The Uneasy Alliance
by AJ Marks
Part 21
It couldn’t believe what happened. It had been so close to victory and the puny military on the human planet was completely overwhelmed, at least it had been until they landed and that’s when everything went wrong.
Reports filtered in from its commanders of humans dressed in black suits with speed and strength unknown in any human. All over the planet these men appeared fighting its troops and winning. Even if they managed to kill one, another took its place.
Even more disturbing was the report of a man and woman dressed in black and sunglasses who decimated its troopers. They were joined by another man, also in black, and with a long trench coat on. They took its soldiers weapons and proceeded to destroy its forces.
However, what concerned it the most was the report that the man could fly. He cut through its raiders destroying them in the air unlike anything else flying. The human was deadly and stronger than anything it ever considered. It went over the programs for the soldiers and decided to modify them for the next attack to counter this latest defense.
With a plan it went to work on the design. These would be faster and stronger. It would defeat these humans, after all, they were only human.
*****
Neil watched as the digits around him changed and he allowed himself to change with them. The knowledge that his body was getting oxygen fueled him beyond his limitations and out into the vacuum of space, or more like the limitation of the Matrix. He heard from the Oracle that they thought this enemy was on the far side of the moon, which made a bit of sense to him.
Reaching the moon in a few minutes he scanned the area hoping to discover where the attackers had come from. It took only a few seconds for him to discover what he was looking for, a couple of large buildings on the moon’s surface along with several large ships. The ships were not his target, he was looking for the mastermind behind it all, like a virus in a computer and he was the anti-virus program.
It took several minutes but he finally found the target he was looking for. A machine program unlike anything he had ever seen and realized it was a Cylon, a different program, and alien lifeform. The Oracle had mentioned everything she knew to him about what was happening on the outside world before the attack had occurred. They both knew that something was wrong in the Matrix due to the number of reboots it had done. Neo was horrified to learn it was to done to cover so many deaths.
Of course he had been relieved to learn that the attacks were not done by the humans in Zion. However, to learn there were other machines out there was as disturbing to him. He now had to fight another robot race.
He sat there for several minutes, watching and learning from the program in front of him. This Cylon was cunning and could probably match him in skill, as a result he didn’t want to go two rounds with it and allow it to grow. If he did it might be able to kill many innocent people who would never know any better of what the real world was like.
Taking a breath and centering himself he calmed his mind. It would take a blending of him and the Matrix to defeat this new threat. With purpose he moved forward, racing towards the place where the Cylon was hiding.
The Cylons never had a chance to even raise an alarm when Neo came crashing through the base. He was beyond any destroying things at will as rows upon rows of Cylon soldiers were eliminated. Grabbing two weapons he fired as well, his aim deadly and fast.
By the time the Cylons recovered from the shock of what was going on, their numbers had been reduced significantly. Neo looked around as he destroyed the Cylons, watching for the leader who he knew would appear especially with this much destruction. He finally saw what he was looking for, a Cylon who appeared differently, a large round head which looked like it was made up of wires. That one had to be the leader.
The battle was just starting.
*****
It watched as its forces which had been destroyed in the last attack on the planet were rebuilt. The newest soldiers were modified and it would make a larger attack force this time especially against the super humans who were defending the planet. It would overwhelm them this time.
Even as it thought about it a mysterious human dressed in black swooped through its base bringing destruction with him. It watched amazed as one human brought its base to utter waste and destruction. It waited, watching until the human had his back turned to it and then moved in to attack. However it stopped when the man seemed to anticipate the attack and moved before turning and looking right at it.
For several seconds neither moved, both studied the other. This is just a human, nothing more despite the fact he had destroyed its soldiers easily.
Deciding to end this now, it attacked the human and the battle was engaged. It didn’t care that the fate of the Matrix would be decided in this battle, and perhaps, the survival of humanity as well.
*****
Adama watched as everyone climbed aboard the shuttles or vipers to begin the voyage back to the fleet and begin what needed to be done. He was thinking about everything involved in arming a new battlestar and felt a bit amazed at the speed upon which the machines were building the battlestar. Of course he had to get over the shock of machines which were not Cylon in nature and were actually friendly towards them.
He also felt a bit proud of his warriors in their first full encounter with these machines. They resisted the urge to shoot first when they realized the machines were not human. Doctor Wilker seemed to make friends with the machines almost too easily in Adama’s opinion but figured that was due to his working around machines and his curiosity about such things. He had a feeling others in the fleet might not be at ease with the machines and he had to inform the council of what had happened. They might not be as willing either to help.
“What do you think father?” Apollo asked as they sat down.
