CH 4
Julie was having a good day. Even though her leg felt much better, her LT. insisted she go see Doc Cottle before she stopped using her crutches. The wait to get in the clinic wasn't long, and the Doc cleared her to use a cane. Her leg was healing much faster than normal.
Walking with a cane was much easier. OK, so she did need to lean on it, but that wasn't a big deal. Heading for the hallway to John's room to see if he was back yet, a reverend raced around the corner just ahead. Seeing her, he pointed back the way he had come and looking frantic, said, "There's a man in bandages who's been shot! I think he's in shock, he was rather rude to me."
Julie shook her head, wondering who John pissed off now. "How many?" she asked.
"How many what?" the reverend asked tentatively.
"Holes. How many holes in him now?" she asked with a huff.
The reverend eyed her and said, "Seven that I saw."
"Relax, I'll take care of him," she said as she went past.
"He need medical attention," the reverend insisted.
Julie glanced back at him and said, "John will be fine."
"His name is John?"
She stopped and looked back at the Reverend. "John Connor, and if he can withstand twelve centurions shooting at him all at once, a few bullets is not going to bother him. Relax." She then went on her way.
She turned the corner, noting the reverend was staring at her.
Getting to John's room, she banged on the door. "John, it's Julie."
"Come in if you want. I'm showing ugly."
Julie went in. John was in front of the mirror, his head wrap off. He used his metal fingers to pull a bullet out of his forehead. "I can help you," she offered. She studied his face. Skin was growing back all around the edges of his wounds, showing a much smaller area of metal.
"Got a couple in my back." he said and turned to give her a set of needle nose pliers. His eye was back, but cloudy.
You're getting prettier," she said with a smirk. "Sit on the bed."
John did and turned to the side. Julie sat behind him and carefully removed two slugs. "So, who did you piss off this time?" she asked in a conversational tone.
"Sons of Ares. The younger Adama wanted me to go down in a hold and clean them out. Got all I could find, thirteen of them," he explained.
"Good, they are scum. All done."
John turned back to her and took the pliers. "Thank you." He went over to the sink and put them back then came over to return to his place by her. "No more crutches?" he asked.
"Nope, Doc said I'm healing fast. Must be from living a good life," she beamed.
"The nanites," John said.
"What about them?"
John pointed to her leg and said, "This morning, the water I left for you, I put some of my nanites in it to ease your headache from drinking too much. They must still be active repairing your leg wound."
"You put those in me? Without telling me?" she asked in a squeak.
"You were sleeping, and you drank the water, I didn't," he said defensively.
She frowned at him and asked, "How about a adding to the note, Hey! I'm pulling these creepy-crawlies in your water so you'll feel better?"
"They are not creepy or crawly," John said firmly. "They are micro-machines made to repair damage, be it metallic or organic."
"SO, now I have nanites in me?" she asked unhappily.
"Only until they repair everything they can find. After 24 hours with no function, they go into your blood stream and your system cleans them out as waste," he explained. After a pause he added in a musing tone, "That is, unless they see you not being able to produce your own nanites as damage, then they will build a nanite producing organ under your stomach. If they do, then you'll have your own supply."
Julie let out a snort. "So I will get metal bones too?" she asked.
"Negative. You'd have to consume metal salts to do that as well as having the nanites to replace your organic bone with metal."
"That's a relief," she said tonelessly.
John tipped his head to the side slightly. "Why?" he asked. "The risk of breaking a bone will be much lower, you will bleed less when injured, and you will heal faster."
"Because I'm not a cyborg?" Julie asked in a musical tone and raised an eyebrow.
"Technically, any mix of a biological and mechanical being is a cyborg," John said.
"I'd be bullet proof too?" Julie asked.
"No, but you'd still be a cyborg."
A knock sounded at the door. "John Connor, you in?"
"Yes, come in," John replied.
Another marine opened the door and stuck his head in. He paused at seeing John with no head wrap, then said, "Madam President wants to see you. Follow me."
John let out a sigh and got up. Julie helped him re-wrap his head. She went to put the eye patch over his cloudy eye, he stopped her. "No, I can see better now."
"Fine with me," she said. "Have fun, I'm going to take a nap."
.
John thought he was going to see the President. The room the marine led him to did have the President in it. On her side of the table was an medium brown skinned Indian looking woman he scanned to show she was a cylon, another man in a suit, those three were bracketed by two marine guards on each side. Two more were on either side of the door he came in. The chair on his side was back from the table.
