BSG/Voyager Crossover-Part 10b
For 
bantha_fodder's BSG/Crossover ficathon. Dedicated to
regencyg!
Pairing:Janeway/Adama, Sr. or Janeway/Roslin
Prompt: Galactica stumbles into the Delta Quadrant and meet Voyager, Bill and Kathryn bond over the demands of keeping everyone safe. Or Kathryn and Laura bond over being women in charge. Or both.
Title: Flying Colours Part 10: Earthquakes (continued)
Word Count: 3,677
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Refer to Part 1
Flying Colours - Part 10b: Earthquakes
William and Kathryn were deep in conversation when she returned, poring over a number of books spread out on the low coffee table.
“You're telling me that there were twelve habitable worlds in one star system?” the Federation Captain was saying in outrage. “And no one thought this was strange?”
“Not until we got out here and realized out how unusual it was,” he replied in bemusement as Janeway got up and paced the floor. “And some of our worlds were large moons orbiting larger, uninhabitable planets; it was a binary star system with twenty-seven major worlds between the two stars. There were few multiple star systems out where the colonies were located so we didn’t think it was so unusual.”
“Binary, trinary, quadrinary!” she said throwing her hands up. “It makes no difference! Such a configuration could be nothing but artificial. Your colonies had to be terraformed--there’s simply no way to have that many M-Class worlds in one system.”
“T-terraformed?” Laura said, stumbling over the unfamiliar word. “M-Class?”
Janeway stopped her pacing and smiled. William looked as if he wanted to devour Laura then and there.
“I take it meets with your approval,” she said a little shyly.
“Most definitely,” he rumbled; his voice was a hair’s breadth from a growl and the intensity in his eyes made the butterflies in her stomach go wild.
She self-consciously patted her damp hair. "I need a haircut," she said and then cringed inwardly at the inanity of the statement.
Kathryn chuckled. "Well I can offer the services of the Delaney sisters," she said, breaking the tension. "They're two of my stellar cartographers--identical twins. They’re a bit wild, but pretty good at taking orders."
"Thank you," Laura replied, "I may just take you up on that."
"Don't cut it too short," William said gruffly, capturing her gaze again; there was no hiding the love she found there.
After a long moment of staring into each others eyes, Laura took a deep breath as she remembered to breathe again. “All right,” she said briskly, covering her rising lust as Kathryn’s eyes twinkled knowingly. “What is this all about?” she asked, gesturing to the astronomy texts on the table.
“Kathryn and I were discussing the Twelve Colonies system,” William replied. “Apparently it was a bit of an abnormality.”
“There’s an understatement,” Kathryn muttered regarding them both with an intense gaze. “And you two have no idea how unusual this is, do you? Look, I’ve been in literally thousands of star systems in three out of the four quadrants of the galaxy and I can tell you right now that M-Class worlds--planets or moons that can support humanoid life--are pretty rare … on the order of one in ten thousand. The probability of twelve M-Class worlds occurring in the same system naturally is astronomical!”
“But what could it be if it wasn’t naturally occurring?” Laura asked in confusion.
“That’s what I was trying to explain to William when you came in,” Kathryn replied. “I think that many of those worlds were specifically created--terraformed--to support human life.” Laura gaped at her in shock. “I think that someone deliberately transformed lifeless worlds into life-supporting worlds; that’s what terraforming does.”
Laura knew she must look like a gaping fish, but of all the earthquakes contact with Voyager had produced so far, this one rocked her to the core and she knew that they weren’t done yet--not by a long shot!
“Look, statistically each star system that can support life does so within a certain habitable zone around the star, and even when everything is ideal, you may get one, or at the most, two planets within the habitable zone,” she said and Laura had the irrelevant--almost hysterical--thought that she would have made a good teacher. “That gives you four between the two stars under the most ideal conditions and adding in flukes like a large moon circling a gas giant at an ideal distance for stability, geological activity and gravitational effects to balance and produce half-way decent conditions for life to take hold, that would give you a maximum of five worlds. Realistically, I would guess that only three were originally life-bearing worlds in that binary system, which means that seven to nine of your colony worlds were terraformed. In fact, even the life-bearing worlds may have had to be modified somewhat for the biospheres to support human life.”
There was a long moment of silence as Laura and William digested it all. “Well we did know that humans came from Kobol to the Colonies,” William said slowly. “What you’re saying is that the Lords of Kobol created … terraformed the colony worlds for us.”
