Voyage to Earth
by AJ Marks
A Killer Revealed, A Killer Unknown
Cassiopeia stood quickly heading over to the door, where Apollo was helping his father into the room. Adama clutched his chest in obvious pain. She could only assume some sort of heart attack. She glanced at the doctor who nodded.
They helped Apollo bring Adama into the room, laying him down on the examination table. Cassiopeia quickly ran over taking a blood sample to check if ithian was in his blood, silently hoping it wasn’t.
Sticking the sample into the computer she waited a few seconds for the analysis. She shifted on her feet knowing that time was of the essence. If they started treatment without the antidote they could do damage to his heart, and if they gave the antidote, it could be just as lethal.
The beep indicated the analysis complete. Looking down she say the spike indicating the poison. Glancing over at the doctor she nodded as he quickly went over the to medical cabinet, unlocking it and getting out the antidote, all under the watchful eyes of both Adama and Apollo, who appeared confused by their actions.
Cassiopeia made her way back to the commander’s side, where the doctor prepared the antidote. They both knew the antidote could cause a person to react strange, some might lie in a comatose state for a few days while others might be weak as the agents countered each other.
“Commander, you’ve been poisoned by ithan,” Cassiopeia said, seeing shock in both of their eyes.
“How do you know that?” Apollo asked, as the doctor began administering the antidote to the commander.
“I was told by one of the new recruits, he overheard the conversation about an assassination by ithian, so we kept our eye out for anyone who showed the symptoms,” Cassiopeia answered, hooking up the monitoring systems to Adama. “Starbuck heard it also. We decided not to say anything for fear the information got out and the person chose another method.”
She watched as Apollo looked back and forth between them, struggling to make a decision.
“Father, I need to go talk to Starbuck,” Apollo finally said, looking up at Cassiopeia and the doctor.
“Go on, there should be no serious complications, however he’ll be down for a couple of days,” the doctor said.
She watched Apollo leave the room before turning back to the table and beginning the treatment. She really hoped the doctor was correct.
*****
Apollo made his way to the bunks looking for Starbuck. Entering the room he glanced around seeing several people asleep before spotting Starbuck playing pyramid with Boomer and a few others.
“Starbuck, need to talk to you now, in private,” Apollo said, no nonsense in his voice, all business. Starbuck looked at his hand then at Apollo before putting it down and walking out.
“What’s up?” Starbuck asked once they were alone.
“Adama’s been poisoned,” Apollo said, watching as Starbuck registered shock and concern.
“Ithan?”
“Yeah, Cassiopeia checked for it, said you knew about it?” Apollo said, hoping that it wasn’t true.
“So the commander was the target,” Starbuck said.
“Yeah, you could have warned us!” Apollo said.
“How was I supposed to know the target? Think Apollo, we warned the medical labs, the more who knew about it the more dangerous it might become,” Starbuck replied back to him. Apollo glared at his friend for a few seconds before pacing around.
“Does Boomer know?”
“No we kept the information to the medical staff. I know, I should have told the commander, but I didn’t want to worry him,” Starbuck said. “With everything going on, he had enough to do.”
“And now he’s lying in medlab,” Apollo said. “Who does know?”
“Aaron and Jason, two recruits, Jason over heard it,” Starbuck said finally.
“Get them, we’ll meet in Commander Tigh’s office,” Apollo said. “Time for everyone to know what’s going on. Oh, and bring Boomer along as well.”
Starbuck didn’t argue, and Apollo watched him go off as he walked to Tigh’s office.
“Apollo, just got off with the doctor,” Tigh said. “Adama is responding well, but side-effects are unknown at this time.”
“Good,” Apollo said.
“The doctor said they knew there might be an ithian poisoning?” Tigh asked.
“Yeah, we have the person who overheard it coming up now,” Apollo said, watching as the door opened allowing Starbuck, Boomer and two recruits, Jason and Aaron into the office, looking slightly scared.
