Voyage to Earth
by AJ Marks
Unveiling
Commander Adama made his way up to the bridge of the Galactica. He had been released to light duty by the doctors, and now had come aboard to check out the repairs. The robots worked quickly and efficiently making some major repairs to the engines and armor. The robots had even repaired one of the engines on the tanker the Galactica would escort back to the fleet.
They were only waiting on the return of Doctor Wilker before leaving the asteroid. Part of Adama wished he could bring many other ships over here, but he also knew the asteroid was extremely short on supplies and did not have the resources for such things. He did manage to have two of the three argo ships brought over for a complete overhaul as well.
His last conversation with Hephaestus, the lead construction robot, left him as confused as before. The robot said it would not contact the Cylon, and would continue to monitor space for the enemy. He had forgotten about this long ago enemy after everything that happened in the past few days. He had been poisoned, and then the report from Tigh about what happened to Apollo. Starbuck and Boomer were undertaking a rescue mission, which they hoped was successful, but no news yet.
“Commander, Doctor Wilker has returned to the Galactica, we’re ready to to leave,” a new person on the bridge said, taking Rigel’s spot. Adama recalled her name, Lisa, and hoped she did as well as the person she replaced.
“Helm, plot the course out of here, tell the captain of the tanker to follow us out,” Adama said. He sat down, conserving his strength after the attempted poisoning and watched as the Galactica moved out from the asteroid.
He had wanted to destroy the asteroid, but Wilker had mentioned that the asteroid had some very advanced defenses, and such an attack would not be wise. They tried to talk to Hephaestus about self-destructing, but that had been unsuccessful, as it continued to mention its mission of searching and destroying the enemy.
Thinking about enemies, Adama knew he had his own. He had to wonder who might be behind such an attack. Someone from the shadows of the fleet? He knew that despite the limited number of people in the fleet, finding them might be difficult, especially if the people around him, or her, were loyal.
The rumble of the engines filled the silence, and he looked up to see the battlestar start moving towards the asteroid doors. It took a short amount of time before the warship made its way though, and it was followed by the tanker. Now they would have to navigate the asteroid field. The task was made easier by the fact they had already done it in reverse.
His thought turned to the Cylons next, he now would be able to defend the fleet better against an attack. The Cylons would expect to be fighting a warship which had been running for several yehrens without a major overhaul. They would also have to expect to encounter one, maybe two battlestars, not three. This was a major force, not enough to engage in war against the Cylons, but with the fleet moving, it made defense much easier.
“Commander all ships have reached point a,” Athena said to him.
“All right, lets head to the fleet,” Adama said, hoping to put this asteroid behind him. He also hoped the Cylons would never find it. Such technology would be devastating to the universe. “I’ll be in my office,” he told his new second in command. He wanted to go over the latest reports on the condition of the ships. With so many people moving to the battlestars it emptied a few ships.
The result was many ships were not under less stress, which meant more room in the fleet and better conditions. With the tankers, argo ships now all operating at peak efficiency and new warships, their future looked better for now. He only wished he knew how far away Earth was.
*****
Tigh waited on the bridge of the Agamemnon waiting for any report from Starbuck or Boomer. The mission had been approved by him, so he felt nervous. Considering it involved the commander’s son, and friends, he prayed for a successful mission. The hope that they might be able to trade with the inhabitants of the planet were diminished by the fact Apollo had been captured.
“Commander, we’ve received contact with the Galactica, she’s headed back to the fleet with the tanker.”
“Thank you,” Tigh said, not having any worries about those ships. Adama had been wise in getting a couple of the argo ships repaired. Quite possibly the most important ships in all the fleet.
He looked out the window of the bridge, in the distance he say the glow from the engines of the Hyperion ahead of them. The massive thrusters were larger than other ships. It reminded him of his younger days when each of these ships were warships. He wondered what happened to them. How did Baltar convince enough people the Cylons wanted peace after so much war?
“Commander, inbound shuttle and viper,” the scanner operator said. Tigh hoped it meant good news.
