Battlestar Argo
by AJ Marks
Part 2: Legend’s Beginning
Ares glanced out the viewport on the bridge for the hundredth time. So far all he saw, pitch blackness, not even a star. He could do little except head straight though it hoping to come out at the other end.
Troy had been excited upon hearing such an area of space from the patrols. He mentioned something about having to go through it to reach Kobal. The Ancient homeworld of the Thirteen Tribes. By going through the darkness they would see a light which would lead them to Kobal. Ares felt skeptical, but he would follow Troy’s advice at the moment. Perhaps if they found Kobal, they might get an idea of where to find Earth.
Glancing our once more at the darkness he wondered exactly what created such an area of space. His scanner showed nothing as well, which disturbed him. He had no idea if they were even working anymore.
Even as he looked out the window, someone else shouted. “Hey, look at that!” He looked down at one of the bridge crew, a launch operator, Renee, and where she was pointing to the window. Looking back out he saw it, a single point of light, like Troy mentioned.
“Helm, make a new course, towards that light,” Ares said, watching the helm lay in the course and the Argo turned slightly towards the light, acting like a beacon in the dark.
Everyone watched as the ship slowly emerged from the void and the scanners returned to normal. He felt relieved seeing the light of stars once more.
“One system, several planets,” Pratt said.
“Send a recon team to check it out, and prepare a land team at once,” Ares said.
“Yes sir.”
*****
Troy walked up to the shuttle, seeing five others waiting on him. The group consisted of a scientist, a technician and four warriors including himself. The scientist and technician Troy did not know but the three warriors he did now. They quickly boarded the shuttle which was given permission to launch and they made their way to the surface of the planet. Patrols to the system indicated one planet with an atmosphere, which they would explore.
“What do you think we’ll find,” one person said. Troy looked over to see that it was Bri who had said something. He could remember that her real name was Gabrielle, but everyone called her Bri instead.
“No idea,” Troy said, privately hoping the planet found was indeed the legendary Kobal. Such a find would put him where his ancestors stood so long ago.
“So where do you think we should go,” Bri asked. Everyone glanced out the window to see what was out there. It was something that Troy was sure everyone had been thinking about already. They were looking around when someone noticed what appeared to be pyramids in the distance, and they turned towards them.
Settling down on the surface of the planet the shuttle doors opened and they were able to see what the pyramids looked like up close. Three large and grand pyramids in front of them, waiting to be explored.
“Well,” Bri asked the group, snapping them out of their awe-struck gaze.
“Tell you what, lest split up,” Troy said. “We can cover more ground that way, just be sure to keep in radio contact.”
“Good idea,” the scientist said. “I’ll go to one pyramid, my assistant to another and you to the third.”
“And we’ll each take a warrior with us just in case,” Troy said.
Troy paired up with Bri and together they walked off towards the far pyramid. The temperature at eth moment was not too bad, and he hoped it would not get any hotter.
“What are we looking for,” Bri asked, as she scanned the pyramid.
“I’m not sure,” Troy replied honestly, continuing their trek. It was something that he had been thinking about himself. He would have rather gone to the large pyramid but the scientist had taken that one instead so he was left with this one.
“Do you really think that this is Kobal,” Bri asked him.
“Well, I’m not sure, but it could be,” Troy replied to her question. They continued to walk as Bri talked almost the entire time. He had learned that she had been an orphan early in her life thanks to the Cylons. She had wanted to serve in the Colonial forces ever since. She wanted to one day command a battlestar but had ended up volunteering for this mission as something told her to.
Troy only had to nod his head and say yes or no as Bri continued to talk to him. He had found out that the woman was not shy about anything. He had wondered if he would be able to talk to her but now realized that he would not have to say anything.
“Wow, it’s huge, not as large as the grand one but it’s still massive,” Bri said, looking at the massive building in front of them.
“I guess we should walk along the outside and see if we can find anything,” Troy said logically.