"This party for me?" John asked.
"Sit," Laura said firmly and pointed at the chair.
He walked over to the chair, dragged it up to the table, which made the marines point their guns at him, and sat down. "What?" he asked, glancing at the marines.
"This is an inquiry, you need to move back," the man in the suit said.
John folded his arms over his chest. "No. You called me here to talk? So talk."
"It's all right," Laura said. The marines lowered their weapons. Laura cast him a hard gaze and asked, "Can you prove you're not a cylon?"
"Can you prove you're really a human?" he asked in return. "I would think that by now, even you would realize I'm not a slow, weak, ignorant cylon," he stated.
"What planet did you come from?" she asked.
"The one I was born on," he said truthfully.
"Is it Earth?" she asked.
"I gave you my answer," he said firmly.
"I want real answers!" Laura said and pounded the table with a fist a she glared at him. "I need to know, where you are from, and WHAT you are doing here!"
"I've already told you," John replied evenly. "If you are fishing for specifics of my home world, you're out of luck. I won't say where it is and I sure as HELL won't lead you there. You people are fracked in the head. I don't want you anywhere near my world."
"We need a good planet to live on, I will do whatever is necessary to get that for my people, no matter the cost," Laura growled at him.
"I can help with that," John said with a nod. "In fact, by what I saw down in the holds, your people desperately need a place to live. I will do all I can to you help you achieve that goal. What I will not do, is tell you where my planet is."
"Shouldn't you leave that decision for the rulers of your world?" Laura asked.
John cracked a grin and asked, "Lady, just who do you think I am? I'm not some common worker bee that was picked up out of a field and shot through space to see what's there. I was sent because I KNOW what is good, and what is NOT good for my home and my people. You are NOT good for my people. You are violent, you are untrustworthy, and you are inflexible in your assumptions and even when told the truth, you refuse to believe anything that doesn't fit into your narrow minded thinking."
"Look!" Laura spat. "I am the President here, you are in our fleet and not in the military so you are under my authority! I can have you shot out of an airlock if you refuse to cooperate with me!"
John grinned at her and asked, "Can we hold hands on the way out? I always wanted to gaze at the stars with a date."
Laura exploded. Shooting out of her seat red faced, and yelled, "I AM NOT FOOLING!"
"Neither am I," John stated. "Do what you want. I have told you where I stand."
"Madam President," the suited man said as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Please calm down."
Glaring at John, she snapped, "You sneaked into our fleet, I demand you tell me how you did that!"
"I've explained that too," John told her. "If you don't believe me, that's your problem."
"Madam President, a word, please," the man hissed.
Madam President stormed off to a side room with him. When the door slammed shut, the marine on the end whispered, "John, you better tell her. She can get nasty."
John recognized the marine. "I can't Joe. Sorry," he said quietly.
"Please, do it for Sargent Colin." Joe asked in a plea.
John shook his head. "I can't, not even for Julie. I have to protect my world, Joe. If Roslyn decides to eject me into space, she does. I know Julie will be hurt, but you guys can support her."
"Can you tell me, who does rule your planet?"
"My sister, Sarah Connor. She wanted me to join her cabinet, but I can't stand politics," John said with a crooked grin. "Stupid, huh?"
"From where you are sitting, I'd agree with your sister," Joe told him.
The side door flung open and Roslyn marched back out to take her seat. "Connor, I will give you two days to reconsider. Our next meeting will be with you standing in an airlock, and if you do not tell me the name and location of your planet, I WILL eject you!"
"So, are we done now?" John asked.
"Get him out of here!" Laura growled.
John got up. "Been good talking to you. See you in a couple days," he said and waved before he left.
.
Once John was gone, Laura Roslyn turned to the marines. "Did he tell you anything?"
"Yes, Ma'am. He will not tell you where Earth is. His sister, Sarah Connor, rules Earth. I believe you might want to think twice about ejecting him into space."
.
In the Commander's quarters, Commander Adama, Laura Roslyn, Saul Tigh and Lee Adama sat around the coffee table. They were discussing John Connor Junior.