“Have a seat,” Tigh said from behind his desk. “Now, you’re probably wondering why you’re here,” he said after they sat down. “Remember everything you’re about to hear here is confidential, understand.”
Apollo looked at the two rookies who both nodded their heads.
“The commander was poisoned,” Tigh said to them.
“Ithian,” Jason said, speaking up. Everyone’s eyes went to him. “I-I overheard someone in the landing bay talking about using it against someone, but they never said who.” He looked back and forth between everyone with a worried expression.
“He told us while we ate, that’s how come she and the medical staff was looking for it. I made the decision not to tell anyone else,” Starbuck said and Apollo could see the look of relief on Jason’s face as Starbuck took the blame.
“Did they ever say who the target was?” Tigh asked.
“No sir.”
“Did you see anyone?” Boomer asked.
“No, but I did bump into someone just before entering the cafeteria who sounded like one of the men, but never saw any of their faces,” Jason answered honestly.
“I got a brief glance at the guy’s face, nothing special about him, a bit gruff and tall, but,” Aaron trailed off.
“So we have one person who heard their voices, another who might have seen the suspect, wonderful,” Apollo said with sarcasm in his voice.
“We’ve had worse,” Starbuck said. “At least we had a warning.”
“We can use this to our advantage,” Tigh said. “First off, we don’t announce that the commander’s been poisoned, but suffered a heart attack. It will take a couple of days for the antidote to counter the poison, and they’ll think the poison’s working.”
“And we can watch anyone who might seem suspicious,” Apollo said, knowing they had an investigation on their hands. Announcing the truth would only hurt their efforts.
“I know Cassie will go along, and the doctor probably will as well,” Starbuck said. Apollo knew they would as well, Adama was a father figure for both of them.
“I don’t want to give them another chance,” Apollo said finally. “I also don’t want Athena to be concerned, she’s already under a lot of pressure with all the moving.”
“I’ll keep an eye on her,” Boomer said.
“All right, so I’ll be taking command of the fleet for now, that would have been normal under this situation anyways,” Tigh said. “You five are in charge of the investigation, be discreet.”
“We can do that,” Jason said, looking over at Aaron who agreed. They were the ones who might be able to link the attempted killers to the crime.
*****
“How are you feeling commander?” Cassiopeia asked, looking over his vitals.
“Like a battlestar ran over me, and I have a feeling I’m going to be like this for a while,” Adama replied.
“You’re lucky that someone overheard a conversation which had us looking for the poison. If not, it would not have been pretty,” Cassiopeia said.
“I’ve got many enemies in the fleet, as well as allies, though to think they would go so far. I’ll need to speak to Commander Tigh as soon as he has a spare moment before all of this gets out.”
“I’ll inform him, but in the meantime, you need to rest, it will help you heal quicker,” Cassiopeia said, as the doctor walked over.
“Well, you should be up and moving in a couple of days,” he told Adama. “I would like for you to stay a bit longer to make sure you have a full recovery.”
“It would have been worse had we not gotten the poison so early,” Cassiopeia said.
“Well, we can use the heart attack cover, and you had heart surgery not long ago,” the doctor said, “I want to make sure there is no damage to your heart, and that will require some tests.”
“Do I have any choice?” Adama asked.
“As your doctor, no,” the doctor replied.
“Then I guess I’m here for a few days,” Adama replied.
*****
Commander Tigh walked on to the bridge of the Agamemnon, his command. That sounded strange to him. The battlestar had arrived at the fleet, and the Galactica was being looked over by the construction robot and then repairs would be made. He had a new duty as well, one he reluctantly took over, commander of the fleet while Adama was recovering. The doctor already said he wanted to keep Adama for a couple of days.
“Commander, incoming report from Omega,” one of the new operators said.
“Put it though,” Tigh said, watching Omega appear on the screen. “What’s the report?”
“The Galactica’s engines can be restored, and much of the armor fixed,” Omega said. “And the bridge can be upgraded to the others ships as well.”
“How long?” Tigh asked.
