A Life More Ordinary
Chapter 4: The Man Behind The Curtain

"Please allow me to introduce myself; I'm a man of wealth and taste." A voice came from back in the office, making everyone look round in surprise; an grey haired man dressed in a crisp, white suit sat in the chair behind the desk. He laughed deeply, "Sorry, but I always have liked that song. Anyone, for the sake of expediency, you may call me simply... Edward."

"You." John's voice was as cold and unforgiving as the depths of space.

"Me!" The man gestured to himself, "I do hope you'll forgive my little dramatic flair; it's not all that often I get to meet new people who know the truth about me. Or at least, are about to know the truth."

"If you wanted them to know the truth, you'd show them what you really look like." Kendra snorted, "Not this little... show, you put on for visiting dignitaries."

"But I like this form." Edward protested, "Anyway, we're getting off topic; you were about to explain how I bravely rescued three people from a disintegrating Halo."

"You're the one who save them?" Sam asked, somewhat sceptically, "You look like a used-cars salesman!"

"Kids these days; no respect for their elders. And they don't come much older than me." The newcomer shook his head in disbelief, "I chose this visage to ensure peaceful and harmonious interactions with you humans, as you have a proven tendency to be ill at ease with my true form."

"His real name Offensive Bias: he leads a group of Forerunner AI's who call themselves The Conclave." Kendra crossed arms, "They like to hang around Kobol, handing out trinkets to impressionable idiots and generally acting like massive tools."

"We oversee the passing of The Mantle to humanity." Edward looked at her like a disapproving teacher correcting a student, "We spent thousands of years observing your species, both on Earth and on the Twelve Colonies, hoping to see some sign that you'd matured as a civilisation. Every now and then wed give you a little nudge, trying to help you without tipping our hand. We also help those who have proven to be, exceptional."

"Like, mom and dad?" Miranda asked.

"Yes, but not necessarily for the reasons you might think." Edward shook his head, "Oh, your father is a most impressive warrior, as is your mother, in her own way. But its their capacity for self-sacrifice that most impressed us. Few could have gone through what they did and survive with their, humanity, intact. That is why we chose to bend the rules a little, and saved them from otherwise certain death. It was clear that going back wasn't an option; there is only so much interference we can justify, and there was bound to be someone who wouldn't believe us if we told them we had removed the Activation Index from your mothers head. Not that it would have been any good to anyone, after they had blown the Halo it was for into its component atoms."

"Nova bombs." Kendra nodded, suppressing a shudder at the memory, "Really live up to their names."

"So, we brought them here, to a world that was no stranger to people who didn't want to talk about their past." Edward continued, "We set them up with fake identities that would pass all but the most extensive background checks. And I'm talking 'track down people you supposedly went to school with and ask them if they remember you' extensive. Here, hidden from anyone who might recognise them, they were free to live a life a little more ordinary than they had done."

"And we're eternally grateful." Beth nodded quickly, "Both for that and helping out now."

"I live to serve." Edward shrugged, then made a show of looking at his watch, "Is that the time? I really must dash; I have some impressionable idiots I must hand out trinkets to. Expect me when you see me."

There was a flash of brilliant, pure light, and he was gone.

"I hate it when he does that." Kendra rolled her eyes.

"He's really not so bad," Beth insisted, "when he's not talking down to 'lesser beings'."

"I think we've had enough excitement for now." John closed the case holding his armour and ushered them all out into the study, "Close the vault please, Jerrod."

"Certainly." The A.I. sounded remarkably calm given all that had happened, and the hidden doorway swung shut as silently as it had opened, with only the faintest of clicks indicating that it was locked, "Vault sealed."

The three adults looked at the two teenagers, trying to gauge how they were coping. A few long, awkward, minutes passed in silence, no one sure what to say or do next. For Miranda and Sam, the startling reality of just who and what their parents were was finally starting to hit home with a vengeance, their entire world view wiped away in a few short minutes. Not only did they have to take in that everything they had grown up knowing about their family was built on a network of carefully crafted and maintained lies, but they also had to try and comprehend how the truth affected every facet of their lives.

For their parents, it was a time of anguish and fear as they watched the troubled faces of their children. They had sworn to do everything in their power to make sure that the lives they had left behind did nothing to interferer with the lives of their children. They had known that it was a fools hope, that maybe they would never have to tell them the truth, but hope they had. Now they had to stand and watch as the whole charade came crashing down. Neither of them could help but think that it might have been easier if the children had been younger, but the longer the lie had persisted, the easier it had been to pretend it was the truth.