"I think he's being abrasive on purpose," Lee said. "If his sister is ruling the planet, I'm sure this is some kind of test for us. He claims to have come here by accident. What if Earth knows we're here, and wanted to see what kind of people we are so they sent him? We airlock him, and we fail. Then we really will be shunned by Earth."
"That is, if he's telling the truth," Tigh grumbled.
Sitting leaning forward, elbows on his knees in thought, Commander Adama said, "He has been baiting us to react every time he opens his mouth. Seeing what he can do in combat, I think you're right, Lee. A cylon would want to get us to trust it. He doesn't seem to care if we trust him or not."
"He all but challenged me to throw him out an airlock," Laura said. "He has done good for our fleet, and took the brunt of the battle and helped get those women off Caprica."
"And clean the Sons of Ares out of one of our holds," Lee added.
Commander Adama said in a musing tone, "We need to find out if he's telling the truth about Earth. I think we should give him a raptor with plenty of fuel, put a tracker on it and leave him behind during the next jump. We watch where he goes and we'll know."
"Good idea, Bill," Tigh said. "I'll set it up right away."
"Make it happen in two days," Laura said.
.
John went back to his room, thinking about what he could use to make a thruster unit. He still had his original mission of finding a habitable planet. Just not the way he thought he was going to be doing it. This was gonna suck, but he did have a mission to compete. He'd hung around here long enough.
Eyeing a fire extinguisher he passed, he figured a couple of those would give him some thrust. They emptied pretty quick though. A nice ion drive would be better. He only had two days to make one.
"This is so gonna suck," he grumbled.
Remembering the sheet metal walls in that hold, he went down to get himself some materials. On the way, the cages the Gunny showed him were empty except for some blood splotches on the floor. Framing material, good. He just might pull this off.
Heading down to the hold he saw the same pitiful faces. One ragged woman held up a hand in pleading, "Can you find us some food, please?"
"I'll look for you, OK?" he told her.
He went into the room where those men had been. The boxes of food were still where he'd left them. Enough to feed the people down here. He went back out to the main room and announced, "Hey, listen up! Everyone, I found food, but I need some people to help carry it out. Can anyone give me a hand?"
In the mass of cubicles, people rose up here and there. From the walled off area, a line of women came out. He counted the boxes, then organized his help. The cylon woman that came, he ignored.
Facing the volunteers, he said, "OK, we want everyone to get some, so I need a couple people to go around and see who can't come to get food on their own, and take food to them. The rest of you, make a line. I'll pass the boxes out to you. Once you have a box, go over to that open area and make another line to pass the food out. Right now, two handfuls per person to make sure everyone gets some. If anyone tries to take the box or gives you problems, yell, I'll come discourage them, got it?"
He waited until he received a mass of nods then went in to begin passing out the boxes.
Even with all these boxes , there were a ton of people in this hold. He passed out boxes until the line was gone. The last few boxes he carried out himself.
The food distribution went well. It also took too long. He had to make his ion thruster, but he also needed to make sure these people were fed. To his surprise, the cylon had a box in one hand and was helping to organize the lines and checking cubicles. She passed out food to those who did not get up to get some. When her box was empty, she headed back for another.
"Hey, you!" John yelled, pointing to her. When she looked, he waved her over.
John gave her one of the boxes and asked, "Which area haven't you covered yet?"
She pointed and said, "I didn't get back there from the frame marked 113 to the back wall, or up there on the other side of our spaces."
"OK, you head up there, I'll work the back," he told her.
She beamed him a smile and said, "Thank you for doing this for us. It really means a lot. I'll do anything you ask of me."
"Good, get that box of food passed out," he told her. He ignored her bright smile at him and headed off to pass out food.
The shape these people were in was deplorable at best. Some bore horrible skin rashes, some had infections, others were just too weak to get up. Every single one thanked him profusely and told him what a good man he was.
It made him want to cry. At least he could do something for them.
It took way too long, but everyone got something to eat. They even had a half a box of food left. One of the women who came up and offered herself to him, he asked when rations came down to them.
"Once a day," the brown haired, smelly woman said. "That is as long as guards come with them. Even then, only people who can get up to go get some, get any. The 'cubicle' bound people rely on others giving them some scraps."
And he thought his life sucked.
The last half box he distributed between the ones who couldn't walk to keep for when they got hungry again. It wasn't much, but it was something.
'Excuse me," the brunette cylon said. "If you want to lie down, please do so in my cubicle."
