Thy Kingdom Come- Chapter 15-16
Felix and Louis had been tasked with commanding the CIC during a meeting that Tigh and Adama were having with a Six that had been brought over from the baseship. Felix had been given express instructions not to get on the comm line in any circumstances, even though the baseship’s wireless was apparently broken.
After whatever this meeting was, Adama returned alone to the CIC and dismissed Felix from duty. For whatever reason, the Admiral was apparently hiding Felix from these cylons that had just shown up. Felix couldn’t say he minded so much- while he’d been okay interacting with cylons on a one to one basis as of late, a whole baseship full of cylons was more than he wanted to deal with right now.
Felix decided to use the time to pack. He and Louis had decided, after Louis had finally been convinced, that they would bunk in officer’s racks together. In the meantime, Felix would need to get his things out of Sharon and Helo’s quarters.
Felix’s plans for packing were thwarted, however, when Colonel Tigh cornered him in the hallway. “Lieutenant Gaeta. I need to speak to you.”
Felix scowled. Tigh was really the last person he wanted to speak to right now. But he’d made Tigh a promise, so he would at least hear the Colonel out. Not to mention that telling the Colonel “no” in the middle of a well trafficked hallway would make it appear that Felix was disobeying the direct order of a senior officer.
Tigh directed him into a nearby storage locker, and locked the door behind them. “Frakking skinjobs!” he shouted as soon as the hatch was locked. “Those cylons want us to take over this resurrection hub and unbox some cylon who claims to have seen the faces of the final five. If it’s true, then the whole frakking fleet is going to know. I thought the Admiral might have the sense to just blow the resurrection hub to smithereens, but he’s actually going to trust those frakking bastards. Roslin thinks we know where Earth is.”
“Do you?” Felix asked indignantly.
“Frak if I have any idea,” said Tigh. “Maybe there’s gonna be some other signal or trigger, but I’m not going to bet on it and neither is the Old Man. The worst part is that those frakkers want us to come back with them after the fleet is done with us. I’d rather go out the airlock than live with those toasters any day.”
“Well then, I guess I’d start get used to the idea of an airlocking,” replied Felix curtly.
“What the frak is your problem?” snapped Tigh.
“You magically know not to shoot at that baseship and you expect me to believe you’re not programmed?” Felix snapped back.
“Because you’re the one to talk about programming. If you knew how to recognize it, why didn’t you know you were a cylon?” countered Tigh. “I made that call on a gut feeling. That’s what officers do.”
“Some gut feeling,” Felix muttered.
“Hey!” barked Tigh. “Don’t make me write you up for insubordination!”
“Exactly what would you be writing? That I was being wary of your cylon-ness?”
“I wouldn’t jump to conclusions if I were you,” said Tigh. “I turned out to be wrong about you.”
Tigh walked out the door, leaving Felix standing in the storage locker. Whether he wanted to believe Tigh or not, Felix felt the Admiral had made the right call. If nothing else, revealing the final five would allow them to not have to keep meeting like this. The stress of secrecy couldn’t keep building forever. They’d already seen the effects on Tyrol. Tigh would be worse.
For now, Felix had packing to do.
Helo was already there when Felix reached the Agathon quarters. Hera was also there and was clinging to Helo like she never wanted him to leave again.
“Hey Felix!” said Helo as Felix walked in the door.
“Hey man,” replied Felix, walking over to shake Helo’s free hand. “Welcome back.”
“I wish it were under better circumstances. Sorry things got a little crazy,” said Helo.
“Hey, listen, I don’t know what you’ve heard, but I’ve got a mission to help plan. Would you mind keeping an eye on Hera until Sharon gets back?”
“Yeah, sure,” Felix offered.
“Daddy, noooooooooo!” cried Hera. Felix felt bad for her. Two months without her parents, and they were off on business again right away. It couldn’t have been easy on such a young kid.
“Hey, Hera, don’t worry, mommy will be here soon,” Helo soothed.
