Catalyst Part Two

Chapter One – Prologue

The Prophecy of Iris

And she will come upon them as a child, vulnerable and alone. She will speak of things to come. Iris is the messenger of the gods, bringing light and dark to the tribes. She will hold in her hand the gifts of life, hope, healing and peace. She will find refuge among the chosen ones and her destiny will be entwined in their paths.

In 32 cycles of time, Iris will be found by the betrayers and destroyed. In the 33rd cycle, she will survive and end the conflict. She will lead the tribes to the chosen world, where a mighty and bloody battle will decide the fate of mankind. The strength of the few will overpower the many, if their faith is strong.

The child must be protected in seclusion until she reaches the age of three and ten. At this time, her sight will be restored and she will bring her knowledge to the warriors. With the wisdom of the chosen ones, this knowledge will end the threat of the betrayers for all eternity. A new cycle of time will begin. Mankind will prosper and a golden age will be achieved. The chosen world, to be called Gaia, will be fruitful, for the gods will reward the chosen ones for ending the war of time. The faithful will be showered with the love of the gods and 3300 years of peace.

The sacred number of Iris is 33. It represents the number of cycles of time, the number of blessed cities of Gaia that will flourish over the 3300 years, and the number of stars in the constellation Persephone, which will appear above the northern hemisphere of Gaia as the chosen ones approach.

The fallen thirteenth god will appear to the chosen ones and the betrayers on the surface of Gaia. The betrayers will see him as the one true god, and this will be their weakness.

The original Gaians will number 33,000, and their hearts will be heavy and dark with grief for their fallen companions when they begin their lives on the planet's fertile soil. Iris will inspire them to build, to love and to create life. The gods will grant them solace, and they will draw comfort from each other.

Iris will be known by three names, and she will experience three lives. Her first life will be symbolic of the path of man; she will face both great joy and great sorrow. The Fire-Bringer and the Archer will cherish her, and she will heal them. She will become aware of her gifts, but this knowledge will endanger her and those she loves. In the first 32 cycles, she will perish before she reaches her next existence. In the 33rd cycle she will move to her second life, a time of rest and growth. She will be blind to her gifts and unaware of her destiny. An artist and a healer will protect her. On the eve of her third and tenth year, she will awaken and assume her place with the chosen ones, enlightened of her purpose as the messenger of the gods. She will reunite with the Archer and the Fire-Bringer, and the final battle will begin.

The skies will be black with the betrayers, and fire will rain from the heavens. Five will journey to the Triton of Hades, which will pierce the heart of Persephone. The blood of the betrayers will fill the river of Demeter when Persephone's heart is healed. The thirteenth god will fall to the Archer, but the blood of many warriors will stain the victory. – From The Secret Teachings of the Ancient Scrolls. Before the birth of Gaia, this document was available only to the highest levels of clergy (Holy Guides) after a series of trials and vows of secrecy. It was written in the ancient tongue, and only one existed. As Priests achieved the position of Holy Guide, they were exposed to the Secret Teachings one phrase at a time, until the entire text was committed to memory. Before the last Apocalypse, Holy Guides would gather daily for meditation and recitation of the secret teachings. The prophecy of Iris, as it is translated here, was the catalyst that brought our ancestors to Gaia over 200 years ago. (P. Adama, Symbolism in the Secret Text of the Ancient Scrolls, pp 231-235, copyright Gaian Year 208, New Delphi.)

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Kara Thrace is sitting alone in a storage closet, holding a tattered photograph. She traces her finger over the three smiling people captured here. She marvels at how naïve she was then, and how innocent. Her finger lingers over the man on the right, standing close to her, but careful not to touch her. She wonders, somewhat bitterly, if the gods knew on that day what was in store for all of them? The man on her right was the only one who knew how much she was hurting right now, and she was grateful to have him to lean on in the endless days that were her life. He was hurting, too, and when they were alone they could unleash all of their grief in each other's arms. She kisses her finger and lays it over his heart, hoping that the gesture with the photo can somehow heal the gaping hole in his real heart. She moves her finger to the other man, the one she is snuggled against in the photo. Her sadness overcomes any feeling of foolishness she has as she begins to speak to the photo.

"Zak, I miss you. I miss your laugh, and your eyes. I know what you did, with Gianne, but I'm not mad at you. I was. I was furious, but now I think I know why you did it. You always knew about Lee and I, didn't you? It was at least a year before I met you, and it was only once, but something happened between us that scared us both half to death. I can't define it, but it's been there between us ever since. The thing is, it doesn't mean I loved you any less. I hope you never thought you were a replacement for him, I loved you for who you were, and I would have done anything for you. Anyway, over the years Lee and I came to terms with it enough to be friends, but it was always there, under the surface. If there's one thing your brother and I know better than most people, it's how to shove our emotions into a big heaping pile of denial. It's why we can fly together, why we can read each other like a book and why we both fell head over heals in love with a little girl with your heart and an unbelievable amount of that Adama charisma I'm such a sucker for. She's your little girl, Zak, and she's amazing. I want to tell you about her, and the little bit of time that I got to have with her. I don't think you knew about her, even if you did, I don't want to think about it." She pauses and opens the hatch to make sure the hallway is still deserted. Confident she is still alone; she returns to her hiding spot and resumes her story.

