The Uneasy Alliance
by AJ Marks
Part 24
Adama watched the tanker as it filled with people from the Galactica and would be heading for Earth shortly. He knew the trip would be strange for them despite the fact they had been briefed on what to expect upon arrival on Earth. The place they would arrive at would be full of machines with few humans to greet them.
Thinking of the humans on the planet caused him to think of something else, or rather someone else, Count Iblis. What did he want this time? What was his goal? Adama knew another confrontation would have to happen between the two of them, almost as if they both knew it would happen when they first met. They never finished sparring with each other, and Adama also thought about the Beings of Light. What was their true objective in all of this?
“Commander,” Tigh’s voice said interrupting his train of thought.
“What’s up Tigh?” Adama asked looking over at Tigh.
“Are you sure about all of this?” Tigh asked, obviously wondering about Adama’s orders. “Working with machines, will it really work?”
“I’m sure it will work,” Adama said. “I’ve thought about it for a while, and it needs to be done.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I am,” Adama replied having giving it a lot of thought. “We need their help more than ever, and they need ours. In a strange way the Cylons have united the two of us.”
“Then I’ll do my best,” Tigh said.
“I have no doubt there,” Adama said.
*****
A lone Cylon raider pierced through the clouds on the opposite side of the planet from the machine city looking for the basestar. After several tries they had a crude layout of the planet and where not to go and the raider had instructions to not be spotted. Quickly making its way towards the basestar the pilot had important instructions for the commander.
Landing on the basestar the centurions made their way to the command room to see the commander and report in.
“Report centurion,” the basestar commander said awaiting the orders.
“By your command,” the centurion replied. “Commander Hades states you are to begin your attack on the surface of the planet at your earliest convenience.”
“We will do so, but there is a chance we may fail in our attack. The humans on here have developed strong defenses, and the odds are not favorable to surviving the battle,” the commander said. “Report back to Hades and ask if we are to commit fully even with low odds of success.”
“By your command,” the Centurion replied, and left the room to head back tis basestar and report back to Hades as the basestar prepared for combat upon the return of the raider.
*****
Doctor Wilker watched along with DE as Starbuck made his way over. Wilker had expected everyone to leave, but Starbuck had remained behind as well to be here when the others came back.
“Its incredible, isn’t it?” Wilker said to Starbuck as they both looked on at the massive ship under construction.
“It is, I never expected to see something like this again,” Starbuck said.
“And with experience we should be able to construct the ships even faster as well,” DE said shocking them both, including Wilker with the acknowledgement.
“At this rate we’ll have an entire fleet of battlestars ready to strike back at the Cylons,” Starbuck stated.
“Yes, but we take a risk doing such a thing,” DE replied back to him. “Humans have been known to be unpredictable when faced with something they do not understand, like sentient machines. Once the Cylon threat is over you could turn on us, as you have done before.”
“That’s one of the biggest problems,” Wilker sad. “Humans have a fixed lifespan, we grow old and die with little options of how to pass on such knowledge. Friends become foes and foes become friends as memories fade and die.”
They stood there for several seconds before DE spoke up.
“I understand, even some programs in the Matrix have been corrupted with their thinking. It’s something to keep in mind,” it said as they made their way away from the construction yard.
Wilker watched it leave then turned back to watch the robots work on the battlestar. Their movements were highly coordinated like a finely tuned dance each working on their part yet never getting in each other ways. Sometimes they passed each other within millimeters of each other yet no one stopped moving.
“So, is this a modified design?” Starbuck asked as he looked over the construction.
“Yes, how did you know?” Wilker asked.
“There seems to be more firepower on the ship, and how did they get this design?” Starbuck asked.
“Ah, yes, I was working on the design while we traveled here. Something of a hobby of mine, never thought it would come in handy. It was really a stroke of luck I brought it along to keep busy,” Wilker said. “It had improved anti-fighter protection, something I felt the original design lacked especially after the destruction of the fleet. If the battlestars could have defended themselves better the attack might have failed.”
“What about anti-basestar weapons?” Starbuck asked.
“Carries the same anti-basestar weapons as the Galactica. I hadn’t gotten around to looking at those yet despite what happened to the Pegasus,” Wilker said.
“And fuel?” Starbuck asked, as he looked around.
“That is the one thing I’ve been thinking about. We need to find a fuel source as its not available on the planet,” Wilker replied. “Though we did think we spotted some fuel on one of the moons in the system, though it will be chilly to extract.”
“Not a pleasant experience, and not one I’m going to volunteer for,” Starbuck replied.
“No, it will be difficult, even with our technology but its something we’ll have to begin doing as soon as possible,” Wilker replied back to him. “Without fuel building this would be worthless.”
