The Last, Best Hope of Earth

By John Thomas Hill

Chapter One

Dreams Torn Asunder

All Laura Roslin could see with her eyes was a barren, deserted wasteland. When she arrived at Earth a week ago, along with the ragtag fleet from the Colonies, she thought that the three-year odyssey of fleeing the Cylon destruction of the twelve planets was finally at an end. Seeing what had happened to Earth broke her heart, and serious thoughts of suicide raced through her mind.

How can I go on? How can we all go on? Those questions dominated her mind as she dealt with the panicky members of the Quorum of Twelve as well as the captains and leaders on board the other ships of the fleet. The emotions of the last week, indeed the last three years, had taken their toll on her, and it didn't help that she was stricken with terminal breast cancer.

Still, there were rocks underneath her feet in this ordeal. The man she loved, Admiral William Adama, still remained strong despite the proverbial blow to the gut seeing Earth in her radioactive reality. Lee Adama, the man who defied her on the stand at Gaius Baltar's trial and whom while she was still angry about that still admired him for the principle for which he took the stand, was doing an outstanding job of organizing the fleet and keeping things calm. Kara Thrace, the hotshot pilot who seemingly died only to fly back to the fleet months ago saying she'd found a way to Earth, was helping Lee despite the doubts that crept into her head that she may have been wrong.

And then there were the people on board this ship, who had lived on Earth, only to take a year-long journey and find that, at its end, it had been all for naught. Still, the crew of the Yamato carried on despite their broken hearts, and as she lay in their infirmary, she was ever so glad to meet them. In this darkest hour, it gave her some hope that the human race may actually survive.

Doctor Sakezo Sane had dealt with terminal cancer before. In fact, he had vainly treated the former commanding officer of the Yamato, Captain Abraham Avatar, who had led the voyage to another galaxy to find a cure to the radiation that was killing off life on Earth. They had stopped the reason for the radiation, taking out the planet bomb launcher as well as the entire Gamilon base on the distant planet Pluto. When the crew of the Yamato, dubbed the "Star Force", left communicative range of Earth, the people seemed like they still had hope.

They had no idea that two months after the final message, a virus began to sweep through the whole of humanity and wiped it out in short order. It had not been a biogenetic weapon unleashed by those alien Gamilons, but a combination of cold and flu viruses that had been mutated by the ever-encroaching radiation in the underground cities where the people of Earth had fled the bombings. The virus spread like wildfire, and the already swamped medical community never had a chance to combat the affliction. By the time the Star Force left the distant planet Iscandar, the last of humanity was on its final legs.

Roslin lay on a bed inside Dr. Sane's infirmary, enduring the first round of what he called "chemotherapy" treatments. To her, it felt the same way that the dioloxin treatments had, and she'd soon get radiation treatments as well, which seemed to her to be odd, but the short, fat, bald doctor had said that it would be effective in prolonging her life.

"Now you just lay there and rest, Madame President, and I'll finish things up after today's treatment has been completed." Dr. Sane told Roslin.

"Ask you a question?" said Roslin.

"Sure. What would you like to know?" replied Dr. Sane as he poured out food for his pet cat, Mimi.

"What went wrong with the…what did he call it…Cosmo DNA machine? I was talking to your engineer and he said that you had tried it to bring back life on the planet, but the machine didn't quite work right."

Dr. Sane sighed as he put away the bag of food, wondering how much longer he could keep feeding his beloved cat before addressing Roslin's question. "When we came back, we were so devastated by what we had seen that we figured 'why not try it and see'! In our minds, even if it worked, it wouldn't bring those lost back, but in our hearts, we had to at least try it and hope for a miracle!"

Roslin's treatment finished an hour later, and as she boarded the Raptor to head back to the Colonial battlestar Galactica, she wondered what was to become of the human race now that they had found what they had referred to as the thirteenth colony to be just as dead as the twelve they had left behind. Could the Lords of Kobol have been so cruel as to lead them down such a path, or were these events far out of the reach of even the gods?

"How was the treatment?" Admiral William Adama asked the president of the Colonies as she stepped off the Raptor. He has that look again, she thought, noticing the worry in his eyes. It touched her, as it always did, because they had managed to, somewhere along the way, fall in love with one another despite everything.

"It went well. I know it won't save my life, but maybe it gives me a few months." Then Laura yawned and nearly popped her jaw doing so, which made her laugh. "I feel like I could sleep for a thousand years! Care to take me to your quarters?"