Hera wasn’t buying it. “Nooooo!” she kept screaming as Helo passed her to Felix and attempted to pry himself away. Helo kissed her on the head and mouthed a ‘sorry’ Felix’s way before leaving for his meeting.
“Daddeeeeeeeeeee!” Hera shrieked as the door closed shut. Felix cringed at the shrill sound.
“It’s okay. Your mommy will be here in just a minute.” Hera started bawling. “Hera, why don’t you color some nice pretty pictures for your mommy? You can show her all the things she missed while she was gone.” More bawling.
Felix decided he was never having kids.
After an excruciating hour, Sharon finally arrived. Hera, having run out of breath for crying, had finally taken up Felix’s suggestion of coloring. Unfortunately, that had only been about five minutes prior, and Felix was more than ready to pass her off to her mother.
“Oh thank gods,” Felix sighed when Sharon walked in the door. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“She been a terror?” Sharon asked, unbuttoning her jacket.
“Just upset her dad left so quickly,” said Felix.
“Mommy!” exclaimed Hera, jumping from her seat and running into her mother’s arms. Sharon looked exhausted, and Felix almost felt bad for passing Hera off onto her. Almost.
“Mommy, do you want to see what I drew?” asked Hera eagerly.
“Sure,” replied Sharon, letting Hera lead her over to the small table strewn with crayons. Hera handed her coloring book to Sharon, and Felix watched as Sharon’s eyes went wide. Exhaustion abruptly switched to rage. Felix wondered what a four year old could possibly have drawn to make Sharon so suddenly angry. He didn’t have much time to contemplate it, because Hera decided to use that moment to run out of the room.
“Hera!” Felix called after her.
“Where’d she go?” Sharon asked in a panic.
“Just ran out of the room. She might be tired of being cooped up in here. Just probably wants to play hide and go seek or something. I wouldn’t worry too-“ Felix didn’t have time to finish, because Sharon took off like a dart after her.
Felix took a look at Hera’s picture. It was a bunch of faces- Sixes, it looked like. Lots and lots of Sixes, with another face that was presumably Hera. Why Hera would draw such a thing, Felix didn’t have the slightest idea. Why it would make Sharon so mad, Felix also had no clue. Maybe something bad had happened on that baseship.
Fifteen minutes later, a daycare worker brought Hera back to the room. Sharon was nowhere to be seen, and Hera looked a little spooked. Felix wasn’t sure what had happened, and Hera certainly didn’t look willing to share with him. That was especially evident when the daycare worker left the room and Hera began bawling again.
‘Frak,’ thought Felix. ‘So much for packing.’
Hera had gone to bed by the time anyone else came through the hatch at the Agathon quarters. Felix suspected that whatever Sharon had gone off to do in a fit of rage might have resulted in brig time, but Felix saw no reason why Helo hadn’t come back. The Admiral avoided launching missions late at night, to avoid having pilots fall asleep in the cockpit. It was also much too quick a turnaround, if they had just started planning that afternoon. Action stations hadn’t been called, so they weren’t under attack.
Felix had been too anxious for one of the Agathons to come back that he hadn’t thought about sleeping just yet. He was tired, but still wide awake, when the hatch finally opened.
“Oh thank gods you’re- Louis?”
“Who’d you think I was?” asked Louis as he walked in the door.
“Hera’s parents,” said Felix. “And be careful shutting that door, I don’t want to wake her up.”
“Oh, sorry,” whispered Louis. He then shut the door a little more quietly than necessary. “You didn’t hear what happened?”
“Should I have?” Felix asked, wondering what could possibly have gone on that no one had bothered to tell him.
“Well, Sharon shot a Six, killed her. And Helo was on the baseship when it just jumped away. Poof, gone,” offered Louis.
Felix stood stunned, trying to digest everything Louis had told him in a mere three sentences. “Wait. You’re telling me Sharon killed another cylon, Helo is missing, and the baseship is…where, exactly?”
