Stumbling Towards the Dawn - Part 20
Title: Stumbling Towards the Dawn - Part 20
Word Count: 1,804
Rating: M
Disclaimer: Not mine ... just playing.
Spoilers: To LDYB Part II - Everything is definitely AU from the moment the Cylons flew over.
Summary: When Cloud Nine is destroyed, it attracted the attention of not only the Cylons.
Author's Note: This is a crossover fic, with David Weber's Mutineer's Moon - Fifth Imperium universe, but I don't think that you need to know the universe of this trilogy of novels to get it. Hopefully, it's explained well enough in the story.
The mood on Herdan's cavernous bridge was one of cautious triumph, William Adama decided as he watched the amazing holographic display of the Cylon relay located on the edge of the molecular cloud. Like all things Cylon, it was all angles and knife-sharp edges. Jason Solomon met his gaze with a sardonic smile.
"Our guess," Harriet MacIntyre was saying, "is that this is how the Cylons keep in touch with other ships--and probably their homeworld--when they're too far apart. They're small, made of sensor-absorbing materials and their ECM fields are good enough that one of your ships could pass within a few hundred kilometres of it and never know it was there."
"What I can't figure out," Tamman Givens-Tsien said, "is why they don't use that level of electronic countermeasures on their ships."
"Arrogance," Adama replied. "After all, they were hunting us. They didn't need to hide--we did. Where is the next relay in the chain?"
The scene in the holographic projection changed to the cold light of a red dwarf star. "In this system here," Harriet said, "about five light years away. The next one in the chain is in a neighbouring system just over twenty light years away--that seems to be the limit of their range. So far, FTL scanners have conclusively identified twenty-three in a chain stretching over two hundred and fifty light years out towards the Galactic Rim. Now, we've been jamming all signals from the Cylons in the New Caprica system to the first relay. We've been careful to make sure the relay still automatically broadcasts to the next one down the line, but it's receiving no information. We haven't seen any evidence for Cylons in that two hundred and fifty light year radius--"
"But it won't be long before they notice that this group of Cylons have gone silent." Solomon took the words out of Adama's mouth. "How does this affect your timetable?"
"It really doesn't change it all that much," Harriet replied. "We really can't push up the timetable by much. Vengeance and Fleur-de-Lys have settled the civilians and started berthing the Colonial ships at the beta site. They'll be sending some of the larger ones that they can't fit into their logistics--the tylium refineries, as well as a manufacturing ship and a couple of the larger fleet colliers--here tomorrow. Indomitable, Enterprise and War Hammer can easily accommodate them. Windermere and Riddick are on track to leave in two days."
"And we're still on track to leave here in seven days," Adama said, staring intently at the Cylon relay.
"Yes."
#
"No," Kara Thrace said, staring at the Imperial hologram with utter loathing. "No!" she shouted, ignoring the anger on Admiral Solomon's face … the surprise on the Imperials' faces. "I don't care what sort of chip you found in Baltar's head--"
"Not a chip, Captain Thrace," Herdan's physician began.
"I don't give a frak what it is, Doctor," she said turning on the woman. "That doesn't absolve him of responsibility for what he did! That doesn't absolve him of responsibility for the ten thousand souls that we'll leave on the funeral pyre you Imperials want to make of this gods-forsaken rock! The old people who starved to death trying to insure that their children and grandchildren lived, the babies that died of the simplest, curable diseases, the people he forced into his work gangs under the most appalling conditions when he tried to break the Union, the teenage girls he forced into prostitution with his frakking policies and because they had no other choice! He does not get a pass just because of that--that thing!" Her hand shook as she pointed to the anatomical rendering of Baltar's brain with the integrated Cylon bio-mechanical device grafted onto it.
"No he does not," Admiral William Adama said, speaking for the first time during the meeting. Kara nodded and sat down. "Dr. Elliot, did that chip actually direct Baltar's actions? Did it control his body?"
"No," Elliot replied. "It would have been more like having someone whispering in his ear and like I indicated before, there would have been a visual hallucination component--"
"And was that visual hallucination the tall, blonde Cylon model by any chance?" he demanded.
Elliot and her team stared at him in shock. "Yes sir," she said. "How did you know?"
"Because he was involved with that model even before the Colonies were destroyed," Adama said heavily and it was Kara's turn to stare at him with sudden shock and horror. "We have a witness to that relationship."
There was a collective cry of dismay among the assembled Colonials.
"What are you saying, Adama?" Zarek asked; he and the Quorum had insisted on jumping to Herdan with the refinery ships to ensure the presence of the Colonial civilian government among the people. "Who is this witness?"
