DEAR GOD, PLEASE READ WHAT FOLLOWS:
This is a direct sequel to my previous story Red In Tooth and Claw
if you haven't read that, then the chances are very little of this will make sense at all
Now, please, stop telling me that you don't understand what's happening!
We now return you to the story...
A Life More Ordinary
Chapter 2: Harsh Truths
To say the feeling around the kitchen table was tense would have been an understatement: it could have been cut into chunks and sold as low-grade insulation. John stood against the outside door, cutting off the most obvious line of retreat, while Kendra had taken station by the other, arms folded across her chest. Sam was sat on a stool by the sink, thankful that he was not the one in trouble, but curious to see just what had gotten his parents so worked up. Miranda sat at the table, having regained some of her composure, but watching her mother as the older woman paced back and forth like a caged tiger.
"Was it deliberate? Did you set out to break one of the few cardinal rules we ever set the two of you?" Beth asked, shaking her head and wringing her hands, "It's not that we don't want you to live a normal life, far from it; that's why we moved here. But you need to understand that there are, complications..."
"All I've ever heard, all my life, is that there are 'complications' and 'issues' that you never explain." Miranda countered, "What's this big, dark secret you've been keeping from us?" She cocked her head towards Kendra, "And what's it to do with her?"
"I'm an old friend of your parents," The visitor explained, "from before you were born."
"Your accent." Sam looked up, "Colonial?"
"You've got a good ear." Kendra smiled, "Yes, I was born on Caprica in the Cyrannus system, and I live on Kobol."
"So you were in the military then?" Miranda looked at her parents, "I always figured that was part of the truth; dad's got the same ex-Marine look some of the other veterans I've met have."
"It's, not that simple." Her father looked at his wife, "It's time they knew the truth, Elizabeth."
"Now I know you're serious." Beth frowned, "It's the only time you call me by my full name." Her shoulders sagged, "So, how are we going to do this?"
"Do what?" Sam asked, intrigued.
"Tell you the truth we've been keeping from you your entire lives." There was real pain in John's eyes, "The truth about who you really are. About who and what your mother and I... were."
"Office?" Beth asked.
"Office." Her husband nodded, "Seeing is believing."
He silently led the way down to the lower level of the house, to the one room his children knew not to enter without permission, no matter the circumstances. Their grandmother's study had taken on a near mythical standing in their mind, and the idea that their parents would invite them in seemed near sacrilegious.
"Where is Cathy?" Kendra asked, nodding towards the brass nameplate on the oak door.
"Medical conference in the capital." John explained as he held the door open to let the others file in, then closed it securely, "I left a message for her at her hotel hinting that she might want to cut it short."
Beth crossed to the desk and sat in the chair, the terminal before her powering up on its own.
"Good afternoon, Elizabeth." A voice spoke up, shocking Miranda and Sam, who had never heard it before, "I take it by our unexpected guest that it's time?"
"Yes, Jerrod." Beth closed her eyes, "Open the vault, please."
"As you wish." The AI turned the smart glass in the large windows overlooking the garden opaque, and there was a faint hiss of equalising pressure, "Opening vault."
The large bookcase that filled one wall of the room suddenly opened outwards on silent electric motors, revealing a secret basement dug into the hillside beneath the rest of the house. Inside was a well equipped computer laboratory with a top-of-the-line work station and military-grade secure server. A holographic emitter sprung to life, and a bright point of blue light appeared above the work station.
"It took me two months to dig this out by hand and rig up the Faraday Shield that keeps it safe from prying eyes." John explained, "Took another year to gather together all the equipment your grandmother wanted to continue her work without anyone asking questions."
"This... this is incredible!" Miranda examined some of the equipment, "I didn't even know some of this was on the open market yet." She lent in closer to get a better look at one specific piece, "That's a Visigoth-IV multi-spectral analyser! I've read about them, but never thought I'd ever see one."
"Geek!" Sam coughed, earning him a harsh look from his mother.
"Only the best four our Catherine." Kendra chuckled.
"That's... not all." John made his way over to a thick, safe-like door built into one wall. He paused with one hand hovering just over the biometric lock, "I was in the military, but I was Navy, not Marines."
He pressed his hand against the sensor pad and closed his eyes as it checked his palm-print, heat signature and DNA against its records. There was an audible click as the door unlocked and popped open a fraction of an inch.
"You might want to be sitting down for this next part." Kendra warned the two children, "I sure as Hades know I would."
Sam took her advice, but Miranda remained standing as their father pulled the door open.
The suit inside was chipped and scratched in places, with the visor cracked badly, a silent testament to the sheer ferocity of the battle it had been through. The dull green paint was somewhat faded by the years, and the protective outer layer had lost its sheen, lending it the appearance of old copper. Yet despite all that, it somehow managed to convey an aura of power and lethality that radiated out. Despite having seen it countless times before, Kendra still felt a chill run down her spine. Years may had passed, and she had seen and done things that she would never have thought possible before, but there was still something about that particular suite of armour, and the man who had worn it, that made her shiver.