“It’s a definite possibility,” Kathryn said thoughtfully. “It would have been an unimaginable undertaking; even in the Federation, it takes years, even decades, to terraform a single planet. One of the first ones Earth attempted was our planetary neighbour, Mars, and it took a century and a half to make it what I would consider liveable.”
Laura went over to Adama’s bookshelf and pulled down his copy of the Scriptures. She opened it to the correct page in Pythia and read aloud, “On the Acropolis, from the doorway of her temple, Athena mourned, watching as the great galleon rose from the meadow, taking the people of Kobol to the place that had been prepared for them--” Laura looked up at Kathryn. “I suppose that could mean terraformed. But the Scriptures differ about what happened next. Some accounts say that Athena committed suicide--threw herself over a precipice near the Gates of Hera--while others contend that the all the Lords committed suicide or simply remained on Kobol and perished in the catastrophe. But Pythia--”
“What does Pythia say?” Kathryn asked gently.
“She seems to imply that the Lords boarded a ship,” William replied. “They went with those who chose the Thirteenth Colony, Earth.”
“There was only one small ship left,” Laura continued reading from the sacred book, “the ship Thirteenth Tribe, bound for Earth and their destiny. The Lords descended the Acropolis and ascended the heavens.”
“That’s all she wrote on the subject,” William said, “just those few lines.”
“Yet it’s strange,” Laura said and Kathryn shifted her gaze waiting for her to continue. “In all the Book of Pythia, the brief description of the exodus is the only thing that doesn’t have to do with prophecies.”
“I see,” Kathryn said. Her voice was curiously hollow.
“Kathryn?”
The other woman smiled wanly. “Give me a bit to think on this, Laura,” she said. “Have you spoken to the Quorum yet about those religious aspects we touched on?”
Laura shook her head. “No, not yet,” she said hoarsely, “only to William. I’m not quite sure how to broach the subject, to be frank.”
Kathryn nodded. “Do you think it would be better coming from a godless barbarian?” she quipped, eyes twinkling.
“Perhaps,” Laura chuckled and then sobered quickly. “I really don’t know and won’t know until I have the courage to examine that information for myself.”
#
To Part 11
bantha_fodder's BSG/Crossover ficathon. Dedicated to
regencyg!
Pairing:Janeway/Adama, Sr. or Janeway/Roslin
Prompt: Galactica stumbles into the Delta Quadrant and meet Voyager, Bill and Kathryn bond over the demands of keeping everyone safe. Or Kathryn and Laura bond over being women in charge. Or both.
Title: Flying Colours Part 10: Earthquakes (continued)
Word Count: 3,677
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Refer to Part 1
Flying Colours - Part 10b: Earthquakes
William and Kathryn were deep in conversation when she returned, poring over a number of books spread out on the low coffee table.
“You're telling me that there were twelve habitable worlds in one star system?” the Federation Captain was saying in outrage. “And no one thought this was strange?”
“Not until we got out here and realized out how unusual it was,” he replied in bemusement as Janeway got up and paced the floor. “And some of our worlds were large moons orbiting larger, uninhabitable planets; it was a binary star system with twenty-seven major worlds between the two stars. There were few multiple star systems out where the colonies were located so we didn’t think it was so unusual.”
“Binary, trinary, quadrinary!” she said throwing her hands up. “It makes no difference! Such a configuration could be nothing but artificial. Your colonies had to be terraformed--there’s simply no way to have that many M-Class worlds in one system.”
“T-terraformed?” Laura said, stumbling over the unfamiliar word. “M-Class?”
Janeway stopped her pacing and smiled. William looked as if he wanted to devour Laura then and there.
“I take it meets with your approval,” she said a little shyly.
“Most definitely,” he rumbled; his voice was a hair’s breadth from a growl and the intensity in his eyes made the butterflies in her stomach go wild.
She self-consciously patted her damp hair. "I need a haircut," she said and then cringed inwardly at the inanity of the statement.
Kathryn chuckled. "Well I can offer the services of the Delaney sisters," she said, breaking the tension. "They're two of my stellar cartographers--identical twins. They’re a bit wild, but pretty good at taking orders."
"Thank you," Laura replied, "I may just take you up on that."
"Don't cut it too short," William said gruffly, capturing her gaze again; there was no hiding the love she found there.