Together they walked along the base of the pyramid looking for anything they might be able to use. The two of them had been searching for a while when Bri noticed something. She pointed it out to Troy who decided that they should get a closer look at whatever it was. Troy decided to communicate with the others to tell them that they might have found something. From the sound of the other groups nothing had been discovered yet.
*****
Ares paced back and forth on the bridge waiting for any repot from the surface of the planet. He had no idea what might happen while they were stopped. He just did not want to chance anything yet. Their mission had just started and he knew that the trip would not be smooth sailing so if he could avoid trouble early he would.
The report then came in that Captain Troy and Lieutenant Bri had found something by the pyramid that they were looking at. Ares hoped it meant good news. Now if only they could find something that would help them find Earth and the thirteenth tribe.
Ares was already thinking about what to do if there was nothing on the planet. From what he had been told by Troy the thirteenth tribe had set out on a different path than the other twelve. That meant that they might have gone in the opposite direction then the other twelve.
They could miss Earth by hundreds of light years if the direction was wrong, especially considering how far the thirteenth tribe might have traveled. That also brought another thought to his mind. How long should they travel before turning around and heading back? Would there be anything left to come back to? What would the war situation be like upon such a return? The questions were just too many for him to think about. He decided he would cross that bridge when it came up and not before.
*****
Troy and Bri walked towards what appeared to be an entrance in the pyramid. It actually stood out a bit from the rest of the pyramid. As they approached it they could hear over the intercom that another group had found something similar on another pyramid. It was looking like they would be able to find something out about this planet after all.
They reached what they hoped was an entrance. Glancing around they looked for a way to open the door.
Troy looked at the side of the area for anything that might look like a key that would open the entrance. After a few moments Bri thought she had found something on her side of the door.
Troy walked over to the spot and had to admit that it probably was the entrance key. There was a small indention in the panel. The shape was vaguely familiar to him as he looked at it. He then realized what it was.
Reaching up he pulled out a necklace that had a medallion on it that was shaped the same as the indentation. Bri watched as Troy placed the medallion in the indentation and the stones began to move. After a moment the stones had moved aside to reveal a tunnel that led into the pyramid.
“This is Captain Troy, we’ve found an entrance into the pyramid. We’re going inside to see if we can find anything,” Troy said to the others. The typical be careful reply came back to them, and the others were still trying to get into their pyramids.
Troy grabbed a light, and began to decent into the pyramid. The stale air was a testament to how long it had been sealed. He made his way down the corridor with Bri right behind him. They both wondered what they would find at the end of the corridor. The walls were bare of anything and Troy wondered where they were heading.
After a while of walking which Troy was now sure that they had walked through the Pyramid and were about to come out the other side the corridor turned almost completely around and descended again down a long hallway. The two made their way down the slope carefully as the floor was covered in pebbles that threatened their traction. The last thing either of them wanted to do was slide down to the bottom. They finally reached the bottom and were about to continue down the corridor when Troy noticed another indentation on the wall.
“This looks familiar,” he said to Bri, who nodded her head in agreement.
Troy took out his medallion again, inserting and turning it once more. They spun around at the sound of movement behind them. The wall behind them rose up to reveal another room in which there was a large tomb in the center. The walls were lined with writings that Troy figured would take a while to decipher. He took a moment to look around while Bri also glanced at the wall. There was another light along the far wall which she lit to have more light in the room.
Together they looked over everything that was in the room. They had found out that the tomb was the resting place of the wife of the last ruler of Kobal. That had been exciting news to uncover. There were standing on the planet of their ancestors. The rest of the walls read like a book of the history of their rule. The planet had been dying due to several things. The thirteen tribes decided to leave the planet in search of a new beginning.
“Over here,” Bri said excitedly. Troy walked over to see what she had found hoping that it was really something worth it. He glanced at what she was looking at and realized that she had found a big clue as to the departure of the thirteenth tribe. He did not have the knowledge to understand it though.
“This is Captain Troy come in,” Troy said into his communicator waiting for a response. It took a few microns before someone replied.
“Have you found anything captain,” came the voice of the scientist. From the sound of his voice Troy knew that they had not found anything at the other pyramids.
