Voyage to Earth
by AJ Marks
The Question
Starbuck made his way down the hallway, a bit of anger over the situation. They had failed to catch the man who poisoned the commander, and let down everyone. The one person who had answers for the motive behind the attack was dead. This mean, at least to Starbuck, that whoever was behind it, knew they were closing in or tying up loose ends.
The resent events got Starbuck thinking about his own life as well, and everything he lived through up till now. The destruction of the Colonies, fleeing the destruction, and the adventures they had since then. He thought about one thing recently, especially after everything. Perhaps it was time after all.
Walking into the medlab, he quickly noticed Cassiopeia, who was looking after Adama. Crossing the room he made sure that nothing was the matter, and a bit relieved to see the commander talking.
“Starbuck, Apollo told me our suspect was killed,” Adama said. The comment threw him off what he had been thinking, quickly recovering.
“Yeah, sorry commander, we failed,” Starbuck said.
“He was killed by ithian,” Cassiopeia said quietly, shocking Starbuck.
“He might have absorbed it though his skin, though rare, is known to happen,” Adama said.
“Then he might have been working alone?” Starbuck wondered out loud.
“No, he was working with someone, that much is clear,” Adama stated clearly. “We have a witness who heard more than one voice.”
“Right,” Starbuck said, remembering all the work they had done recently. “Well, not sure where to take the investigation now. So far the only suspects left are a few council members and their staff.”
“I’ve known many in the council, and murder doesn’t fit anyone in there, but times do change,” Adama said, thinking about the council. “We cann’t ignore anyone for any reason.”
“Great, and I thought this might be hard,” Starbuck joked, then looked around a bit. “Thought Apollo would be here.”
“He was, but he told Boxey that he would teach him a new game,” Cassie said from where she sat next to the bed.
“Been a long day,” he said to her, though he already knew that answer, and walked over standing behind her. Massaging her shoulders he watched her head fall forward allowing him greater access to her shoulders.
After several microns he looked up to see the commander lying peacefully, and no one else in the med lab. Taking a breath he wondered, if perhaps, now was the time. He had everything planned, ready to go, all he had to do was ask. Did he have the courage?
“Cass,” he said, moving around to the front, breaking the silence they were enjoying. Kneeling down in front of her and looking up into her eyes he paused seeing her slightly shocked expression before continuing. “I know this isn’t the best time, or even the proper place, but, well, you know that’s not me,” he stated, fumbling slightly with his wording. “But, will you be my wife?”
He waited, she sat there stunned, mouth slightly open. Her silence made him doubt the fact she would say yes, until she merely nodded, too overwhelmed to speak, and wrapping him in a hug.
They stayed like that for several minutes before finally stepping apart, and he noticed tears on her cheeks, as she smiled.
“That’s so typical of you, come out of nowhere with something like this,” she finally said, leaning into him. Starbuck felt relief flood through him as he looked over at the commander, who looked on.
“About time you two,” he said, smiling at them. “Starbuck, when you tell my son, tell him I win.”
“Okay,’ Starbuck said, not saying anything else. He gave Cassie a kiss. “You’ve made me the happiest man in the fleet.”
He then mentioned he would go look for Apollo, wanting to tell him the good news, and left Cassiopeia alone with Adama.
“I knew he’d ask you,” Adama said after Starbuck had left.
She looked back at the commander before replying. “I hoped he would, but there was always a lingering doubt that he wouldn’t, be a bachelor for life,” Cassiopeia finally replied.
“No, he’s a proud man, and pressuring him would have only turned him away. He had to realize what he had,” Adama said.
“I know, but something I have to work on,” Cassiopeia said, turning to go over some more reports with a bit more bounce in her step.
BSGBSG
Starbuck walked into the pilot’s quarters looking around. He spotted a few relaxing. He spotted Jason, before he finally say Apollo, sitting with boomer and made his way over to them.
“So, what did she say?” Apollo asked when Starbuck sat down, obviously happy.
“She said yes,” Starbuck replied, seeing a confusing look on Aaron’s face, but Boomer was smiling for his friend.
“Of course she did, she’s been with you for this long, probably wondering what took so long,’ Boomer stated.
“Nah, she knows Starbuck is shy when it comes to thinks like this,” Apollo said, teasing his friend.
“Starbuck finally asked Cassiopeia to seal with him,” Boomer said to Aaron and Jason, who looked on with a confused expression.
“Oh, congratulations then,” Aaron said, finally understanding.
“So, any thoughts about a ceremony?” Apollo asked.
“Leave that up to Cass,” Starbuck said. “She’s better at that then I am.”
“Good, now at least we will have some sort of organization,” Boomer stated, smiling at Starbuck.
“Very funny, very funny,” Starbuck replied back, laughing as well.
