Battlestar Argo
by AJ Marks
Part 22: Healing
Ares sat behind his desk waiting for Tory to knock on his door. He had heard that the shuttle had landed. There were a lot of questions going on in his mind that only Troy would be able to answer. They were still waiting on a report from Centari One on the casualties that had occurred on the planet’s surface. Ares was certain that there would be casualties from the explosions. The base commander thought it was sabotage which also brought new questions that did not have any immediate answers.
The door chimed indicating that Troy was waiting outside his door. Ares gave permission to enter and a second later Troy walked though the door. Troy sat down while the commander looked the younger man over. Troy appeared to be in good health, but Ares would still insist on Troy visiting the medical lab before leaving just to make sure.
“Troy, come in,” Ares said.
“Have you heard anything from Centari One,” Troy asked wondering if Bri was all right.
“We received a communications not that long ago. We don’t expect a casualty report until tomorrow,” Ares said.
Troy nodded his head wondering if he would be able to go that long without knowing if Bri was al right or not.
“Troy, what happened? I talked a bit with the captain of the Hermes and he mentioned that you collapsed,” Ares said to Troy.
“That’s what I want to talk to you about commander,” Troy said.
“I assume that this has to do with what happened on board the Hermes,” Ares asked getting right to the point.
“I’m not sure if it has to do with what happened or not,” Troy replied. He was still trying to make sense of everything that he had seen. There was a lot that did not make sense or even seem to work together. He was trying to figure out if it had to do with the Cylons or not.
“Perhaps if you start at the beginning,” Ares said trying to be helpful.
“I was heading to the hanger to get back down to Centari One, Bri is down there,” Troy said as Ares nodded his head. He could feel for Troy as he did not know what happened to Bri. “But on my way I overheard a group talking about taking over the ship. When I got the bridge the group was standing off with the captain and the bridge crew. I walked out to help the captain with the group. Two of them started arguing amongst themselves and then I think a vision came to me, a powerful one.”
Ares had already figured that the vision had been a powerful one to knock Troy out. Now came the question of what Troy had seen.
“What did you see,” Ares asked. “Was it good or bad?”
“That’s part of the problem, I’m not sure that we will be able to discover who the bad side is,” Troy said.
“I don’t follow,” Ares said trying to follow what Troy was saying.
“Neither do I,” Troy said. “Whatever it was there appears to be multiple sides, not like the war against the Cylons.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Ares said quietly as he thought about such a war. Would that effect what they were trying to do or help it? He could only assume that time would tell. “What else can you tell me?”
“One part of the vision is a large room, or chamber, I don’t really know but its full of tubes that are full of humanoid shaped beings,” Troy said.
“Interesting,” Ares said.
“Yes, another is of you sitting with a group of humans and some alien race. An aide gives you a crystal and you plug it into a computer,” Troy said.
“And,” Ares asked.
“That was it, you plug it into a computer,” Troy said. “There are also arguments between people, Senator Sam, Robert and a few other people who I’ve never seen before. Then there is also a large battle that occurs. I see several ships, some I recognize some I don’t.”
“Is the Argo there,” Ares asked wondering if they would be part of whatever it was that was going to happen.
“Yes but I don’t know who we are fighting or why,” Troy said. “There are also several visions of humans talking with these aliens for some reason.”
“Do you know if it’s before or after the battle,” Ares asked.
“That’s just it, I don’t even know if these aliens are the enemy that we’re fighting,” Troy said. “I just see them talking with humans but no time line or anything like that.”
“We’ll have to keep our guard up then,” Ares said. “Thanks.”
*****
Rebecca finally found a working console which had communication access. She activated the line. She called the Hermes to see if she could get in touch with Troy and let him know what was going on.
“Lieutenant Greere of the Hermes how can I help you,” a woman said appearing on the screen.
“I need to get in touch with a Captain Troy of the Argo. He is supposed to be on the Hermes,” Rebecca said.
“Can I ask who is calling please,” Greere replied.
“Rebecca, a friend of his,” Rebecca replied.
“Just a moment,” Grrere said as the screen went to a holding pattern while she went to see if she would find Troy. The screen came back to life a moment later. “I’m sorry but Captain Troy is no longer on the Hermes, he shuttled over to the Argo about twenty minutes ago.”
“Oh, thanks,” Rebecca said then the line was disconnected. She then tried to contact the Argo. It took a few tries but she finally got in touch with Renee on the bridge of the Argo.
“Battlestar Argo,” Renee said.
“I’m looking for Captain Troy,” Rebecca said.
“Who’s calling,” Renee asked. It was a question that Rebecca should have known was coming by the previous call to the Hermes.