“We don’t know. And it’s not just Helo that’s missing. Dr. Baltar and President Roslin are both on the baseship too.”
Felix’s eyes went wide. The whole situation was starting to look more and more like a trap. Next thing he’d know, they’d have a coup on their hands.
“They need you in CIC. They’re trying to find the resurrection hub. It’s not where the cylons said it would be, and since Sharon’s in the brig, you’re the only one on the ship who can help,” said Louis.
“Great,” griped Felix. As if it hadn’t been a long enough day already, now he had to find a ship he hadn’t even seen in over five years. Felix grabbed his jacket and made his way towards the door.
“Hey!” called Louis. “Don’t I get a goodbye kiss?” Louis put on a mild pout, and Felix knew he wasn’t leaving unless he did.
Felix rolled his eyes, but obliged him anyway. A little affection was enough to ease his tension slightly. “By the way,” he noted to Louis. “She might start crying if she wakes up. Just so you know.”
“Felix?” said Louis. “I used to babysit in high school for extra cash. Trust me, I can handle it.”
“Good luck.” Felix kissed him again and started on his way to CIC.
“Lieutenant,” greeted Colonel Tigh.
“Colonel,” replied Felix.
“Mr. Gaeta,” said Admiral Adama. “What can you tell me about the resurrection hub?”
Felix snapped into attention. He hoped the Admiral was ready for bad news. “Practically nothing. I know what goes on there, and how resurrection works, but where it is? It’s not piloted by cylons, to avoid preference in choosing which cylons have access to resurrection. The hybrid directs it to an area where the most baseships are located. At this point, that means it’s probably with the faction of cylons that didn’t come to find us. And Sir, I couldn’t tell you where those cylons are if I wanted to.”
“Frak,” drawled Tigh.
Adama, rather than showing disappointment, took to pondering. “The Six in the brig,” he said after a moment. “Would she have a better idea?”
“Highly doubtful, Sir,” replied Felix. “She’s been with us too long. We’d need someone who came from that baseship, and my understanding is the only one we had is dead. Is that correct?”
“It is,” said the Admiral, clearly expressing his disapproval of whatever had happened between Sharon and the Six. “We didn’t bring over any more cylons, for our own safety. It seems we made the wrong call.”
“If I may ask, Sir?” prodded Felix. “Why was I sequestered?”
The Admiral gave Tigh a nod indicating he should take over momentarily. He then started walking toward a corner of the CIC, a sign that Felix should follow. “Our sources told us the rebel faction of cylons consists of Twos, Sixes, half the Eights, and your entire line. We’ve also gotten word that they don’t think very fondly of you.”
“You didn’t sequester Athena,” responded Felix.
“She’s different,” explained Adama. “She has a child, one the cylons revere greatly. Apparently Doctor Baltar revealed, while he was being tortured, that you had been feeding the resistance information. The Sevens in particular weren’t pleased with that fact.”
So the Admiral had been protecting him. Felix couldn’t say it surprised him any that the other Sevens didn’t like him. He didn’t like them much either. Unfortunately, if Galactica was going to be pursuing any joint missions, Felix’s life was about to get very unpleasant. At this point, Felix hoped that this was all a trap. At least then they could blow the baseship out of the sky and be done with half the cylon population. “Cylons don’t like to lose, Sir,” Felix commented.
“No they don’t,” said the Admiral. “But neither do I. Which is why I intend to find that baseship.”
The alarms in the CIC began to sound. “DRADIS contact!” called Dee.
Felix and the Admiral hurried back to the main console. “What have we got?” asked Adama.
“One of our missing raptors jumped into DRADIS range,” reported Tigh.
“Are we sure it’s ours?” asked Adama. All eyes were now glued to the DRADIS screen. The raptor was there, but it wasn’t moving.
“Transponder checks out. One of the raptors that boarded the rebel baseship. No radiological signature,” replied Tigh.
