Battlestar Argo
by AJ Marks
Part 14: New Foundations
Troy and the others watched as Nall and their new friend, Rebecca, seemed to get along quite well. Troy glanced down to see if he could tell what Bri was thinking about what she was seeing. Much to his relief she seemed pleased with the person that he was talking to. He had the feeling that Rebecca would mean much more to Nall than anyone thought.
“What are you thinking,” Bri asked as she glanced over at Troy and noticed his intent face.
“I think she might be the one to tame our wild one,” Troy said.
“Really, I was just thinking the same thing,” Bri replied.
“So who are your friends,” Rebecca asked Nall. They had already exchanged name and she knew Troy’s name but the other two she was not sure about.
“This is Gabrielle and Weaver,” Nall said introducing the other two to her.
“You can call me Bri,” Bri said surprising Nall. Usually until she knew the person better she would not allow them to call her by her nickname.
“All right, Bri it is,” Rebecca said then turned to the other man. “Weaver is a strange name, is it your first name.”
“My parents had a sense of humor,” Weaver said quickly.
“I see,” Rebecca said. “Now who are you really, as you’re not from this planet?”
“Would you believe that we’re looking for the thirteenth tribe that colonized Earth,” Nall said watching as Rebecca thought about that.
“Actually no,” Rebecca said. That sounded too corny for it to be the truth.
“Its actually the truth. We’re from twelve colonies that are quite a distance away. It would take almost a half a yehren to get back at full speed,” Weaver said. “We’re all descendents of the planet Kobal.”
“Kobal, never heard of it,” Rebecca replied not sure what to make of them now. She liked one of them but their story just did not make much sense to her.
“What if I said we could prove it to you,” Nall said suddenly.
“I’m listening,” Rebecca said wondering how they would prove it to her.
“We can show her around the Argo,” Nall said to Troy.
Troy thought about that for a few moments in silence. He was sure that he would have to gain permission from the commander to bring an outsider on board. This was especially true after the Able problem. But they had found Earth it seemed and sooner or later they would have to bring someone on board.
“Tell you what, We’ll head back to ask for permission and come back,” Troy said as the group agreed and left to head towards the shuttle that was sitting in a clearing not that far away.
*****
Pratt had just come on duty and was now standing in the middle of the bridge with the commander being updated with everything that had gone on. There was a bit of new excitement about this but at the same time Pratt knew better than to get his hopes up. That was a disaster waiting to happen if you did that.
So far there was not much that could be done while the group was down on the planet’s surface. The group had decided to wait until light came again to look around some more. The had received word not too long ago that the group was making their way back to the nearby city to see if they could find anything out.
“Incoming communiqué from the shuttle,” Renee said interrupting Pratt’s thoughts.
“Put it up here,” Ares said turning to the monitor.
“Commander, we’ve got some news for you,” Troy said. “We think this is Earth.”
Troy’s voice floated over the bridge as just about everyone heard it. The excitement level picked up quite a bit as many realized that if this really was Earth their voyage would be over. Almost immediately a buzz went up as everyone started to talk with their neighbor about what had been said.
“Well that is good new captain,” Ares said. “What is your opinion about this.”
“My gut feeling is yes, but for other reasons,” Troy said.
Ares thought about what Troy had just said. He was not sure intellectually if this was Earth but many times it was a gut feeling that would prove to be right.
“So what else have you found out,” Ares asked knowing that there was more going on than what he was saying.
“Well, I would like permission to bring someone on board the Argo,” Troy said.
“And this person is,” Ares asked know sure about such a thing. The Able experience was still fresh in his mind even though it had happened some time ago now.
“A friend we met named Rebecca,” Troy said. “She works with their space exploration team. I think she could be a good ally.”
Ares thought about it for a little bit longer. There was something that Troy was not saying but he did not seem to be against this woman from coming on board. Ares decided to give his permission for the woman to come aboard.
“So what do you think,” Ares asked Pratt after the conversation ended.