"Can't. Got too much to do," he told her and headed for a sheet of metal that looked like it would come down easy.
"What do you have to do? I can help," she offered. "later on, I would like you to stay with me. Just in case those men come back."
"Lady, look," he said firmly. "I've got little time and much to do. If you want to do something, help me shape that metal sheet when I get it down."
"It's bolted to framing," she said, casting him a confused look.
"Yup, it is," he agreed.
The sheet metal wall was only seven feet tall, just high enough to visually shield what was happening within. John took off his right glove and gripped a bolt head with his metal hand. The bolt resisted, then turned. He noted the cylon brunette was watching him in fascination. Glancing at her as he unscrewed the bolt, he said, "Sorry, I don't have a wrench."
"You're a centurion?" she asked softly.
"Nope, cyborg. I'm not one of your androids." He got the bolt out and worked at the next one up.
"Where did you come from?" she asked in her hushed voice.
"My mamma. What about you?" John asked. Around him, he was drawing a crowd as people noticed what he was doing and how he was doing it.
"Can you get me out of here?" the cylon asked.
John shook his head. "In approximately 39 hours, I'm walking out an airlock to go look for a planet. You wouldn't survive the trip," he told her.
"But you will," she said, with her fascinated gaze.
"Got to. I'm getting tired of this boat anyway," he said and dropped a third bolt to the floor. Reaching up, he unscrewed the top corner bolt.
A young, skinny girl came close to watch him. "Mister? are you a cylon? Are you going to hurt us?" she asked meekly.
John eyed her. She looked about 12 and malnourished. A thin raggamuffin with scraggly hair and worn, dirty clothes. "I'm not, sweetie. And if I can find a decent planet, I'll try to let your people know. Don't hold your breath in anticipation though, only one out of 700 planets have the ability to support life. Only half of those can support larger intelligent life," he explained.
A woman who had to be the girl's mother came up behind the girl and asked, "Mister, What are you doing?"
"I need material to build an engine. I'm hoping to make a plasma drive, but if I can even make an ion drive, it will be something to push me along."
"Push you along?" she asked.
The cylon told her, "He's going to leave the ship and travel through space by himself."
"Why? You'll die out there!" the woman stated with a frown.
John winced and said, "It's not going to be comfortable, but I'll survive."
"Who's going to bring us food and keep those Sons away from us?" the woman asked.
John paused at the bolt on the opposite top corner and said, "Lady, I do what I can, when I can. I can't stay, The President doesn't want me in your fleet, so I have to leave. I'm sorry."
"Roslyn is going to eject you out of an airlock," the cylon stated.
John resumed working at the bolts. "That is why I need to make a personal propulsion device. You can't swim in the vacuum of space."
"That's not right," the cylon said firmly. "You helped everyone down here live just a little bit better, and that Witch is going to throw you away?"
"Hey, it's her fleet, not mine," John told her. "If she wants me gone, I have to go."
"No!" the cylon cried. "I know you got shot down here, multiple times, and you are very strong. You can fight and demand to stay! No one can push you out if you refuse to go!"
John let out a huff and eyed her. "Look, there's a thing called the rule of law. Things that don't seem right but are the law, you have to follow like it or not. I'm not part of your Colonial humans or cylons. I have no say in how you people do things, OK? Besides my mission is to find a habitable planet, not get mixed up in your troubles." John saw only one bolt left. "Everyone, stand back a minute," he called.
He waited until the crowd of fifteen people backed up, then took the bolt out and guided the sheet of metal to the floor. He eyed it to picture the shape he wanted it to take, then bent the metal into a cone with dual wraps. The cylon woman held pieces to help him. The uneven edges he folded back and pressed the edges tight to make the cone keep it's shape.
"We don't want you to go," the cylon told him.
"Want has nothing to do with it," he told her. He picked up his cone. With a few 'excuse me's, he made his way through the crowd. He felt someone latch onto his shirt.
The twelve year old looked up at him with pleading eyes. "Please stay. We'll hide you," She then turned. "Won't we?" she asked the people around him.
A few heads nodded.
"No one comes down here, won't you stay with us?" the cylon asked.
