Since my current story regarding the Battlestar Hermes takes place after the fall of the twelve colonies I thought I'd write a short story that takes place before so as to explore my character's lives before the war. I have included some characters (and later some ships) from Wes Imlay's Battlestar Victorious stories with his permission. Hope you enjoy!
- Tony W
Important Quotations from BSG Series 3 Episode 8 'Hero'
"The Admiralty had grown frustrated of the Adar Administration. My mission was to ascertain the likelihood of a Cylon strike."
- Admiral William Adama to Lee Adama
"What makes you think they didn't send you out there to start a war?"
- President Laura Roslin to Admiral William Adama
CAPRICA CITY SPACEPORT
EIGHT MONTHS BEFORE THE FALL
Sitting in one of the quieter cafes that occupied the many stalls and outlets of the spaceport a broadly built man with short and well groomed brown hair sat at the counter with a glass of ice water and a newspaper, namely the Caprica Herald. The front page was dominated by the main story of the day and had the words 'TEACHERS THREATEN INDUSTRIAL ACTION' printed in bold across the page. The man read the main article with interest as he lifted his glass and took a drink of the refreshing water. He looked up at the time and realised he had to go. He had just arrived on a flight from Picon and was earlier than expected so his ride wasn't here yet. He tipped the waitress who smiled in appreciation before making his way to the front of the spaceport.
The hustle and bustle of the main entrance of the spaceport seemed to grab hold of the man like a cork dropped into a violent sea and he searched longingly for a space he could take up away from the crowd all of whom were fighting for the limited number of taxis. Suddenly the air filled with the low sound of a high powered car engine and the man had a feeling his ride was arriving. He was right. A bright blue and white convertible sports car rolled up into the taxi rank its engine growling like an angry tiger waiting to break loose. Both the man and the driver had spotted each other and shared an acknowledging glance as the new arrival threw his one leather bag into the small space behind the two front seats and said "They obviously pay Admirals more than they do Commanders." The driver laughed heartily as the man got in to the passenger seat and the two of them locked their right hands tightly together like brothers. "It's good to see you Scott!"
"You too Artimus" replied Admiral Scott Tolan sitting in the driver's seat with a pair of dark tinted sunglasses protecting his eyes from what was a beautiful day in the capitol city.
"Think you can keep in the speed limit today?" joked Commander Artimus Bowman of the Battlestar Hermes who knew the answer all too well. Scott simply smiled as he put the car into gear and like an avenging angel it roared off into the distance with blue smoke emanating from the hot rubber. "Lords of kobol hear my prayer!" joked Bowman.
The sports car impatiently stopped and started off again many times through the busy streets of Caprica City until finally it made it out to the countryside and Scott seemed to find his element as he manoeuvred the car around the twisting roads.
"So how was the flight?" asked Tolan.
"Oh y'know. Bad food. Lousy service. Old movie" chanted Bowman before Tolan added, "Ugly stewardess?" Bowman simply feigned a grin in acknowledgement. Tolan knew that Bowman had an issue with people who gave out love freely although in the five and a half years they had known each other Tolan couldn't figure out where it had come from? Bowman was someone who loved his wife unconditionally. Brooke Bowman was waiting with Scott's wife Emily at one of Emily's family homes. Being a Greystone there were indeed many such homes that they could retreat too.
"How is everyone?" asked Bowman.
"Brooke misses you terribly" he explained.
"It's mutual. Believe me! That's just the price we have to pay in the service. Emily?"
"She's good" answered Tolan, "although I don't think the triplets have been too pleased to have your wife with us. Brooke doesn't stop does she? We tried to tell her to take it easy but she've spent the time tutoring them in their worst subjects. Don't get me wrong! It's not that we don't appreciate it! It's just we brought you guys up here to relax for a bit."
"Well that's Brooke for you. She's committed" said Bowman with a hint of worry in his voice. Brooke Bowman was a teacher at Wilson Elementary school in Caprica City and she was an active member of the Teacher's Union that was making the news recently, something that deeply worried Bowman. "She really does care about her students. I just got a bad feeling that this dispute with the teachers is going to get out of control. Just like on Aerilon. Adar is an idiot! Worse still he is an idiot with power. And judging by the state of the fleet he seems to have forgotten the little favour the military did his family six years ago." Bowman was referring to the military operation to rescue Adar's sister and niece that they had both undertaken six years earlier. It was during that operation that the two of them first met.
"So say we all!" chanted Tolan as the car slowed outside the gates to a magnificent house beside a lake. The security system identified Tolan and opened the gates automatically to allow him and Bowman inside. Tolan parked the car near the front entrance. Bowman knew that this wasn't the Tolan's actual home and asked "So is this one of Emily's family homes?"
