To Stop Running – Part 5

To Stop Running

by AJ Marks

Part 5

“Yes, Earth,” Starbuck replied to Apollo’s echo.

“Are you saying that these people are from Earth?” Apollo asked, looking at Starbuck then back at Percy and finally back to the screen. He felt shocked by the sudden turn in the conversation.

“Yep, don’t’ believe me ask them yourself,” Starbuck stated.

Apollo turned to Percy standing next to the screen. “Is this true? Are you from Earth?” Apollo asked, waiting for the reply.

“Um, yeah, we call our planet Earth, is that a problem?” Percy asked back now confused.

Apollo sat down, taking a moment to center himself before saying anything. Their voyage might be over, impossible. “We’ve been looking for Earth for several yehrens. According to our legends the thirteen tribes of humanity left Kobal, twelve settled close to each other. The last, left and settled on a planet called Earth.”

“There is nothing in our history about coming from the stars, but you’re very much like us. I’ll have to talk to my superiors, let them figure out what to do next,” Percy said. “This information is now beyond me.”

“We can take some blood samples?” another man said next to Starbuck.

“Do so, send the results back to HQ, make it a priority,” Percy said.

Apollo watched as people went into action, and his own bridge crew stunned into silence over the direction the conversation had gone. He wondered how the council might take this.


Terrance knew he had to act fast. He felt Ziers and Marcus were probably already calling for the removal of both Tigh and Apollo. Terrance also felt they were not being told everything, and he had to gain that information quickly. He went straight towards the bridge of the Galactica and Commander Tigh.

The bridge appeared to be a bit more active than normal, and he walked over seeing Tigh as the call came out that the Pegasus was contacting them. Terrance walked over to look on, but said nothing knowing that the commander disliked any councilman’s presence.

“Commander, I have some news,” Apollo said. Terrance could see the Pegasus’ commander but was off screen so he couldn’t be seen back.

“Now’s not the time Apollo,” Tigh said, obviously giving Apollo a warning to Terrance’s presence.

“We’ve found Earth,” Apollo stated, shocking both Terrance and Tigh.

“What?” Tigh said, even as Terrance stepped forward so Apollo could see him. He watched as Apollo stopped for a second.

“Could you repeat that commander,” Terrance asked, hoping he heard correctly.

“This group of humans who capture us call their planet Earth,” Apollo stated.

Terrance went silent thinking about the results of such a statement in the council. The question now was did Ziers know this? He almost missed the next part of what Tigh said.

“I’ve started patrols to look for Cylon activity,” Tigh said. Terrance’s head snapped up to look at tigh at the mention of Cylons.

“Did you say Cylons?” Terrance asked. “Have we seen them?”

“The group from Earth were attacked by them recently,” Apollo stated.

“That son of a dagget,” Terrance spat, angry at the consequences of Zies’ actions. “He only told us that the Pegasus got captured, he knew this information.”

“He didn’t say anything about Cylons?’ Tigh asked. “He was here when I ordered patrols to be sent out, then rushed off to the council.”

“No he didn’t,” Terrance said, his anger quickly rising at the complete ignorance Ziers showed. “If you’ll excuse me I need to get back to the council before Ziers does irreparable damage to the entire fleet.”

With that he left the bridge heading back to the council room, praying he was not late.


“Admiral White, what is going on up there?” President Hiller asked for the situation room in the capital of Denver. He had been kept up with the reports as they came in, but things had gone silent after the unknown ship surrendered. He wanted to make sure everything was still all right.

“There are, some complications,” the admiral replied, obviously trying to piece together how to tell him.

“Complications” Steven asked, looking back at the admiral in the screen wondering what that meant. How could there be complications.

“Well, this group is human,” Percy said.

“You know how that sounds?” Steven said, now looking back at the man wondering if he had snapped.

“Yes sir, but there is more, they are also looking for us, it appears we might have come from the stars, another planet,” Percy stated.

“Okay,” Steven said, drawing out the word before turning his attention to something else. “Are they the ones who attacked us?”

“No, according to them its one of their enemies. They were forced to leave after their worlds were destroyed by a race called Cylons,” Percy said. “They are a race of machines who want to destroy all of mankind.”