John did really want to help these people. The best way to do that was to get his ass in gear and go find a planet. "If I'm caught, you all could be in trouble," he told them. Looking squarely at the cylon, he said, "Especially you. I got things to do, I have to go." He gently pried the girl off him and patted her head. "Everything will turn out fine. Don't worry," he told her. He tried not to hear the little girl sobbing as he left. Damn, that was a sound that tore at one's heart.
John went up to the cages. The bars were metal strap. Plenty strong enough to keep humans inside and decent building material. He ripped one of the doors off. Twisting, bending and tearing, he made a frame to sit on and hold onto. He peeled cage bars off to hold the cone, leaving room for the drive assembly he had to make. He had plans in his mind, but those needed to be changed depending on what he could scrounge up. Walking around this level, he noted there were several air locks. The long room with the cages seemed to be a good place to build this thing. He left his start of an engine by the nearest airlock. No sense in dragging it all over the ship.
He had 33 hours left to get ready to leave.
One place he had parts and pieces, was in his room. He went up to collect the scrap and bits he'd made and found Julie asleep in his bed. He moved around in his room quietly as possible so as not to wake her. He got out the pieces of metal from under his bed, his banjo he'd gotten back and the air vent cover.
In his mind he matched pieces to what he'd need. The banjo strings could be used to conduct electricity as long as he spaced them apart. The vacuum of space was a good insulator. His power source would be plenty to supply the static voltage to power a ion drive. He'd need a containment cylinder and high current to make a plasma drive. He had no idea where to find either.
The door opened. The dark haired cylon poked her head in.
"Shh," he said, finger to his lips and pointed to Julie.
The cylon came in and knelt beside him. "I know a place you can stay, not be found, and endanger no one," she said quietly.
"I have to go and I don't want you to wake Julie up," he replied as he worked the parts he had into his design. There was much he still needed.
The cylon lowered her head briefly, then looked back up at him. "What's your name?" she asked. "I'm Veronica Six."
"John Connor Junior, please to meet you. Now go before you wake Julie up."
From the bed, there was a click. "Julie is awake. What are you doing here, toaster?" Julie said in a hard tone.
John looked up to see Julie pointing a gun at Veronica. John quickly put his hand over the muzzle. "Julie, no! Put that away."
Julie glanced at him. "What's going on, John?" she asked evenly, not taking her eyes off Veronica.
Veronica lunged at her. John shot up to ram into her and knock her away into the corner and took the gun out of Julie's hand. Standing between then, he stared at Veronica and said, "You are not going to hurt Julie." To Julie, he said, "And you're not going to shoot Veronica." He took the clip out of Julie's gun, racked it to eject the bullet, then gave her the gun back.
"John, she's a cylon!" Julie cried as she sat up.
"Yeah, she is," John agreed. "She also helped me feed all those people down in the hold. Veronica has done nothing bad, leave her alone." To Veronica who stared at him from the corner, he added, "That goes for you too."
Glaring at Julie, Veronica said, "You should let her kill me. I'll resurrect away from the human refuse here."
"I would but John's took my bullets," Julie stated, glaring back at the cylon.
"Enough!" John barked. "Veronica, your resurrection system isn't what you think. When you die, it doesn't bring you back. It makes a clone of you. Your clone will have your memories, but it will not be you. You will still be here and still be dead." Turning in Julie, he said, "Julie, I thought you would realize that killing only makes things worse, not better. I don't have time to teach either of you, I have to get ready to leave so I'm asking you not to fight so I can get my work done." Seeing neither was being aggressive, he sat back down.
"How do you know how our resurrection system works?" Veronica asked.
"Because I got a brain I use to think with, instead of just filling up the space between my ears," John retorted. "You can be nice to Julie, or you can leave."
Veronica took her gaze off Julie and said, "John, I want to come with you."
"No, you'll die," John said.
Julie looked at him and asked, "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to go look for a habitable planet," he said, and unstrung his banjo.
Veronica said in a harder tone, "That means Roslyn is going to throw him out an airlock."
"What?" Julie cried. "John? What did you do?"
"She didn't like my answer to her question," he said as he picked apart one of the braided steel strings.
Julie face planted. "John!" she said in a groan, "What was the question? Maybe you can still tell her what she wants to know and save yourself."
"Can't do that, Julie," John said evenly.
Julie's face became stricken. "John, you have to! I do not want to see you get shot out an airlock!"
John shrugged and said, "Then don't look."