“We’ve found something inside the pyramid. Looks like it was the wife of the last ruler of Kobal,” Troy replied listening to the excited sounds from the others. They said that they would be right there. Bri volunteered to lead them down to the room while Troy continued to search the room.
*****
Ares listened to the reports as they came in. He, along with everyone else on the bridge, waited to see if the groups would find anything. So far it seemed like Troy and Bri were the only group to make any discoveries. He listened as Troy’s latest report came in mentioning something about the wife of the last ruler of Kobal. It was not Ares wished he paid more attention to his history.
The word Kobal stunned several on the bridge for a few microns as the knowledge sunk in of what they found. Then a cheer rose up as people realized that they had found the planet Kobal. This is where everything had started from. This is where the thirteen tribes had left to go across the stars and make new homes.
The news was really a revelation for Ares. He had never put too much faith into the religions. He assumed that the colonies had been a local colonization with the mention of Kobal and Earth as myths and legends that had been updated over time. Now he was wondering if the texts were based on some kernel of truth. The question now was would there be enough information to get a direction for the thirteenth tribe. Even then he realized that there were several factors that could hinder, or help, his search for Earth.
They would have to account for the rotation of the galaxy as well. If they knew where the thirteenth tribe had gone the scientists would be able to narrow down the possibilities and hopefully find the missing tribe.
“This is good news,” Pratt said as he stood beside Ares. “Yes it is,” Ares replied. “We might also be on the watch for any social complications that this might bring.”
“Complications,” Pratt asked now sure that he followed what Ares meant.
“Everyone believes in the story of Kobal a bit differently. They might take this as a sign that they’re way is the right way. I just don’t want any religious or social wars going on aboard my ship,” Ares said.
“I see,” Pratt replied. He had not fully understood what Ares meant until then. “We’ll keep our eyes open.”
Ares nodded, then turned his attention back to the reports, as the ground team all headed towards the pyramid that Troy and Bri were at.
*****
Troy did not have to wait very long until the other four came into the room led by Bri. They also carried lit torches for light. The scientist quickly walked over to where Troy was standing looking at one of the walls.
“What have you found,” he asked Troy.
“It seems to be an account of where the thirteenth tribe is going,” Troy replied to him.
“Interesting,” the man said peering at the writing on the wall as his assistant came over to help as well.
The three men seemed to look at the wall and talk it over among themselves leaving the other three warriors standing on the other side of the room. One of the men was tall and blonde the other had black hair and not quite as tall.
“What do you think,” one of the men asked, looking at the wall.
“I don’t know. I’m not much of an archeologist though,” the man replied. “I know enough history to know what I believe.”
“Really Martin,” the other man said. “I thought you lived for this.”
“Ha-ha,” Martin replied. “Not really. I hope we find something though. It might make our trip quicker.”
“True,” the other man replied. “Do you think Earth really exists then?”
“Yes,” a voice said from across the room. “It’s mentioned right here,” the scientist said pointing to a spot on the wall where a lot of writing was.
“Good, does it tell us how to get there,” the dark haired man said.
“Or how long it will take,” Martin asked.
“That is what we are working on right now,” Troy said from where he stood, looking at the writings.
“Look here,” the scientist said. “It says they took two ships, the Hermes and Celesta.”
“That doesn’t sound like a lot,” Troy replied looking at the writings.
“No, probably only a couple of hundred people,” the scientist replied.
“Seems like that they wanted to get away from everyone else. That would explain why they didn’t settle near the other twelve,” Troy said.
“Then how do we know they will even remember the other twelve colonies,” Martin asked logically.
“We don’t,” the assistant replied for everyone. “There may not even be anyone left alive on Earth.”
“That’s comforting,” Bri replied.
“I think we’ll need the Argo’s astrological charts to accurately predict where they went. It will be able to account for the movements of the stars. That and this information here should give us a good starting position,” the scientist said.
“Good work Dr. Weaver,” his assistant said.