“Rebecca, I have some information for him,” Rebecca replied.
“Just a moment,” Renee said.
*****
Ares was about to say something else when Renee’s voice interrupted him.
“Commander Ares, Rebecca is on the communications for Captain Troy,” Renee said.
“He’ll be right there,” Ares answered. Suddenly Troy felt nervous about the fact that Rebecca was calling him and not Bri. The two of them quickly made their way to the bridge where Ares ordered the communication up to his station.
“Rebecca, where’s Bri” Troy said as her face appeared on the screen.
“She will be fine. A couple of broken bones and is currently knocked out but the doctor says she should make a full recovery,” Rebecca said. “Apparently she was closer to the center of one of the blasts than either Nall or I.”
“Any idea as to how many casualties,” Ares asked wondering if she would have an estimate for him.
“I don’t know Commander Ares,” Rebecca said. “There were several explosions that all seemed to go off at once. I’m sure that there were some killed but I don’t have any idea as to how many.”
“Its all right, I was just hoping that you might have a bit more information than the commander of the base,” Ares said.
“Nope, sorry,” Rebecca said. “I was mostly calling to let Troy know about Bri.”
“I appreciate it Rebecca, how is Nall,” Troy asked her.
“He seems to be one of the few who survived without a scratch,” Rebecca said.
“He does seem to have that ability, maybe he gets enough bumps and bruises from Bri to balance it out,” Troy said.
“Probably,” Rebecca said as the two of them shared a smile.
“If Bri awakens tell her I’ll be down there as soon as I can,” Troy said.
“I will,” Rebecca said. “I should be going then.”
The screen went blank as Rebecca turned and made her way back tot he medical lab. People were still running around trying to minimize the fire damage and anything else that might occur. She noticed that more people had since been brought in tot he med lab and that they were running out of room. The doctor was working as fast as he could but there were just too many injured people for him to take care of quickly.
Nall was still sitting near Bri who it appeared had not awakened yet. Rebecca quickly made her way over to where he was.
“Any change,” Rebecca asked.
“Nothing yet,” Nall said. “The doctor said that she would probably wake up in the next little while.”
“And I can assume that you will be here,” Rebecca said.
“I feel like I should be,” Nall said. “Did you get in touch with Troy?”
“Yeah, he was on the Argo,” Rebecca said.
“The Argo, thought they were headed to Earth,” Nall said not sure he understood what was going on with that.
“I don’t know, but it appeared that he and Commander Ares had been talking,” Rebecca said.
“Whatever it was it was probably important,” Nall said.
“He said that he would be down as soon as he could,” Rebecca said.
*****
Troy went over the landing hanger that were on Centari One and was satisfied that they were still operational. He would pilot a shuttle on down there along with some medical personal from the Argo. Ares was sure that the medical labs down on the planet would be overflowing right now.
Troy received the launch instructions from Renee and pushed the launch button on the shuttle. It blasted off into space where he steered the shuttle down into the atmosphere of the planet. Within a few minutes he could hear Centari One’s landing officer telling him where to dock the shuttle. It seemed that some hangers were more damaged than others. That and the range of Centari One’s landing towers was severely limited because of damage to the tower.
Troy headed toward hanger four which was the least damaged hanger on the base. Two others had been severely damaged by the blasts. Now as the shuttle landed in the hanger there were more than a few people waiting for them. The doctor got out first along with a medical staff and equipment. They quickly made their way to the medical lab where their presence would be a welcomed sight to the over worked doctor there.
Troy transferred the shuttle over to Gunther and Jax who were standing there waiting for them. They had heard that Troy was piloting the shuttle. They also knew that he would want to head on over to the medical lab to check on Bri. They had quickly volunteered to pilot the shuttle back and forth from the Argo and the base.
Troy did not waste any time getting to the medical lab. He noticed that Nall and Rebecca were still there. The doctors were quickly working on everyone to make sure that they helped everyone. There were a few that had not made it. Those who did not were being taken out of the medical lab to make room for others. Troy went straight to Bri’s side to see for himself how she was.
“Has she been awake at all,” Troy asked Nall.
“Not yet, but she has squeezed my hand and that’s a good sign,” Nall said. “The doctor was over just a moment ago and witnessed it himself. Said she might be trying to wake up.”
“Good,” Troy said kneeling down beside Bri. He held her hand and brushed the hair off her face. “Hey honey how are you feeling?”
Nall stood up and rubbed his eyes. It had been quite a day already and it seemed like it was not over. Rebecca stood beside him wondering what all was going to happen after this. She was not expected to hear Troy’s voice directed at her.
“Rebecca, have you ever heard of the gray’s,” Troy asked.
