The Return
by AJ Marks
Part 6
Baltar stood there listening to everything which happened according to Cylon intelligence. He had no idea everything had been going on for the past year, at least not since the Galactica had dropped him off at the planet. Only recently had the Cylons actually rescued him.
“So Baltar, what is your reasoning in all of this,” the Imperious Leader asked after hearing about the improbable events.
“You were unable to uncover what was in the building on the planet’s surface,” Baltar said.
“No.”
“It makes no sense to me,” Baltar said after thinking about it. “I see no reason why Adama would bring everyone to the surface and then have the Galactica plow into it. Were all of the ships empty?”
“Almost all, there were a handful which were not,” the Imperious Leader said.
Baltar gave it some thought. Nothing made any sense to him.
“And no humans were found on the planet?”
“Scans indicated nothing,” the Imperious Leader said halting for a second as another centurion entered the room. “Speak.”
“By your command.” the centurions said. “We have encountered another ship unlike anything we’ve ever come across.”
“Explain,” the Imperious Leader said as Baltar listened in hoping he might gain some new information.
“It showed up on one of our patrols and then vanished using very high speed to exit the system. The Basestar commander is heading in the direction the ship retreated to see if it can be discovered,” the centurion said.
Baltar knew of no other race in the universe which might have ships capable of such speed. He wondered if they might have had something to do with what happened with the fleet. His mind raced with several possibilities, but no explanation came to him at all considering the information given to him.
He would wait and see what happened next.
*****
Apollo beamed down to the base and wasn’t surprised to be greeted by Captain Leon.
“I see you’ve returned, did you discover anything?” he asked.
“A few survivors and encountered a Cylon basestar entering the system. We left towards another system so not to lead them back here,” Apollo said. “Did a quick survey around the other systems but saw it only there.”
“So close by, wasn’t sure we’d hear anything so soon,” Leon said.
“Yeah, but they were there, and we might want to be careful in the future,” Apollo said. “If they are here, they probably control the entire galaxy.”
“Great,” Leon said. “Not sure I like that idea.”
“Me neither, but it’s a real possibility,” Apollo replied.
“And if they do, then what will they do?”
Apollo fell silent for several seconds before replying. “Not sure.”
“Well, the base is up and running,” Leon said as they began walking towards the command center. All ready it had several people in there all were working.
“So how is the base?” Apollo asked.
“Almost fully operational,” he replied. “It will take a while to get everything working, but for now, we have the essentials. When will you be headed back?”
“Soon I suppose,” Apollo said. “The base is operational, you have a way out, and everything is working.”
“So far, everything is set up, all personal are getting settled, most of the base has been finished as well,” the captain said.
“Good, any other contacts?” Apollo asked.
“No, nothing since you left,” the captain replied. “We noticed you and for a second wondered who it might be. Anything else of that other mysterious ship?”
“No, if it was a ship I have no idea who it might be,” Apollo replied. “But, we’ll probably head back, stop at the Pegasus base and see what happens from there.”
“Good luck commander,” Leon said.
“You too, you’re in enemy territory here,” Apollo stated.
“Well, its set up that we’ll receive supply ships every six months,” Leon said. Apollo knew that, personal would also rotate at that time as well. It was a very interesting set up the Tau’ri were creating.
“Any other ships spotted?” Leon asked.
“Didn’t see anything,” Apollo replied. “We did have that one contact, but nothing about it made much sense.”
Apollo wondered who it might have been as no one in the galaxy had such technology, except for maybe the beings of light. When he started to think about them nothing made much sense to him at all. They seemed to have some sort of agenda, but if they allowed the Cylons to control the entire galaxy then what was the point.
“So, you heading back to Earth, or New Caperica?” Leon asked.
“Yeah, we have civilians on board, not really a mission for such things, but we might return quickly to continue a search for other survivors,” Apollo said.
“And we’ll keep our ears open for anything as well,” Leon said.
“All right, then good luck to you,” Apollo said.
“Safe travels,” Leon said as Apollo headed over to be beamed back up to the Galactica and head back to New Caperica and Earth.
*****
Baltar stepped on board the battlestar once more after being imprisoned for so long. He had been imprisoned right after being rescued and had no idea how long he had been there. Now he looked around at the familiar position as an IL series robot walked into the room.
“Baltar, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” Lucifer said.
“Lucifer,” Baltar said.
“But of course, who else would it be, Spectre, he was scrapped a yehren ago for failure to capture the Galactica,” Lucifer replied.
“Oh?” Baltar said his eyebrows rising at that.
“Yes, he had been one of the commanders of the basestars, and the Imperious Leader was not happy when the Colonials escaped. It was perhaps fortunate that you were not leading out forces at that time, as you would have been executed,” Lucifer said.
“And how did you survive?” Baltar asked.
“I had been taken off basestar command, the Imperious Leader considered me compromised due to my working with a human,” Lucifer said.
Baltar thought about that for a few seconds.
“Then you were lucky,” he finally said.
“Perhaps, did you discover anything about the events?” Lucifer asked.