They ate a spartan dinner, thankful that the Yamato's hydroponic gardens were still working and that the remaining food supplies on Earth had not been contaminated. They had canned and freeze dried supplies to last the fleet for several years, and while it wasn't exactly five-star quality, it beat the algae that they'd been eating for months now hand over fist. With a kiss on the cheek, Adama left her in his quarters to get some sleep and to attend to the watch in the Combat Information Center.

Laura Roslin wasn't long for the waking world after dinner, and she didn't even get the chance to read like she almost always did before bed. She felt even more tired than usual, and sleep swept over her like the Seneca River back on Caprica. In fact, the dream took her there, to the very same place that she went to as a young college co-ed. She remembered the incident where things went a little too far with one of her collegiate romances and they had been caught in flagrante delicto by some of her fellow classmates.

Then the world blew up, and the memories vaporized like so many did on that fateful day when the Cylons sneak attacked the Colonies to start the Second Cylon War. She gasped and shook as the shock wave made its way to her, and she let out a scream just before it reached her.

But just before it did, everything went black. She was somewhere else now, in some kind of dark cave, deep underground. A voice spoke to her, "How many lives were lost on that day?"

Laura responded, "Twenty billion, all told in the twelve colonies."

A figure began to emerge from the darkness. Whoever it was was tall, dressed in an ancient robe of some kind, and looked far different than any human she had ever seen. The being wore some kind of crown on his head, or at least that was what she thought it was. She asked, "Who are you?"

The being smiled and replied, "Ah, now that is an interesting question, and the right one to ask. My name is Lorien, and I used to live here."

Laura looked puzzled. "Where is here?"

Suddenly she was on some sort of spacecraft with the being, watching a dark and dead planet in the window explode. The being pointed to the exploding world and said, "There. But it does not matter now, because the beings that resided there have long since fled this galaxy. They were even greater troublemakers than those Cylons of yours, and far, far more dangerous." Lorien looked at her and said, "I can imagine that the first humans had that very same look upon their faces when they first saw alien life for the first time, well over a century ago in their time."

"Humans? From Earth? You mean the Gamilons?" Laura asked.

"No, this is another Earth, in another place, and in another time. But this Earth is in a similar danger as the one you see before you now." The view changed again to the deceptively beautiful world that, in reality, was burned out. The Cosmo DNA machine had brought back the skies and even the oceans, but the radioactive wastelands could not be repaired. "This Earth is lost to you. Better to save another than to try and vainly resurrect this one."

"How do we get to that Earth?" Laura asked.

"All in due course. Two people will arrive soon to help you. One of your race, one of another. One who has helped your kind before, but her efforts were in vain, for she did not see what was to befall those on this Earth. But she will see soon enough of a new possibility, one that will not only save you all, but save those on this other Earth. You have something they need, and once they have arrived, you must hurry!" The being walked away from her, and as she turned back to look at the Earth, the view screen had changed to a hideous creature that was far removed from anything she had ever seen. He extended a hand, and a likeness of the Earth appeared. The creature then slowly closed his hand, and the light that was Earth slowly faded.

"You will all die, and it will be at our hands!" The creature flew through the screen at Roslin, who screamed…and woke up, sweating, in her bed.

The next day, she went back over to the Yamato for another round of treatment. Roslin asked the doctor to see the commanding officer of the ship, and soon enough, the tall, bushy haired young man named Derek Wildstar appeared before her. Laura looked at him as he walked to where she was taking the treatment and wondered how he managed to still look as young as she knew he was. Admiral Adama's son, Lee, was the same age as Derek, and he looked ten years (at least) older than the CO of the Yamato. Then again, Derek Wildstar just now had to deal with the death of his world. Lee, and the rest of the Colonists, had three years to try to come to terms with the destruction the Cylons had unleashed.

"Madame President, how are you feeling today?" Derek asked.

"I'll live…for now. I wanted to talk to you about your brother and the woman that you met on that world…" Roslin snapped her fingers before she remembered, "Iscandar! Gods, my memory isn't what it used to be! Anyway, I had a vision last night."

"A vision?" Derek asked.

"Ever heard of a being named Lorien?" Laura asked.

"No, can't say that I have. I once dated a girl named Lori once, but don't tell that to Nova!" Derek winked, referring to the woman whom he now dated, or so scuttlebutt said among the Star Force.