"THIS IS SERIOUS!" Julie yelled. Grabbing him by the collar with both hands, she tried to shake him, shaking herself more than him as she yelled, "Gods Damnit, John! I need you!"
Julie was kneeling in the parts he was trying to make as she cried. Hands on her sides, John carefully lifted her up and sat her on the bed. Now he was kneeling in his parts. Julie clung to him, wrapping her arms around him. "We'll steal a raptor," she said in a sob.
"I'll help. We can all leave," Veronica said.
John petted Julie's hair. "No one stealing anything," he said softly.
"John, what will it matter as long as we can get away?" Veronica asked.
"Who says we'll get away with it?" he asked. "Who's to say one or both of you won't get killed in the attempt?"
"John, I'm dead anyway. Cylons are shot on sight, and if I stay here I will be recognized," Veronica stated.
John wasn't sure about that statement, he'd seen cylons here and there all around the ship. He held Julie close until time ticked down to the 29 hour mark. He pulled her back and said, "Julie, I have an important job for you. I want you to march Veronica here to the brig. If she's in the brig, no one going to hurt her. She can be safe, and probably live better than down in that hold. Your story is you found her down by the holds and took her straight to the brig, then made your report. Can you do that for me?"
Gazing at him with her tear stained face, Julie asked, "What are you going to be doing?"
"Making what I need."
"Do you know when Roslyn is coming to get you?"
"I've got two days," John said, repeating what Roslyn told him. "Whatever happens, I don't want anyone hurt because of me. Understand?"
Julie cracked a weak grin. "That's my John, trying to save everyone."
"I try," he said with a grin. "Both of you stay here until after the next guard change, that's in five hours." Looking at each of them, he asked, "No fighting, right?"
Veronica gave a begrudging nod, as did Julie. "Thank you," John told them. He picked up the parts he was going to need and left.
Veronica sat on the bed. "You love him, don't you?" she asked.
"It shows, huh?"
"I can see why. I've only met him twice, and I want to be with him."
"He will never stop. He is dreaming his impossible dream," Julie said softly.
"I don't understand," Veronica said.
"I think I'm just beginning to," Julie admitted. She softly sang 'To Dream The Impossible dream' leaking tears the whole time.
.
Julie took Veronica to the brig like John wanted her to and told the guards there the story John made up. Once Veronica was in, Julia passed her water and some food squares. The gunny herself came to congratulate her on finding and capturing a cylon infiltrator. For some reason, Julie wasn't feeling so proud about it.
Feeling horrid about what was going to happen to John, and being helpless to do anything about it, Julie went to the new priest she heard was good at helping people. The man was tending to his alter when she came into his church.
"I need help," she stated.
He turned, recognizing her right away. "Yes, you came to the right place, in my office, please," he said.
Julie went in and sat down. He took his seat on the other side. "It's obvious you are upset, please tell me about it," he offered.
Julie didn't have the presence of mind to think of how to word it, she blurted out, "President Roslyn is going to airlock John into space."
He leaned closer and asked, "Why? That is a horrible death for anyone."
"I don't know what to do," Julie said, casting him a pleading gaze. "I want to put a gun to her head and make her stop. She is cruel, and John doesn't deserve that! She hates him for no reason. He refuses to say where his planet is, so she's going to …" Stopping to crimp her eyes shut and ball her fists, she growled "It's not fair!"
"What's your name, child?" he asked gently.
"Julie."
"And you care for this John?"
"I do. I didn't mean to. He just grows on you. We ate with some crewmen, and John explained who he was and even showed them his bare metal hand. No one yelled or pulled a gun, they were curious about him. John is easy to talk to, as long as you're not pointing a gun at him," she said with a snort. "He's also way more forgiving that I would be, if I was him. John's a frackin tank, he could wipe us all out if he wanted, but he doesn't want to hurt anyone. He gets angry at the thought of killing anyone. He even protected the cylon he found in the holds and he doesn't even like cylons. Roslyn can't see how wonderful he is, she just hates him because he's metal on the inside."
John Cavil listened to the human, taking in the things he didn't know about this John Connor. To ease the meat bag, he said, "Julie, you have to believe in the Gods and trust that there is a reason for everything. I beg you not to take any drastic action. You're a marine right? Focus on your job and what you need to do. Have faith things will work out like they are suppose to."
"Trust the gods, right," she said with a snort. "Suppose John is right? I mean, he's never lied to me, or anyone. What if there is only one God?"
