The Uneasy Alliance
by AJ Marks
Part 10
A white-haired gentleman sat working at his desk going over page after page of information looking for the one piece which did not make any sense. He knew everything which was doing on, yet something was draining resources that he was not aware of. If he wasn’t aware of it then it could be major trouble and the last thing he wanted was more trouble.
The door opened and he looked up in surprise. He disliked being interrupted when he was trying to solve such problems, but wasn’t surprised to see who it was.
“I’m busy,’ he finally said to her, looking back down at the information in front of him.
“You and I both know something strange is going on,” the woman replied.
“And that’s what I’m working on right now, in case you missed it,” he replied back to her irritated by her actions.
“How? By sitting there going over useless information when what we really need is help,” she replied back to him.
“And who will help us?” he asked back at her.
“Well, there is always-“
“No! Absolutely not,” the man shouted cutting her off before she could finish her sentence. There was no way he could even consider such a thing. “The last time I listened to you it almost cost us everything, or do you not forget that. Damn meddling woman,” he said looking back down at the information and ignoring her.
“And you are a fool,” she said quietly before leaving the room.
*****
Apollo sat down at the table where Sheba, Starbuck and Cassiopeia were all sitting and figured they had already heard the latest news. The joining of Rigel and Omega seemed to spread as fast as rumors of Cylons. He was glad the good news had replaced the gloomy atmosphere which had been present in many areas of the ship and now people were talking about it.
“He Apollo, any word on when Wilker will be done with the vipers?” Starbuck asked, like most of the pilots he was excited to see what type of upgrades the vipers would get and if they would work or not.
“I’ve heard blue squad is almost complete, and Wilker’s team should be done by the end of the day, then they’ll be working on Silver Spar squadron,” Apollo said to them, looking at Sheba.
“I guess I’m stuck on the Galactica again tomorrow,” Sheba said. They both understood, there was only so much training and prep work one could do before it became monotonous to everyone. Even patrolling had become routine lately but the pilots tried many things to change the way they prepared to maintain some level of alertness.
“Yea, well, we get your patrol, I was going to head over to the Rising Star for some entertainment, got a new system that can’t fail me this time,” Starbuck said looking over at Apollo who knew what he was thinking.
“Oh no, last time you suckered me in I lost my pay for a secton,” Apollos aid shaking his head at his friend.
“Come on, this one can’t fail, I fixed the problem,” Starbuck stated. “I promise we’ll recover our losses, I can’t lose.”
“You said that last time, and the time before that and the time before that,” Apollo stated waving his hand.
“And each time you’ve gone with him and lost your money,” Sheba said with a grin. “I know how this works.”
“Come on buddy,” Starbuck said, giving him a grin.
Apollo gave it some thought before finally relenting. “Fine, let me know when.”
“Great,” Starbuck said, as he and Cassiopeia excused themselves and left the room leaving the two of them at the table.
“So, why do you do it?” Sheba asked looking at Apollo.
“Do what?” Apollo asked having a feeling he knew what she was asking.
“Go with him and gamble, losing your money in one of his schemes?” Sheba asked.
“Sheba,” he said, leaning his elbows on the table and closing the distance between the two of them. “Look around us,” he said watching as she did so. “We’re on board a bunch of ships in the middle of space, money doesn’t have the value it once did at the colonies, and if it provides some entertainment by playing along in one of his schemes, I will enjoy watching him lose. Even the dealers enjoy it, have almost come to expect it,” he answered.
“I guess you’re right, don’t quite understand it, but I can see it,” Sheba said shaking her head.
Apollo leaned back in his chair wondering how the scheme would work this time.
*****
The black armored centurion walked into the command center and waited for the basestar leader. The chair swung around as the leader looked down at the centurion.
“By your command,” the centurion said waiting for orders.
“Report centurion, what is the situation now?” the Cylon commander asked wanting to know what was going on.
“The humans finally sent up craft to challenge our basestars, but there were only two craft and they appeared to be unarmed as they never fired back at us,” the centurion replied back, waiting for more orders.
“Interesting,’ the commander replied, thinking about the situation and what the centurion said. It seemed strange, but then again the humans were not always logical. “We need to know what is on the planet, we need to scan the planet and find their weak point.”
“Our sensors are unable to penetrate the clouds due to heavy electronic interference,” the centurion answered, leaving the commander with few choices.
“Then send scouts,” the commander replied. “Have them scan every inch of the planet.”
“By your command,” the centurion said, turning and leaving the room to carry out the orders.
“Very interesting these humans,” the basestar commander, Hades, said to himself. This was turning out to be a wonderful challenge to his superior intelligence.
*****
It finally finished what it was trying to do on the far side of the moon where it would be undisturbed. It managed to produce a building from pure will, and from here it could create the forces it would need to take over the planet and finally rid itself of the pest called humans.
The machine inside the building powered up and the activity started up and the rewards became clear. The doors opened to the factory and the first soldier in its new army walked out.
It was covered in black armor and walked slowly to where its master stood, watching everything which was going on, its red eye bouncing back and forth and spoke in a metallic voice.
“By your command.”
*****
Morpheus piloted the Hammer back into the city of Zion knowing that he would get a cold, maybe even hostile greeting, but that General Turner would want to know what was going on on the surface. Morpheus hoped to figure out a way to convince the Council to help the machines in their fight against this unknown group of invaders, and it might be the only way to save humanity as well.