"Laura Roslin," he replied. "She remembered seeing him kissing an individual of that Cylon model on the Caprica City Riverwalk on the morning of the attacks--just before she left to catch the transport to Galactica."
"Then why didn't she say anything if she knew?" one of the Quorum members shouted.
"Would you have believed her?" Adama roared now as he rose from his seat. "Would any of you cynical politicians have believed her? No. Every one of you denounced her … excoriated her as a power-mad school teacher when she asked you for your support!" He glared at them with utter contempt and disgust. "You were all so hell bent on settling New Caprica, not one of you listened when she tried to reason with you--tried to show you what you all should have seen … what you all should have frakking known if you had taken your heads out of your asses for one second! Settling the people on New Caprica left us completely open to the Cylons."
"When did Ms Roslin remember, Admiral Adama?" Captain MacIntyre asked breaking the silence that ensued.
"She only remembered when she was dying--after the cancer had spread to her central nervous system and she lay there dying in agony," he replied. "But she had no proof. Baltar was always popular with the people and after he saved her life, he was even more popular than ever. Her hands were effectively tied. But right after the holocaust, we determined unequivocally that it was Baltar's program the Cylons had used to breach our security. It turned our ships and fighters into lame ducks in that Cylon shooting gallery."
"So when the Shelley Godfrey individual of this model came on board Galactica early in our exodus to accuse him of collaboration, she was telling the truth, but she included just enough bogus information to lead to his exoneration," Lee said, his voice low and furious. "And it was Gaeta who found the evidence to clear him and make him look the innocent victim of a Cylon plot."
"Laura would have known that no one would believe her after that; she would have been denounced and ridiculed even more as a sore loser," Tori Foster said hoarsely. Kara had always disliked the former President's cool, calculating aide, but the other young woman had a haunted look in her eyes that Kara understood. "And my reports from Colonial One's service staff make sense now, given how quickly Baltar started frakking the individual called Caprica Six. The Cylons revere her as one of the Heroes of the Cylon Infiltration; the other hero is the original Galactica version of Sharon Valerii."
"And there is one more thing that snake can't slither out of," Kara ground out harshly. "Baltar knew exactly what the Cylons had planned for Laura when he handed her over to them. He gloated that he was going to enjoy watching them experiment on her … watching them dissect her. And we have a witness to that!"
#
"It doesn't seem that Colonials are about to give any quarter to Baltar or anyone found to be collaborators," Jos Kirkland said sipping his wine. They had gathered in Harriet's private dining room to discuss the day's events.
"Can you blame them?" Diana Ingram said hotly. "Laura Roslin saved nearly fifty thousand of their people … Baltar lost ten thousand! And I agree with Adama and Thrace; Baltar's a weasel who thought of nothing else but his own self-aggrandisement and saving his own skin. That nanite neural net may have influenced him, but there's no evidence that it controlled him. According to the psyche-practitioners, he still had a choice … he still knew right from wrong and he chose to side with the Cylons. As far as I'm concerned, he deserves no quarter!"
"I'm inclined to agree with you, Diana," Harriet said and the other woman subsided. "But that's the Colonials' problem. Solomon and Adama have assured me that they'll wait until we reach Birhat and their entire population is together again before bringing Baltar and other collaborators to trial for war crimes. Military tribunals are an option, but because of the nature of the holocaust and the subsequent occupation, they both agree that it is best if the trials are held in open court--civilian court."
"Any ideas on what their judiciary is like?" Brashan asked. So far, the Colonials had taken the centaur-like aliens in stride for the most part. Many were still afraid of them, but there didn't seem to be any signs of overt hostility … yet. And Harriet wasn't naive enough to believe that this would not change.
"Rather similar to ours," Harriet replied. "The case will be heard by a judge and twelve jurors, but one juror is chosen from each colony. Another point of departure is that there is no need for a unanimous vote even in capital cases, only a majority. In the event of a hung jury, the judge casts the final vote. However, sentencing for capital crimes was handled by their Council of Judges--a Supreme Court, if you will. Here there were thirteen judges--one from each of the colonies--and one Head Judge, representative of the Thirteenth Tribe of Kobol. The thirteenth judge was generally a very senior member of the judiciary, who kept the others to points of law and cast the deciding vote only when there was a deadlock. This court would also handle any appeal."
"Are there enough judges among the survivors for something like this?" Kirkland asked.
"Actually, there's only one surviving judge and Solomon suggested he would preside over the trials, but there are enough lawyers to form a Council of Judges--the only potential sticking point there is whether or not there is one from each colony. However, Adama has also suggested that for the Council, the thirteenth judge be one of ours as we are the Thirteenth Tribe."