Steven looked on in disbelief at the words he had been told. Another race had come and wanted to destroy them again. They had only recently rebuilt their civilization after the destruction brought about from the previous alien invasion.

“Are you telling me, that another race is coming here to attack us?” Steven asked.

“Yes sir,” Percy replied.

“And their capabilities?”

“Don’t know sir, only that they are as advanced as we are, don’t think they have shield technology, if they are as advanced as I’ve been told by Commander Apollo,” Percy said.

“Apollo?”

“The commander of the Pegasus, the battlestar we caught, they’ve been fighting the Cylons for a while now,” Percy said.

“Okay, I’ll inform the military council about this, see what they think, and what actions we might want to take,” Steven said, thinking Percy held something back. If he was, there was a good reason for it. “For now, keep the fleet on high alert.”

“Yes sir.”

Steven knew he had a long day still ahead of him as he summoned the military council.


Terrance walked back into the council room, noticing that everyone but him had come back. Ziers looked up from his position with a small smile on his face. The information from the bridge had caused Terrance to arrive later than he expected.

“The council had taken a vote to proceed on the court-martial of both Commander Apollo and Commander Tigh,” Ziers said, triumph in his voice. “There is nothing you can do to change it, the vote was almost unanimous.”

Terrance looked over to his friend, who nodded in reluctant agreement. Instead of backing down Terrance went on the offensive.

“Perhaps, but did you tell them all the truth?” Terrance said, challenging Ziers in a way no one had in yehrens.

“Of course I did,” Ziers replied.

“Then they know the Pegasus was caught by people from Earth?” Terrance stated, shocking everyone in the room.

“Is this true?” another member asked, turning to Ziers, as did many others. The air changed slightly with the words.

“No, he’s trying to protect two commanders from charges that should have been filed some time ago,” Ziers replied.

“It happened while I was on the bridge, checking your information,” Terrance said. “Checking as many of you should have done as well before voting.”

Silence fell in the room as the words from Terrance echoed through it. They all understood what Terrance said, and several hung their heads in acknowledgement of the truth. They had for too long accepted Ziers for his word.

“It doesn’t matter, that is not enough to dismiss the charges,” Ziers said. Terrance bowed his head in acknowledgement, knowing he had a second card to play, and had a feeling Ziers knew it too.

“Yes, but did the good councilman tell you about the fact our new allies from Earth have also been attacked by Cylons recently?” Terrance said, sending the group now into total silence. Several looked accusingly at Ziers who only glared back at Terrance.

“He failed to tell us that bit of news,” Terrance’s friend on the council, Issac said, turning towards Ziers. “When were you planning on giving us that information?” he asked, as several others looked on as well.

“An alleged report from a group that may not be reliable, and has already acted aggressively against us,” Ziers replied, obviously thinking about how to defend himself.

“When you had the commanders replaced with people of your choosing?” Terrance said, speaking up. “If the reports are true, then this is a time we need experienced veterans in command of our warriors, not our friends.”

Terrance watched as several others nodded in agreement. The council quickly calling for the charges against both commanders to be postponed for discussion until a later date pending the reliability of the new bits of information.

Terrance felt thrilled with the outcome of the vote, and hoped a shift in power might be happenings as others realized what Ziers was trying to do. He knew some wanted to oppose Ziers, but his political power had been too great. This time he might have overextended himself hurting his future.

He watched the man storm out of the council room, taking one last look back at him before continuing out. The war was still there between the two. What they both understood, there had been a shift in power for now.


“Senator Mitchell, do you have a moment?” a familiar voice to Mitchell said. He turned to see President Holler walking up to him.

“Of course, what can I do for you?” Mitchell asked, suddenly having a thought back twenty years ago in the hanger of Area 51 when he first met the man.

“There’s a developing situation, and I want to let you in on it,” Steven said.

“What type of situation?” Mitchell asked, hoping it was not as bad as his mind suddenly came up with.

“Seems that there is a large fleet outside the system, and they are human according to reports. The strange thing is, they are looking for us,” Hiller said back to him. Mitchell felt shocked at that.

“Human? I don’t understand?” Mitchell said, not expecting to hear that.