“Open a channel,” Tigh said, waiting a moment as the communications officer worked.
“Agamemnon, shuttle five here,” he heard Boomer’s voice say.
“How did the mission go?” Tigh asked.
“Success,” he heard Apollo’s voice say.
“Its good to hear your voice captain,” Tigh said, knowing he’d have good news for Adama. “We’ll wait to hear your report when you return.”
“Yes sir,” Boomer said.
Tigh switched over to contact the Galactica and let Adama know the news. After everything that happened, it was the best news yet.
*****
The shuttle made its way towards the Agamamnon. One passenger looked out the window with such interest Apollo doubted they would be able to tear her attention away. She had helped them out on the planet, and seemed to have a wisdom larger than anyone he had met before.
He saw her looking out at the shape of a battlestar, eyes wide and looking amazed.
“That’s the battlestar Hyperion,” Apollo said, pointing out the ship, as she seemed to take it all in. She amazed him by not being overwhelmed but instead seemed to look at the entire fleet.
He watched her continue to look out at the fleet, avoiding his eyes. He figured that had to do with the fact he looked like someone she knew, and perhaps, even loved. The entire situation with the emperor confused him tremendously and hoped to one day get the entire story. For now, she had a lot to learn about a new society. Perhaps she could bring wisdom to them as well.
“Agamemnon to shuttle five, landing bay alpha,” the landing instructions came from the Hyperion.
“Understood Agamemnon,” Boomer replied, as the shuttle lined up to land on the battlestar.
It would be interesting to see Crystal’s reaction to the interior of the ship. He knew it would be nothing like she ever experienced. Computers, opening doors, light that did not burn, all things she would have to get used to. She had not noticed that Boomer had spoken to the bridge, nor did she even look around at the sound of the flight officer’s voice. She was intently staring at everything.
The shuttle landed and now she would meet with others, her decision to go with them now would be tested. Walking out of the shuttle he was only slightly surprised to be met by Commander Tigh. He looked at them, then at the addition to the group.
“Commander, this is Crystal, she helped us escape,” Apollo said, introducing the young woman to the commander.
“Crystal,” he said.
“Commander, is that your first name?” Crystal asked, looking at Tigh.
“Um, no, that’s my rank,” Tigh said, now looking strangely at the group.
“Oh, there is so much to learn,” she said, looking around seeing the bustle of the hangar, and while it all probably scared her, she also seemed very accustomed to it all.
“She asked us to take her with us,” Starbuck said, as if that explained everything.
“Well, normally we don’t take people from less advanced civilizations,” Tigh stated. From the look he gave, Apollo knew there was going to be an explanation coming, and he hoped Starbuck had one. “Perhaps we can get you accustomed to the ship.”
Apollo watched as he called over Aaron, who had waited nearby.
“Can you show our new guest around the ship,” the commander asked.
“Yes sir,” Aaron replied. They watched as Aaron took Crystal and headed off into the ship. She had a strange look on her face upon meeting him, but said nothing else.
“All right, come on,” Tigh said, as they walked off the hangar and towards the elevator and his office. The trip was in silence, before reaching the office and they sat down.
“Now colonel, we didn’t have much time,” Starbuck said, forgetting about Tigh’s promotion. “And she mentioned they were going to kill her.”
“Who is she?” Tigh asked.
“Her name is Crystal, probably had some relation to the guy called emperor, the one who looks like Apollo,” Boomer said.
“She truly did seem scared of the villagers and being left behind. She really believed she would be killed, and she did help us out,’ Cassiopeia said.
“Well, we’ll keep an eye on her for now,” Tigh said. “You’ll be happy to hear the commander has gone back to work, and is on the Galactica heading back to the fleet.”
Apollo nodded, knowing he would have been the one to take his father back to the ship had he been here.
“What of the planet, any prospect of trading?” Tigh asked.
“Probably not, its hard to say how far-reaching the emperor influence had been, its better to stay away. The Cylons should leave them alone, their technology isn’t advanced at all, still using primitive weapons,” Apollo said.