Kendra stood, leaning against the bookcase that hid the door to the secret lab, and watched it all with a certain clinical detachment. It had taken her days to come to terms with the idea that her friends hadn't died back on the Halo when Edward had first come to her. Days during which she had been forced to pretend she was buried with work to avoid spending time with her own wife and children, less they pick up on her mood and realise something was afoot. She knew that, as much as she trusted them, this was yet another secret she would have to keep from them, as much for their own protection as anything else. For while the latest generation of SPARTAN-V's were deadlier and more capable than those that had come before, there would no doubt be those in the darker recesses of the Alliance who would like to see the natural-born offspring of a Cylon and the single most highly decorated SPARTAN who ever lived added to their arsenal. She could well imagine what she would feel like if someone tried to take her own children away to turn into living weapons, and it was not something she would wish upon her worst enemy, let along two dear friends.

"I think I'm going to throw up..." Miranda bolted for the door, making her way to the bathroom as fast as she could, which was far-faster than any regular human under similar circumstances.

"All in all, I think she took that kind of well." Kendra remarked dryly as the sound of retching could be heard from down the corridor.

A cool wind was blowing down off the mountain, carrying with it hints of pine and snow, but the roaring blaze in the fire-pit kept the patio area cosy. The sun had set, allowing Fraser's World's oddly misshapen moon to shine its somewhat dull light upon the world below. Plenty of stars could be made out, as well as more man-made constellations of orbiting space-stations and visiting starships.

Not that anyone was looking up.

"This is our eldest, Martha Cortana: Layne gave birth to her just a few weeks before you had Miranda." Kendra held out her data-pad: the small screen displayed a young woman with dark brown hair and hazel eyes, "She wants to be a Doctor, and she's smart enough to pull it off. Not such a good driver. I wanted to name her after you directly, but Layne put her foot down on that one. Naming her after my mother was a compromise."

"I got to name Miranda; John was still getting used to the idea of fatherhood back then." Beth smiled, curling her legs up beneath her as she looked across to where her daughter sat, silent but a little less green around the gills than she had been, "I did let him name Sam; Samuel Franklin Avery. Samuel, after his best friend growing up, Franklin, after Chief Mendez, and Avery, after a Marine Sergeant we served alongside."

"Oh, I got my revenge." Kendra swiped across the screen, calling up the next image. This time it was a young man, tall to the point of being lanky, with black hair and blue eyes, "My first, John William, named after the big lug indoors and the first Admiral Adama. He seems interested in becoming either a school teacher or a cop, depending on what sort of mood he's in. Personally, I think he'd make a good artist, but he refuses to see painting as anything but a hobby." She swiped the screen again, and the image changed to two young women, both of whom were sticking their tongues out at the camera. One had dyed her hair bubblegum-pink, the other neon-green, "And now we have the reason why I'm starting to go grey before my time; my twins, Anna and Chloe. How the two sweet little girls who used to be obsessed with ponies grew up to be such rebellious teenagers I'll never understand. Claim they're going to start a band and make a million Cubits overnight. Personally, I think they sound like a malfunctioning dishwasher, but then again I'm not a big fan of what passes for 'popular music' on Kobol these days."

"Tell me about it; I sometimes think Sam's miss-tuned his radio when I hear some of the so-called music he and his friends listen to." Beth laughed, "Gods, it's good to see you again."

"It's good to be seen." Kendra smiled as she put the data-pad down on the seat beside her, "I mean, I have friends, and of course, Layne and the kids, but there are times when I miss the time we spent on the Galactica. I know I'm letting nostalgia cloud my memory, and that it could be a living hell, with the threat of the Cylons hanging over our heads. But still..."

"You had fewer responsibilities back then." Beth tilted her head to one side, "It's not like John or I gave you that much work, and even when we found the others, Lucy aside, we kept pretty much to ourselves unless needed."

"You're tactfully leaving out your own drunken... shenanigans." Kendra laughed, "But I guess you're right; my life back then was, less complicated, I suppose is the best way of putting it. I always wanted to be in a position of influence: all through my time at the academy, and when I first came aboard the Pegasus, just before the Cylon attack, all I could think was 'how will this help me rise up through the ranks?'. I guess that kind of got put in prospective." She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to help banish some of the darker memories of that time, "I guess I'm better at finding out and keeping secrets than I ever was as an XO."

"If you're so into secrets, I've got a good one for you." Beth smiled coyly, "I'm pregnant."

To Be Continued...