Thy Kingdom Come-Chapter 23
Eight hours later, Felix had decided he was nominating Louis for best Admiral ever. After the jump, Louis had declared that everyone get some rest, so that they’d be prepared to relieve Galactica staff when they got back. Felix and Louis had decided to use the time to break in their new queen-sized bed with silk sheets and large fluffy pillows, a gift from the cylons to the new fleet Admiral. Two seconds after lying on it, Felix decided that maybe living on a baseship again wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“We should probably get up,” suggested Louis.
“Probably,” mumbled Felix into his pillow. “But I like this bed too much to move.”
“Such are the joys of being in command. Having nice amenities you don’t have time to use,” said Louis. “Now get up. Galactica should be back soon.”
Well, maybe Louis wasn’t the best Admiral ever. But another hour of luxurious sleep might have benefited his credentials. If Louis could figure out a way to get the cylons to manufacture such beds for everyone, that would be even better. Given everything they’d been through in the past four years, Felix figured the fleet could use a long restful night’s sleep. That, and a planet would be nice too.
The command center was quiet when Felix and Louis arrived back there. Nothing was going on, just the monitoring of routine shuttle traffic across the fleet. No word had been heard from Galactica, with approximately four hours left to go. There was nothing anyone could do but sit and wait.
An hour passed by, then two, then three. Felix was starting to get worried. He’d really hoped being in command on the baseship wouldn’t be permanent, amazing beds and all, but it was beginning to look like it might be.
Forty five minutes left on the clock, and Felix was sweating bullets. They were calling it close. Much too close for Felix’s liking.
Thirty minutes. Twenty nine minutes and fifty nine seconds. Fifty eight. Felix was watching the hands on his watch tick away. Half an hour until they’d be forced to just go on without Galactica. Every second that passed by was excruciating.
Then Felix spotted something on DRADIS. At first he thought it was just his imagination, simply willing that Galactica suddenly be there. Then verification codes came in: it wasn’t Galactica, it was raptor. But something was really there.
“Admiral, we’ve got DRADIS contact!” Felix exclaimed. “Bearing, three two three, karem four six niner. Raptor, inbound.”
“Admiral, we’re getting an incoming transmission,” reported an Eight.
“Put them on speaker,” ordered Louis.
“Baseship, this is Adama.” Cheers erupted in the CIC. XO or not, Felix was one of the ones cheering.
“Adama, this is baseship actual,” responded Louis. “It’s good to hear from you.”
“It’s good to be back. But I think you’re going to like what I have to tell you even better.”
“Wow. Talk about finding a needle in a haystack,” said Felix. He couldn’t believe Galactica had just happened upon this place. It was lush, it was green, it was livable. And now, it was home. It wasn’t a bad place to finally settle down.
“Tell me about it,” replied Louis. “It’s even nicer than some of the colonies. Exponentially better than New Caprica.”
Felix looked down at his toes. Grass. Real soil under his feet. Metal had been familiar, but this was nice. He could get used to this.
“Not bad, eh, guys?” asked Romo. “I think we could charter up a nice little settlement here.”
“We’ve got a raptor doing some surveying now,” said Louis. “They’re looking to find a good place to set up camp, somewhere with ample resources and sturdy ground.”
Louis wasn’t Admiral anymore, but he was still directing the survey process. He’d wanted to, just the prospect of this beautiful new planet made him excited to get started on their new life. Felix couldn’t blame him.
“Ah, Mr. Adama,” said Romo, greeting Lee as he approached. “What do you think of this lovely new planet we’ve got?”
Lee looked around and took in a deep breath of the crisp, clean air. “It’s a nice place to call home,” said Lee. Felix couldn’t have agreed more.
“Just think,” said Louis. “Once we’ve got a city erected-“
“No,” Lee interrupted. “No city. Not this time.”
“What do you propose we do?” asked Romo.
Lee looked off into the distance, pondering something beyond the horizon. “Break the cycle. We leave it all behind and start over. No more computers, no more technology. Just…all of us, in this place. Starting a new life.”
Romo and Louis looked a little puzzled. Felix raised an eyebrow in awe, wondering if Lee could possibly be serious.
“Nothing but the clothes on our backs and the wind at our feet. The possibilities are endless.” Oh gods, he was. Someone had really appointed this guy president?
“Are you an idiot!?!” exclaimed Felix. “How the frak are we supposed to survive without any medical supplies, without anything to tell us what’s edible and what’s not, without anything to prevent us from getting hypothermia at night or skin cancer during the day? All this food and you expect us not to be able to cook any of it? No computers, fine, but if you think we’re going to last more than a day with only the clothes on our backs, you’re out of your frakking mind.”
“I think you’d be surprised that some people might like the idea Lieutenant,” replied Lee, apparently somehow unfazed by Felix’s entire argument.
“I think you’d be surprised how impressionable people can get when they have cabin fever,” countered Felix. “Last time, everyone decided New Caprica was a good idea. You know how that turned out.”
“I’ll run it by the people,” said Lee. He walked off, contemplating the landscape. Humanity was going to be doomed if they listened to him.
“Louis,” said Felix. “You know all those nice things I’d been thinking about Lee lately?”
“Um. Nice things?” answered Louis.