“I’m not sure,” Pratt replied. “I guess we’ll find out when they get here.”
*****
Rebecca walked with the group though the forest as they want towards their ship. Rebecca was more curious than everything else about what this ship might look like. Turning the corner she noticed a ship unlike anything she had ever seen before.
Taking shape though the trees and everything else was a box like shape. As they came closer to it she could begin to make out shapes on the ‘ship’. She could tell that it was nothing that had been built on Earth. There was a door that she could see and it was not quite rectangular. It bowed out a bit on the sides with almost stealth like angles.
Troy opened the door to the ship and they walked inside. Inside Rebecca could almost feel the feeling like they were on board a smaller passenger liner. The seats were plush and looked quite comfortable to her.
Troy had gone towards the forward part of the ship which she assumed was where the pilot sat. She looked around some more for anything that might have a clue as to where it was made or how it was made. Everything looked similar but had enough difference to not be made on Earth. Troy then came back to inform them that they could head to the Argo. He asked Rebecca if she needed anything from where she was staying before they left.
Rebecca thought about that for a few seconds before replying that she did not. Troy took the controls of the shuttle and they left the planet’s surface.
It was not too much longer until Rebecca could see some of the planet’s of their system. It was the first time that someone from Earth had seen the planets this close with their own eyes. The entire ride took less than an hour until they were approaching something that slowly grew. The back of a ship slowly came into focus for Rebecca. She had never seen anything like this before in her life.
There was a large thruster in the back and she could see what appeared to be two long hanger decks which is what they appeared to be heading towards. She could see that they were heading towards one of the hangers that was on the side of the ship. The shuttle landed on the hanger of the ship and Rebecca found herself looking around at everything that she could see out of the windows.
The shuttle door opened and the group led her off the shuttle. Waiting in the hanger bay was another person who looked like he was an important person.
“Commander,” Troy said acknowledging Ares as he walked off the shuttle. “This is Rebecca,” he said introducing the woman that was with them.
“Hello there, my name is Ares,” he said to her watching as her face took on an amused grin.
“Ares, never heard of anyone called that before,” Rebecca replied with her amusement. She wondered if they knew that the name Ares was a Greek god of war.
“It’s an old name that has been passed down through my family,” Ares said.
“Most of us know the name as well except for most of us its a name that one of our ancient civilizations used for their god of war,” Rebecca said.
Troy, Bri and Nall each had to chuckle at that description of Ares. It did fit the man that was for sure.
“What,” Rebecca said feeling out of the loop about what was going on.
“Well, it just so happens that you are on board a warship and I’m the commander of it,” Ares said explaining that part.
“I guess if the shoe fits,” Rebecca said earning another strange glance from the group. “Its a saying we have.”
“Let us take this conversation to a more comfortable setting,” Ares said as they began to walk off the bridge.
“It was you,” Rebecca said as she had glanced out over the bridge and saw a viper. “I have a picture of two of those ships.”
Troy and Bri glanced at each other and Ares also looked at them. He wondered if they already knew about them yet or not.
“The probe,” Troy said.
“Yes, it took a picture of the planet and those ships were in it,” Rebecca said.
“Does anyone else know about it,” Ares asked.
“Not yet, we’re keeping it quiet for now,” Rebecca said.
“I see, I guess that’s something we should talk about then,” Ares said. He led the group towards the meeting room.
*****
“Hey did you hear,” Jax said walking up to where several of the pilots were waiting.
Gunther was sitting there hoping to hear something from what was going on. The last he had heard was Troy and his group had brought back a visitor from the planet’s surface. They had been in conference ever since.
“It is Earth,” she said. “I talked to Renee on the bridge when the call first came in. Troy said that we’ve found Earth.”
“Earth,” Gunther replied not sure if this was good news or not. He knew that if it was Earth then half their mission was now over. The most important part was just beginning. Now they had to begin the process of talking to the people there and making sure that they understood the danger that the Cylons posed to all of humanity.