“I don’t have all the details either, but from the last report Admiral White sent me, they are looking for Earth after their homeworlds were destroyed by a race called the Cylons. According to them, they have identified the ship in the picture as Cylon,” Hiller said. “There is a meeting in shortly about everything we know.”

“I’ll be there,” Mitchell replied.

“I’ve sent the information to you, what we have of it,” Hiller replied.

“Thanks,” Mitchell replied, then headed off to do some reading instead of continuing his celebration.


Tigh watched as Terrance walked back onto the bridge, this time smiling. He wondered what happened to cause that smile even as he made his way across the bridge towards him.

“Commander, I bring good news for a change,” Terrance said to him.

“I could use some right about now,” Tigh said. The patrols had reported nothing which had him worried. He needed to know where the Cylons were, hoping he had not fallen for a trap.

“The council has not only dropped the charges for now against you and Apollo, but even granted emergency powers in the case of a Cylon attack, which means you no longer have to wait for the council’s permission to defend the fleet,” Terrance said.

“Apollo will be happy to hear that, what happened?” Tigh asked, knowing that something had to have happened in order for such actions to happen.

“Seems that Ziers did not tell the council the entire truth, only what he wanted them to know,” Terrance stated.

“Nice to know I’m not breaking any rules anymore,” Tigh said, getting a nod from Terrance. “Omega, increase level status to yellow for the fleet,” Tigh said. It moved the crew into a state that an attack could occur at any time.

“I only hope it wasn’t done too late,” Terrance said.

“Me too,” Tigh replied, his mind going over everything to try and figure out what might happen next.


President Hiller stretched slightly in his chair. The Security Council had met and now appeared to drag on. It had been a couple of hours now with little resolution.

“Does anyone have a suggestion that I can bring forth to congress in the morning,” Hiller asked.

“I think we should tell them to leave,” one general said. “If they leave then their enemy, these Cylons, won’t come here.”

“I have to agree, if we don’t provoke the enemy, they should pass by and leave us alone,” a second person said.

“I have to disagree with you both,” Mitchell said from his spot at the end of the table. “The Cylons have already attacked us even before we made contact with this group. Turning them away losses the one group with information about them, information we could use.”

“But keeping them here could act like a magnet,” the first one said.

“They already know we here gentlemen,” Hiller said.

“There is no reason to think this group will talk with us. Recall the last group of aliens who came here?” Mitchell said. Everyone knew what happened back then. The aliens were never interested in talking, only conquering. “We know there are races out there, they are not all friendly. This group is the first ones we have encountered who are friendly.”

“Even if they are human?”

“Even if,” Mitchell replied.

“Do we have any suggestions?” Hiller asked once more, hoping for some sort of conclusion.

“The only thing I can think of sir, is we raise our level of alertness, and aside from that wait on this group until we meet up with their leaders,” Mitchell said. “They might not even want to stay here and help.”

Everyone seemed to recognize that logic.

“Fine, I’ll let them know what we talked about, and we’ll wait until we’re contacted by them again,” Hiller said, ready to go to sleep. It had been a long day.


Tigh watched as Ziers’ made his way onto the bridge and making a beeline right towards him. He groaned wishing he could disappear.

“I suppose you think you’ve won commander?” Ziers said, resentment in his voice.

“No councilman, I only hope we didn’t want too long before sending out more patrols. If the Cylons catch us now it might be devastating. And I need to know if where we’re going is a trap or not, is that what you want?” Tigh said back, challenging him on the bridge.

“We both know about this trick by Commander Apollo. How long have you been planning this?” Ziers said. “It doesn’t matter, I’ll learn the truth eventually”

“Commander, multiple scanner contacts inbound,” Rigel said, interrupting any reply from Tigh as he looked over at her. “War book identifies them as Cylon raiders.”

“Frack,” Tigh stated, ignoring Ziers for the moment as he looked down at the scanner. “Red alert, have all viper squadrons ready to launch. Get me the Pegasus.”

“Pegasus on the line,” Omega said.

“Tigh, what’s going on?” Apollo asked as the Galactica’s lighting went red and the bridge became a hive of activity as everyone went to work.

“We have inbound Cylon raiders, we could use your help now,” Tigh said.

“I’ll be right there,” Apollo said.

End part 5

Continued in part 6

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