There was a thud from behind her as Miranda's legs turned to jelly, dropping her to the floor in a heap. Her wide eyes, matched only by her gaping mouth, struggled to take in the idea that her father, a man whom she had never once seen raise his voice, let alone turn to violence, could possibly have been a Spartan. She had read about in books and on the data-net, even seen them in films and on the TriVee. They may not have been the faceless, indestructible embodiment of human military might they had once been, but they were still seen as an elite, near mythical force who stood watch over humanity and their allies. She looked at her parents, half expecting to seem them laughing at the complex practical joke they had played on their children, but saw nothing but the truth in their eyes.
"You were a Spartan?" Sam managed to find his voice first.
"Yes, yes I was." John nodded slowly, his own gaze fixed on the armour he had not worn in two decades, "But it's more complicated than that. I..." he trailed off, unable to find the words.
"Maybe this will help." Kendra pulled a small data-pad from her jacket pocket, "Jerrod, if you would access and display file one, please."
"Certainly, Admiral." the AI calm, almost overly formal voice seemed out of place, as did his use of her rank rather than name, "Syncing now."
The screen built into the main computer terminal flicked on, displaying an old photograph. Neither Miranda or Sam recognised the setting, with its bare metal walls at odd angles, but they certainly recognised their mother, all be it much younger and dressed in a UNSC duty uniform. They also recognised Kendra, as well as the old-style Colonial Fleet uniform she wore. They were sitting together on a worn sofa, feet up on an equal battered coffee table, laughing at something off camera.
"This was taken aboard the Battlestar Galactica, twenty years before either of you were born." Kendra looked to Beth and John to make sure they were happy for her to continue, "And two months before we made contact with Admiral Grant's fleet."
"I wasn't a UNSC officer. Oh, I wore the uniform, and they even acted like I had earned it, but I never received a commission." Beth took over, "That was all just part of an elaborate ploy to keep the truth hidden. Elizabeth isn't my real name; my entire life was created from scratch by, well, someone who felt we deserved a little peace. My name, then name I went by when that photo was taken," she gestured towards the image on the screen, "was Halsey, Cortana Halsey."
Silence filled the room.
"You..." Sam looked at his mother, his eyes wide with shock, "You're..."
"You have to understand there there were certain, complications, that we had to keep secret." Kendra spoke up, realising that there were some things that her friend found too hard to put into words, "Your mother was captured by the Cylons, but not until after we met up with Admiral Grant."
"Then how did you get there?" Sam asked, trying piece everything together in his head, "Were you in the Shield World with the others?"
"Don't be stupid, squirt." Miranda rolled her eyes, momentarily forgetting her confusion as she mocked her brothers mistake, "That was months after New Caprica."
"Maybe we should start from the beginning." Kendra took a deep breath, "John?"
"I am..." The sheriff looked at the armour, his face reflected in the visor, far older than it had been the last time he had looked out at the world from the other side, "I was, John-117."
His words hung heavy in the air.
"Bullshit!" Miranda laughed nervously, "You nearly had me going there, but you just had to go that one step further, didn't you? Everyone knows that the Master Chief died on the Cylon Halo..."
"Everyone's been lied to, myself included." Kendra looked the younger woman in the eye so she could see the truth to her words, "I am Vice-Admiral Kendra Shaw, Director of the Colonial Naval Intelligence Service. But back then I was Captain Kendra Shaw, assigned to the Battlestar Galactica. My job was to act as liaison officer between Admiral Adama and the Master Chief. And yes, by that I mean your father." She turned her head to look at John, a faint smile on her lips, "I owe him my life, and the lives of everyone I care about."
"Daddy?" Miranda was the first to speak, sounding much younger than she was.
"It's true." John nodded, reaching out to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Why?" Sam looked more confused then ever, "Why pretend that you died?"
"Because... there are people who feared something I knew back then, something I don't know now." His mother did her best to explain, "They would never have just let us be, not then, and probably not now. So we came here, with your Grandmother..."
"Grandma!" Miranda looked around, suddenly remembering the missing member of her family, "How does she fit into all this?"
"'Catherine'." Sam looked at Kendra, some of the pieces starting to slot together in his mind, "Before, you called her 'Catherine'. And if Mom was Cortana Halsey..."
"Yes; your grandmother is Dr Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, MD and PhD." Kendra nodded, "Smartest woman I ever met."
"And she's not technically your grandmother." Beth looked down at her feet, "My DNA is an exact match for hers, biologically making me her identical twin. But again, only technically. You see... I was created in a laboratory and born in a vat of nutrient gel. I'm not exactly what you would class as human." She took a deep breath, "I'm a Cylon."
To Be Continued...