“Send Racetrack and Skulls to intercept,” ordered the Admiral.
The report from Racetruck and Skulls wasn’t good. A dead bird with a dead pilot. What it did provide, if nothing else, were the coordinates from its last jump. Galactica was jumped quickly out to the location, but the news wasn’t any better there. More dead birds, dead pilots, and this time, a large amount of debris. Debris, some of it viper parts, some of it baseship, some something else. They sent out a raptor to catch some of it for Felix to analyze.
Most of what the raptor had picked up was junk. Parts too small to tell anything at all. But one little piece was enough to let Felix know that the resurrection hub definitely had been there and was now definitely gone. It was a plastic filament, the kind used to encase the wires connected to a resurrection tub. As far as Felix knew, there was no other use for the filament. The mission had been successful. Whether the baseship with their people was the one that had been blown to bits was undeterminable. Baseships were built specifically to resemble each other exactly. Differentiating between any two was impossible.
Tigh was convinced the rebel faction and all the Colonials on board were gone. Adama wasn’t. They split to discuss it, and to give the crew a rest.
Tigh returned to the CIC a while later, but the Admiral didn’t come back with him.
“You’re not going to like this,” Tigh mumbled to Felix as he reached the center console. “But I like it even less.”
Tigh picked up the comm, and put it on shipwide broadcast. “This is Galactica actual.”
The fleet was officially doomed.
Chapter 16
As the hours passed, Felix wasn’t yet seeing as signs of a cylon takeover . It didn’t make him any less worried. Tigh kept glaring at him, willing him to calm down, but Felix was not taking any assurances, especially from the Colonel.
Felix took another sip of his coffee. At this rate, he was going to have to piss like a racehorse any second, but the coffee kept him from going off the deep end. Thank gods he had a coffee addict for a boyfriend, otherwise he’d have never have believed in the calming effects of such a heavily caffeinated beverage.
A blink on DRADIS. “DRADIS contact,” reported Felix. “Incoming, bearing one eight five karem two niner niner at seventeen hundred.”
“What have we got?” demanded Tigh.
“Cylon baseship. Another contact, same bearing. It’s a raptor. Our people are back, Sir.” Felix breathed a sigh of relief. There’d be no takeover for now.
Tigh went down to meet the docking raptor, leaving Felix in charge of the CIC. Tension has eased significantly in the CIC upon the return of the baseship, and Felix wished he could share in it. The Admiral was back, but there were still more cylons sitting closer than Felix was comfortable with. Until they were gone, Felix was not going to be able to breathe easy.
“Hostages” was the word that came very quickly up to CIC. Everyone in CIC looked upset, but definitely not shocked. Tigh reported he wasn’t returning to CIC, but was headed to the situation room. He also requested, supposedly per the Admiral’s orders, to have Dualla sent down to the situation room as well. Why Dee and not himself, Felix had no idea, but he wasn’t about to test Tigh right now. Frankly, he felt safer up in CIC at the moment.
Dee seemed confused by the order too, as Felix told her what Tigh had relayed up. She grabbed a notepad and went anyway.
Tigh and Dee returned to the CIC later, along with the Admiral and the newly appointed President Lee. How Lee had managed that title, Felix did not even want to know. He’d already thought the quorum position had been a stretch. Now, however, was not the time to be musing about democracy. D’Anna was on the line.
“Mr. President, there has been a change of plans. I just executed the first of the Colonial hostages. And one will follow every quarter hour until our people come home.”
“Alright listen to me,” said Lee, after picking up the comm line. “You’re not giving this a chance, we are cooperating.”
“She terminated the transmission,” reported Dee. Of course she had. They should have known this was coming. For all he could tell, this was the beginning of the takeover Felix had been anticipating. It struck him, briefly, that it was almost ironic that Gaius Baltar might very well be one of the first hostages to be executed.