"Everyone had their own beliefs. It's not like anyone has proof. That is what faith is," John Cavil explained.
Julie cast him a smirk. "That's not what John said. He told me in the city … I forget the name, but on Earth there are two stone tablets that contain the ten commandments that God himself gave the people to obey. He lives by those commandments. That is more than faith. That's following the words God gave them."
"I'm sure someone wrote them down," John said quickly.
Julie nodded. "Well, I do know that John does his best for everyone. He said one of the commandments is to not kill, so I suppose I shouldn't shoot the President between her hate filled eyes."
"You should not," he agreed. Though if she did, that would be a good thing. "Tell you what, I'll try to see President Roslyn and talk her out of executing John. I want you to take time and read and reflect on the holy Kobol book and do nothing rash to anyone."
Julie nodded. "Thank you, reverend," she said and got up.
John Cavil smiled and bid her well. He then sat and thought about this John Connor. If his brother wanted information on him, then he would get plenty by picking his body up out of space, and have a much more powerful weapon against the colonials. He was going to give Roslyn a call, just to say he did. He knew it wasn't going to help change her mind. He also had a feeling that marine that just left might snap when Roslyn ordered John Connor ejected into space. That was going to be fun to watch.
.
Julie was not going to do nothing. She went to her captain and asked to see Commander Adama about an important matter. As per procedure, she told him what it was about. He sent her to the XO, who grumbled and told her to drop it. She refused, and demanded to talk to Commander Adama. She had to stand in the corridor at parade rest for what seemed like hours, but eventually, seeing she was not going to go away, Lee Adama came to escort her to see the Commander.
Commander Adama was in his ready room. She had to stand outside again, waiting until he was ready to see her. Finally, Lee called her in. She entered to see the Commander at his desk, with the President on the other side. Ignoring Roslyn, she marched up and came to attention and snapped a salute.
"Sir! Sargent Colin requests to speak to you, Sir!" she announced.
"Have your say, Sargent," Adama told her.
Julie announced, "With all due respect Sir, it is not only cruel to eject John Connor into space, it will be a loss for our ship and our people. John has the ability to do things we cannot. He had proven himself as a benefit to us both on ship, and in the field. Many lives can be saved if we only respect his wishes that he not be forced to answer certain questions that he cannot, due to his code of honor, answer."
Commander Adama clasped his hands together and said, "You have been heard, Sargent. I do appreciate your concern. The fact of the matter is that John Connor is not military. At least, our military. I have no say in the matter."
"But… Sir, can't you do anything?" Julie asked as her composure waned.
Laura Roslyn spoke up. "Sargent, I have given John Connor one last chance to properly answer my questions. What happens to him, is up to him. In your opinion, will he admit where he is from, and show us where that planet is?"
Julie glared at her and said, "Not a chance in Hades, Madam President. He will die first. You should have at least a sliver of respect for him." She clamped her mouth shut before she said something that got her into trouble.
Adama saw the Sargent's eyeballs quiver in anger. "Sargent, there will be a detail formed in three hours. You are to inform the Gunny you will be in that detail," he said. "Dismissed."
He watched her jaw clench as she snapped her salute. "Yes, Sir." she spat, turned, and marched out.
"The Sargent is not happy with you, Laura," he noted.
Laura grinned and said, "I saw. Maybe she can convince John to tell us where Earth is."
.
John found the thing he needed most, a battery. All right, it wasn't a normal battery, it was a blocky thing used to run a lift truck that was sitting idle. It was charged and about the right weight to counter balance him on the frame so he could be on one side and the battery be on the other. It was only 46 volts, but the large cells were capable of putting out plenty of amps. Hopefully enough to at least push him to head off in the right direction. If he could find a good sized capacitor and some power diodes, that would be perfect. He'd have his plasma drive.
He got the battery out and took it to his frame. He had to pull apart more cage, but he got it fitted in place and strapped to the frame. Now, he could ride the frame like a motorcycle.
"John Connor, we've been looking for you."
John got up from working on his engine. Two marines were walking towards him. "I was getting my ride ready. This is the lock I want to go out of," he told them.
"President Roslyn wants to see you," one said evenly.
John frowned. "Already? I still have ten hours to go before ejection," he complained.
The marine shrugged. "She said now. What are you making anyway?"
