Should Have Made a Right at the Antares Maelstrom
Summery: Presented with the wasteland of "Earth" the Crew of Galactica meet up with a pair of strangers traveling the Universe…
Lee Adama looked out over the ruins of Earth and fought against the creeping sensation of despair crawling up his spine. The desolate landscape was grey upon grey upon grey; ruined buildings were all around them, suggesting to the former pilot that they were in the ruins of a city. A destroyed bridge stood out amongst the rubble in the shallow water between the land they stood upon and a nearby island. Further out, the ocean roiled angrily as white caps crashed against the shore.
Earth. The fabled home of their long lost cousins, the mythic Thirteenth Tribe. It was a graveyard.
All around him, the people he'd grown to care for during their exodus were devastated. Karl and Sharon were clinging to each other, Sam, Galen and Tori had each wandered off, as had Leoben. Caprica Six seemed to be trying to take comfort in Tigh while Dee knelt and dug into the dirt near the shore line. Strangely, at least to Lee, Baltar seemed to be trying to comfort D'Anna Biers.
His father and Laura were up ahead, his father angrily brushing away the dirt on his palm while Laura tried to draw strength from him or perhaps offering solace to him. He turned away from the private moment his father was having…
Then there was Kara. He could see clearly that she was devastated. She'd died and been reborn with so much hope and energy and purpose. She'd come back to save the human race and Lee suspected that she was offering up Earth to those she cared about as a penance for all the sins she felt she was guilty of.
She turned towards him and when she saw him looking at her she looked away shamefully and seemed to shrink into herself as she buried her hands into her pockets. He pulled the heavy field jacket tightly around himself and meandered towards Kara.
When he got to her side he pulled Kara into his arms and pressed his lips to her brow. Kara fought against his embrace for a few seconds before sinking into him with a whimper. He could hear her muffled voice repeating, "I'm sorry."
He kissed her forehead again followed by her cheek; he then placed his lips near her ear and whispered, "Shh, Kara. Shh. It's not your fault. I don't blame you, and I won't let anyone else blame you either." He cooed in her ear a while longer, telling her over and over she wasn't to blame.
After a few minutes she hiccupped a small laugh and spoke in his ear. "You won't let anybody blame me?"
He smiled at the hint of humor in her voice, "Nobody."
Her shoulders shook a little and she said, "Even me?"
He held her out at arm's length, "Especially you!" He then adopted the most pompous expression he could, "No one will dare contradict me either. I'm still interim President."
She smiled through her tears then they wrapped each other up in a tight embrace again. Lee felt her face burrow into the side of his throat and he squeezed her ever tighter.
Lee had no idea how long they stood like that but after a while he started to hear a… noise.
He'd never heard a sound quite like it before… a metallic sort-of grinding sound. It seemed to be coming from the clearing near the waterline. Just then a breeze picked up, they all turned toward the clearing, he loosened his grip on Kara and she turned in his embrace, her hand falling to the sidearm at her hip.
The noise grew louder and then quite unexpectedly a shape faded into view. It was a blue wooden box about the size of a raptor stood on its tail. It had two rows of opaque windows around the top and a flashing blue light on top. Lee could make out a sign near the top that read "Police Public Call Box."
The noise and flashing light continued until the box looked solid. There was a pause and then a creak as a door opened on one side of the box. A voice with a slight Caprican accent sounded from within, "At last, Barcelona!"
A tall man stepped out of the box. He had wild brown hair, a brown pinstriped suit and a tan full-length duster. When he saw the scenery he frowned, "Bloody hell, I'm starting to suspect I'll never get to Barcelona."
A moment later a shorter blonde woman stepped out of the box as well. She was dressed in dark slacks and a blue jacket. When she surveyed the scene her full lips formed a pout and she spoke, also in a Caprican accent, "This is Barcelona? I was expecting something… Nicer."
The man frowned and pulled a pair of dark rimmed glasses out of his pocket and put them on, "No, this isn't Barcelona." He took a deep breath, kneeled down and picked up a handful of dirt. He brought the soil to his nose and sniffed it, "Irradiated. Nuclear bombardment, I'd say two maybe three thousand years ago. There was a war here."
The girl looked up and saw Lee and the rest watching them, "Doctor."
The man looked up and seeing the confused faces around him he did something rather unexpected. He smiled wide and spoke in a chipper voice, "Hello!"
Karl and Sharon happened to be the two closest to them so he approached them as he brushed off his hands, the blonde a couple of steps behind him. He stepped right up to the pair with an outstretched hand and said, "I'm the Doctor and this is Rose. Who might you be?" It seemed that everyone save the Doctor's companion had been completely thunderstruck by first the appearance of the blue box and then the two people that emerged from it.