“Forget I ever thought them. He’s a moron.”
Humanity maybe wasn’t doomed entirely, but things weren’t working out quite like Felix had pictured. About half of the fleet had failed to see the stupidity in Lee’s plan, while the other half at least still had some sense. Since a fifty-fifty split wasn’t good enough to force anyone to comply to the plans of the other, they’d decided to go their separate ways: the half who wanted to live like primitives would stay here, and the other half would find someplace else to call home. It was a huge planet, there was more than enough space to accommodate both divisions.
Surprisingly, all the cylons from the baseship had voted along with Lee. It seemed odd that they, of anyone, would be tired of technology, given that they were technology. Felix didn’t have any problem with their decision though; at least he’d never have to deal with them again.
The one major downside was that hardly any of Felix’s friends seemed to want to come with his contingent. Cottle was going on the basis of medical opinion alone, but no one else wanted to be convinced.
“It’s nice here Felix,” explained Helo. “We’re tired of obligations, of living up to some prophetic standard, of trying to prove ourselves on a daily basis. Here we can just be a family, be together. I know you don’t think it’s a good idea. But practicality isn’t our only concern anymore.”
Felix would have argued, but he had the feeling Helo wouldn’t have listened. The man had been through enough, he and Sharon both had, that if this was what they really wanted, Felix wouldn’t try to deny them that right. So Felix simply wished them well, gave them one final hug, and bid them goodbye one final time.
Felix didn’t know why Tigh was staying, and Tigh didn’t even seem to know himself. He just was.
“I thought you might want these back,” said Felix, handing over the Colonel pins. There wasn’t much of a practical point, since the military was now disbanded, but Felix felt the pins really belonged to Tigh and not to him. Tigh deserved to be the one to keep them.
“Took you long enough. Your boyfriend handed over the Admiral pins a long time ago.”
Felix smirked. Louis had been more than eager to get rid of those pins the second Adama had stepped on the baseship. He hadn’t wanted the responsibility of leading the fleet and didn’t feel ready for it, even though Felix knew he would have stepped up just fine had it come to that.
“I enjoyed the power trip, Sir,” replied Felix with a grin.
“Yeah well, I’m glad you got your fun out of it,” said Tigh sarcastically.
Felix went to shake his hand, but was surprised by a hug instead. “Good luck Gaeta,” said Tigh.
“You too, Sir.”
Felix watched as Tigh went to join Ellen, knowing it’d be the last he’d ever see of them.
As for Caprica, once Felix saw who she was with, it didn’t surprise him at all that she’d want to start things anew.
“Gaius?” Felix asked her.
“I know,” she said smiling. “But he’s changed. I’ve changed. I think it’s going to work this time. It just feels right.” Having seen Gaius stay behind on Galactica, Felix could believe her.
“It’s been nice having you around. I’m gonna miss you,” Felix said.
“I’ll miss you too. Thank you, for everything you’ve done. You’re a wonderful friend.”
Felix hugged her, and wished her luck and goodbye.
As Felix boarded the raptor, he waved to everyone he could see standing there bidding him adieu. The raptor door closed, though Felix continued to watch out the window until they were too high to see his friends anymore. Whatever might become of them, his friends that he’d made over the past two years, Felix knew they’d at least be happy.
The raptor alit on an area not nearly as grassy as the first, but just as, if not more, beautiful. In front of them, a line of forest in the distance, below them, a plain, covered in short grasses.
“I picked it out myself,” said Louis, leaning over Felix’s shoulder. “I think you’ll like it.”
“Well, it looks nice. It’s certainly habitable,” remarked Felix.
“Just wait til you see the view behind us,” said Louis with a grin.
The two of them stepped out of the raptor, and Felix turned around to see what was behind them. Louis hadn’t been lying. There stood a vast ocean, with the most incredible white sand beach Felix had ever seen. Felix couldn’t help himself, he kicked off his boots and socks, and walked out onto the beach to stick his toes in the sand.
“Well, what do you think?” said Louis, coming up behind him and putting an arm over his shoulder.
“It’s amazing. We’re staying, right?” asked Felix.
“Oh absolutely!” cried Louis. “I was thinking we could build a house right over there, get married, have kids, start our own business-“
“Whoa, slow down!” exclaimed Felix, laughing at Louis’ eagerness. “We don’t have to do everything at once! Let’s just start at the house thing okay?”
Louis leaned over and kissed him. “Whatever you want, baby. We’ve got all the time in the world.”
It’d been a long journey to get here. Too long, some might have argued. Although Felix’s journey began on New Caprica and not on the Colonies, it had been no less arduous, filled with the highest of highs and lowest of lows. But surveying their new home, Felix knew it had been worth the struggle. It wasn’t about the beach, or the open sky, or the lush vegetation, though all those things were nice. It was because here, he was finally, truly free. Here, on the planet with no name, Felix wasn’t crushed by the weight of his burdens, he wasn’t out to prove anything, he didn’t need to find a way to fit in. It didn’t even matter that he was a cylon anymore; this vast planet didn’t know the difference. He was just Felix.
This wasn’t the end of the road. It was the beginning of whatever they wanted it to be. Whatever lie ahead of him now, Felix couldn’t wait.