After a long moment of staring into each others eyes, Laura took a deep breath as she remembered to breathe again. “All right,” she said briskly, covering her rising lust as Kathryn’s eyes twinkled knowingly. “What is this all about?” she asked, gesturing to the astronomy texts on the table.
“Kathryn and I were discussing the Twelve Colonies system,” William replied. “Apparently it was a bit of an abnormality.”
“There’s an understatement,” Kathryn muttered regarding them both with an intense gaze. “And you two have no idea how unusual this is, do you? Look, I’ve been in literally thousands of star systems in three out of the four quadrants of the galaxy and I can tell you right now that M-Class worlds--planets or moons that can support humanoid life--are pretty rare … on the order of one in ten thousand. The probability of twelve M-Class worlds occurring in the same system naturally is astronomical!”
“But what could it be if it wasn’t naturally occurring?” Laura asked in confusion.
“That’s what I was trying to explain to William when you came in,” Kathryn replied. “I think that many of those worlds were specifically created--terraformed--to support human life.” Laura gaped at her in shock. “I think that someone deliberately transformed lifeless worlds into life-supporting worlds; that’s what terraforming does.”
Laura knew she must look like a gaping fish, but of all the earthquakes contact with Voyager had produced so far, this one rocked her to the core and she knew that they weren’t done yet--not by a long shot!
“Look, statistically each star system that can support life does so within a certain habitable zone around the star, and even when everything is ideal, you may get one, or at the most, two planets within the habitable zone,” she said and Laura had the irrelevant--almost hysterical--thought that she would have made a good teacher. “That gives you four between the two stars under the most ideal conditions and adding in flukes like a large moon circling a gas giant at an ideal distance for stability, geological activity and gravitational effects to balance and produce half-way decent conditions for life to take hold, that would give you a maximum of five worlds. Realistically, I would guess that only three were originally life-bearing worlds in that binary system, which means that seven to nine of your colony worlds were terraformed. In fact, even the life-bearing worlds may have had to be modified somewhat for the biospheres to support human life.”
There was a long moment of silence as Laura and William digested it all. “Well we did know that humans came from Kobol to the Colonies,” William said slowly. “What you’re saying is that the Lords of Kobol created … terraformed the colony worlds for us.”
“It’s a definite possibility,” Kathryn said thoughtfully. “It would have been an unimaginable undertaking; even in the Federation, it takes years, even decades, to terraform a single planet. One of the first ones Earth attempted was our planetary neighbour, Mars, and it took a century and a half to make it what I would consider liveable.”
Laura went over to Adama’s bookshelf and pulled down his copy of the Scriptures. She opened it to the correct page in Pythia and read aloud, “On the Acropolis, from the doorway of her temple, Athena mourned, watching as the great galleon rose from the meadow, taking the people of Kobol to the place that had been prepared for them--” Laura looked up at Kathryn. “I suppose that could mean terraformed. But the Scriptures differ about what happened next. Some accounts say that Athena committed suicide--threw herself over a precipice near the Gates of Hera--while others contend that the all the Lords committed suicide or simply remained on Kobol and perished in the catastrophe. But Pythia--”
“What does Pythia say?” Kathryn asked gently.
“She seems to imply that the Lords boarded a ship,” William replied. “They went with those who chose the Thirteenth Colony, Earth.”
“There was only one small ship left,” Laura continued reading from the sacred book, “the ship Thirteenth Tribe, bound for Earth and their destiny. The Lords descended the Acropolis and ascended the heavens.”
“That’s all she wrote on the subject,” William said, “just those few lines.”
“Yet it’s strange,” Laura said and Kathryn shifted her gaze waiting for her to continue. “In all the Book of Pythia, the brief description of the exodus is the only thing that doesn’t have to do with prophecies.”
“I see,” Kathryn said. Her voice was curiously hollow.
“Kathryn?”
The other woman smiled wanly. “Give me a bit to think on this, Laura,” she said. “Have you spoken to the Quorum yet about those religious aspects we touched on?”
Laura shook her head. “No, not yet,” she said hoarsely, “only to William. I’m not quite sure how to broach the subject, to be frank.”
Kathryn nodded. “Do you think it would be better coming from a godless barbarian?” she quipped, eyes twinkling.
“Perhaps,” Laura chuckled and then sobered quickly. “I really don’t know and won’t know until I have the courage to examine that information for myself.”
#
To Part 11