Laura chuckled, and drew serious. "Maybe I'm delusional, but last night, this being came to me and said, 'One of your race, one of another. One who has helped your kind before, but her efforts were in vain, for she did not see what was to befall those on this Earth.' I think he was referring to your brother and the woman you call Starsha."

Just before Derek spoke, the phone in the infirmary rang, and Doctor Sane picked it up. Derek replied, "That can't be, Madame President! Alex and Starsha are on Iscandar, and there is no way to contacting them…"

"But she did know of your plight when she sent her sister with that message you told me about, did she not?" Laura countered.

Before Derek could answer her, Doctor Sane called over to Derek, "Wildstar! Venture's on the phone for you!" Derek left the side of Laura and walked over to the phone. Laura smiled when she saw the stunned look come over the young man's face when he learned of something shocking, and something that she suspected was in the vision from the night before.

Derek finished the call, returned to her bed, and said, "Madame President, I…uh…" Laura interrupted him and said, "Wait! Let me guess! I was right, wasn't I?"

In his office, Adama took one of the bottles of spring water that Doctor Sane had given him as a gift out of a cabinet as well as two well-used glasses. He put one in front of his old friend, Saul Tigh, and poured his glass full. "Funny thing, this spring water. Has more of a kick than the best ambrosia I ever drank, and the hangover's a bitch!" As he poured his own glass full, Tigh took a swig of his and manfully got it down without sputtering.

"I'll say! They tried to make this smooth, but there's so much alcohol in it that it still feels like some of the old hooch that Chief Tyrol used to cook up."

Adama sat down and took a small pull of his own drink, pausing to contemplate what he was going to say. Finally, he said, "What am I going to do with you? What am I going to do with you, Tyrol, and Anders?" Just a little over a week ago, Tigh had revealed himself as one of the "Final Five" Cylons, previously unknown to not only the fleet but to the known seven Cylons as well, except for the only remaining Number Three model. Specialist (and former chief of the flight deck before a major blowup with the admiral saw him demoted) Galen Tyrol and Lieutenant Samuel T. Anders had also been revealed as part of the Final Five, along with the now-former chief aide to the president, Tory Foster.

"You could still flush us out an airlock?" Tigh said. Adama chuckled and replied, "Too late for that. Besides, even though you're a Cylon, I still need you. The other Cylons will listen to you and the other three. We'll really need the Cylons if those frakking Gamilons decide to show up!"

"Think we have a chance against them?" Tigh asked.

"Maybe if we're behind Yamato and that frakking big gun of hers, if you believe what they say it's capable of!" Adama replied.

"Capable? Frak! You saw the video footage they showed us! How could they fake something like that! Besides, have you noticed how the other Cylons have been sort of skittish since they found out what kind of firepower their ship is packing?" Tigh took another swig and continued, "Even Athena looked like she'd seen a ghost when she saw that footage! If we'd had that before the Cylons attacked…"

"I know. President Adar would have had the whole fleet refitted with it, and sent us to lay waste to everything past the red line. He may have been a moron, but he wasn't stupid, and neither was the Admiralty. Hell, if we only had those shock cannons, we would have sent those toasters running." Adama paused, then said, "No offense!"

"None taken. I may be a Cylon, but I'm not like those Cylons, gods dammit!" Tigh replied. "I am my own man, I've always been my own man, and I'll always be my own man, regardless of the fact that I'm a Cylon!" He took a swig of the "spring water", and then added, "Hell, if I'd known I was a Cylon, I would have done everything to stop them from vaporizing the Colonies!"

"I believe you, Saul. Hard as it is to accept the fact that you're a Cylon, I still know you. That's why I trust you." Adama was about to add something else to that, but was interrupted by the phone buzzing next to him. He picked the receiver up and found Lieutenant Felix Gaeta on the other end of the line.

"Admiral, Derek Wildstar and Nova Forrester from the Yamato just came aboard. The president's with them."

"Understood. Actual out." Adama hung up the phone and turned to Tigh. "C'mon! Let's get to the deck!" He hurried out of his chair and out the door, with Tigh hot on his heels.

Derek Wildstar wasn't used to traveling through space in such a small craft without a space suit on. Sure, his uniform was designed to become one with a simple attachable helmet and neck collar, but to go without that in such a small craft made him nervous. Space could kill you in a myriad of ways, and he'd seen it all too often in the last year and a half.

He looked back at his ship through the window as Lieutenant Sharon "Athena" Agathon brought the Raptor around to head towards Galactica. Yamato had been through so much, and somehow managed to get back home despite all the battle damage that was inflicted upon them in their fight with the Gamilons to get to Iscandar.