The ECO frowned in confusion for a moment before he took man's hand, "Karl Agathon."
If anything, the man's impossibly wide smile got even wider, "Pleased to meet you, Karl." He turned to Sharon, "Who's this? Is she your wife? Girlfriend?"
Karl stammered before saying, "This is my wife, Sharon."
The Doctor pumped the Cylon's hand and said, "Sharon. A pleasure…" He stopped shaking her hand and his head tilted inquisitively before his eyes widened, "You're an android!"
Both Agathons yelled at once, "WHAT?"
The Doctor inspected her hand, "My word! What incredible workmanship too, simply amazing! I've never seen the like of it. I mean usually you can tell an android a mile away. There are always so many giveaways, well as long as you're as clever as me, that is." He turned back to Helo, "She's gorgeous too! Good on you mate!"
The Admiral had seemed to compose himself and he stormed over to the new arrival, "Who the hell are you?"
The Doctor took a step back with a stunned expression, "I'm the Doctor."
Adama scowled, "Is that supposed to mean something?"
The strange man shrugged, "As much as any name means anything."
Recent events took their toll on the Old Man and he gripped the Doctor by the lapels, but before he could throttle the man Roslin stepped in. "Bill."
After a moment, Bill let him go. Roslin meanwhile seemed to transform from weary woman back into collected politician in an instant. "Forgive us Doctor. It's just that we've traveled an incredibly long way. We've been trying to find Earth for over four years now and to find it destroyed-"
The man looked at her cockeyed, "This isn't Earth."
Suddenly the Doctor and Rose were crowded by a large group of humans and Cylons. Kara found her voice for the first time, "No… This is Earth. This is the Earth we were sent to from Kobol. Where the Thirteenth Tribe traveled in the early days of the Exodus, this is definitely Earth. No matter how much I wish otherwise."
The man laughed, "Believe me, I know Earth. I've seen more of Earth's history than just about anyone. I've never seen it like this. Hang on." He pulled a device out of his pocket and put it to his ear. He pressed a button on it and it made a high-pitched buzz while the tip lit up blue, after a moment of listening to it he smiled again and said, "Yep! Late March, Two-thousand and… Six. Definitely not Earth!"
He started to replace the device when his hand paused, "Wait. Did you say Kobol?" He turned to Kara, "Kobol? As in the fabled ancient home of the first man? Twelve Lords of Kobol? The Jealous God and the Exodus? That would mean… Of course!" He gave off a manic laugh and began to speak very rapidly "The Twelve Colonies! The ten year war with the-" With a gasp he turned back to Sharon, "CYLONS! You're a Cylon!" He then pointed at Leoben, "You too! This is brilliant! That means you're Kara Thrace!"
Kara's eyes widened but the Doctor didn't let up, "The young Viper pilot who died and was reborn and was the first Colonial to set foot on Earth! I love it! You've had such a long journey… only to be waaaaaay off!" He paused, "Well. Maybe not way off. But you're still nowhere near Earth." He looked up into the grey sky and he frowned, "Earth is about three hundred light years from here."
Lee frowned, "You've been to Earth?"
Rose smiled, "We're there all the time. I'm from Earth in fact."
The Doctor nodded, "It's a fantastic little planet. Full of mountains, rivers, islands and oceans, television, music, chips and lil' shops-"
Rose's giggle gave the Doctor pause, "You certainly like a lil' shop."
He grinned at the girl and seemed to forget the crowd around him, "I do like a lil' shop, I really do. I mean a place where you can get just about anything. I like that they always have reminders of where you are, and sweets. Well, I suppose you can get the sweets anywhere. Well, for that matter I suppose you could get any of the rest of it anywhere too but they're all in one place in a lil' shop! I personally think that they're one of mankind's greatest achievements."
The young girl who moments ago claimed to be from Earth folded her arms across her chest skeptically, "Seriously?"
He shrugged, "Well… That or maybe the music of The Ramones."
She slapped his chest then smiled at him in a rather flirtatious manner, "I knew it! You are such a punk!"
His nearly ever-present smile turned into a rather smug grin, "You certainly seem to like that I'm a bit of a punk, Rose Tyler."
D'Anna was standing next to Lee and Kara and she leaned over to say to Tory, "He's got a strange sort of charm, reminds me of Gaius."
From somewhere behind them, Baltar squawked, "What!"
Tory smiled slightly and replied, "Gaius was never this charming."
If he was indignant before, Gaius was furious now. He stomped off in a snit.
Lee finally decided to ask the Doctor the one thing that had been on his mind since the man said this wasn't Earth. "If this isn't Earth, and you know where it is, then could you tell us how to get there?"
