3. Dawn

Thrace sat in the wardroom, facing Adama. On his right sat Roslin, Lee, and Starbuck.

"Thank you for the jumpsuit, Admiral. Would you have a piano on board? It's been ages…"

"Perhaps something can be arranged," said Roslin, "depending on our conversation."

Adama turned to his left. "Do you recognize this model?"

"I am honored by the presence of the First Five," said Thrace, "though I can't help note there are three missing."

Tigh stood up. "Listen here, skin-job: Ellen's in sickbay, where one of your frakin' toasters put her. You better hope for your own sake she makes it out alive. It's not like we have resurrection ships lying around."

"Saul, I never meant for Ellen to get hurt. I tried to stop the shooting as soon as I recognized her, Kara can attest to that. I even collected a delightful death-memory in the process."

"And if you don't want another one, you will address me as Colonel."

"Admiral," said Tyrol, "the only other Final Five with full memory is Sam. We were only aware of twelve models, like everybody else."

"Yes, the new hybrid, fascinating" said Thrace. "And Tory?"

"She… I…" said Tyrol.

"Tory is no longer with us," said Tigh.

"Good riddance," said Thrace. "I always thought the Ones took after her too much. Are those models still around?"

"Yeah," said Starbuck, "in scattered basestars, with no means to reproduce."

"Oh dear."

"We will be asking the questions, Mr. Thrace," said Adama. "What are you doing on this planet?"

"I believe the short answer would be waiting for you, Admiral."

#

"Because of the prophecy?" asked Roslin.

"I'm sorry, Madam President, I'm not a religious person. With all the beacons the Five placed between the Thirteenth Colony and Kobol, I believed it would be a matter of time, if you didn't go extinct or settle elsewhere. I was willing to wait."

"What beacons?" asked Roslin.

Thrace whistled: "do# re mi la sol#..."

"…mi re do#," finished Starbuck, wistfully.

"They were not meant for you, Madam," Thrace continued. "The Thirteenth Colony had been planning to colonize this planet when war broke out. The Five decided to preserve it from the cycle. The beacons would not be understood by Human or Cylon, only by their common offspring – and the Five themselves, of course."

"But Hera didn't need a beacon," said Starbuck, "she knew to draw it. And when I was little… we…"

"One of my fondest memories, child. I assume Hera was exposed to at least one beacon before she started drawing."

"The Ionian Nebula," said Tigh. "That's where it happened for us."

"Which we arrived at," said Roslin, "by following prophecy from the Temple of the Five."

"Why didn't you just follow the Temple beacon?"

"There was no Temple beacon," said Tyrol. "Both Starbuck and I were there, we heard nothing."

"Intriguing. It would seem the radiation belt anomaly corrupted the message. Clearly humans imbued Cylons with the original sin of poor engineering."

"Athena found the planet on the same day as the Cylons, Mr. Thrace," said Roslin. "That's quite a coincidence."

"Yet you prefer to see this as the gods' work rather than a damaged beacon that could be perceived by Cylons but not fully understood?"

"Now," asked Tigh, "are you going to tell us you rigged the star with nukes to precipitate the supernova at the right time?"

"No, sir, Colonel, the conspiracy does not extend that far. You should count yourselves lucky you did not lose the planet by a few days."

"Lucky, Mr. Thrace?" asked Roslin.

"Well, we should always be grateful things aren't any worse – and they can always get worse. But considering the supernova ruined your first beacon, only to inspire you to seek a second, farther one, I wouldn't be inclined to conclude the Universe is rooting for you."

"What about my disappearance from the Fleet," asked Starbuck, "and miraculous reappearance in the Ionian Nebula?"

"You're asking about your death on the Thirteenth Colony."

"Yes I am," said Starbuck. "And please don't say beacon."

#

"In that case I apologize in advance," said Thrace. "From what I recall of your Viper's black box, you disappeared while flying in a gas giant."

Starbuck frowned. "How did you access my…"

"I'll get there," said Thrace. "You came across another beacon. All beacons transmit two sets of coordinates. The more obvious one refers to the Thirteenth Colony – it was the Fives' intention that others understand that all this has happened before. The second, more subtle set refers to this planet. A place where we could dare break the cycle."

"If you had to be pedagogical," said Roslin, "did you consider leaving the second set at the Thirteenth Colony?"

"The Five barely escaped with their lives, Madam. And from then on it was a race to prevent all this from happening again."

"What does this have to do with me?" asked Starbuck.

"In the gas giant, Kara, you intuitively understood the first set of coordinates. You jumped."