Part 21
Word Count: 1,804
Rating: M
Disclaimer: Not mine ... just playing.
Spoilers: To LDYB Part II - Everything is definitely AU from the moment the Cylons flew over.
Summary: When Cloud Nine is destroyed, it attracted the attention of not only the Cylons.
Author's Note: This is a crossover fic, with David Weber's Mutineer's Moon - Fifth Imperium universe, but I don't think that you need to know the universe of this trilogy of novels to get it. Hopefully, it's explained well enough in the story.
The mood on Herdan's cavernous bridge was one of cautious triumph, William Adama decided as he watched the amazing holographic display of the Cylon relay located on the edge of the molecular cloud. Like all things Cylon, it was all angles and knife-sharp edges. Jason Solomon met his gaze with a sardonic smile.
"Our guess," Harriet MacIntyre was saying, "is that this is how the Cylons keep in touch with other ships--and probably their homeworld--when they're too far apart. They're small, made of sensor-absorbing materials and their ECM fields are good enough that one of your ships could pass within a few hundred kilometres of it and never know it was there."
"What I can't figure out," Tamman Givens-Tsien said, "is why they don't use that level of electronic countermeasures on their ships."
"Arrogance," Adama replied. "After all, they were hunting us. They didn't need to hide--we did. Where is the next relay in the chain?"
The scene in the holographic projection changed to the cold light of a red dwarf star. "In this system here," Harriet said, "about five light years away. The next one in the chain is in a neighbouring system just over twenty light years away--that seems to be the limit of their range. So far, FTL scanners have conclusively identified twenty-three in a chain stretching over two hundred and fifty light years out towards the Galactic Rim. Now, we've been jamming all signals from the Cylons in the New Caprica system to the first relay. We've been careful to make sure the relay still automatically broadcasts to the next one down the line, but it's receiving no information. We haven't seen any evidence for Cylons in that two hundred and fifty light year radius--"
"But it won't be long before they notice that this group of Cylons have gone silent." Solomon took the words out of Adama's mouth. "How does this affect your timetable?"
"It really doesn't change it all that much," Harriet replied. "We really can't push up the timetable by much. Vengeance and Fleur-de-Lys have settled the civilians and started berthing the Colonial ships at the beta site. They'll be sending some of the larger ones that they can't fit into their logistics--the tylium refineries, as well as a manufacturing ship and a couple of the larger fleet colliers--here tomorrow. Indomitable, Enterprise and War Hammer can easily accommodate them. Windermere and Riddick are on track to leave in two days."
"And we're still on track to leave here in seven days," Adama said, staring intently at the Cylon relay.
"Yes."
#
"No," Kara Thrace said, staring at the Imperial hologram with utter loathing. "No!" she shouted, ignoring the anger on Admiral Solomon's face … the surprise on the Imperials' faces. "I don't care what sort of chip you found in Baltar's head--"
"Not a chip, Captain Thrace," Herdan's physician began.
"I don't give a frak what it is, Doctor," she said turning on the woman. "That doesn't absolve him of responsibility for what he did! That doesn't absolve him of responsibility for the ten thousand souls that we'll leave on the funeral pyre you Imperials want to make of this gods-forsaken rock! The old people who starved to death trying to insure that their children and grandchildren lived, the babies that died of the simplest, curable diseases, the people he forced into his work gangs under the most appalling conditions when he tried to break the Union, the teenage girls he forced into prostitution with his frakking policies and because they had no other choice! He does not get a pass just because of that--that thing!" Her hand shook as she pointed to the anatomical rendering of Baltar's brain with the integrated Cylon bio-mechanical device grafted onto it.
"No he does not," Admiral William Adama said, speaking for the first time during the meeting. Kara nodded and sat down. "Dr. Elliot, did that chip actually direct Baltar's actions? Did it control his body?"
"No," Elliot replied. "It would have been more like having someone whispering in his ear and like I indicated before, there would have been a visual hallucination component--"
"And was that visual hallucination the tall, blonde Cylon model by any chance?" he demanded.
Elliot and her team stared at him in shock. "Yes sir," she said. "How did you know?"
"Because he was involved with that model even before the Colonies were destroyed," Adama said heavily and it was Kara's turn to stare at him with sudden shock and horror. "We have a witness to that relationship."
There was a collective cry of dismay among the assembled Colonials.
"What are you saying, Adama?" Zarek asked; he and the Quorum had insisted on jumping to Herdan with the refinery ships to ensure the presence of the Colonial civilian government among the people. "Who is this witness?"