“So, they thought you were this emperor?” Tigh asked.
“Yeah, the first couple of people I encountered when reaching the planet ran off in fear. I thought it might be how I was dressed. But they returned with others, probably guards armed with swords. So, I did the only thing I could think of, ran away. Got a bt confused and ended up going the wrong way. Jason contacted me, I told him to go for help and they capture me shortly after that,” Apollo said, explaining what happened.
“And Crystal?” Tigh asked.
“She came to see me during the night, never once believed I was the emperor,” Apollo said.
“She helped us out, and confronted the lead guy who wanted to execute Apollo over looking like this emperor,” Starbuck said.
“Well, she’s here now, very strange woman,” Tigh said.
“Yeah, any luck on the suspects?” Apollo asked.
“No, but we’re still looking,” Tigh said, switching gears to the ongoing investigation.
“I’ll get back onto it,” Starbuck said.
“I’ll let your father know what happened,” Tigh said, as the group stood and walked out.
*****
Aaron walked around the battlestar, showing Crystal several areas, including a rest area, the washing rooms, the mess hall, and other interesting areas on board the ship. Several spots he told her not to go, like the bridge, engine and hangar areas.
He looked her over, her ragged clothes appeared homemade, but she had a natural beauty he found charming, medium length red hair, and despite her youthful appearance seemed to have seen the same hardships everyone on board had.
He answered her questions about different aspects of the ship and technology. She had wondered about their lights, and how did it contain the fire. He had to explain it a bit, and was not sure she understood. He already thought about where to get her some new clothing so she did not stand out as much.
“All those ships have similar lighting?” she asked as they looked out a window. A couple of ships were visible.
“Yep,” he replied.
“Why did you want to come here?” Aaron asked, looking out into space.
“I knew I would be here,” she replied back cryptically. “Or dead.”
That last part shocked him. “You could have left?”
“There was nowhere for me to go,” she said to him, a bit of sadness in her voice. He looked down at her as she stood in silence. He thought he spotted sadness in her eyes before she spoke again. “I thought, well, it’s not important anymore.”
He was trying to figure out how to reply to that when Cronus walked up to him.
“Aaron, hey, the commander wanted to inform you of a place our guest can rest for now,” he said.
“Ah, good,” Aaron replied, looking down at Crystal. “How about getting you settled for now.”
“Okay,” she replied as Cronus told Aaron where to go.
He led her down the corridor, turning towards some quarters and the one that had been given to Crystal. They bumped into a couple of people as they turned the corner. He had not been paying attention, looking at her instead of anyone coming. She was pushed to the side by one of the men, who Aaron recognized as part of the council, the other one of the bridge members of the Agamemnon.
“Watch where you’re going,” one said, both looking down at Crystal and her clothing with contempt before continued on without another word.
“You all right?” Aaron asked, helping Crystal up, who looked stunned.
“Um, yeah,” she finally replied. They reached her room and he went over a few things that he thought might be unfamiliar to her.
“If you need anything, you can contact me though this,” he said, pointing to the communicator. “Oh, you’ll be sharing the room with someone else, I think she’s from the bridge, Rigel or something like that.”
“Okay,” Crystal replied, still looking unsure about something.
“So ask her, or me, I’ll be glad to help you out,” he said to her.
“Thanks,” she said, giving him a small smile, which softened her features, and, he thought, made her really cute.
“Yeah, well, I need to get back to work, I’m working on something classified” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “You sure you’re all right?”
“Fine, thanks,” she said. “This is my new home, I’m going to have to get used to it.”
“Right, but we’re here to help,” Aaron stated, knowing he had to get back to looking for someone, but who he had no idea.
*****
Crystal looked on, watching as Aaron left the room. She settled into a chair and contemplated everything that happened. She barely managed to contain her shock over everything, a practice she learned from Brenden. Of course, only he knew of her secret, one that Ryan would have only taken advantage of, she had seen that possibility.
