Cradle of the Gods

Issue #3: Good Help is so Hard to Find

Author's Note: Due to reader feedback, the previous chapter has been edited to improve he prose slightly.

"MageSoft Helpdesk, this is Quinn, how may I be of service?"

"Quinn, thank God! This is Liz."

"Oh, hi Liz! How are you doing?"

"Listen, Quinn, I got an emergency here. Doctor Jones' camp was attacked by an unknown party using robot drones. Doctor Jones thinks that we're going to be attacked again, probably with a heavier force. We need reinforcements."

"Oh, uh, that could be a problem, Liz."

"What? Why?"

"It's crisis season again. Everyone's tied up."

"Everyone? What about our own people?"

"They're dealing with some cult that's trying to summon an Old One."

"What about the Legion? Some of their people were hired as the expedition's security detail."

"They're busy at the Keys Expedition."

"Keys? That's the one on the ring shaped world? What are they up against?"

"Zombie infestation, I think. Very nasty."

"Space Guard?"

"They're dealing with the annual alien invasion. In fact, the invasion's sucked up most of the Omega and high-end Alpha class supers as well as a number of military spec op teams."

"Is anyone available?"

"I suppose I can try and find a Horseman class super."

"Quinn, there's no such thing as a Horseman class super. They're a myth!"

"Of course they exist, Liz. It's just that no one wants to believe that there are people running around that can blow the world away if they sneezed a little too hard…"

"They're a myth! If there really were… Hang on, something's happening."


The camp was a surprise. Given the effectiveness of the soldiers and the swordsman, Tyrol had been expecting a military base of some sort. Maybe there would have been a ship or two of obviously military design. Maybe there would have been Cylons.

As it stood, the camp was a collection of tents that looked pretty much the same as any tent the Colonials had. The camp was also filled with obvious civilians, none of whom looked like the few humanoid Cylons that the Fleet had so far managed to identify.

That was not to say that there weren't Cylons. Several of the civilians were busy examining wrecked Centurions. They were also going over a nearby wreck in a manner that implied unfamiliarity to Tyrol's experienced eye. So unless this entire camp was a Cylon trick, Tyrol figured that these people weren't Cylons.

There were also a number of untended excavations nearby that looked suspiciously like the kind made by archaeologists. But given the number of people present and the size of the digs, they had to be several years old at least.

Tyrol spotted the swordsman talking to a pair of women who seemed to be in charge. Uneasily, Tyrol wondered how long he had been there. The swordsman had displayed an unnerving ability to appear and disappear when no one was looking.

One of the women, a brunette with her hair tied back in a braid, came over and took Crashdown and Baltar aside. That started a halting conversation where they tried to talk to each other. Unfortunately, her words were gibberish to the Colonials and from her frown, the reverse was also true.

Meanwhile, the swordsman and medic directed that Socinus be placed on a raised stone dais that was in the middle of the camp. The dais was old, obviously part of the ruins. It was cracked and missing chunks of stone at the edges. The weird thing was that the cracks and missing chunks had been patched with shiny metal bits that were obviously just installed. The dais was also largely fenced off with large metal stakes and white tape. Cabling hooked up to the dais ran off to a large metal box which itself had cabling running off in all directions to the tents. One ran off to bank of obvious computer equipment. Tyrol figured the box must be some kind of power generator.

Looking at the dais again, Tyrol couldn't help but feel a sense of nagging familiarity. He had seen this set up before, but he couldn't think of where.

The dais had several impatient looking civilians and a number of boxes stacked on top of it. The civilians there took Socinus's stretcher and place him on a relatively level row of boxes. The medic didn't join them. He even stopped Tyrol from trying to join Socinus on the dais. Tyrol had only just opened his mouth to argue when the familiar double flash of an FTL jump enveloped the camp.

"Holy gods…" someone breathed in awe and shock while Tyrol blinked back tears. He had been staring straight at FTL jump and nearly been blinded.

When Tyrol could see again, the stone dais was empty. The civilians, the boxes, and Socinus were all gone. All that remained was a glowing pentagram surrounded by similarly glowing sigils that covered the dais. Even as Tyrol watched, the glows faded away.