"Yep!" replied Tolan who took a deep breath before adding, "This used to be Daniel Greystone's place." Bowman shot a stunned look at Tolan who returned a confirming stare. "That's right. This is where it all happened!"
"My Gods!" gasped Bowman as he took in the surrounding area almost in total disbelief that he was standing in the grounds of one of the most important buildings in human history for it was hear that Daniel Greystone had first began work on what he would later call a Cybernetic Lifeform Node – Cylon!
"Artimus!" A woman's voice shrieked from the doorway. It was Emily Tolan, Scott's wife, and she came rushing up to him and threw her arms around him.
"Hello Em'," he said smiling as she squeezed the air out of his lungs which caused him to chuckle as she released him.
"You're looking well Artimus" said Emily.
"Well I guess being a Commander suits me-" Bowman was suddenly cut off by Emily throwing her hand up in protest before turning to her husband and saying, "You didn't tell him did you?"
"Oh right!" sighed Tolan in a manner that said he was tired of hearing about this. He turned back to Bowman to explain, "We have standing orders not to talk about work."
"I see" chuckled Bowman. "Well I think I do that."
"Come on" said Emily. "Brooke is inside with the kids."
It was an odd feeling for Bowman. Everytime he returned from an excursion aboard a Battlestar, some of which could last up to three to four months, he always felt like a schoolboy on a first date when he first saw his wife. He followed Emily through the beautiful and spacious home out to the veranda at the back that overlooked the crystal lake. The closer he got the more he could hear his wife's voice as she coached the Tolan triplets. His stomach became a flutter and his breathlessness continued to grow. They had been together five years now! Bowman thought he shouldn't still feel this way but he did and he loved her for it even more.
Brooke was sitting at the table in a pair of white shorts and a maroon t-shirt. Her dark brown hair flowed freely down her back from a hairband that sat upon her head. There was ten years between them and the age gap was exacerbated by Brooke's youthful features that made her look younger than twenty eight years old. She was so busy concentrating on the three small Tolan children that she hadn't noticed him standing in the doorway and it took a surprised glance from Andrew Tolan, one of the triplets, to make her aware of her husband but before she could even say hello Bowman was swamped by three excited small children longing to see their honorary uncle. "Hey everybody!" said Bowman happily as he leaned down to say hello to each of them. He talked quickly with the three of them before throwing Henry his bag and said, "Here, I brought you some presents!"
"From your ship?" asked Lisa Tolan the only girl of the three.
"Go and see!" he said and the three of them went rushing off into the living room dragging his bag behind them. Brooke was standing there glowing as she looked at her husband face to face for the first time in three months. The two of them were completely oblivious to anything else in the universe at that moment. Emily tugged on her husband's arm to indicate that they should leave them alone for a few minutes and they retreated inside to their three excited children. Finally alone Bowman struggled to speak before getting the words out, "You-you look beautiful!"
Brooke's smile seemed to widen further as the two of them took several controlled steps towards one another before giving in to their emotions and they threw themselves into each other's arms. With his head resting on her shoulder he closed his eyes and tried to memorise every second of having her in his arms once again. It was as if it had been a lifetime since they had seen each other last.
"I've missed you!" she said almost sobbing. Bowman felt guilty as he held her tightly and at that moment would have given up everything he had; his ship, his career, all that was his in order to keep her in his arms but they both knew that it was the euphoria speaking. Bowman was a career officer and Brooke accepted that, something he was forever thankful for. After they had finished they felt they were being rude to their hosts and returned inside.
They had a pleasant and relaxed afternoon of conversation and a game of tennis before a light supper. The triplets proved most entertaining throughout the course of the afternoon as they showed everyone their latest masterpieces that adorned some scrap paper. When it was time for bed Emily asked Andrew to take off the peaked hat that Bowman had got him the front of which was emblazoned with the Seal of the Colonial Fleet and the words BATTLESTAR HERMES BSG-58 adorning the circumference but the young man refused adamantly and so Emily gave in and let him wear it to bed.
With the children finally off to bed the adults sat out on the veranda with a bottle of fine wine from Virgon. Bowman assumed the bottle probably cost more than a week's pay and so was careful not to down his glass in one go. More than once Emily brought up the topic of Artimus and Brooke having their own children but the subject was met with some awkward glances from the Bowmans. Although Artimus was getting close to fourty the two of them felt there was still time. Despite their 'standing orders' it was not long before Bowman and Tolan were sharing stories.