“We’re here. Our mission was a success,” Jax said with excitement in her eyes.
“One part of the mission is done,” Gunther replied to her.
“What do you mean,” Jax asked not sure she understood what he meant.
“Now we have to evaluate their technology and make them see the danger that the Cylons pose to humanity,” Gunther replied. “It may not be easy seeing how far away we are.”
“And the further a person is from danger the more likely they are to do nothing,” another pilot said. “Considering how far we’ve traveled they may not see that the Cylons pose them any danger.”
“That is the reason we must persuade them that there is danger,” Gunther said. “I just hope that we do it in time.”
“Well for now, I’m going to celebrate,” Jax said deciding not to let that damper her mood.
“It is a celebration,” Gunther said with a smile. They had made it this far. Now they could concentrate on the next mission.
*****
Ares sat back thinking about all Rebecca had told him. He was not sure that they were technologically advanced enough to really help him. But then again he wondered if they would help them out. Some of Rebecca’s answers had confused him until he realized that all the people on Earth were not under one government.
Rebecca had told him that she was a citizen of the North America Confederation. A lose alliance of three countries, Canada, the United States of America and Mexico. They had come into existence when power in other parts of the world had grown in size as well. In order to maintain influence in the world against other larger confederations that had popped up in the world.
Ares wondered who he should introduce his presence to first. His first feeling was to just settle the Argo onto the lawn of the first capital building that he came across. He rejected that idea finally and decided to try and work behind the scenes to see if he could get anything done that way.
“Can I ask you a question,” Rebecca finally said. She had been answering several questions about Earth and its government and technology levels. At first she was glad to provide the answers but now she was not too sure that she should have been answering the questions.
Ares looked up from his thinking to look at the tall dark haired woman. She had been quite forthcoming in her answers so he figured that he could return the favor. He nodded his head yes and waited to see what type of question she had.
“Why do you want to know all of this,” she asked. “You’re not planning on invading us are you?”
“Ah, no,” Ares replied not even thinking of that possibility. “Here let me explain. We come from twelve colonies of humankind. Thirteen tribes left the planet Kobal, the original planet of humanity. Twelve tribes settled together while the thirteenth left for a planet called Earth. Over time the twelve colonies got involved in a war against a race called the Cylons. They had invented complex machines that eventually took over their world.”
“Sounds like the Terminator or Matrix,” Rebecca said to herself remembering the old flicks of the last twentieth century.
“The machine race of Cylons decided that all organic life was its enemy. We got involved trying to help out a neighbor,” Ares said. “The war has been going on for a thousand of our yehrens.”
“I’m not familiar with that time phrase,” Rebecca said. “Is that anything like a year?”
“What is a year,” Ares asked.
“It’s the amount of time it takes our planet to make one complete orbit of the sun,” Rebecca said.
“Ah, then yes, it’s probably the most equivalent to our yehren,” Ares replied.
“That’s a long time to be at war,” Rebecca said. Most wars on earth were much shorter than that.
“Yes and now we are not doing as well. If the colonies fall then sooner or later they will find Earth,” Ares said. “We’re here to help Earth prepare for the war to come.”
“That’s a little bit heavy,” Rebecca said. Ares looked at Troy and Nall not understanding what she was saying. They just shrugged their shoulders.
“Is there anyone that you can think of to help prepare your planet,” Ares asked.
“Well, right now I’m on vacation but I do work for the space exploration part of the government. Perhaps I can ask my boss to see who he says,” Rebecca said.
Ares thought about that for a few moments. Rebecca worked for some part of the government that was involved in space exploration. This might be the best area to try and get into. If he could somehow get to talk with someone in the high command of the government then he might have a chance of persuading them that the Cylons really are a threat to them.
“All right, take someone with you so they can back up your story and who can also contact me. If you could I would like to speak with someone in the government on all of this,” Ares said to her waiting to see what her response would be.
