
As usual, it was up to her to keep them all from being blown to bits.
“Lieutenant!” Williams called out from the ECO station.
“What?” She asked testily. “Kinda busy at the moment, can it wait ‘till later?”
“No sir!” He yelled back. “We’ve got company -the good kind!”
She looked down at her sensors, only to make out the looming presence of Galactica straight ahead of them.
“Yes!” She yelled out, laughing, as she brought them home.
*****
Part 6c/6
NB: The political tactics used by Goldmann and co. were actually modeled on Canadian politics… The law legalizing gay marriage was actually passed through the Canadian parliament using a somewhat similar maneuver.