"Laura Roslin," he replied. "She remembered seeing him kissing an individual of that Cylon model on the Caprica City Riverwalk on the morning of the attacks--just before she left to catch the transport to Galactica."
"Then why didn't she say anything if she knew?" one of the Quorum members shouted.
"Would you have believed her?" Adama roared now as he rose from his seat. "Would any of you cynical politicians have believed her? No. Every one of you denounced her … excoriated her as a power-mad school teacher when she asked you for your support!" He glared at them with utter contempt and disgust. "You were all so hell bent on settling New Caprica, not one of you listened when she tried to reason with you--tried to show you what you all should have seen … what you all should have frakking known if you had taken your heads out of your asses for one second! Settling the people on New Caprica left us completely open to the Cylons."
"When did Ms Roslin remember, Admiral Adama?" Captain MacIntyre asked breaking the silence that ensued.
"She only remembered when she was dying--after the cancer had spread to her central nervous system and she lay there dying in agony," he replied. "But she had no proof. Baltar was always popular with the people and after he saved her life, he was even more popular than ever. Her hands were effectively tied. But right after the holocaust, we determined unequivocally that it was Baltar's program the Cylons had used to breach our security. It turned our ships and fighters into lame ducks in that Cylon shooting gallery."
"So when the Shelley Godfrey individual of this model came on board Galactica early in our exodus to accuse him of collaboration, she was telling the truth, but she included just enough bogus information to lead to his exoneration," Lee said, his voice low and furious. "And it was Gaeta who found the evidence to clear him and make him look the innocent victim of a Cylon plot."
"Laura would have known that no one would believe her after that; she would have been denounced and ridiculed even more as a sore loser," Tori Foster said hoarsely. Kara had always disliked the former President's cool, calculating aide, but the other young woman had a haunted look in her eyes that Kara understood. "And my reports from Colonial One's service staff make sense now, given how quickly Baltar started frakking the individual called Caprica Six. The Cylons revere her as one of the Heroes of the Cylon Infiltration; the other hero is the original Galactica version of Sharon Valerii."
"And there is one more thing that snake can't slither out of," Kara ground out harshly. "Baltar knew exactly what the Cylons had planned for Laura when he handed her over to them. He gloated that he was going to enjoy watching them experiment on her … watching them dissect her. And we have a witness to that!"
#
"It doesn't seem that Colonials are about to give any quarter to Baltar or anyone found to be collaborators," Jos Kirkland said sipping his wine. They had gathered in Harriet's private dining room to discuss the day's events.
"Can you blame them?" Diana Ingram said hotly. "Laura Roslin saved nearly fifty thousand of their people … Baltar lost ten thousand! And I agree with Adama and Thrace; Baltar's a weasel who thought of nothing else but his own self-aggrandisement and saving his own skin. That nanite neural net may have influenced him, but there's no evidence that it controlled him. According to the psyche-practitioners, he still had a choice … he still knew right from wrong and he chose to side with the Cylons. As far as I'm concerned, he deserves no quarter!"
"I'm inclined to agree with you, Diana," Harriet said and the other woman subsided. "But that's the Colonials' problem. Solomon and Adama have assured me that they'll wait until we reach Birhat and their entire population is together again before bringing Baltar and other collaborators to trial for war crimes. Military tribunals are an option, but because of the nature of the holocaust and the subsequent occupation, they both agree that it is best if the trials are held in open court--civilian court."
"Any ideas on what their judiciary is like?" Brashan asked. So far, the Colonials had taken the centaur-like aliens in stride for the most part. Many were still afraid of them, but there didn't seem to be any signs of overt hostility … yet. And Harriet wasn't naive enough to believe that this would not change.
"Rather similar to ours," Harriet replied. "The case will be heard by a judge and twelve jurors, but one juror is chosen from each colony. Another point of departure is that there is no need for a unanimous vote even in capital cases, only a majority. In the event of a hung jury, the judge casts the final vote. However, sentencing for capital crimes was handled by their Council of Judges--a Supreme Court, if you will. Here there were thirteen judges--one from each of the colonies--and one Head Judge, representative of the Thirteenth Tribe of Kobol. The thirteenth judge was generally a very senior member of the judiciary, who kept the others to points of law and cast the deciding vote only when there was a deadlock. This court would also handle any appeal."
"Are there enough judges among the survivors for something like this?" Kirkland asked.
"Actually, there's only one surviving judge and Solomon suggested he would preside over the trials, but there are enough lawyers to form a Council of Judges--the only potential sticking point there is whether or not there is one from each colony. However, Adama has also suggested that for the Council, the thirteenth judge be one of ours as we are the Thirteenth Tribe."
Part 21