Second Face of Evil
by AJ Marks
Part 1
The Battlestar Galactica slowly made its way around the large gas giant which was part of the solar system. Behind it was a large fleet of ragtag civilian ships. Bringing up the rear of the fleet was the Battlestar Pegasus covering for anything which might try to attack the fleet from behind. Close by was a force of Earth warships providing escort into the system.
Tigh understood that the fleet probably would not be there if the Earth military had not intervened when they had. Since the battle they had been given permission to enter Earth’s system and along with the Colonial patrols Earth ships were keeping an eye out for any Cylon warships.
On the bridge of the Galactica Tigh was able to move around without a member of the council for the first time in yahrens. He once again had the ability to react quickly to a threat to the fleet without having to gain permission from the council.
“Any news from our ambassadors?” Tigh asked, knowing the answer but asking anyways to waste time.
“No sir,” the reply came back. Everyone on board felt a bit nervous about how the talks would go. If a common ground could not be forged he had no idea where they might go next. The fleet had moved forward with the promise of finding Earth, the Thirteenth tribe.
Tigh also felt nervous for another reason. He had an uneasiness in his gut that he was missing something critical, but could not figure out what it might be. He kept coming back to something Commander Adama told him, some sort of message.
The last message from the ambassadors indicated they arrived on Earth without any problems. He hoped the political situation on Earth was stable and not something Ziers might take advantage of. His only real hope lay with the fact Starbuck and Terrance were on his side.
Tigh had wanted to go down as well, but with the situation of Cylons everything had changed. He did not feel comfortable leaving his post under such circumstances. He would place his hope that Starbuck would do a good enough job.
*****
Starbuck made his way into the capital building feeling a bit out of place. All around people were dressed in non-military uniforms while he walked around not only in his uniform, but armed. He almost felt threatening to everyone, but no one seemed to even give him a second glance.
“Excuse me sir,” a blue uniformed man said as Starbuck and Boxey made their way inside. “You’ll have to check in your weapons over there,” he said pointing to a side area.
“Of course,” Starbuck replied, as he and Boxey walked over to the side area. Taking off the blaster he handed it over to the waiting person who handed him a ticket telling him to hold on to it for later. The same was repeated for Boxey.
“You may retrieve your weapons when you leave, hand the ticket back to me,” the man said.
Starbuck and Boxey quickly caught back up with the others passing by several pictures on the wall.
“Wonder who they are?” Boxey asked as they walked by another picture.
“They’re the remaining pictures of the various leaders of the countries of history. Few pictures survived the invasion, and we dedicated this hallway to the past leaders. We also have a hallway which lists all the known countries and empires of the world,” Mitchell said walking behind them. “I forgot to mention the security procedures to you.”
“No big deal,” Starbuck replied, shrugging it off. He had expected something like that to happen anyways.
Mitchell appeared slightly relieved by the statement. Starbuck considered the man honest for the most part, but he was a politician and capable of dishonesty. He figured he was loyal to keeping Earth safe, and the military part of him would be a bit friendly to the fleet.
They continued on into the interior of the building.
“Most of the council is here, called to a special meeting,” Mitchell said as they walked along.
“Hey kiddo, you all right?” Starbuck said putting a hand on Boxey’s shoulder.
“Um, yeah, just fine,” Boxey replied, moving along again.
“Good,” Starbuck said with a grin. He had not been fooled at all. He also saw the young woman walking by then and made eye contact with Boxey. Starbuck glanced back seeing the young redhead look away having been noticed and smiled. He was relieved that Cassiopeia wasn’t here or she would have belted him for looking.
He entered the main room, full of people. He wondered if they were all part of the council, and if so how did they get anything done? He looked over at Terrance who also took it all in. He realized with so many they should find some allies, but then again so could Zeirs.
He looked over at the man seeing Ziers sitting down in front of the room as they were being led off to the side. He hoped the man had done nothing to undermine the threat that the Cylons posed to Earth. They knew the Galactica was nearby and would be concentrating their efforts on the fleet soon. He focused his attention on the man standing up to address the room.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of Earth, Steven Hiller,” the man announced to the room. Everyone watched as the President made his way down the center of the room towards the podium.