Lee slammed the receiver down. They needed a new plan. What little faith Felix held in Tigh at the moment, he still hoped the Colonel would stop being a chickenshit and figure out something. Surely he had to know this would not end well for him whatever happened.
“Alright then Admiral, you’re go for the rescue mission. If it fails,” said Lee, with a heavy pause. “Destroy the baseship.”
“Yes Mr. President,” replied the Admiral. It was incredibly strange to see Adama taking orders from his son.
Felix was studying Tigh, who did not look thrilled with the plan. It was a good sign- blowing the baseship was the only sure way to save Tigh’s ass, but that wasn’t the Colonel’s primary concern. Maybe Felix had been wrong in his assumptions.
Orders were relayed down to the deck and pilot ready room to begin prep. Suddenly Tigh began looking around the CIC, like he’d just seen a bug fly in front of his nose. Music, a trigger, he’d mentioned before. Whatever it had been, it was happening again, Felix was sure. If they were lucky, it’d be a magic Earth-finding trigger. More likely, Tigh was about to pull out his gun and start shooting.
Tigh asked to be excused from duty. Apparently the Admiral had noticed his sudden odd behavior too, and granted it. At least if Felix was about to die, he wouldn’t be first. The Admiral then excused himself as well, for whatever reason Felix had no idea.
Fifteen minutes later, a very strange order came into the CIC. Strange for most people in the room anyway. Colonel Tigh was being placed under arrest and led to the airlock. Felix was being ordered down to the airlock as well to supervise. Felix knew then that he had jumped too quickly to conclusions about Colonel Tigh. The Admiral knew now that Tigh was a cylon, and judging from the nature of the call that had come in, Tigh had told him himself. In having done so, he might just be saving the fleet. Unlike most cylons, sometimes Felix didn’t mind being wrong.
Felix arrived in the airlock shortly before the contingent of marines leading Colonel Tigh. From the second Tigh was led in, it was evident to Felix that this plan had been Tigh’s, and not simply the Admiral’s desire to get rid of him. Tigh was placed in the airlock without restraints. The Colonel chose to face the marines guarding the airlock entrance, and placed himself in an at ease position. Felix watched as Lee Adama walked right up to Tigh and punched him in the face. Tigh reeled, but then went right back to at ease.
“Motherfrakker,” said Lee. “Who are the others?” Lee clearly needed to work on his intimidation skills.
‘Tell him,’ thought Felix, regardless of Lee’s lack of authoritativeness.
“Where’s the Old Man?” asked Tigh. ‘Dammit,’ Felix thought. What good Tigh thought it would do keeping them secret, Felix didn’t know. They were all about to be revealed anyway. Perhaps those crazy meetings had put the wrong idea in his head.
“Right where you put him,” replied Lee.
A call came from CIC- Dee indicating the baseship was in contact.
“Mr. President,” Felix called over the intercom. He had to keep himself from laughing just saying it. “It’s the CIC. D’Anna’s on the line.”
Lee looked at him, then back at Tigh for a moment, probably considering whether to deck him again. He didn’t, however, and turned out of the airlock to come take the call. Blood wouldn’t have looked good on the suit he was wearing anyway.
Lee picked up the comm without even looking at Felix, his eyes still on Tigh, considering his next move. “This is the President,” he said. It was still probably the most bizarre statement Felix had ever heard.
“Mr. President, you’re running out of time,” Felix heard.
“No, you are,” replied Lee. “It’s your turn to listen. You harm another one of my people, you so much as blacken one of their eyes, and I flush Saul Tigh out of a launch tube.” Tigh glanced at them, a thought that maybe he was reconsidering. But he didn’t budge.
“We have no wish for further bloodshed,” Felix heard. “May I speak with the Admiral?”
“No,” replied Lee. “You deal with me. You have ten minutes to release my people, or you can kiss one of your precious final five goodbye.” Lee clicked the comm back on the hook. Maybe Lee didn’t show much authority with Tigh, but with the baseship he certainly had guts. There was a reason the pilots were in the best shape when Lee was CAG, and Felix could see why.