“Just think of all the broken hearts all over the fleet,” Apollo said in a teasing voice.
“Yeah, your wondering days are over my friend,” Boomer chipped in.
“Yeah, yeah” Starbuck said, but knew it for the truth as well. Ever since Cassie stepped into his life, he knew she was the one, despite it taking some time.
“Does my father know?” Apollo asked.
“Uh, yeah, he witness the proposal, and he said to tell you he wins,’ Starbuck said.
“You asked her in the med lab?” Boomer said, a bit surprised. Starbuck felt sure that they never expected him to propose that way.
“Dad, I’m ready,” Boxey said, entering the room interrupting any reply anyone might have had.
“Okay boxey,” Apollo replied, excusing himself, as Boxey made his way over to them. “I had a feeling my father would win,” Apollo said leading Boxey out of the room.
“What was that about?” Boomer asked.
“Not sure, only that the commander said he won. Guess they were betting about when I was going to propose,” Starbuck guessed.
“It is about time,” Boomer said, giving Starbuck a slap on the shoulder.
“I know, sometimes I’m amazed at how long she stuck beside me. Surprised my wondering didn’t push her away,’ Starbuck said truthfully.
“Starbuck, have you ever watched the both of you? You were a pilot who looked at every pretty woman that came by, and Cassie was a socialite remember,” Boomer said. “You two were made for each other.”
“She’s not a socialite anymore,” Starbuck said defensively.
“Of course she isn’t, but you feel the same way about her past as you do hers,” Boomer told Starbuck.
He looked down at the table thinking about everything. He knew boomer was right, Cassiopeia did love him. It stung when she had gone to Commander Cain, but they talked about it afterwards. He finally came to understand at the end, she knew there would never be a future with Cain, and even he had pushed Cassie back to Starbuck.
Now, they were about to get married, a large step for a warrior like Starbuck. A step he thought about for quite some time knowing the amount of commitment he was making. He wanted to make sure that when he made the commitment, he was ready for it. He knew he was ready when on missions he began to think about her. She gave him the strength to return.
Starbuck also knew what Boomer said was right. He changed over the years. His relationship with Cassiopeia changed him over the years. He no longer looked around as much, and Cassie’s past never bothered him as much as he let on. They both knew they had past relationships, and with the destruction of the Colonies, their pasts had been swept away as well. He paused in thought.
“Boomer, do we have any records of the councilors before the destruction of the Colonies?” Starbuck asked, catching Boomer off guard with the question.
“Not sure, we can check into it, why?’ Boomer replied.
“Nothing much, not even sure myself, one of those things I’ll know when I see,’ Starbuck said, unsure why the idea of looking into their pasts seemed to right to him.
“We can go and check,” Jason said, grabbing Aaron and walking out of the room before his friend could protest.
“Want to tell me what got you thinking about that?” Boomer asked once Jason and Aaron had left the room.
“We might find a clue about who was behind all this with a background check. Everyone had their pasts wiped clean with the destruction of the Colonies,” Starbuck said.
“You think one of them is hiding something?” Boomer asked.
“It’s worth looking into,” Starbuck said. They both knew it might be a long shot, but anything could be helpful.
BSGBSG
Apollo walked down the hallway with Boxey, to see his father. It would still be a couple of days before he was up and moving around again. The poison would take that long to exit his system, and rest was the best medicine after the antidote.
He spotted his father and Cassiopeia talking as he walked in. He saw that she seemed to be happy, and knew Starbuck’s proposal did that. He made his way in seeing them both turn at his presence.
“So, I hear congratulations are in order,” Apollo said, looking over at Cassiopeia then to his father.
“Yep, thanks Apollo,” Cassiopeia said, smiling, standing up to allow Apollo and Boxey room to see his father. “Hey Boxey,” she said looking down at him.
Boxey started to reply when Muffet suddenly went running out of the room. Boxey went running after it before Apollo could do anything. He looked up at the two seeing them both look at him.
“He’s trying to teach it to be more daggit like,” Apollo said with a grin, then turned to his father. “How are you feeling?”
“Good, should be up and about in no time,” Adama replied. “At least up enough to perform the sealing ceremony.”
“Not if you don’t rest,” Cassiopeia replied, looking at the commander. They all knew who was in charge at the moment, causing Apollo to laugh.
“I won’t keep you up, we were on our way past and wanted to check in on you,” Apollo said.
“I’m in good hands,” Adama said. “But we’ll have to keep our guard up. It saddens me that one of our own is responsible for this. Hmm, always thought I’d die at the hands of the Cylons, not by someone I know.”
“Well, we’re working on narrowing that down,” Apollo said. “I better get after Boxey before he starts without me.”
“Go ahead, they grow up fast,” Adama said, wisdom in his voice.
“I’ll be back later on,” Apollo said, heading out to look for Boxey.