“Couple of days,” Omega said. “I wanted Adama’s permission before the bridge was restored.”
“I’ll talk to him,” Tighs aid. “What about the tankers? How are is the refueling going?”
“Quickly, we have one tanker ready to come in when the Hyperion leaves,” Omega said.
“All right, and that tanker will be escorted by the Galactica when it’s finished the refit,” Tigh said. So far things appeared be going as planned.
He did some quick mental calculations in his head, and figured all ships could be refilled, including the Galactica, which had the largest tanks in the fleet. They Hyperion should arrive at the fleet next, and last would be the Galactica. It would be interesting to have three battelstars protecting the fleet.
*****
Apollo and Aaron spent time walking around the Agamemnon looking at people hoping to run into the same person he had run into outside the cafeteria. So far they had found no one who looked like him, despite seeing quite a few faces, including some that Apollo recognized and didn’t recognize. The inflow of new people had started.
“So, how does it feel to be more of a veteran compared to the new comers?” Apollo asked.
“Too strange, I mean I’ve only been a warrior for a few days,” Aaron replied.
“Well, we’re going to be counting on that first group a bit more to handle themselves,” Apollo said. “That’s because experienced veterans are going to be spread pretty thin.”
“I figured,” Aaron said. “We’ll be ready for anything.”
“That’s good, because you’re going on patrol shortly already,” Apollo stated, turning a corner and passing another group.
Aaron glanced back recognizing a face. “Wait a second, I think the one leading the last group was the one.”
“You sure?” Apollo asked.
“Maintenance group,” Apollo said, looking back as well to get a better look at the group. “Let’s go see Boomer and Jolly.”
The two quickly made their way down to the hangar, seeing the two walking towards them.
“How’s your father?” Boomer asked as they got close.
“We might have a lead,” Apollo said, watching them both nod their heads. Most of the trusted warriors knew what happened and were in on the investigation covering for Starbuck and Apollo.
“Really?” Boomer said, looking around the corridor. Jolly walked down to the end and shook his head no and remained there.
“I think Zaron is involved,” Apollo said. “Keep an eye on him to see what happens next. Commander Tigh will be giving an update on the condition of my father, stating he had a heart attack.”
“You think he’ll try something?” Boomer asked.
“Or contact whoever is behind it,” Apollo said, hoping to capture the brains behind the operation.
“All right, we can do that,” Boomer said, giving Apollo a slap on the shoulder before heading onto Jolly who had remained watching for anyone coming. Apollo looked over at Aaron.
“Well, come on kid, time to get your wings,” Apollo said. They continued on down to the hangar for Aaron’s first flight. He felt both excited and scared about the prospect for his first time.
*****
Aaron made his way around the viper, looking it over. He would be flying a brand new viper, and he hoped it checked out. The hangar crew had gone over it, checking everything and pronounced it ready to go after some tests. He still felt a bit nervous at the thought.
“Nervous?” Apollo asked, causing Aaron to look over.
“Um, yeah,” Aaron said, looking over at the gleaming white of the viper.
“Thought so, it’s expected,” Apollo said. “Just wait, you’ll get out there and be amazed at it all, and wont’ want to come land.”
Aaron climbed into the viper as Apollo went off to his. The deck crew handed him his helmet and wished him luck. Going over everything in his mind as he watched the canopy close and seal. Starting up the engines he heard them come to life as the crews moved away.
“All set?” Apollo’s voice asked.
“As set as ever,” Aaron said.
“Core command to viper patrol,” Aaron heard his sister’s voice say. Apollo replied back first causing Aaron to remember had to say something as well.
“Patrol five two ready,” Aaron said.
“Core command transferring launch control to patrol five, launch when ready,’ Rhea’s voice said, all business.
Aaron released a breath, watching Apollo’s viper vanish down the launch tube. He pressed the turbos and accelerated out the tube. It was a blur and suddenly he found himself out in space.
“Whoa,” he said to himself, surprised at how beautiful space really was.