“I can’t make any promises, but I’ll try,” Rebecca said.
*****
Nall walked with Rebecca as she led him towards a building where she worked. It had been several days organizing everything so he would not stand out too much. One thing that he would have to get used to was the unit of time they used on Earth. Minutes, hours, and years would be something that he would have to be sure to remember. That and the phrase back in a second or just a second were phrases he was not familiar with.
The interior of the building was very different compared to what he had been used to. There were pictures hanging on the walls and several doorways all over the place. Nall wondered what all the smaller rooms were used for. Most of the rooms seemed to be empty at the moment.
“A lot of empty rooms,” Nall commented just loud enough so that Rebecca could hear him.
“Yeah, cutbacks by the government. Right now there are only two of us on the full time staff. We do have about a dozen or so volunteers who love space. Several used to work here as well,” Rebecca replied not wanting to really bring up how small her division was. There was just her and her boss and if the government had its way they would be cur as well.
“You mean that the government is trying to get rid of where you work,” Nall asked not sure he heard her correctly.
“Yeah, they think that there is nothing left to do now,” she said. “Even though we are still years away from good transportation technology for the shuttles to the moon they don’t think its worthy of keeping the division open.”
Nall walked past an old fading sign at the entrance to the door that they were headed though.
“NASA, what’s that,” Nall asked.
“That is basically the ancestor organization of the organization I work for now,” Rebecca said. “It was that organization that first put a man on the moon. It’s kinda sad to see such a great division come to such an unglamorous end.”
“We might be able to help that,” Nall said.
“I hope so,” she replied spying her boss who looked rather depressed. “Hey boss,” she called out to him.
“Oh, hi,” he said rather bleakly raising Rebecca’s alarms in her head. Something was wrong and she had a feeling that the budget had come back with bad news.
“What’s wrong,” she asked.
“It seems that the politicians have decided to finally cut us,” he replied throwing the paper to the floor.
“And here I had good news too,” Rebecca said.
“Oh, sorry,” he said realizing that she had brought in another person with her. “And who is this, a new boyfriend I hope.”
“Ah, well actually a bit different, but I did break up with Jason if you want to know,” Rebecca said.
“Good for you Becca,” the man said. “Now who is this,” he asked again.
“He just might be able to help us out of this current problem,” Rebecca said.
“I doubt that,” he replied not sure about this.
“Let me introduce you to him, Nall, this is my boss, Robert Yukut,” Rebecca said.
“Nall, a bit of a strange name,” Robert said.
“Family name,” Nall replied.
“So what can you do for me,” Robert asked.
“Well,” Nall said then spied the picture of the planet with the two vipers on it. “Wow you really did get a good shot of the vipers,” he said. “Hey you don’t think I can get a copy for Troy and Bri do you.”
“Vipers,” Robert said not sure about what was going on. He glanced at Rebecca who did nothing to stop the man.
“Oh, right, these here are vipers, fighters,” Nall repeated. “The most advanced fighters of the colonies.”
“Colonies,” Robert asked getting more and more confused each second. “Who are you?”
“Lieutenant Nall of the Battlestar Argo of the Twelve Colonies,” Nall answered.
“You’ve found another loony one Becca,” Robert said with a shake of his head. At first Robert had like the man, now he was not too sure.
“Ah, no, they found me and he’s telling you the truth,” Rebecca replied.
“I’m not from Earth,” Nall told him. “But I am human.”
“That sounds impossible,” Robert said.
“It isn’t,” Nall said then went and explained everything that had happened and that he knew. Nall had spoken to Troy a little bit before leaving the Argo to see if he had anything he might be able to use to persuade them he was telling the truth. Troy had just told Nall to trust his gut feelings and tell the truth.
*****
Rebecca watched Robert’s face while he thought about everything that Nall had said. She had the feeling that Robert would not see the things the same way. If she had not seen the ship for herself she would not be too sure either. Now they had something that might enable them to keep their division and Robert was thinking about it.