“No, it puzzles me as well,” Baltar replied. “There is no logical explanation about what happened. People just don’t’ vanish, and Adama isn’t one to commit suicide.”
“Good, I could see no logic in it either,” Lucifer stated.
“For now, any word about where they might have gone?” Baltar said, as another thought came to him, those being of light they had encountered once before. Perhaps they were somehow involved in all of this, it was the only thing which made any sense to him. Up till now he remained quiet about that considering they were more powerful than the Cylons.
If there was one such powerful race, perhaps there were other race even more powerful, and the Galactica had encountered one of them who helped them out. The possibility had merit, and was also extremely dangerous if it was true.
“What are you orders Baltar?” Lucifer asked.
“Head to the planet where this all happened, I want to see for myself,” Baltar said.
“By your command.”
*****
Baltar looked on at the scans of the planet not seeing anything either after going over all the reports on the way. Nothing about the entire incident a year ago made any sense to him at all. It was like they all just up and vanished without a trace.
He knew this wasn’t the work of the Eastern Alliance, they didn’t have the technology to do something like this.
“And you have no scans of any ships, or any visual reports of any ships?” Baltar said.
“No,” Lucifer replied back to him. “As I said, it makes no logical sense to anyone how they managed to escape.”
“And the ones who were captured, what did they say?” Baltar asked, recalling that they had captured a few from the ships which escaped.
“There was something about a gate or something, but nothing on the planet was found,” Lucifer replied.
“No, not if it was destroyed,” Baltar said. “How did the fleet act before all of this?”
“From reports, the trap was being set up, and ships of the fleet went ahead, landed on the surface, took off again and those were empty. It was assumed they were off loading on the planet’s surface, the plan was centered on destroying the Galactica. It was assumed, logically, that any people on the surface would be eliminated later on,” Lucifer said.
“Why would do they do that?” Baltar mused. “Unless they had a gate of some sort.”
“You think they escaped?” Lucifer said.
“Search the entire planet, full scan, send out patrols to the nearby planets as well,” Baltar said.
“You think this gate is a key?” Lucifer said.
“If they land, off load, and then go through it, but I’ve heard of nothing like this from any other race we’ve had contact with,” Baltar said. “The actions are consistent with such a thing, but how would they have found something like that?”
“Then, this gate could have transported them somewhere else in the galaxy?” Lucifer said.
“Its possible, but if that’s the case then they could be anywhere,” Baltar said. “And depending on how advanced this other race is, the Cylon Empire could be in trouble.”
“Shall I inform the Imperious Leader?”
“No, we have no proof,” Baltar replied. He would need answers before going to public with such a theory. “Continue our patrols for now.”
“By your command.”
*****
Apollo beamed up to the Galactica, met by Boomer.
“How are our civilians settling in?” Apollo asked.
“Just fine,” Boomer said. “Some are a bit worse for their ordeal, but everyone seems healthy despite everything.”
“Good news,” Apollo said. “Well, let’s head back for home then.”
“The base is set up?”
“Yep, ready to go,” Apollo replied. “If they encounter a problem they have the means to head home.”
“All right, I’ll be glad to go,” Boomer said surprising Apollo who thought his friend might like being back. “We left, I’m not fond of staying here.”
“Home is now New Caperica?” Apollo asked.
“Something like that,” Boomer said.
“I know what you mean,” Apollo said. “I’m ready to go home as well.”
They walked onto the bridge and he looked around at the rest of the group.
“Everything ready?” Apollo asked.
“Yes sir,” the reply came. “We can leave anytime you are ready.”
“Well then, engage,” Apollo said, knowing that the next stop would be the Pegasus galaxy before heading back home. “How are our supplies?”
“Well, it’s a bit stretched with the new people, but we should be able to make to the Pegasus Galaxy.”
“All right, notify everyone to be mindful of wasting anything,” Apollo stated.
He then headed back to one of the larger rooms on the ship where some of the people they had picked up were resting. Walking in he noticed Gina and Jonas sitting there watching as a child played nearby.
“So, we’re off,” Jonas stated.
“Yeah, going to make a stop at a base in another galaxy first, its between us and home,” Apollo stated. “I won’t lie, there are enemies in that universe as well, and they are not that nice either. They are called the Wraith, and they feed on humans.”
“Oh, nice,” Jonas said.
“One thing, they don’t want us all dead,” Apollo said. “So it allows us some room to navigate, and they too are also mostly limited to their galaxy. But, we do need to conserve food and water for the journey, we were not expecting so many to return with us.”
“I understand, a little bit more hardship is no problem for us,” Gina said.
Apollo understood what she was saying. He knew what they had gone though in order to survive.
“Were we fools?” Jonas asked.
“I don’t know, we barely made it out without the additional people. Its hard to say. It could be the ships which left allowed us all to leave,” Apollo said.
“I wonder if anyone else survived,” Gina said.
That thought had Apollo thinking, what became of the Colonies? Did anyone survive there?
For now, he would be glad they had survived at all and were no headed back home where things were much more stable and they had allies.
End Return