“Thank you, it’s my honor to present such an important day in Earth history,” he said to the gathered crowd. “We again have visitors from beyond our system. Unlike last time when the aliens only wanted to eliminate us all.”
Starbuck watched several people in the crowd nod their agreement with the statement. He had heard a bit of what happened and knew most of these people either lived through it or fought in the battle.
“However, today we have a new reason to look to space, for allies,” Hiller stated. “There has been recent developments in space, like an attack on our listening station, and a group of refugees who are under attack by the same group of aliens. We can only assume that among the stars there are others, those who would attack us to destroy us, and those who would work with us for survival.”
Starbuck was a bit impressed, but also noticed several who seemed to deflate at the knowledge of another war. He understood their feelings. He had been hopeful when the Cylons expressed a desire for peace. It led to the destruction of his home, causing him and everyone else in the fleet to become drifters.
“As many of you know, the listening post at Pluto was attacked and destroyed. At first we assumed it was attacked by a large warship, and our forces captured such a ship, only to find out our outpost was destroyed by their enemies, a race calling themselves Cylons,” Hiller said to the group. Starbuck figured the President had been briefed on everything, as had many in the council as they expressed no shock.
“What we were not expecting was the ship we found was manned by humans,” Holler said, which caused the biggest shock in the room. Hiller waited a few seconds as the commotion calmed down for a few seconds. “I asked that they send over a couple of representatives of their government over to peak with us on a couple of things. The first is this new race called the Cylons, and the other they are asking for permission to stay.”
Starbuck watched the group of people as many shifted in their seats, talking with the people next to them. A low buzz of conversations filled his ears until finally order was brought back. He looked over seeing that Ziers appeared unaffected by the entire thing, at least not yet.
“Several members of their government and military are in attendance today, to answer questions and give us information,” Hiller said, making Starbuck groan slightly. He did not aware he might be making a speech. Hiller gestured towards them to come forward. “We’ll begin with introductions.”
Starbuck walked up with the others standing in a line.
“My name is Ziers, and I am the head member of the Council of Twelve, our main government institution,” Ziers said.
“I am Councilman Oris, also a member of the Council of Twelve,” the second council member said.
“I am Councilman Terrance, also a member of the Council of Twelve,” Terrance said standing next to Starbuck.
“Captain Starbuck, blue squad leader aboard the battlestar Pegasus,” Starbuck said, feeling slightly nervous about standing in front of such a crowd. This was Apollo’s foray, not his.
“Lieutenant Boxey, blue squadron of the battlestar Pegasus,” Boxey said standing next to Starbuck.
The five men stood in front of the Earth council waiting for what might happen next. Starbuck could tell that Boxey was as nervous as he felt. He hoped they were asked nothing too much at the moment.
“”What type of government do you have?” one councilman asked, which Ziers answered.
“We have a Council of Twelve, they are elders who are elected to the council who give their wisdom to the other smaller groups, or that was how it worked before. With smaller numbers the council is about the only head government,” Ziers said. “We make all decisions concerning the fleet.”
Starbuck stopped himself from rolling his eyes. It was the council which had done a lot of damage over the years in their quest for peace.
“Since leaving our homeworld we have had to work closely with the military to assure our survival,” Terrance said, jumping into the conversation.
“In what way?” another council member asked.
“The military has much more say, and for a while we were under martial law,” Terrance replied. “Living on board ships in space makes some groups more powerful. The military was the most efficient group after we left. The Council only gets involved in major decisions.”
“What are your military capabilities?” another council member asked, as they all looked towards Starbuck and Boxey.
“I’m afraid we can’t answer that question,” Ziers said before Starbuck could say anything.
“We have two battlestars,” Starbuck said, knowing he risked the personal attention of Ziers later on, but he also knew that they already knew that. He was sure that the Earth commander would have taken note of the capabilities of the battlestars during the battle.
He noticed that Terrance looked over as well as the glare Ziers gave him. Starbuck shrugged it off looking back at the councilman who asked the question. He was looking down at a piece of paper before looking back up at them.