Who were these people?


"Okay, the first party's gone," Karen said with relief. Laura walked up and joined her. "Any progress on our guests?"

"Call me weird, but I'm beginning to think that these guys aren't from Earth at all," Laura replied. "I think that they might be from one of the ancient human colonies."

"What makes you say that?" Karen asked in surprise. "Every one of those we've run across has been a bit more… exotic looking than these people. What little of their tech that we've seen looks pretty Earthlike to me too."

"It's their language," Laura replied. "They speak some kind of bastardized conglomeration of Achaean, Greek, and Latin with loan words from other Indo-European languages. Not only that, the grammar is completely off, closer to English than any ancient tongue as near as I can tell. It makes understanding anything they say very difficult. I'm pretty sure no one on Earth speaks it, certainly no group with access to the kind of gear these people have."

"Hmm… anything else?"

"Judging from their reactions to what's left of these robots, I think I can safely say that they consider the bots to be enemies," Laura told her.

"That just makes it more imperative that we get answers from them," Karen said thoughtfully. "We need a translator and we need one fast."

"Telepaths?" Laura suggested.

"No, most telepaths need time to learn languages too," Karen disagreed. "And the ones that don't tend to be Alpha class or better. Your tech just told me that all the Alphas and above are currently occupied with other emergencies. However, I know a Beta with a fairly unique talent that would be perfect… assuming her price could be met. Luckily, I have a few credit cards I can max out."


"Rodney…"

"And now, Mortals, prepare to meet your DOOM!" proclaimed the elemental fire lord.

"Rodney…"

"Bring it on, you Rag wanna-be!" Rodney taunted as charged with sword raised high. "Your evil ends here and now!"

"Rodney…"

The fire lord merely sneered and raised one gargantuan foot to stomp the tiny human when…

SERVER DISCONNECTED

"Noooo!" Rodney Zachariah wailed. He turned to woman holding the now disconnected network plug. "What did you do that for, Eve? Do you have any idea how long it took me to assemble a party for that quest?"

"Oh, please Rodney," Eve Shields snorted in derision. "You're not supposed to be playing games on the company's network to begin with."

"Hey, I'm one third owner of this company," Rodney protested. "Not to mention that I'm in charge of the network to begin with."

"Yeah, and you ought to set a better example for the employees, too," Eve told him. She shrugged and dropped the cable. "Besides, you weren't going to win that fight anyway. Your hunter friend doesn't have a clue how to play his class, the healer was just called away from his keyboard by his mom, and there were a couple orcs sneaking up behind you looking for a few easy PvP kills."

"That's not the point," Rodney grumbled. He was not at all surprised by Eve's seeming omniscience. He'd had years to get used to it after all.

"Whatever. In any case, I have a job and I think I may need a body guard on this one," Eve told him.

"You THINK you need one?" Rodney asked, surprised. "You're not sure?"

"The location's off Earth," Eve said.

"Isn't the off Earth stuff James' bailiwick?" Rodney asked.

"Yeah, but James and his people are off dealing with a zombie infestation," Eve said. "Everyone else is off dealing with one crisis or another. You're the only one left that has Alpha rated firepower or better."

"Yeah, but no one's supposed to know that," Rodney argued.


"Two hundred Raiders, twenty Heavy Raiders, and a hundred Centurions," One said with a shake of his head. "Why does this seem like overkill?"

"There is no such thing as overkill," Eight replied. "This should be more than enough for that human settlement."

"We'll eradicate the humans from the face of Kobol," Five agreed. "Any who manage to escape… well, there won't be many."

"We're risking most of our forces on this. I can't help but think we're overlooking something," One said. "What if the Galactica suddenly shows up? Our two hundred Raiders aren't going to stand up against it unsupported."

"Don't worry about it, One," Eight said confidently. "I'm sure our sister's mission was successful."

"You should have more faith in God," Five added.

"I'm an atheist," One replied.

"Yes, your loss," Five sighed.

"Okay, are then any last minute VALID objections before we launch the attack?" Eight asked.

"No," Five replied.

"I guess not," One agreed. "Send them in."