“Well, in my field I’ve heard of them. It is a rumored alien group that abducts humans for strange experiments. Such tales were especially prevalent in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries,” Rebecca said. “They were called grays because their skin was a grey color. They were smaller than a normal human with large black eyes and head. Why do you want to know?”
“Oh, just that one of the guys that was trying to take over the Hermes talked about them and their plan to take over Earth. He said that we were working with them,” Troy replied.
“Sounds like a strange story,” Nall replied.
“Most people no longer believe in them anymore. They are figments of people being too gullible and believing what they hear,” Rebecca said.
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Troy said now having a bit more information. The being that Rebecca described seemed to fit the alien that was in Troy’s vision.
Rebecca was about to reply to that when a groan interrupted the conversation. Troy immediately turned his attention back to Bri. She was coming slowly back to conscious. Green eyes slowly blinked opened then quickly shut again.
“Ow,” Bri said. “Does the light have to be so bright,” she said making everyone glad that she appeared to be on the way to a recovery.
“How do you feel Br,” Troy asked taking her hand again.
“Like daggit dung,” Bri said. “My head hurts, my arm hurts and my leg hurts. What happened?”
“It seemed that some of our new allies thought we were going to invade Earth,” Troy said.
“We are, since when. When did the mission change and no one told me,” Bri said opening her eyes again this time for a long stretch to frown at Troy.
“I don’t know but I didn’t get the message either,” Troy said.
Nall figured that now that he knew that Bri was going to be all right that he would go and volunteer to help with the clean up. He made eye contact with Bri then went off to help the cleanup crews in whatever what he could.
*****
Ares sat behind his desk on the Argo. A lot had happened recently and he was not sure what would happen next. The reports from Centari One were slowly coming in. So far there had been ten killed with thirty-six injured. Three of the killed had been part of the crew of the Argo. That was a loss for them all as they had become a family over the course of the journey.
The next part of the investigation was questioning who had been behind it. They were lucky in this part in that they had captured most of the people who had been behind it. Ares was sure that the real master minds behind the attack were not here but back on Earth. That meant that he would have to be careful in what they did or said.
“Commander Ares,” Pratt’s voice said over the intercom.
“What is it Colonel Pratt,” Ares replied.
“We have finished our questioning of the prisoners. I think you’ll find the finding quite interesting,” Pratt said.
“All right, meet me in the briefing room along with Captain Troy, Robert and Senator Sam,” Ares said.
“Yes sir,” Pratt replied.
Ares got up and made his way out of his office wondering what type of information they would gain from the questioning. He had learned that Bri was going to be all right but the doctors wanted her to remain under observation for a bit longer.
*****
Ares walked into the meeting room where Troy already was sitting. The man looked a bit better than last time. A lot had happened since then. They had been able to interrogate the persons responsible for what happened. Now Ares hoped that they had a better understanding as to why it happened.
“All right, now that everyone is here let’s hear what has been learned,” Ares said looking around at everyone.
“All right,” Robert said. He had been present for the questioning and had asked many of the questions. “First off I want to tell you that the actions of the few do not represent all of us.”
“We understand Robert,” Ares said. Many of the Colonial warriors had made friends with those from Earth.
“It seems that they were acting under the orders of a Senator from Earth,” Robert said. That did not seem to faze Sam. For him it made sense and he had a good idea as to which senator.
“Did they say why they acted like they did,” Ares said knowing that this would be a much more important question. This would determine how they would handle the entire situation.
“Apparently they believe that you and your group are part of an invasion force to conquer Earth,” Robert said. “I know that a lot of us don’t believe that but they seem to believe it quite a bit.”
“Well, the logical solution would be invite him along,” Ares said as he thought of different ways to diffuse the situation. The one thing that Ares did not want was more bloodshed over this.
“Perhaps, but he may not like that. Right now he does not know if we succeeded or failed. We might be able to use that to our advantage right now,” Troy said from where he was sitting. He still had a bad feeling about everything. Part of it stemmed from his vision that he had seen.
“Do you have a better solution,” Sam said. “I have known most of these senators for years. There are a few that I would trust to backstab me in politics but nothing literal like this.”
“Perhaps, but they did organize this attack,” Troy replied to which the senator had no reply for. Someone had organized the attack and so far all signs pointed to a senator that he probably knew.
“The question then comes up again, what should we do,” Sam asked looking at Troy.
“We might be able to use one of the group, Mike,” Troy said. “He so far appears to not really be on their side. We might be able to use him to lure the senator into thinking that we’ve been badly hurt.”
“Not destroyed,” Robert asked.
“I don’t think that he believes one attack will work,” Sam said. “I know that I would not. But a weak enemy is better to look out for.”