BSGBSG
“The plan didn’t work,” a man said, as a woman sat down next to him. She did not say anything for several microns then turned to look at him.
“Then we’ll think of something different,” she told him. “There are lots of ways to get rid of people”
The man thought it over for a few seconds before realizing she was right. The failure only set them back a bit. Adama’s people still did not know who they were, and their only suspect was dead. The man smiled at that thought, knowing warriors were simple-minded fools.
“We have someone on board the Agamemnon who will tell when the time is right to move again,” he said to her.
“Next time we won’t fail,” she told him.
“But we still don’t know how we failed this time,” he said. “Did the poison not work?”
“No, it worked, the doctor looked for it,” she replied.
“How did he know, unless we have a spy in our ranks,” the man said with a growl in his voice.
“Quite possible, but unlikely,” the woman said. “The doctor was probably doing some training.”
“Doesn’t matter, either way we’ll be ready next time,’ the man said, sitting up straighter.
“What about the council?”
“There are meetings all the time, and Adama is too weak to attend right now,” the man said with a smile.
“Then, time to contact him and let him do some real work,” the woman said.
“I’ll let him know,” he told her. They looked around again before heading off in different directions.
BSGBSG
Omega leaned back in the shuttle, watching it approach the battlestar Hyperion. The construction robots were finishing up construction and would be done by the time most of the crew had come on board. He spent the last day talking with Commander Tigh about how to operate a battlestar. Normally he would have talked with Adama, but he was in med lab resting. With his own command, Omega would not be able to lean on either Tigh or Adama.
Watching the landing bays come into view and glanced around to see a young woman with blonde hair sitting across from him. She wore a bridge uniform and realized he would be working with her.
“Hi there, I’m Omega, actually, I’ll be the commander of the Hyperion,” Omega said, not used to such talk.
“Oh, Rhea sir,” she replied back to him.
Omega thought the name sounded familiar and thought about it for a few seconds. He then realized where he heard the name.
“You’re my new flight officer,” he said.
“Yes,” she replied back to him.
“Heard good things about you from Rigel,” Omega stated, as he realized she was taking his job on the Hyperion, as Rigel was going to the Agamemnon.
He watched her blush at the compliment as the shuttle finally approached the hangar. Seconds later the slight bump indicated they had landed on the hangar deck. This ship would become his new home.
He stretched slightly after sitting for so long. He told Rhea that he would see her on the bridge later at some time considering they would be working together before walking off the shuttle and went straight to the bridge. He wanted to see how things were going first then settle in.
They both stepped into the elevator and headed into the interior of the ship. Rhea got off on the decks of the officers’ quarters, and then continued on up to the bridge.
Stepping onto the bridge, the activity showed the last-minute preparations the crew was doing to get the ship ready to move. The computers were being upgraded with the latest software to ensure secure communications between the battlestars.
Omega glanced around the bridge, feeling a bit nervous and excited at the same time. Everyone on board would be looking at him for command decisions regarding the ship. Part of him felt he was not ready for such a command, yet always wanted this position.
“Commander Omega,” a voice said, he turned to see a balding man walking towards him. He was part of the engine staff according to the uniform, and Omega recognized him from the Galactica.
“Colonel Williams,” Omega said, indicating the promotion of the man.
“Yeah,” he said, looking down at his new position. “Still getting used to that.”
“Ii can understand,” Omega said with a smile.
“Wanted to let you know, we should be ready to move out shortly, engines are running with no problems, already tested them out,” Williams said.
“Good, I’m going to go and try to settle in at my office,” Omega said, let me know when everything’s ready.”
“Yes sir,” Williams said.
Omega made his way down to his office, and looked around. It felt strange to be sitting behind the desk this time. Taking a second to sit down, and look over the room. It felt uncomfortable, but he could get used to it. He had stuff from his old office that were transferred to his quarters. He would have to make the office his.
He spotted a nice place for the model of a battlestar, and a few areas for pictures. He placed his hands on the desk willing himself to get comfortable.
The door chimed allowing Williams to walk into the room.
“What’s up?” Omega asked, figuring that he already knew.
“Everything’s ready to go,” Williams said.
“Let’s get back onto the bridge and get this warship moving,’ Omega said, heading towards the bridge.
Walking onto the bridge, he noticed everyone seemed waiting for his arrival. The moment to move the ship. The personal waited ate the controls for the order.
“Tell the Eclipse we’re moving out, once we’re clear they can move in,” Omega said to his communications. “Navigation, plot course to exit the asteroid belt.”
The reply came back the course was laid in.
“Engines, ahead slow, get us out of here and back to the fleet,” Omega ordered.
He watched as the crew moved into action. Looking out the viewport he watched as the Hyperion slowly began moving out of the shipyard and headed towards the fleet.
End of the Question
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