"Lee has a few secrets of his own, and I don't feel comfortable telling you about them, that's up to him to settle with his own demons. So my story about Paya begins with a phone call I received from an old friend. Do you remember Raisa? She was the education major that waited on us every weekend at that dive bar you loved so much. Raisa was a rock for me after you died. She stayed with me every night for the first week, made sure I ate and showered. After your dad took me onboard and she went off to teach, she would have her class send me notes and pictures all the time. She was my drinking buddy whenever I had shore leave and bailed me out a few times. She knew about my mom, so she sent me care packages every year on my birthday. I've never had a friend like her before. I was sure she had died during the holocaust, but apparently she was studying some insects in deep space on a grant. She saw me on this silly television thing about the Galactica and recognized me, and, more importantly, recognized Lee. She knew Gianne, or her family knew her family, and when Paya was born, Gianne was staying with her. They lost touch when Gianne moved out when Paya was only a few months old. The gods must be looking out for her, Zak, because somehow she survived the cylon attacks and ended up in the fleet. Lee found her first, but she ended up staying with Raisa. I met her at Raisa's place on the Dionysian, and Raisa told me how Paya came to be, and all that she had gone through to get where she was. A few weeks later, I did something really stupid involving your brother and went to see Raisa to try to make myself feel better. While I was there I learned that Paya is very special. She can see things, Zak, things that are going to happen. Not only that, she seems to be able to read people, she knows what they're feeling. She has this wisdom about her that goes beyond her age. She's only four, but she seems like a soul that has lived 100 lifetimes. She helped me save Lee. If she hadn't known…." She shudders.

"Raisa was scared for her safety. In retrospect, I certainly can't blame her. We brought her here, and Lee and I tried to give her a normal little girl life, as much as we could on a Battlestar. The whole crew was in love with her. Your dad thought she hung the moon, and had about a hundred pictures of her in his quarters. Some of the pilots taught her how to juggle and she learned how to play triad from someone, although she never told me who it was." She chuckles.

"I wish you could have seen the way Lee was with her. He was so gentle, so protective of her. Seeing them together, it melted my heart. She healed him, she healed me; she brought down all of the silly barriers the two of us always kept between us. She gave us permission to fall in love with each other and with her, and how to love each other unconditionally." She pauses again as she feels a wave of loneliness for the sweet girl who means so much to her.

"Paya knew she was in danger. She had nightmares nearly every night about a cylon attack in our quarters. Lee moved in with us when the nightmares got more explicit, and she was willing to tell us the extent of them. We did everything we could to make the Galactica safe. We increased the CAP patrols, we had marines staking out all possible entrances to the corridor we lived in, the chief installed a panic button; Lee and I were prepared to knock out a dozen centurions if we had to. Paya talked with the president, for a long time, about why the cylons wanted her. She's going to know how to stop them. Roslin came to us right away, and begged us to consider sending Paya somewhere where she would be safer. Lee and I argued that we could protect her far better than any stranger could, and she agreed to not push the matter further. We should have listened to her then." She falls into a long moment of silence.

"We set a trap for the cylons. We left an abandoned Raptor in orbit around a moon near the previous jump coordinates. The toasters took the bait and flew the Raptor back to Galactica. We planted bugs in the cockpit and saw six centurions on board. The path between the bay and our quarters was cleared and marines were stationed to fall in behind the cylons to block any possible retreat and to eliminate any that Lee and I missed. The plan seemed to work perfectly, we blew away the toasters with no injuries to any of our own crew." She is beginning to cry.

"I didn't see him until it was too late. The cylon that tortured me on Caprica was wearing one of our marine uniforms. I didn't tell anyone what happened down there, so no one knew to look for him." She sobs and wipes her eyes roughly with the back of her hand. "He was talking to Lee, and I had Paya in my arms, telling her everything was going to be fine. She was holding her bear. It made her feel safe. I saw him turn to me, and I knew right away what he was going to do. In a second, his gun was raised and he had knocked Lee unconscious. I turned to try to protect her. The bullet went through my shoulder clean, through her bear and into her chest. I fell on top of her and the stuffing from the bear was flying around, and there was blood everywhere. I heard the marines rush in, and the gunfire as they eliminated the son-of-a-bitch who shot us before I lifted myself from her. She was lying there so still, and the pool of blood under her was spreading quickly across the floor. I think I passed out then." There is another long pause.

"I woke up in Life Station. Your dad told me the plan. They would tell everyone Paya was dead. The cylons would never stop coming for her until she was gone, he told me it was the only way to keep her alive. Her visions could be controlled with an herb, they could change her appearance and they would erase all of her memories of her life to the point where she would wake up in her new home. I argued with him, and later the president, that I could keep her safe, but I knew what they were saying was true. Maybe some of Paya's intuition rubbed off on me. Wanting to keep her with us was selfish, but letting go of her was the hardest thing I've ever done. We had the funeral, then we said goodbye to her."

"I don't know if I'm going to see her again, but I wanted you to know I loved her like she was my own daughter. She has a lot of you in her, everything good and sweet and kind. I've said a prayer for her every hour since she left, two days ago. You would have loved her, Zak." She allows herself to cry for a few moments more, and then she leaves the safety of the closet and heads towards her quarters. She hopes he is there, since the little girl left they have spent every moment they can spare clinging to each other. Somehow sharing their grief makes both of their loads a little lighter. They don't speak of her; the door to her room is tightly closed and Kara has safely placed all of the photos, books and other memories of her in a storage chest. The only thing that remains is the fern Lee gave her on her first night in her little home. It still thrives, just as it did when Paya whispered encouraging words to it every day, unbeknownst to her guardians. She told it she was coming back home, and begged it to wait for her.

TBC

A/N – For Emily. Next chapter, we jump into the future.