“Do you think that would work,” Ares asked Troy.
“It just might give us the time we need to regroup in the shadows again,” Troy said.
“You make us sound like we’re hiding or something,” Sam said.
“In a way we are,” Troy said. “But I do have a feeling that things are going to change.”
“Set the priority to rebuilding the base and finishing the Tiger,” Ares said. “That should give us a bit of time. Then bay 2 should be completed by then and the Argo will be upgraded at that time.”
With a plan in place the meeting broke up. Troy made his way back to the med lab to check on Bri. She had been brought back to the Argo and was undergoing observations for a concussion that she sustained in the blast. Everyone knew that there was still a lot to do and that a lot depended on how Mike was able to perform. Troy had a good feeling about this plan. It had the potential to work.
*****
“I’m feeling fine,” Troy heard his wife’s voice say from where he was standing as he got closer to the medical lab. Bri did not like the medical lab. It came from when she was younger. She had told him about it one night when they were on their voyage.
Bri had been about four yahrens old at the time when the Cylons had attacked the colony they were on. The house the family was staying had been destroyed in the attack. She had been injured along with her mother and father. All of them were taken to the nearby med lab which was overflowing from all the patients. Though Bri did not say too much she did say that her parents had died there and she had been left alone near them for a long time. It had a major psychological impact on her which Troy could not blame.
He walked in to see Bri sitting up on the bed. Her broken bones had been healed already. She was glaring at the doctor who seemed to be oblivious to her withering glare.
“Hey gorgeous,” Troy said with a smile as he walked over to where she was sitting. He received the same look and he knew that she was annoyed. “You’ll be out of here in no time.” he said as he stood near the bed.
“I want out of here,” she growled still giving him a look.
Troy sighed then decided to go and talk with the doctor. “Wait here and I’ll see if I can charm the doctor into letting you go,” he said. “I’m sure you’re charm was let me go or else.”
“Ha-ha,” Bri said without much humor but watched as he walked over to where the doctor was standing.
“Hey doc, is there any real reason besides observation that you need to keep her here,” Troy asked him.
“It would be best for her to stay here,” the doctor said.
“She’s had a rough time in medical labs and really doesn’t like it in here. Now, she can either stay here or continue to ask to be let go disturbing others or I can watch her,” Troy said. “All you would have to do is let me know what to look for.”
The doctor thought about it for a few seconds before finally relenting. He told Troy very seriously that if she had a headache or got dizzy to return her back to the medical lab right away. Troy promised and with a smile walked back to a still frustrated wife.
“I managed to spring you,” Troy said watching as Bri hopped out of the bed faster than he thought anyone could. She did not seem to be dizzy by the speed at which she was ready to go. He felt dizzy though watching her and wondered if that would work. If he did that then as his Earth buddies said he would be in the dog house.
“Let’s go,” Bri said all but dragging Troy out of the medical lab. He managed to spare one glance at the doctor who was smiling at him and several other patience were also smirking. With a shake of his head he rushed to catch up with his wife.
“Hey,” Nall’s voice said in the hallway. They turned to see him walking towards the door. “I see they finally let you go. I was wondering about that. Did you finally take my advice?”
“Advice,” Troy said looking at Bri then at Nall. “Are you the one who told her to complain until they let her go.”
“No, I told her to flirt with the nurses,” Nall said with a laugh causing Troy to roll his eyes.
“You are a sick man,” Bri said glaring at him.
“I take it that’s a no to a threesome with a nurse,” Nall said as Bri walked up to him. Troy was torn from saving Nall and letting his wife vent her frustrations. He missed what she did but suddenly Nall was hopping up and down as Bri had a pleasant smirk on her face.
“Nall, perhaps you should wait a bit or you might end up in the medical lab,” Troy said.
“Oh, there’s a thought, guilt trip,” he said with a smile. “Oh, I think you broke it he said as he put an exaggerated limp in his step.
“Faker,” Bri said.
“I’ve never faked in bed once in my life,” Nall said puffing out his chest.
“Pervert,” Bri said backhanding him in the stomach causing him to exhale quickly. “Come on, I’m tired and want to go to my own room and my own bed.”
“All right,” Troy said putting his arm around her.
“All kidding aside,” Nall said placing his hand on her shoulder. “I’m glad you’re all right.”
“I know me too,” Bri replied.
Nall walked off to find Rebecca to see what was going on there while Troy and Bri headed back to their quarters. Troy had been able to cancel their trip. It was something that he had been looking forward to. But now he would work on a new time to go. He would have to talk with Bri and Commander Ares as to when their break could be taken again. For now though he had a wife to watch the rest could wait.
End of part 22