“Stay sharp,” Apollo’s voice said. Aaron maneuvered his viper in behind Apollo’s. “Ready to patrol?”
“Yes sir,” Aaron replied, staying behind Apollo still taking a moment to look around at the ships in a way he never had experienced before.
“This is a short patrol, to get you used to it,” Apollo said, as they moved away from the fleet. He looked one last time at the Agamemnon and realized he passed his old ship. He paused and wondered if anyone on board had seen them fly by. An odd thought to have the roles reversed. Pushing the thought aside he concentrated on his flying.
*****
Boomer and Jolly walked past the janitorial room, glancing inside as they went looking for a certain person. They were trying to find him before any announcement from tight was made. He wanted to be able to watch what happened, if the man panicked or tried to contact anyone else, or someone else tried to contact him.
Jolly found him first, giving Boomer a poke and a nod over towards the man. They moved back and tried to blend in, making it look like they were relaxing. Boomer watched as the report came on over the intercom and a report about Commander Adama’s condition. He suffered a heart attack, and resting comfortably.
Boomer watched the man stiffen at the last part of the news. It was obvious to anyone paying attention the last bit of news did not making him pleased. He watched Zaron glance around at the others before moving away.
Boomer and Jolly quickly followed maintaining some distance but kept him in sight. They wanted to capture him, not scare him off, and if possible, see who else was involved. Boomer wished Apollo was here, but they couldn’t skip out on patrol duty, it might tip off whoever they were after, and they might get nervous about it.
They made it down a few more corridors before he saw a familiar face walking towards them the opposite way, Jason. Without saying anything Boomer pulled him along with him shushing him before he could protest anymore. Fortunately Jason stayed quiet, and realized what was going on.
“You think that’s the guy?” Jason whispered to them as Zaron stepped into a room.
“It’s the one Apollo mentioned to us,” Boomer said.
Boomer looked over to see the man calling someone. After a brief, quiet, heated discussion Zaron walked out with angry determined strides. He moved to a maintenance room and tossed something in the trash. Boomer realized he probably was destroying any evidence.
“Jason, you stay here, guard that, don’t’ let anyone destroy it, Jolly, continue following our guy there, though I think he’s heading back to the rec room,” Boomer said, to Jolly and Jason, then headed over to the communicator.
“Commander Tigh, Boomer here,” Boomer said, waiting a second until Tigh answered.
“Boomer, what do you need?” Tigh asked.
“We need some people to some down here to the trash in corridor six, our target decided to get rid of some of the evidence, Jason’s guarding it and Jolly’s following the target,” Boomer said.
“Right, I’ll send Starbuck your way,” Tigh replied.
They only had to wait a few seconds before Starbuck appeared with Cassiopeia. Walking over to the trash bin they watched Cassiopeia retrieve a small item in the trash.
“I’ll get this back to medlab quickly,” she said, wrapping it up in a tamper proof package for testing. “And we can lift some fingerprints as well.”
“You think this will help the case?” Jason asked.
“I should,” Starbuck replied, as they all walked towards the medlab. “What about whoever put this there?”
“Jolly’s following him,” Boomer replied.
“Okay,” Starbuck replied.
“He also made a call, we might be able to trace it as well,” Boomer said.
“Perhaps, but so many calls in the fleet, it might be hard,” Starbuck replied.
Reaching the lab Cassiopeia quickly tested the vial for anything. It only took a few minutes for the test to come back positively.
“Well, we now have a suspect,” Starbuck said.
*****
“This is better than nothing,” Tigh said to the group, listening the report from Boomer and Starbuck. They had some information, but still so little, including who might have been behind the attack. It seemed unlikely that one maintenance man would be responsible for the attempt on Adama’s life. “Any luck on the communications?”
“The only thing we have is went to the Hilos. We have a list of people on board,” Boomer said.
“But with so many people moving around, that list could be useless,” Starbuck said honestly.
Tigh thought about that for a few seconds. “I know, but its better than nothing, perhaps we can correlate with who is on board the Agamemnon at the same time Jason was,” Tigh said, knowing it might be a long shot, but the best they had.