The Doctor and Rose exchanged a look before he said, "I'll need to see some charts."
Bill exchanged a look with his son and Kara before the Admiral said, "We'll take you onto Galactica."
"Better yet, I'll take some of you up on the TARDIS."
Kara barked out a laugh, "No offence, but that looks like if there's more than the two of you we'll be flying up there on each other's laps."
The Doctor turned to her with a scandalized expression; it was a look Lee had last seen on Kara's face when Narcho referred to the Blackbird as a "homemade tin can," "Oi! Don't knock my ship! I don't run around talking down your ships, now do I?"
Rose smiled, "Relax Doctor. They just don't know." She turned to Kara and Lee almost conspiratorially, "The TARDIS is bigger on the inside."
Lee turned towards his father and Laura, "I'm game."
Starbuck smirked at the rather annoyed Doctor and said, "You couldn't keep me off his little ship."
The Admiral frowned then turned to Sharon, "Athena, call the Galactica, have the deck crew prep for the Doctor's arrival. Have Marines on the flight deck and alert fighters on standby. The rest of you, we're going back to our ships and if the Doctor's information checks out we'll jump away from here immediately." He turned back to the Doctor, "Gods help you if I even think you're trying to trick us."
The Doctor leaned towards Rose and muttered, "Rather untrusting lot, aren't they?" Rose nodded and the Doctor resumed his previous upbeat attitude, "Right then! All aboard the TARDIS, allons-y!"
Kara and Lee followed the pair towards the blue box the pair had referred to as the TARDIS. With a flourish he pushed opened the door and held out his arm, "Welcome aboard the TARDIS! That would be; T-A-R-D-I-S; Time and Relative Dimension In Space."
Lee stepped inside with wide eyes. The ship was indeed bigger on the inside, with a hexagon motif. He looked around at the large coral-like pillars and the metallic walls, the blue-lit pillar in the center of the room with some sort of control panel at the base. The doctor removed his duster and tossed it over one of the pillars by the door.
His eyes finally met Kara's after he took everything in and saw her look of undisguised wonder. He reached over and squeezed her hand; it made his heart leap when she squeezed back.
Rose passed them as she removed her jacket and tossed it over the hand railing before hopping into the jump seat. The Doctor gave them a cocky grin before he stepped up to the controls. He cracked his knuckles much like a pianist before his fingers danced over the controls with a deft touch, "Now, let's see… The Galactica is in orbit." He stopped at the monitor and smiled, "There you are… Port Flight Deck…" He turned to Lee and Kara, "You might want to brace yourselves."
With that word of warning he flipped a lever. The column in the center began to pulse like a large piston in an engine, making the noise they had heard earlier. The TARDIS lurched but it didn't feel like they were airborne. The Doctor moved around the control console; toggling switches or turning dials and at one point pulling out a rubber mallet and striking the panel with it.
There was a thump and the rotor stopped moving. "Well, as much as I like having guns waved about in front of me." He turned to Kara parenthetically, "That would be 'not at all.' If your marines are anything like their Commanding Officer I think it would be best if you two stepped out and calmed them down."
Lee and Kara nodded to each other and exited the TARDIS to prevent their would-be benefactor from being riddled with holes.
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Several hours passed as The Doctor along with Lt. Gaeta, a Six, D'Anna and Tori poured over charts. He not only showed them the course they could take to Earth but explained the history of the system and the resources that might have led the Thirteenth Tribe to the planet originally. He also explained the history of the planet they had found. Humanity had evolved on Earth semi-independently of Kobol and had been living on Earth long before the Thirteenth Tribe arrived.
It seemed that once the Thirteenth Tribe had left Kobol there had been another schism; this time between a group of people who believed that they should give up the pursuit of technology and science in favor of devoting themselves to the worship of the Lords of Kobol alongside of the humans on Earth.
A second group wished to study the higher mysteries of science while the third group consisted of the worshipers of "The One, True God." The first group settled on Earth while the other two groups came to this planet. When they arrived on this world they called the world "Cylon." The name translated into modern Koboli as Earth as they believed that the other Twelve Tribes would eventually seek them out.
In the years that followed the group on the planet below had forgotten about their brethren until they went to war, the War that left Cylon in ruins. The Doctor wasn't sure but he believed that the Final Five were refugees of that war and arrived at the Colonies only to see the cycle beginning again.
Finally, the Doctor informed them that he would travel ahead and make sure that Earth was ready for their arrival and arrangements for their settlement could be made.