"But I saw her explode!" yelled Lee, slamming the table.

Thrace didn't flinch. "And I, Mr. Vice-President, saw her smoldering wreckage. So did she. Don't ask me what a flaming ship jumping under high pressure looks like – I just play the piano for drinks."

"But I didn't hear the song in the gas giant," said Starbuck.

"And we didn't pick-up any coordinates in the nebula," said Tyrol.

"Please, officers, spare me your individual hallucinogenic experiences."

"What were you doing in the Thirteenth Colony?" asked Adama.

"The same thing I was doing here, Admiral: waiting for you. I expected you to reach the Thirteenth Colony before you came here. I did not expect to pick up a lone Viper on DRADIS only to see it crash." He paused and looked at Starbuck. "Should I go on?"

"Please, I need to know."

"My centurions helped me retrieve the black box and a tissue sample. I was able to download you when you crashed, but I had to keep you boxed while your body matured."

"Are you saying she's a pure Cylon?" asked Lee.

"No, I'm saying human-cylon hybrids can also download." He turned to Starbuck. "I put you in one of the corvette's Vipers, made sure markings, tattoos and accessories were as close as I could make them, and programmed your new navcomputer to trace the original. The Ionian Nebula beacon had just been activated, so I programmed your Viper for the jump. I then jumped here to wait. I would very much have liked to talk to you, Kara, but what I could glean from the black box was enough to show me the Fleet was not yet ready to break the cycle."

"Why not meet us in the Thirteenth Colony?" asked Roslin.

"I already had the information I needed. You had the song and the warning of the Thirteenth. It was now up to you to make peace amongst yourselves and decipher the code."

Starbuck was silent.

"Kara…" said Thrace.

Starbuck stood up to leave. "It's not that easy to mend broken fingers, Dad, I… I need a breather."

Lee excused himself. "I'll… you know…"

They passed Ellen on the hatchway. "Leaving already, darlings? The show's just getting started."

#

Ellen sat between Tigh and Tyrol, crossed her legs and smiled.

"Dazzling as always," said Thrace, "even with that sling around your arm."

"Flattering as always," she replied, "even with those cuffs around your wrists."

Tigh cleared his throat. "Ellen, this man claims he was one of the models we created for the Centurions."

"Why, of course he is, Saul. This is Daniel, he was always the sweetest. We were a big happy family of thirteen until sibling rivalry got a little out of hand. The Johns contaminated the Daniels' amniotic fluid and corrupted the genetic formula. I didn't know any had survived."

"I'm the only one I know of, Ellen, and I owe it all to you."

"Really, dear?"

"You were afraid of what the Ones would do, but you loved them too much to stop them. If they had understood that, maybe we could have avoided this mess. Many of my model fell in love with humans – you loved us for that, the Ones hated us even more. When I left Kara and Socrata, the existing Daniels were being hunted down and killed, without resurrection."

"What of your resurrection unit?" asked Adama.

"Ellen did not want to give the Ones the next generation of resurrection technology – not that hassle of resurrection ships connected to a central hub, but compact, autonomous resurrection pools that could be installed in basestars. She smuggled me and the prototype out in a captured Colonial vessel and sent us to the Thirteenth Colony, to enlighten the survivors of the coming war, that they might avoid the next one."

"Sounds very noble. Why don't I remember any of this?" asked Ellen.

"You were concerned what the Ones would do if they found out – about me, resurrection, and this planet. You had those specific memories wiped at your next download."

"So no one can confirm your story beyond what Ellen remembers?" asked Tigh.

"I hope to have convinced you that if this were some kind of elaborate ploy it would demand such sophisticated intelligence as to make me most likely innocent."

"Mr. Thrace, I understand your resurrection pool is still functional?" asked Adama.

"Yes, sir, Admiral."

"Would it work on humans?"

Roslin gasped.

Thrace seemed perplexed. "As far as I am aware it has never been tried. Of course, it would be safer to wait for natural deaths to determine whether the download mechanism works."

"Don't do this, Bill," said Roslin.

"Laura…"

"I'm tired of playing the dying leader. I'm ready."

"I don't care about the leader."

"We'll talk later." She turned to Thrace. "Mr. Thrace, you've certainly earned your piano time."

"Thank you, Madam President."

Starbuck was waiting for him outside.

"Good to see you, Kara. How about a duet?"

Starbuck clasped his hand. Then let it drop.

"Sorry, Dad, I can't do this right now."

She walked away.

#

End of line.