“We’ll look into it, might give some information when we question our suspect, he might let it lead who he’s working for,” Starbuck stated.
“Get on it, keep me informed,” Tigh told them.
They walked out in thought as Tigh went towards the bridge.
“Is it wise to keep our friend loose?” Starbuck asked.
“He might lead us to whoever is behind it,” Boomer said. “Come on, we’ve got a list of people to go through.”
Starbuck groaned but followed anyways. They hoped to have something for Apollo when he returned from patrol.
*****
Starbuck walked into the ready room after a few hours of looking over lists. He headed towards a familiar face, Sheba. She looked up as he approached, sitting down at her table.
“So, what’s going on around here?” she asked, looking right at him, her voice a whisper.
“What do you mean?” Starbuck replied back, not wanting to give away too much information, and looked around at the group in the room. Most were veteran pilots, most from the Pegasus.
“We’ve heard strange rumors, Adama’s health isn’t as good as Tigh said it was,” Sheba said, looking at him directly. “What’s the real story? How is he really, we all want to know. I even went to ask Cassiopeia, but she said nothing, which makes me even more worried.”
Starbuck drummed his fingers on the table for a second before breaking down a bit. “All right, but keep this quiet,” he said, looking around the room. “The commander was poisoned,” he said, he noticed a few nearby Silver Spar pilots looked on in shock at his words, obviously listening in. “We don’t know who is behind it yet, but we need it to be quiet.”
“How is he?” Sheba asked quickly.
“We got the poison in time, but he needs rest, we’re looking for who did it,” Starbuck said.
“Anything I can do to help?” Sheba asked as Starbuck stood.
“Well, actually, yeah, you can,” Starbuck replied. “Come on.”
Sheba stood and Starbuck looked at the few who had listened in who quickly went back to other things, making it seem like they did not hear.
“You heard nothing,” Sheba said to them before they walked out of the room.
“So, where’s Bojay?” he asked.
“Getting ready for patrol with another recruit, believe his name is Cronus,” Sheba said. Starbuck nodded, recognizing the name from the recruits.
“Where are we going?” Sheba asked.
“To check on our suspect,” Starbuck said. “Jolly was keeping an eye on him, but he’s scheduled to teach, can’t miss that.”
Sheba nodded as they walked down the hallway. Starbuck stopped by a door, seeing a person lying on the floor in the room.
“Frak,” he exclaimed, racing over to the body, checking for a pulse.
“Is he?”
“Yeah,” Starbuck said with disgust. “Looks like someone beat us to him.”
Starbuck looked around seeing no sign of a struggle.
“What did you do?” a voice asked from behind them. They turned to see another maintenance worker enter the room.
“Did you see anyone walk past you on your way here?” Starbuck asked, watching him shake his head no.
Starbuck had a sinking feeling in his stomach, as he called for the doctor before turning to Sheba.
“Do you recall anyone walking past us?” he asked.
“No, it was quiet, almost too quiet,” Sheba said.
It did not take long until the doctor arrived, pronounced him dead from what appeared to be a heart attack. They shared a look but said nothing with others so close by.
“Poor guy,” the worker said, as Starbuck and Sheba finally made their way out of the room.
Starbuck watched Sheba head off back to the rec room while he went back to inform the others. He had a strong suspicion Ithian was involved in Zaron’s death. The poison had to be ingested though, not absorbed through the skin. Now their one lead seemed to have vanished.
*****
Aaron gently lined up the viper with the landing bay. The entire patrol had been a wonderful experience, and he forgot the problems awaiting them back at the fleet. Of course running though a host of situations they might come across while on patrol had kept him occupied, including an attack run on an asteroid.
He learned quite a bit, including some stuff he hoped would save his life in real combat. He was determined to learn everything he could from his instructors, as one never knew when they might come across a dangerous situation. He did want to stay out in space and look around, much like Apollo said he would. The ability to control where one was going gave him a greater sense about the universe.