Beside him was the man responsible for the miracle of bringing Yamato home, and Stephen Sandor always seemed wide-eyed and awake no matter what time of the day it was. Derek would have wondered if Sandor had been a Cylon himself if not for the fact that Sandor already had artificial arms and legs to begin with, the result of a tragic accident at an amusement park that claimed the life of his sister when he was a child. He was a genius, a hell of an engineer, and a damned fine soldier to boot.

It was Sandor who had recommended trying the Cosmo DNA despite all life on Earth being dead, and while it didn't work as well as he had hoped, one could now walk (albeit only for brief stays) on the face of the Earth again. Sandor hoped to try it again with the Colonials, but Derek Wildstar was skeptical that it would work.

Sitting beside him was President Roslin, huddled in a jacket against the cold of the cabin. She had to be helped aboard the Raptor as the treatments made her weak for a while afterwards. The Star Force had admired how Captain Avatar had gone on as long as he could before the cancer became too much for him to retain command during the journey to Iscandar.

After Sharon Agathon landed the shuttle in the massive landing pod, Wildstar felt a bit jealous. Yamato's landing bay was very small, and landings were always tricky. They had to be, because unlike the massive Galactica, Yamato had begun from much humbler beginnings. It still seemed like madness to resurrect a sunken ancient Japanese battleship that perished in the dying throes of the Second World War, but with the extinction of humanity at hand, it was their best shot at survival.

Once in the landing bay, Derek, Nova, and Sandor took turns helping the president out of the Raptor. He caught a glimpse of Admiral Adama with a worried, almost frightened look on his face. As soon as they were on the deck, Adama walked quickly up to the president and asked, "Laura, how did the treatment go?"

She replied weakly, "It went okay. Doctor Sane thinks that it's making some progress in holding the cancer at bay."

"Doctor Cottle's waiting for you. He wants to check you out for himself."

With a humorous sniff, Laura replied, "That old fart wouldn't trust any doctor, other than himself! Very well! I'm not due back for another treatment for three days. Besides, we have to figure out what to do."

Adama and Roslin departed for the infirmary, while Lieutenant Karl "Helo" Agathon walked past the Yamato threesome to embrace his wife. After a moment, he noticed he was being watched, so he turned around and said, "Captain Wildstar! Vice President Zarek asked me to escort you to the conference room. If you'll come this way, please." Derek nodded and they made their way out of the massive hanger deck.

As they were heading out of the bay, Derek noticed that Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace waited for them by the door, and he remembered the visions he had of her last night in his dream. In it, they were on a very distant world, fighting together against some sort of beasts with craggy faces coming after them. The details were lost to him, but the general sense of the dream stayed with him, and with the haunted expression on her face, he wondered if she didn't have her own dark visions in her dreams.

Starbuck fell beside Derek and Nova as they headed through the slanted hallways, with Sandor grilling the Agathons about the engineering details of the Raptor. "Captain Wildstar, can I talk to you for a second?" Starbuck asked.

Derek and Nova stopped, which made Sandor, Helo, and Athena halt as well. "Sure, what about?"

Starbuck turned to Helo and said, "It's okay, we'll catch up later!" With a nod, Helo and the others left them in the hallway.

"This is going to sound crazy, but I had a dream about you last night." Starbuck gulped, as if the very memory of it scared her to the core of her being. "A very bad one, I'm afraid."

"Did it involve some ugly creatures chasing us?" Derek asked.

Starbuck appeared stunned and stammered out, "How...how did you…you had that same dream, didn't you?"

Derek nodded and replied, "Yes I did."

Meanwhile, on the very world that Starbuck had seemingly died months ago, a being emerged from the thick, gassy clouds and headed off into the depths of space at an astonishing rate. She flew past a gaggle of Cylon basestars located where their resurrection hub had been nuked, then, seemingly moments later, was entering Earth's orbit. She briefly paused to look at the ships of the fleet as well as the ancient hull of the Yamato, then flew on out of the solar system.

Several light years away, in what the Earth-bound humans called the Epsilon Eridani sector of space, she came to an unusual convergence of space, time and dimension. It was a kink in the warp and weft of the universes, and the creature used her vision to see into the unknown void. What she saw was a massive hulk of spinning metal, orbiting an almost dead planet that once held life. As her mind reached the station, she heard a woman's voice speak to a ship as it approached the entrance, "Welcome to Babylon 5!"