Troy looked at the information and realized that Weaver was right in his speculation. The Argo would be able to give them a better direction of where the group went. The only problem was with the movement it would decrease the possibilities of missing Earth but a little bit.
“Let’s head back to the Argo,” Troy said. Everyone agreed and they began walking back to the shuttle. The sun was now overhead and the temperature had risen quite a bit making them all sweat before they got a little bit away from the pyramids.
“Yuck,” Bri said as she walked. “I hate sweating like this, now I’ll have to take a shower when we get back.”
“Need any help,” the dark haired warrior said with a waggle of his eyebrows.
“Ugh, no thanks Nall,” Bri replied giving him a push.
“Ah, come on. I won’t peak, much,” he replied with a grin.
Bri rolled her eyes at Nall and continued to march off leaving the rest of the group behind a bit. Troy could only watch as Bri and Nall bantered back and forth. He was a bit jealous of the way the two of them seemed at ease with each other. He found Bri to be quite attractive and had hoped that maybe he might be able to gain her attention.
“Haven’t you learned anything by now,” Martin said to Nall.
“Nope,” Nall replied as he quickened his pace to catch up with Bri.
“All right but when you’re face down in the sand don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Martin replied with a chuckle.
Troy and the other two looked at Martin hoping that he would tell them what was going on. Martin noticed that they were looking at him and knew that he would have to say something.
“I met then in training, they were like this from the beginning. Nall is a typical ladies man, can get about any woman he wants, except for Bri. Somehow she can resist him,” Martin replied. “Bri views him like a brother she lost when young, Nall, well, he’s in love with her, its obvious to everyone but Bri. Poor guy, but he keeps trying, and is fiercely loyal to her if anyone hurts her, and the same if anyone tries something against Nall. An odd due, and I get more laughs out of them than any comedy duo out there.”
“I see,” Troy said feeling better at this looking back ahead to see Bri plowing Nall face down in the sand with a smile on her face.
“I told you,” Martin said as Nall stood up spitting sand out of his mouth and brushing it out of his mustache.
Troy wondered what type of people he had in his squadron and made a mental note to go over the personal records.
*****
Ares waited impatiently as the shuttle landed on the landing bay of the Argo. He wanted to know what they had found on the planet’s surface, besides several large pyramids. He really hoped that they had found a direction to travel. From the brief reports it seemed that Earth really did exist.
The door to the shuttle opened letting all six occupants out of the craft. He saw Troy was one of the first ones out of the shuttle and Ares could only hope that he had good news. He did not want to stay too close to the colonies in an effort to avoid any Cylon contacts A battle could jeopardize the entire mission, especially if they suffered any damage.
“Well,” he asked, when Troy got near enough for them to talk.
“We might have found something commander,” Troy replied with a smile. “It seems that the thirteenth tribe left Kobal in two ships, the Hermes and the Celesta.”
“That is interesting news,” Ares replied.
“There’s more. It seems that the thirteenth tribe was a loner tribe. Not very big, kept to themselves. That is why they went a different direction than the other tribes,” Troy told him.
“So,” Ares said knowing that there was more to the story than just this. If they had managed to get this much, there had to be more information.
“We are not sure how we will be received when we find them,” Weaver said from behind Troy.
“I see, then we could be attacked on sight,” Ares said, watching as two heads nodded in agreement. “Well then, we’ll worry about that response when we find them.”
“Right,” Weaver said agreeing with Ares. “First off we need to analyze the information that we received. Then we should have a pretty good idea as to where the thirteenth tribe went.”
“All right, the sooner the better,” Ares said. “The last thing we need is for Cylon intervention on this mission.”
The group quickly split up and went on their way. Troy told the others that he was going to work with Weaver on the direction that the thirteenth tribe went.
“I’ll see you later you three,” Troy said giving Martin a slap on the back. He briefly stopped what he was doing to the point that everyone looked at him.
“You all right,” Martin asked, with a bit of concern.
“Yeah,” Troy said shaking his head a bit. “I should get going if I’m going to catch up with the doctor there.”