“Robert,” Rebecca said gaining his attention. Nall had gone off to the water fountain while Robert thought about it.
“What is it Becca,” Robert said not sure about what he had been told.
“I’ve been aboard their ship, it was not faked,” Rebecca said. There were too many things about it that could not have been faked.
“How do you know,” Robert said.
“The trip was too smooth for any prankster to had drove me somewhere else. I think I would have felt if I was aboard a car or something like that,” Rebecca replied.
Robert thought about that and realized that it was true. That and it might have been a bit difficult to do anything without anyone seeing it or for Rebecca feeling it.
“I don’t think the people want to explore space anymore. They are too excited about the new deep ocean explorations that have been going on,” Robert said honestly. That was where most of his budget had been going lately.
“Tell them what’s in the ocean can’t kill them, but what’s coming can,” Nall said from the doorway. “I know it’s hard to explain but wait a second.”
Nall walked over to the nearest computer and looked at it for a second. “Can you pick up all types of frequencies with this?”
“Yes, why,” Robert said not sure what Nall was getting at.
“We’re expecting a message to be coming in anytime now from the colonies,” Nall said.
“All right, then what, even if I believe you there is little I can do,” Robert said.
“No, but you can contact those who can,” Nall said as a plan came into his mind.
“What frequency,” Rebecca asked as she pulled up the software on her computer.
“Here, let me see,” Robert said having to convert the units that they had with what the colonies used. He finally found it after a few minutes of working. “In this band,” he told them.
“This band, but its not gamma waves,” Robert said. “You can’t transmit on those frequencies.”
“You can transmit on any frequency, you just have to know how to do it,” Robert said.
“Then we’ll wait,” Robert said sitting down and with patience began to wait.
*****
“Hey doc,” a voice said from the hallway making three heads snap in the direction that the voice came from. A tall young man came into the room that they were in. He had long hair and had a pierced nose that had a ring though it.
“Jeff, what can I do for you,” Robert said getting up out of his chair to greet his cousin.
“Mom was wondering if you were going to come by the house for supper tonight,” Jeff said.
Rebecca turned back to her computer. When she did so she caught Nall staring at Jeff. She quickly kicked his shin to get him to stop. It worked as Nall was now looking at her with a bit of a curious look on his face.
“I think I’ll be able to make it, though I might be a bit late this week,” Robert said to his cousin. His sister and her family always invited him to supper every tuesday night. Most days he would be there early and he glanced at his watch. It was later than norman but still before the time he usually came.
“Wavey unc,” Jeff replied then with a quick good-bye he left to go tell his mom.
Nall looked at the two of them after Jeff left wondering about the thing in the man’s nose. That looked like it had to hurt and what was the function of it. Nall could see no reason for such a thing.
“Its called a nose ring and let me guess, you don’t have that were you’re from,” Rebecca sadi.
“Nope not at all,” Nall replied. It was a bit shocking to him. “What purpose does it serve?”
“The aggrivation of his mother,” Robert said. The reaction that Nall gave to the piercing made him wonder if the man’s story was really true. If it wasn’t then he was one of the best actors Robert had ever seen.
“How long do we have to wait,” Robert asked.
“I’m not sure, we’re a long way from home making the time between the messages longer and longer as we continue to get further away,” Nall said. If they remained stationary then the news would start coming in regular intervals again.
“Fair enough,” Robert said.
“What does ‘wavey’ mean,” Nall finally asked.
“Its the equevalant of the older phrases such as ‘cool’ and ‘all right’. Basically an in way to agree with what someone said or liked what someone did,” Rebecca replied. She personally had never used the phrase because she did not like it.
“I see,” Nall replied then settled back into waiting.
“I’m beginning to think you really aren’t from around here,” Robert said. He was beginning to like the man a little bit with each passing second. Now he would wait to see if the rest of his story panned out.
End part 14