"A plasma drive. Decent thrust. I know it's a little crude, but hey, I don't have much to work with," he said with a flop of his arms.
'Come with us, please."
"Fine," John grumbled. He had the parts here, he'd just had to finished them in space, and not let any pieces drift away from him. If Roslyn knew he was building something here, she probably had him taken to another air lock, just out of spite. He picked up the pieces and tied the wire onto the frame and put the lose smaller pieces in his pocket. He then hefted the frame up on his back. "Let's go."
The marines escorted him down to the port hanger bay. It was rough walking down the stairs, John heard and felt them creaking. He was hoping they held. Below, he saw three lines of marines standing to one side of a large air lock. On the other side was Roslyn and a smaller pack of six more marines. He followed the two with them over to the group.
Everyone was staring at the big blocky thing on his back.
"What is that?" Roslyn demanded.
"Something I made. Are you going to open that airlock up, or not?" he asked.
"Will you tell me about your planet and it's location?" she asked in return.
"Not in a million years," John said flatly.
"I am giving you a chance," Roslyn stated.
"No, you're asking me to betray my people. Not. Happening." John said firmly.
"Very well then," Roslyn stated. "Open the air lock."
John watched the air lock door open, ready to step in. He paused, there was the raptor with extra fuel tanks inside. "This one's full," he told her.
Roslyn motioned to it. "Your original mission was to find a habitable planet, wasn't it? This is all we can spare, but it's yours if you will do one thing for us. If you find a good planet, will you send back word to us?"
John let out a sigh of relief and said, "If I can. I'll need to find two, you understand. We need one as well."
"The antenna device you made is on board, as is plenty of food and water and extra air cleaning cartridges. We would also like you to take a problem off our hands," Laura added. She nodded to a marine. He said in his radio, "Bring her down."
Roslyn looked at the raptor, and the huge thing John was carrying. "I don't think that will fit on the raptor," she said.
"Me either," John said, and set it down as gently as possible. "It's most of a plasma drive. If you can use it, fine. It's the best I could do with scrap."
Roslyn eyed it. "You really were going to go though space with no ship?" she asked.
"I gotta do, what I gotta do," John replied.
Hearing marching feet, John looked back to see six more marines, three to each side of Veronica. Julie was in the lead on the right. "No," he groaned in a breath.
"We were going to execute her, but if she goes with you, then you decide what to do with her," Roslyn stated.
John cast Roslyn a pained look. "I have to take a cylon with me?" he asked in a whine.
"How do you know she's a cylon?"
"Because I can scan people and find out what they are," he told her.
"Why didn't to say something before now?" Roslyn asked in a demand.
"I doubt you'd have believed me," John replied. With a huff he added, "I'll leave her on the planet I find for you. Maybe she can be useful to you there."
As the group got closer, he saw Julie looking at the raptor and let out a visible sigh of relief. Veronica brightened up on seeing it also.
Laura Roslyn turned to Veronica and said, "Cylon, if we find you in the fleet again, you will be summarily executed. Do not come back."
"I have no intention of doing so," Veronica said firmly. She looked at John.
John tipped his head to the raptor. "Get on, I'll be right there."
Happily, Veronica did, walking quickly to the hatch and getting in.
John looked at Julie. Her face was a mix of relief and sadness. He walked over and gave her a hug. She hugged him back. "Stay safe," he told her.
"You too. And come visit some time, OK?"
"If I can." he said and released her. Not wanting to prolong his departure he turned to Roslyn and nodded, saying. "Thank you. I appreciate it." He went in. The inner door shut.
Julie watched the inner door shut. Although she felt her heart sink out of her chest and desperately wanted to scream for John to come back, she held onto herself. She refused to think about John leaving with that fraking toaster. She took her squad back to the armory and turned in their rifles.
.
The rest of the day, Julie focused on training. She ran the course through Galacitca's passageways as hard as she could. She put on boxing gloves and beat the living hades out of that punching bag until she could no longer lift her arms. She did her best to kill it. Wearing herself out, she followed her routine as of late. When she went to take a rest, she found herself in John's room.
Many things were gone, but traces of John were still there. Pieces of the instruments he made, the pliers they used to pull bullets out of him. Wandering in, she sat on the bed. The day then hit her hard. John was gone, and he wasn't coming back. Flopping down, Julie cried her eyes out.