What would her new friends think if they knew she could read people’s minds, or even see glimpses of the future? She would have been branded a witch by normal people back home, and probably killed, or used. Her life would have been miserable, yet she was not sure these people would react any better.
Still, she thought about Aaron, he liked her. She had felt that, but that last feeling and glimpses, puzzles she could not make out. She heard words and phrases she did not understand at all, nor people. And that last part, she shuddered at that.
The door opened startling Crystal, causing her to look watching a woman about her age walk in wearing tan clothing enter the room.
“You must be Crystal, I’m Rigel,” she said to her. “You’re roommate for now.”
Crystal frowned at that part.
“Ah, its not you, everyone’s been moving around lately, we’re still getting settled in with the addition of two new battlestars,” Rigel said, continuing on. Crystal had no idea about all that, but the woman’s smile indicated she was sincere in her talk. Another lesson from Branden, how to read body language, and Rigel was being honest with her.
“Ah, this is all new to me as well,” Crystal said.
“Yeah, how about a shower, and a change of clothes, you look about my size, we can get something to fit you. If you blend in a bit you’ll feel a bit more comfortable,” Rigel said.
“Okay,” Crystal replied.
She followed Rigel to the women’s bathing area, a large area, and she followed her roommate’s actions. It seemed odd that they would sit and wash themselves on a small stool with a bit of water.
Crystal realized it used as little water as possible, and that on board a ship even as large as this one, water was probably a sacred resource. However, she did feel better, especially as she put on the clothes Rigel had brought. The pants felt strange to her, she was used to dresses and mentioned it to Rigel.
“I do have a few of those, you can change into one when we get back, I don’t wear them often, the bridge isn’t the place for them,” Rigel said.
“Oh, what do you do?” she asked.
“I control the flight operations of the Agamemnon,” the title went beyond Crystal’s understanding. “The shuttle you flew here on, I make sure that those type ships don’t run into each other as they enter and leave the ship.”
“Oh,” Crystal replied, seeing how important that might be, but not fully understanding it.
On the way back to the room she did feel better, few people looked at her now, most passed by without a second glance. She was used to people avoiding her.
“I have so much to learn,” she said.
“Don’t worry, you have plenty of time,” Rigel replied.
“Um, have you always lived on these ships?” Crystal asked, seeing a sad look appear in Rigel’s eyes.
“No, but you should be told, we’re refugees,” Rigel said, shocking Crystal. “We had twelve worlds, billions of people. We were at war with another race called the Cylons, a race of robots.”
“Robots?”
“Ah, mechanical beings, their goal in the war was eliminate humanity, we were betrayed by a man named Baltar.”
Crystal recalled hearing that name before by one of the group who she left her home with but waited to hear more.
“He made sure our defenses were down. The Cylons said they wanted peace, and then proceeded to destroy us,” Rigel said. “The commander took what survivors he could in the ships in the fleet and left to find Earth. The Cylons are still after us.”
“Oh,” Crystal said, now it made sense as to why people wondered why she would want to join them instead of staying home. “You must consider me weird.”
Rigel handed her the dress, and Crystal changed into it. It felt much better to her.
“Why did you come?” Rigel asked.
“If I stayed I would have been killed, because of the emperor,” Crystal said. “He was, my friend. However, his actions and what he wanted often were at odds. He wanted peace, but only found himself destroying things.”
Crystal sat silent for a few seconds, inwardly debating a few things.
“Is there trouble among your people?” Crsytal asked.
“In the fleet, I guess you could say that, there is always something happening. Get enough people in the same situation, things happen,” Rigel said.
“Are you familiar with Ith-Itician, Ithican, Ithiac, something like that?”
“Ithian, it’s a poison, very deadly,” Rigel said. “I’ve heard that whispered a bit in the past few days, strange.”
“I overheard it as well while Aaron was giving me a tour,” Crystal said, thinking this was important, but who could she talk to. Aaron was her first choice, he was looking for someone who attacked someone important. “It might have to do with something important. Like an Adama.”
End Unveiling
Continued in Shadows of the Mind
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