“Only two? You’re fleet indicates it’s over two hundred, or is there some mistake?” the senator aksed.
“Only two, the fleet is made up of civilian ships,” Terrance said.
“Surely you had a larger fleet if you’re at war against these Cylons?” another person asked.
“The rest were destroyed by the Cylons,” Starbuck replied, a mixture of sorrow and anger in his voice as he recalled the day.
“Sounds like you were there?”
“I was. I saw the betrayal of our people that led to an ambush which killed millions,” Starbuck said.
“That’s enough!” Ziers stated, anger in his voice as he looked at Starbuck.
“You were not there, you did not see you’re comrades explode, or the other battlestars explode when they never had a chance because of the folly of the Council,” Starbuck said back to him, not backing down.
“Why you,” Ziers said, his face red with anger.
“Hold on,” Hiller said, placing himself between the two men. Starbuck was ready for anything, but remained calm. He looked around at the group seeing some with sympathetic faces, as if they understood. He looked back at Ziers and wondered how he managed to gain so much power when he had done nothing to help the fleet or its people.
“What are your intentions here?” another councilman asked.
“Well, according to our records there were thirteen tribes of Kobal, twelve settled close to each other, the worlds we came from. The thirteenth tribe left for a distance planet called Earth,” Terrance said. “We hope to settle here, rebuild our civilization and military to cone day strike back and reclaim our home.”
“And if you continue on your way and pass us by,” another one asked.
“The Cylons are aware of your presence here. Regardless if we are here or not, they will attack you because you’re human. Their goal is to wipe us out,” Starbuck said.
There was a murmur of conversation until Hiller regained order in the council and turned to the group. “We need time to discuss this.”
They were lead out of the room and Ziers now was able to get close to Starbuck.
“What were you doing?” he asked when they were alone.
“Telling them the truth, they already know the capabilities of a battlestars as they had people on board, and with the battle they were able to see how many ships we had,” Starbuck said back to him.
“I’ll see you’re court martialed for this,” Ziers said, moving off.
“Go ahead,” Starbuck said, unconcerned with the threat. He knew in such a case there would be no winners, and both of them could lose. In fact Ziers had more to lose than Starbuck did.
*****
Apollo paced the bridge of the Pegasus in nervous anticipation for some communication from the planet. He knew there would be political battles, both from their people and Earth’s in addition to Ziers and Terrance. Would Ziers find more important political allies, or would they? He also had reservations about Starbuck. His friend might be a great pilot, but a politician he was not.
“Apollo, would you sit down,” Athena said to her brother. “You’re making us all dizzy.”
Apollo paused to look at his sister for a few seconds. Her attention was diverted away from him and back to the screen and frowned.
“Apollo, come take a look at this,” she said, motioning him over to the console. He looked down at the screen seeing the long range scanners picking up a couple of large ships headed their way.
“Get me Commander Tigh,” Apollo said heading back to the command chair. He only had to wait a few microns before Tigh’s face appeared on the screen.
“Apollo, something wrong?” Tigh asked.
“Long range scanners picked up some large whips headed our way,” Apollo replied.
“Cylons?’
“No, the war book can’t identify them,” Apollo said, which had confused him.
“Keep an eye on them and report back if the situation changes,” Tigh said.
“All right,” Apollo said, and now wondered if he had two things to worry about instead of one.
*****
The small crew sitting at the listening outpost near Saturn were glad things had calmed down after the past couple of days. They lost the outpost at Jupiter, and now the outer system had a large fleet consisting of over two hundred ships. Add in the fact the recent memo of a new threat, and they were glad for the new calm.
A young woman sat on duty watching the screen as it scanned for multiple frequencies and scanning space for any unknown ships. She paused seeing the sudden change, something she was trained to find.
“Um, Joe?” she said to the person closeby. He leaned over looking at the screen and froze as she had.
“I think intelligence needs that now,” Joe said.
They quickly relayed the information back home hoping it was wrong as she switched over to the speaker, a low rumbling sound came through. The entire crew sat in silence knowing what it meant.
End part 1