Standing in the small clearing, facing the seemingly solid wall that, according to a Cylon, would allow them entrance to the Tomb of Athena, Laura Roslin took a moment to breathe. The air was still damp from recent rains , arefreshing change after two months of nothing but reprocessed air aboard the ships.
When she opened her eyes, taking in the vibrant greens of the foliage, the way the natural light plate across the features of the men and women standing with her, faces grown so familiar since the attacks, she found herself drawn to the young man and woman inspecting the rock wall. Lieutenant Kara Thrace was slowly waving the Arrow of Apollo over the slab, hoping it would do… something. Beside her, Captain Lee Adama, Laura's advisor, was methodically prodding the wall with his bare hands.
For a brief moment, Laura allowed her focus to drift. Kobol suited her young captain, as did the shadow of dark scruff beginning to appear along his jaw line. Somehow, it made his already fair skin look like marble and his stunning blue eyes became even more arresting.
Really, he was unfairly lovely.
"Stupid frakin' thing couldn't come with a handbook?" Kara snapped, frustrated by the rock's failure to react to the arrow. "No, because that would be too logical, wouldn't it."
Gripping the scrolls of Pythia closer, Laura read from a bloodied page. "And the Arrow of Apollo will open the Tomb of Athena."
"Yeah, well, unless anyone sees a keyhole or whatever, we're either in the wrong place or we're perfectly screwed," Kara replied sarcastically, turning to face the group and swinging her arms in a wide arc. The Arrow slapped against Lee's chest and, reflexively, he raised his hands, accepting the relic from his fellow pilot.
Clearly, Commander William Adama shared Kara's impatience. Making a decision, he said, "Then why don't we just, ah, Helo, come…."
"Wait," Laura said, holding up a hand in taking a short step forward. Her eyes were again on Lee, who was holding the Arrow, a most peculiar expression on his face. "Lee, are you all right?"
He gave himself a shake, long, almost absurdly delicate fingers clenching around the relic. "Yeah…I just…."
Without finishing, Lee took several steps to his right and scraped at a patch of moss, peeling away with short, once nails. Once he'd bared a small section of rock, he took a breath and pressed the Arrow to it.
Nothing happened.
"That's a bit of a…." Kara began, but she stopped when Lee placed a palm against the wall he'd earlier inspected and, with a shriek of rock against rock, the slab rolled aside.
Their party stood there for a moment, gaping into the dark cavern before Tyrol spoke in a hushed tone. "The Arrow of Apollo."
Lee stiffened slightly and Laura knew he wasn't entirely comfortable with anything involving prophecies or the Gods. Still, it was undeniable that the Arrow had responded in his, Captain Apollo's, hands.
No one seemed to know what to say and Kara finally drawled, "So, who was it that gave you your call sign, hmmm?"
Turning to face her, Lee scowled, but Adama rumbled, "There's time for that later. Helo, stay out. Chief, guard everybody."
Leaving Tyrol to guard Zarek, Sharon and Helo, Laura entered the Tomb with Lee, Commander Adama, Billy and Kara. The entrance opened into a rather large cavern, one with pedestals and crumbled statues surrounding an expanse of empty floor.
After a moment, Kara gasped. "These broken statues, I recognize them. The ram, Aerilon. Gemenon, the twins, these are the icons of the 12 tribes, the 12 colonies. This is where it all began. We all came from this place."
Spreading out, the five of them inspected the remains of marble. "This could be Picon, the fish," Billy said, young voice echoing in the room.
"I guess this little lady could be Virgon," Lee mused from where he stood by the mostly intact statue of a young woman.
As Adama just stared, Kara murmured, "The goat, Caprica."
"Sagittaron, the archer," Laura breathed as she drew close to mostly intact statue.
Stepping toward her, Adama intoned, "He's missing something."
The statue was indeed without an arrow.
Again, eyes turned towards Lee, who was still holding the Arrow. Without comment, he crossed the room and extended his hands toward the icon. They were all startled when the relic seemed to leap the last inch from his fingers to the statues bow.
To everyone's surprise, the cavern door slammed closed , throwing them into darkness . Then they were enveloped in a blinding white light that, as it faded, left them standing in a dark field. Adama, Lee and Kara swung their weapons to ready, prepared for attack, but none came.
They were alone, surrounded by 12 pillars, each bearing a glowing symbol. "Where the hell are we?" Billy asked, taking an awkward step through the tall grass.
"I don't know," Laura responded slowly, staring at the glowing symbols as a possibility formed in her mind. "Tomb of Athena, I think."
"I thought we were already in the Tomb," Adama said in disbelief, which prompted Kara to reply, "I think that was the lobby."
In the sky above each pillar, the stars echoed the symbols they bore . "Again the ancient symbols," Laura said, working an idea over in her head. "These patterns were on the original flags of the 12 colonies, back in the days when the colonies were called by their ancient names. Aires, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Libra, Virgo."
Adama was catching on. "The jewels match the constellations."
"This is the map," Lee said, shifting in the grass. "This is the map to Earth."
"Maybe," his father replied. "So was Earth in one of these constellations?"
It was Kara who made the final connection. "We're standing on it," she breathed reverently. "We are standing on Earth. The Scriptures say that when the 13th tribe landed on Earth, they looked up into the heavens and they saw their 12 brothers."
"Earth is the place where you can look up in the sky and you can see the constellations of the 12 colonies," Laura said, continuing the younger woman's train of thought as they all looked skyward.
"I don't know what good it's gonna do us though," Kara said with a slight shake of her head. "I mean, what are we supposed to do? Search the entire galaxy for one particular star pattern?"
For a moment they were all quiet as her words sank in and they realized how very difficult a task such as that would be.
"There." Lee's voice broke the silence and everyone turned to see him pointing up into the sky. "There in Scorpio. I've seen that before. It's the Lagoon Nebula."
"Astral body M8," Adama rumbled as Laura felt a smile stretch across her face. "That's a long way from here."
"Yeah," Lee agreed and the hope was palpable in his voice. "But at least now we have a map and a direction."
He and Kara let out breathless little laughs as Laura stared up at the beautiful swirling nebula that represented so many possibilities.
When they're ready to leave, it becomes obvious that it will be no simple task. Or at least that's what it seemed until we reach out and closed his hand around nothing. Once again there was a bright flash and they found themselves in darkness, but only for a moment before the cavern door rolled open allowing in natural light.
"Commander, you all right in there?" Tyrrell sounded a bit nervous, which was understandable considering the whole cavern sealing itself thing.
"We're fine," Adama replied, then motioned toward the exit. "We done here?"
Everyone nodded, no one mentioning the arrow once again clamped in Lee's hands. Without comment, Kara handed over the carrying case and he still owed the relic away before slinging it over his shoulder.
At some point, they were going to have to consider what had happened and why. Why had the arrow reacted to Lee and no one else, why was he clearly compelled to act with it?
But for now, there were other things to consider.
TBC….
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