Starbuck was about to reply when another alert sounded through the city causing them both to look up at the sky. Several anxious seconds before the hull of one of the tanker ships broke through the clouds. Wilker had some concerns about its ability to survive the intense storms however his concerns now appeared unfounded.
“Well, it appears the reinforcements are here,” Starbuck said.
“And just in time, they’re rapidly completing the ship,” Wilker replied as they looked at the ship then back up as the ship slowly settled down. “I guess we have work to do.”
*****
Starbuck made his way over to the ship along with several others and noticed Tigh heading out of the ship and looking around.
“Colonel,” Starbuck said greeting him as he noticed the slightly shocked looked DE received from the group.
“Starbuck, doctor,” Tigh said to them. “These are the people we could bring, how close is the ship to completion?”
“Its roughly 87 percent complete,” DE replied back. “We’ve been working on it with everything we have.”
“I see, and you must be DE?” Tigh asked.
“Yes, welcome to Earth,” DE stated as Tigh looked the robot over for a few seconds as the captain of the tanker came out.
“Colonel, what do you need us to do next?” he asked.
“Need to get everyone organized and ready to go,” Tigh said to him then back to DE. “There was some reports that you will have some additional people?”
“Yes, we’ve been working on it, but I did need to know what areas you needed most,” DE said. “Also anyone coming out of the Matrix require help.”
“Help, in what way?” Tigh asked.
“They have never used their muscles, it will take time for them to be able to move adequately,” DE said.
“All right, we’ll get together and go over what we have, what we’re missing and get a list of people.
“We have some who were already taken out in preparation. It’s a matter of learning, which will actually be the easy part,” DE said.
Starbuck noticed Tigh seemed confused by that when Wilker spoke up.
“Those who have been in the Matrix can be hooked up to the machines and have information downloaded into them,” Wilker said.
“Downloaded?”
“It’s a sort of quick learning process where they are hooked back up and the information is put right into their brains, depending on the information it can be very quick,” Wilker said.
“All right, then we have to work to get them the right information,” Tigh said.
Starbuck wondered how they would do it all, there seemed like a lot of work still involved.
*****
Hades turned seeing the centurions walking into the room after returning from the planet’s surface and contacting the basestar.
“Report Centurion,” Hades said
“There is a large city on the planet’s surface, humans appeared connected to it somehow and their numbers are quite staggering, in the billions,” the centurion reported.
“Inform the basestar commander to attack at once, eliminate the humans there,” Hades said.
“By your command,” the centurion said turning to carry out the orders.
Hades now had to wait for information that the basestar had completed its task, until then he had no idea how successful the attack would be.
*****
Tigh looked on as people organized even as he made his way around with DE, Wilker, Starbuck and Apollo to view the new battlestar. He was amazed at how far along it appeared. From his viewpoint it looked complete, but knew it probably had a lot of interior work still to be done. He learned that Wilker had given the machines the blueprint and part of him wondered if it was a wise thing to do, but knew only time would tell about that.
“Amazing, looks complete to me,” Apollo said.
“Is there a way we can get on board, start getting it ready?” Tigh asked.
“Of course, this way,” DE replied, leading them off to one side.
The group headed off and to Tigh it felt strange walking on board a battlestar instead of flying on board. Off to one side he noticed the fuel being set up to be loaded on board. They would need to bring the computers on line, and bring a lot of other things up to make the battlestar operational. He turned to one of the engineers.
“Start bringing the computers on-line, we’ll need to input the communications as well for later on to communicate with the Galactica,” Tigh said to them.
“We’ll start on it right away,” he replied back to him.
“Start with the landing bays and bridge,” Tigh said as they walked onto the hangar.
He looked around seeing a very similar layout even as the crew started making their way on board and heading to their stations to check things out.
“I’m afraid I won’t be able to head any further into the ship,” DE said pausing in the hangar as Tigh looked on and realized the problem. The robot was too large for the interior of the ship.
“If we need anything else I’ll inform Doctor Wilker,” Tigh said.
“Of course,” DE said. “I must look on the humans we brought out of the Matrix to man the ship, they should be physically ready shortly. I believe the other humans from the Matrix are already on the bridge.”
“Thanks,” Tigh said unsure what else to say and watched as DE floated out of the hangar.
“What do you think?” Tigh asked Starbuck as they turned to head up to the bridge.
“Looks a bit eerie seeing a battlestar fully stocked and no one on board,” Starbuck stated. “Guess I’m used to the crowded Galactica.”
Tigh had to admit, he was used to it as well, and not running into someone around every corner seemed a bit unnerving now. There were a few people who had rushed on board to carry out their duties while Tigh had taken his time and talked with Wilker and DE. He had been pleasantly surprised by the reception he received and understood why Adama was so eager to work with them. They acted more like humans than robots. For now, he headed to the bridge to see what was going on.
End part 24