“It’s a dangerous situation, the Cylons are nearby that much is truth. I want to step up the patrols around the fleet when we get back. The second thing, all I can do is ask for volunteers to head back to man the new ship,” Adama said.
“What about the commander?” Apollo asked, something Adama had avoided thinking about.
“There is really only one choice, Colonel Tigh,’” Adama said. “He is the only one with experience commanding a battlestar the right way, and I have a feeling that the experience will be required in this, especially if you say these Beings of Light are involved,” Adama said.
“You could order him to go?” Apollo said.
“I could, but I have a feeling we need them to go willingly,” Adama said trusting his gut feelings. “And telling them the truth about the machines on the ground so they are not surprised.”
The shuttle lifted off and they headed off towards the fleet, bouncing though the atmosphere as everyone lined up. Adama was lost in his thoughts about what they would need to do. He would have to get a lot of people organized quickly.
He looked up at the sudden, intense sound which seemed to come from everywhere. He tried to block the sound out with his hands before he slipped unconsciousness.
*****
“Report centurion,” Hades said from his command chair. The last report indicated a couple of Colonial shuttle and vipers were leaving the strange human planet and he ordered a patrol to follow and discover the location of the Galactica and her fleet.
“By your command,” the centurion replied before continuing. “We lost contact with the Colonial ships.”
“What?” Hades asked, the reply was not what he had expected to hear and wanted to know what happened. This was not part of his plan.
“The patrol following the Colonial ships stated they simply disappeared from their scanners,” the centurion said. “They increased speed but saw no sign of the ships on their scanners.
“So the Colonials have developed a new stealth technology, interesting but irrelevant,” Hades finally said. “Send a scout to the planet to make contact with basestar twelve with further orders.”
“By your command,” the centurion replied. “What of the Colonials?”
“Leave them for now, they will be dealt with shortly.”
Hades watched as the centurion turned and left the room to carry out the orders.
*****
Adama slowly became aware of what was going on around him, and looked around seeing the others were with him as well. He looked up and realized everything he saw was white, or a shade of white. It was a bit different for him and he hoped where ever he was, the people around him were friendly. He look at the others to check to see how they were doing.
It took several microns but everyone else slowly woke up as well, and looked around as well. It seemed like Starbuck and Sheba alone were unfazed by what they were seeing, as if they had seen this place before somehow. Once everyone had been roused, they were not looking around trying to figure out where they were, or how they might be able to escape.
“Hello,” a figure said rom behind them, making several jump at the sound. They turned to see a tall man, dressed in white, with white hair, standing there watching them. Adama knew the man had not been there earlier, he would have seen him, and there appeared to be no doors in the room, so where had the man come from?
“John,” he heard Starbuck said.
“What’s going on John?” Apollo asked, walking up to the man.
“I don’t know what you meant Apollo,” John replied with an air of sophistication.
“Yeah, right?” Starbuck said.
“We’ve finally found Earth and you show up again. Last time it was asking us for our help to prevent another civilization from destroying itself, but no guarantee the Cylons wouldn’t destroy them,” Apollo said.
“The Cylons will not,” John replied evenly.
“That’s comforting,” Apollo replied.
“You made sure about that?” Adama asked, knowing how the Cylons could be. He had a hard time understanding they would actually listen to someone.
“Thought you were not supposed to interfere?” Apollo asked suddenly.
“We did not,” John replied back to him.
“No, you probably showed up with your ships, just enough to make the Cylons think they had found a far superior race and cause them to head in a different direction,” Adama said guessing what they probably did. “It makes sense.”
He turned to John and thought about what the Beings of Light said to them so far. They didn’t interfere directly, but led an illusion. The question now was why were they here now?
“Very perceptive. We merely flew through the area at the same time,” John replied back with a slight grin.
“Why couldn’t you help us our then?” Starbuck said from where he stood, and several others seemed to agree with the question.
“He could not,” Adama said looking over at Starbuck.
“But commander,” Starbuck said, pointing at John.
“They could not because we involved ourselves,” Adama said catching on. “The question is, why are you involved now?”
“I was told you were quick to catch on Commander Adama,” John said.
“So I’ve been told,” Adama said, waiting for the answer.
John looked up for a second, having a silent conversation. “There is more going on here than you realize. We are merely balancing the scales.”
“Cryptic as always,” Apollo stated.
“No, he’s right,” Adama said, finally understanding it, he knew what was going on. “Can I have a private word with you John?”
He watched John seem a stunned at the question but remained silent. Starbuck and Apollo appeared confused but Adama waited.
“Very well,” John said, and motioned Adama to follow him leaving a confused group behind him. They would understand soon enough, but for now, Adama needed to know if his guess was correct and asking John was the direct path. He also didn’t want to ask this question in front of Sheba, not yet.
End part 21