Lee switched over to the intercom. “You want to save the fleet?” he demanded of Tigh. “I need the others and I need them now.”
Tigh looked at him through the glass, an unsure expression on his face. Felix gave him a nod. It was the right thing to do, the only thing to do. He hoped Tigh was realizing that now.
“Sam Anders. Galen Tyrol. Tory Foster,” Tigh listed off.
“Arrest them,” Lee directed the marines. “Now.”
Very quickly, Tyrol and Anders were led into the airlock. Foster, as Felix had been informed earlier for a traffic report, had already joined the baseship. Tyrol came in studying the look on Lee’s face, and Sam looked more like a frightened sheep following behind. “This is a wild guess,” said Anders, addressing Colonel Tigh. “You told him?”
Tigh didn’t blink. “We should’ve done it, day one.”
Tyrol was studying the airlock now, perhaps looking for a crack, something that indicated faultiness and thusly hope. Felix hated to break it to him, but they’d specifically chosen the most reliable airlock they had on the ship. Hope of getting out alive wouldn’t be found in equipment malfunction.
“Get the baseship on the horn,” Lee ordered Felix.
Felix picked up the comm. “Dee, we need the baseship.”
Felix was patched through to the baseship, and he passed the comm over to Lee. “Are you ready to come to your senses, Mr. President?” he heard.
“Galen Tyrol and Samuel Anders have just joined Saul Tigh in the airlock,” said Lee. “They’re in line for an express ride into a vaccuum. You want them alive? Stand down.” Lee then hung up on the cylons again. If this was what Lee was capable of as a commander, it was a shame that hadn’t been what he’d done on the Pegasus.
A few seconds of tense waiting, and then a light began blinking. A call was coming in on the comm. “Report,” said Felix.
“Mr. Gaeta.” Louis. That meant they had a situation on their hands. “Tell the president nukes are hot on the baseship.”
Felix did a double take. “Louis, tell me you’re kidding,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Wish I was, baby. It’s not looking good here. I hope Lee knows what he’s doing.”
“Mr. President, the baseship nukes just went hot,” Felix reported. Felix hoped Tigh’s plan worked, or else they were all doomed.
Felix could see Lee mentally debating for a moment. Then he pressed the intercom button and said, “Sergeant Harder. Clear the tube of everyone but Tigh.”
‘I shouldn’t have hid it,’ Felix thought. ‘I did, and for what? Tigh gets the airlock and the fleet gets nuked.’ Then again, if he had, what sort of bartering tools would they have now?
The marines cleared the airlock, Tyrol and Anders knowing they were next. Tigh gave Felix a nod. It was a quick ‘sorry’, a quick ‘great to have known you’, and a quick ‘let’s get this over with’ all at once. Felix nodded back. Whatever respect for Tigh he had lost in the past few days, he had back now. They’d finally reached a plane of understanding. They weren’t so different after all, Felix and Tigh. Both were cylons, willing to give everything for the good of the fleet. It wasn’t fair, that Felix got honored for it and Tigh had to die for it. But the situation could just have easily been reversed; it just happened to work out this way. Whatever else happened, the two of them knew, and truly understood, why the other had done what they had. And in that, they could both be secure in the knowledge that someone else knew the truth.
Felix pressed the button to close the hatch. “Give me the key,” said Lee. Felix handed it to him, his eyes never leaving Tigh. Lee placed the key in the drive and the warning alarm began blinking.
“What are you waiting for Apollo? Do it!” dared Tigh.
Lee was still hesitating on the key when Kara burst into the room. “Please stop! Stop. Those three frakking cylons just gave us Earth.”
Tigh looked stunned and confused. Felix’s demeanor was about the same. Magic Earth-finding trigger really hadn’t been what he’d been betting on. But given the crazy last few days they’d had, perhaps anything was possible.
Chapter 17