The Hammer gently touched down at its dock and powered down from its journey. Morpheus turned to Ben, who nodded that he was ready before unstrapping and heading to the door. He took a calming breath before exiting the ship.
He spotted General Turner standing not far away, waiting for him, but he wasn’t alone. Several guards stood close by waiting along with a council member that Morpheus had hoped not to see so quickly, Zac. He was one of the few who were very vocal against Morpheus helping the machines and from the look in his eyes, nothing had changed since he had been gone.
“General,” Morpheus said looking at Turner and heading over as Ben stepped out, he noticed Turner looking at Ben but said nothing about it, instead waiting to see what would happen next.
“You are in so much trouble that by the time I’m done with you, you’ll, you’ll…” Zac trailed off so angry he was unable to even talk, his face redder than Morpheus had ever seen it before.
“The situation is worse than I thought,” Morpheus said ignoring Zac and looking back at Turner who faintly nodded his head in acknowledgement of the situation.
“This situation is only worse because you keep defying the Council’s wise advice and will,” Zac said having recovered his ability to speak, though his anger had yet to abide.
“It’s the council who are making things worse by their inaction,” Morpheus replied back, loud enough so everyone around could hear him and a few he noticed were paying attention. “You refuse to acknowledge that there is another race out there killing humans. They come from above the clouds and somewhere in space.”
“Don’t take us for fools Morpheus,” Zac spat out. “We all know that life doesn’t exist anywhere else but here on Earth. Now General Turner, escort these two prisoners to a cell until the Council can decide on their punishment.”
“And by then it’ll be too late for us all,” Morpheus stated as Turner walked up with a couple of guards. He had to make the council see reason.
“No, we have to work to minimize the damage you’ve cause us all by your foolishness,” Zac said, getting into Morpheus’ face.
“He’s not lying, I’ve seen them,” Ben said, speaking loudly. “They come in large saucer shaped ships unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my life, they aim for the humans in the Matrix.”
“You will be quiet,” Zac said glaring at Ben. “I will hear no more about ‘aliens’ from outer space or any other such nonsense. Such things are only things that exist in the Matrix and not in real life.”
“Then you are a fool,” Morpheus said quietly.
“Take them away!” Zac said, turning around and storming off to the council room.
“You better do as he says before he decides to lock you up as well,” Morpheus said to Turner.
“I know,” Tuner said with a sigh. “I don’t know what’s going on with the council anymore, this entire thing has blown up further than anyone thought.”
Morpheus thought about that as they were led off, wondering if anything could be done to change their minds. Changing their minds might be the difference between life and death.
*****
Niobe, along with a few other volunteers, watched as some others took their turn training on learning how to fly the Falcons. The name which Morpheus had given the fighter had stuck with it, and she had to admit, it was easy to learn how to fly. It helped a lot that most were from the Matrix and had already learned some flying skills and now they were taking turns actually flying the Falcons.
Niobe made her way over to a fighter and climbed on board, looking over at her wingmate for the flight, Talc, who had never had any experience but seemed to be handling it very well. They both were concerned on what was going on around them, and making sure they knew the systems.
“Ready Niobe?” Talc asked over the intercom.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Niobe replied, pushing the thrusters to full burn for takeoff. The two of them were going to make a quick flight around to gain some experience on how the fighters maneuvered.
Niobe felt at home flying and realized it wasn’t much different than what she experienced in the Matrix. Looking over at Talc she noticed he seemed to be handling the fighter with ease as well, a testament of the design that the machines had taken into account. They set their course and headed out.
“Ah, Niobe?” Talc’s voice said several minutes later a bit nervous. “Have you checked your scanner lately?”
“No,” Niobe replied now a bit worried about the tone in his voice. She glanced down and saw what Talc was referring to, a single ship appeared on the scanner in front of them. “Let’s check it out,” Niobe said hitting her thrusters and headed to intercept the unknown ship.
Talc kept up as they both wondered what they were encountering when another, dark-grey disk appeared in front of them showing the area with blue bolts of energy.
“You all right?” Niobe asked over the intercom pushing the fighter to a more extreme maneuver.
“Yeah, but these guys mean business,” Talc replied, breathing hard.
“Activate weapons,” Niobe replied, flicking the switch allowing the HUD to appear in front of her. “Let’s see what the Falcon can do,” she said heading to engage the first enemy ship.
She lined up one of her attackers, watching as the ship appeared on her HUD before pressing the trigger to her weapons. A steady stream of bullets flew from her ship towards the enemy accompanied by a buzz saw sound coming from the front of the fighter. Niobe could almost smell the acidic smell of the smoke from the gun in the cockpit.
Another stream of bullets along with hers and realized Talc had joined her. She watched as the enemy was hit several times but seemed like nothing happened at all and hoped for a lucky hit.
She quickly turned her fighter and it allowed her to get behind the attacker again, and she opened fire once more. The enemy turned and was now behind Talc, before she could even shout a warning a blue bolt struck his fighter. She watched it explode and for a second her mind was blank, quickly shaking the shock off she opened fire again this time hitting a spot which was weak and smoke spewed forth from the ship indicating it was damaged. She watched as it shot straight up and through the clouds, disappearing.
Niobe turned her fighter back to the machine city still a bit shocked at what happened, but also had new information about the battle, their weapons were still vastly inferior to this new enemy. They easily destroyed a falcon yet she had trouble just damaging one of them.
End part 10
Continued in part 11