Ares watched Troy wondering what it was that had made him stop for such a moment. He wondered if Troy had seen something about this mission. He guessed that whatever it was he would not withhold it if it was important to the mission. He could only hope that Troy would tell him what happened before it was too late.
*****
Troy looked over to see Weaver, and his assistants looking over the texts that they had gathered in the pyramid. They were so absorbed into their work neither one heard Troy enter the room. He watched for a second as they worked at the computer, imputing information into it.
“Any luck?” Troy asked finally. He made his way over to the inscriptions, not able to really read them as well as Weaver could and wished he had studied the ancient texts a bit more.
“The computer just finished set up my parameters,” Weaver said sitting down at a table.
Troy walked over, sitting down, as did Weaver’s assistant. The three of them worked over every possible angle that they might have to figure out where they might need to go. They worked for quite a while until they finally agreed on a general group of promising stars and systems.
“All right, let’s highlight these stars and move it ahead to today’s positions,” Weaver said.
After a few moments the universe was back to the present one. Looking at the way the stars lined up they were no longer in as straight a line but all in a general direction which was good for them. That meant that they would not be traveling all over the universe to get where they needed to go.
“Well this is probably some good news,” the assistant said.
Troy nodded his head then suggested that they go and tell the commander what they had found. Weaver agreed and they left for the bridge of the Argo.
It didn’t take long for them to arrive on the bridge where Ares was waiting for them. He was quietly sitting down at his console reading the latest news from the colonies. It was the one thing that would happen. Regular transmissions were sent out in their direction with the hope that it would keep the crew of the Argo in touch with their homes. The only thing that they could not do would be replying to the messages.
*****
Ares was glad to hear that nothing had happened lately on the war front. There seemed to be a small break in hostilities. It happened quite often and was usually a sign that something else was going to happen. It did not mean that no fighting was occurring but just that everything was small at the moment.
Ares looked up when he felt a presence on the bridge. He noticed that the scientist and Troy were making their way over to where he was. He hoped that they had found something that they would be able to use.
“Dr. Weaver, Troy, I hope that you have found a direction that we should head in,” Ares said to the two men.
“I believe we have,” Weaver replied bringing up a selection of stars for Ares. He looked it over for a second before saying anything.
“Interesting,” Ares replied a bit disappointed that there were so many stars to check out. He was hoping for few but decided not to argue.
“These are only a few of the stars, but we isolated the most promising ones,” Weaver said.
“All right, and do you have any clues?” Ares asked Troy. He was hoping that the man had some insight as to where to head, maybe a vision of some sort.
“Nothing sir,” Troy replied much to Ares’ disappoint, but he also had not expected anything either.
“What are you two talking about,” Weaver asked a bit in the dark about what the two men were talking about.
Ares and Troy looked at each other a bit. Troy finally gave a small shake of his head and so did Ares. They would not tell everyone but if Troy worked with Weaver enough with this then the man should know.
“Well,” Troy said, his voice dropping to a whisper so others would not hear him. “My family has been blessed, or cursed depending on how you look at it, with the ability to see images of what might be the future.”
“What might be,” Weaver asked, not fully understanding what Troy said.
“It’s possible outcomes of the future. I have no way of knowing when they will occur or what will cause them. It grows stronger as we age. My father already knew what the mission was and gave me this,” Troy said taking out the medallion from under his shirt. “It’s been handed down through the generations saying it was important that it would be given to the first born male of the family. This allowed me into the pyramid. My father told me that it would be needed on this mission to lead the way. I guess he knew.”
“Well, whatever it was that he knew, whether it was a dream or not I did help us,” Weaver said.
“I guess we should get going then. We have a lot of traveling to do in the next couple of yehrens,” Ares said standing up. He walked over the helm officer and gave him the direction of the nearest star.
The Argo’s engines powered up and they left at their normal cruising speed for the star and the beginning of their travels. They could only hope that Earth would not be that far away yet far enough to not have been bothered by the Cylons.
End Legend’s Beginning
Continued in Beginning the Search
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