He looked over the glowing engines of the Agamemnon as he approached the landing bay. This was the ship he wanted to serve on. The first ship he really felt at home on. He had a feeling that Apollo and several other veterans would go back to the Galactica.
Touching down on the deck he came to a stop without any problems. Maintenance crews rushed forward as he disembarked and they moved the viper over to the slot. There they would check it out, make sure nothing broke during the mission and maintain it for the next mission.
He turned his helmet over to a nearby crewmember and told the head chief he noticed nothing wrong during the flight. The chief nodded as Aaron made his way over to where Apollo waited.
“So, how was it?” Apollo asked, as they both stepped on the lift.
“Exciting. You get to see more in a viper than a shuttle,” Aaron replied, as the lift took them away from the hangar of the Agamemnon and into the interior of the ship.
“True, but then again you need that in a fight,” Apollo said. “You’ll be wishing you had more eyes in a battle.”
“Yeah, I was able to get a better look a most of the ships, some are beautiful, like the Rising Star,” Aaron said.
“True,” Apollo said, as the lift stopped allowing them off. They walked down and entered a room seeing Boomer and Jason looking over papers and talking.
“Have a seat,” Boomer said, motioning for them to have a seat.
“What’s up with this?” Apollo asked.
“We tailed that guy like you wanted, and he made a call to another ship, the Hilos, and we’re going through passenger lists of the Hilos for that time and the Agamemnon when Jason overheard the conversation for anyone who shows up on both,” Boomer said to them.
“Oh?” Apollo said.
“Only problem, quite a few of the council went to the Hilos when the Galactica was moving away from the fleet, and some shuttled back and forth between the Agamemnon and the Hhilos,” Boomer said.
“How big of a list?” Apollo asked, knowing that the council members had their own staff which went with them.
“Twenty-three people, including five council members, most are their staff as well,” Jason said.
Starbuck walked into the room looking sullen. They all turned to him wondering what had happened for such a long face.
“Well, seems like our friend was killed before we could arrest him,” Starbuck told them.
“How?” Apollo asked.
“However it was, it was designed to look natural, but the doc is going to look for anything that might point to foul play, we suspect ithian as well,” Starbuck said. “No one saw anything either. We passed no one on our way to him, and none of the other workers saw anything either. Sheba and I found him on the floor, already dead.”
“Keeps getting better and better,” Apollo said. “But, we do know someone is behind all of this, and our friend probably knew who it was.”
“They were nervous enough to kill him, so they know we’re on their trail,” Starbuck said.
“Has anyone said anything to someone?” Apollo asked, looking at the group.
“Sheba knew something was wrong, from the tone Commander Tigh used,” Starbuck said. “So, whoever is behind it could have panicked.”
Aaron did not like where this conversation seemed to be going.
“Then they probably won’t make another attempt on father’s life, at least for now. Probably wait again, who knows how long they were waiting before striking this time,” Apollo said.
“Well, we do have five members of the council, and their staff,” Aaron said.
“Not a group we can just go up to and accuse of attempted murder” Starbuck murmured.
“We have duties to attend to, and we’ll keep a low profile for the next couple of days,” Apollo said. “I’ll give the list to Tigh and see if he knows anything, and can keep an eye on the group better than we can.”
They continued to look a the lists, even as Apollo excused himself to visit his father, with Starbuck going along with him to visit Cassie.
“How about something to eat?” Boomer said. “I’m starving.”
“Sounds good, I’ve been on patrol for a while,” Aaron answered. They sealed up the lists and made their way to the cafeteria.
*****
“The job’s done.”
“Excellent. We’ll lay low for a while, after all Adama’s son will be looking for another attack soon. Wait for my orders before doing anything.”
“Yes sir.”
The communications line went dead leaving one person musing in the dark room. “Very soon Adama. You are not safe, and with you out of the way the next couple of days, I can accomplish part of my mission. I will run this fleet, and soon!”
End A Killer Revealed, A Killer Unknown.
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