Finally, the time for the Doctor's departure came. In addition to those that had been on the surface when he arrived, much of the crew gathered on the flight deck to see him off. The Doctor grinned at the gathered crowd. His eyes finally settled on the Admiral and Laura who'd stood at the front and said, "The trip should take you about ten days, barring any problems. Trust me, Earth is a wonderful place and the time you're arriving it is almost perfect too. They're just starting to really accept their place in the Universe and your arrival will be a testament to that place."
He then turned to Lee and Kara, "There's one thing left however, as a Time Lord it is my duty to help maintain the timeline. History states that Kara Thrace was the first human from the Twelve Colonies to set foot on Earth and I think I should help that along. One more trip in the TARDIS, what do you say?"
Kara smirked then turned to Lee, "The fancy-pants alien boy is into blondes." The Doctor looked scandalized while Rose's eyes narrowed to angry slits. Lee felt his ears burning as a flash of jealousy shot through and judging by the way Kara's eyes glinted wickedly, that was by her design.
He might not have been able to quell the jealousy so quickly had Kara's fingers not laced between his and her thumb gently stroked along the top of his hand. Instead he merely grinned then winked at Rose and said, "I can't argue his taste."
Kara rolled her eyes at Lee as she spoke to the Doctor, "Can I bring a plus-one?"
The Time Lord shook his head with a grin, "I'd prefer it." He then led Rose along with Lee and Kara into the TARTDIS.
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Kara stepped out of the TARDIS onto a different planet.
More then that, she wasn't just setting foot on any old rock; this was Earth. This was it, the home of the Thirteenth Tribe.
She'd made it, more then that… She'd brought Lee there with her.
The Universe could officially go frak itself because Kara Thrace, hopeless frak-up and champion of self-destruction had come through enough to last a lifetime.
Lee's hand squeezed hers and he whispered in her ear; "I'll be damned; 'Big blue oceans, fluffy white clouds…' You were right." She turned to him and he winked, "I love it."
They were on a tropical beach, rich green vegetation surrounded them, and bird calls could be heard in the distance while white sand was beneath their feet. Further inland were green hills and what looked to be a mountain. The air was warm and sweet with a hint of salt in the ocean breeze, a breeze from the bright blue ocean that was laid out before them.
The few white caps in the distance and the scattered volcanic rocks that jutted from the surface were not enough to make it look anything but tranquil. It was perfect, it was absolutely perfect. She couldn't help herself; she leaned into Lee's side and smiled when she felt his arm settle over her shoulders.
After a while, the Doctor and Rose stepped out next to them, "Welcome to Earth. This is a beach on the northwest shore of Kaua'i, which is part of a chain of islands called Hawaii. Hawaii is part of a nation known as 'The United States.' Lovely little island, they call it 'the Garden Isle.' We're not far from Nā Pali State Park and we're extremely secluded.
"I admit I don't know everything about your journey but I do think the two of you could use with a little seclusion. I've brought us back a few days in time, and I'll begin speaking with some people I know to make some arrangements for your fleet. By the time the Fleet arrives you'll have had two weeks of rest, relaxation and privacy."
They had only barely heard his words and paid him no attention at all. In fact they barely heard the sound of the TARDIS as it dematerialized. All Lee and Kara could see was each other's eyes as they stared into each other's faces. Finally Kara smiled and said, "Surprised we made it?"
Lee shook his head, "Not even a little bit. I knew you'd get us here because I believe in you."
She blinked back tears for a moment before she felt an amused smirk stretch her lips, "You believe in me?" He nodded and she continued in a more mocking tone, "That's sweet. You believe in me. Is that because you love me?"
He rolled his eyes, "I see I'll never live that down."
She winked, "Nope. No take backs after all." They laughed and Lee wrapped her up in his arms before she nestled into his embrace and said, "I 'believe in you' too. No take backs."
He nodded, "Good, because I wouldn't want you to take them back."
Kara stepped out of his arms while hanging onto his hand then they turned back to where the TARDIS had been and smiled at the tent and camping supplies left in the ship's stead. She then looked back out at the water. "So… Secluded tropical beach for two weeks on the home of that bright, shiny future we've heard so much about."
Lee nodded and squeezed her hand affectionately, "Yep." He then turned to Kara with a wicked gleam in his eye as he pulled off his suit jacket. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
She looked him up and down then made a show of licking her lips as she began to unbutton her BDU jacket, "Fancy a skinny dip in that big blue ocean?"
A yank sent his tie flying as he fumbled with the buttons of his shirt, "You are thinking what I'm thinking!"
Less than a minute later, if anyone had passed by the private stretch beach they would have seen two wildly laughing naked people playing out in the surf. No one did though which is why they eventually got past the playing and on to more enjoyable pursuits.
--End--