"So anyway" chuckled Bowman in the middle of a particularly hilarious story. "It's 'Buffer's one thousandth landing right? And he goes off on his training mission in one of the Daedalus's pristine Mark V Vipers. So we are all down on the hangar deck and we suit up for an EVA. We figure we will go up on the landing deck and cheer him on as he comes in. So we hear he is on approach. Hands-on of course and he enters the hangar pod and positions himself for landing. We're all there waving and cheering in our spacesuits as he positions himself over the decklift and we can see the thrusters firing like crazy 'cause he is so nervous about getting it right and then suddenly...it just stops right there! Just a few feet from the deck! System wipeout! You remember what the old fives were like?" Tolan laughed as if recalling his own similar story of the problematic Viper Mark V. "So he is there screaming and thumping his fist on the side of the canopy. He can't believe it! So we all walk over there and he's only six feet from the deck. He's not even close enough for the magnetic surface to grab hold of him! And we reach up and we all pull him down onto the deck! He's there in the cockpit screaming and shouting but of course no one can hear him! So his Viper gets towed down in the hangar deck and the CAG walks up to him and says 'Bad news! You've got to do it again!'"
Both Bowman and Tolan were laughing heartily while Brooke and Emily simply smiled politely. The night drew in and the two women left to look at some holiday photos of Emily and Scott's last vacation to Scorpia. Tolan watched as Bowman looked up at the starlit sky. In particular he was looking at a rather bright star that was in fact a nearby planet.
"Picon!" he said almost off handedly. "That's were Hermes is right now."
Tolan laughed. "You've been bitten by the bug now! That ship is going to be like a second wife to you from now on...If you'll pardon the expression?" Scott Tolan's smile dropped slightly. "How's it going?"
"It's good. A few rough edges to smooth out namely my XO but other than that. We are still officially attached to BSG-58 but we have been on detached service the past three months carrying out policing duties in the Mystra Asteroid Belt. In a month she goes into refit so I'm going to be leaving on an evaluation cruise in two weeks. I think a round trip of the colonies might reveal any bugs in the ship but I got to tell you, I've got a good team on board and they know that ship! I don't predict any major problems."
"It's good that you feel that way about your ship" added Tolan who then paused as if considering whether or not to mention something. It was a notion that Bowman had latched onto and he stared at his friend inquisitively. Tolan decided to speak his mind. "Tell me Artimus?" asked Tolan with a hint of hesitance. "Have you heard anything regarding the Armistice Line lately?"
"How do you mean?" asked Bowman unsure of what Tolan was talking about exactly. Bowman looked at his old friend and knew something was bothering him. "What's up? Talk to me! C'mon."
"Come here a minute" said Tolan wanting to walk over to the fencing looking over the lake with their backs to their wives so they couldn't hear. When he was sure that Brooke or Emily couldn't hear them he continued, "I've had some documents come across my desk. Documents that perhaps I shouldn't have. Documents that were meant for destruction but somehow ended up with me."
"What kind of documents?" asked Bowman in a subdued voice.
"Classified ones! Regarding unusual traffic near the line."
"Cylons?" inquired Bowman to which Tolan answered with silence. "Colonial?" asked Bowman! Tolan nodded. "What kind of traffic?"
"Well that's the odd thing" explained Tolan. "They're military and civilian ships. On their own these reports are unimportant but put them all together and it paints a disturbing picture. One could look at these ship movements as almost sabre rattling. Like they're trying to get a response from the Cylons."
"What?" gasped Bowman stunned! "Have the Cylons responded?"
"I can't be certain but I have received some information regarding a black ops mission from your old ship, the Valkyrie. I can't get any specific information but it appears that a pilot was shot down but by whom I can't be sure. There was some mention of Tauron terrorists but nothing substantial." Tolan paused for breath overwhelmed by guilt as he turned to his friend with a confession. "Artimus! I give you my word that I brought you and Brooke here out of friendship. But I had planned to ask you a favour. I was going to ask you to take the Hermes out to the Red Line for your evaluation cruise. I can't order you to do this. I'd understand if you refused."
Bowman had to admit that he was a little hurt by the possibility that he was invited here just to ask him for this favour but as he looked at Scott something told him that he was being genuine.
"Well..." said Bowman. "Ok. But isn't taking a Battlestar to the Red Line sabre rattling in itself?"
"I'd considered that" explained Tolan "but the Cylons seem totally oblivious to anything we do out there unless we cross the line. I'm hoping that Hermes will either scare the crap out of whoever is behind all this activity or at the least find evidence to reveal what's going on? I need Hermes because she isn't attached to any group and since she's on her evaluation she can go in with an air of authenticity. But it's your call. And I will respect your decision."
Bowman thought for a moment as he looked back at Brooke with Emily. How could he not act on this information? If Tolan was right then there were elements within the Fleet Command trying to coax a response from the Cylons. This was why he joined the fleet in the first place, to protect his loved ones and he felt that Colonial Officers trying ta start a war was a personal insult.
He turned to Tolan and said, "I'll do it!"
"Alright!" said Tolan. "We'll talk more before you leave at the end of the week. In the meantime let's just put this behind us and enjoy our shore leave. C'mon! Let's get back inside. I know Emily is dying to tell you about my attempt to paraglide on Scorpia."