Yoyo! I'm back! This again wasn't beta'd but it's been hanging around my pc for awhile so I figured I'd post it. Usual disclaimers apply! Tell me what you think and everything!
Marcus S. Lazarus: Hey there! Thanks for the review, I know it's a minor plot point but I agree it is important. I'll explain what's going on later (as soon as the Doctor figures it out :D) with the time line. I haven't watched BSG2003 in ages (January roughly) so I'm sketchy on the details. It is supposed to be pre-Pegasus and the ending may be different (I haven't decided)! Thanks for telling me, I'll keep a better watch on my details. I wouldnt' say the Doctor is exactly 'aware' of Inner Six he just knows something isn't right, Baltar is sorta creepy...
Anywho on with the show!
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Chapter 4: Erdicantium Angels
Deep within the hub of the Cylon regeneration ship a creature, known to them only as the Lost Angel stirred. He thrashed in his tank where he lay semi-submerged. Cables in his skin pulled tight and eyes opened. Around him the Cylons in human form, skin-jobs as humans called them, gathered curiously. Usually their great processor laid motionless, endlessly calculating their FTLs and dreaming new models of Cylon. This movement was strange.
Suddenly crystal blue eyes shot open and the Lost Angel struggled to sit up, hands scrabbling across the sides of the bath. His eyes were open but they weren't seeing. They couldn't be with the amount of narcotics flooding his veins. The Lost Angel was always kept dreaming, always. His mouth stretched soundlessly.
Six cautiously approached, "Is everything alright?" she asked gently. This being may be their greatest asset but he still looked like a child, a child almost a man.
His eyes swivelled to her; he was reacting to the sound rather than the presence. He said nothing.
She crept yet closer and jumped when a slippery hand shot out and seized her arm. The grip was like a vice. She knew then that he was seeing her. Somehow, past the drugs and the haze, he was looking at her. At her very mind.
"The main shaft is collapsing," words came from usually silent lips, a boy's tenor. "Power levels dropping. Life signs low. Tired. So tired. Vortex collapsing. Falling out the Stream. We're burning."
These words were familiar to all of them; the Lost Angel spoke of little else when he spoke at all. These words were their prophecy against the humans. The humans must die because everything was collapsing. The other Hybrids lived in awe of the Angel, he was the greatest seer of all of them.
"He comes," the Angel rasped. These words were new, lucid. Abruptly all the Numbers were rapt with attention, waiting for some new prophecy.
"Who comes?" Brother said irritably, he was the closest to an unbeliever they had.
The Angel turned to him and gazed into his soul. "The Lonely God, the Great Wanderer," enigmatic words were all the narcotics rendered him capable of.
"And who is he?" Eight inquired, coming even closer.
The Angel then examined her. There was a long pause and a smile, the first they'd even seen from him, appeared across the youthful face. "He is the Light in the Darkness, the End that is Burning. He is the Destroyer of Worlds."
The Number shared a look, the words of the arch-Hybrid sparked fear in them. "We must stop him before he destroys us," one of the Brothers stated, a stern look on his face.
Shock replaced that look as the Lost Angel laughed, the laughter was almost hysterical and utterly mad. "He is the Oncoming Storm. A Purge on the People of the Dark. His Fire is Immortal. He will not be stopped."
They all stared in shocked silence. Who could stand up to the might of the Cylon race at the height of their power?
But the Lost Angel wasn't finished, "He's like Fire and Ice and Rage. He's like the Night, and the Storm at the heart of the Sun. He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe. He-" Suddenly the Angel's faced relaxed, he abruptly fell back into the tank and spoke no more. His dreams had resumed.
There was silence. In unanimous agreement they began to ready the fleet to meet what was from then on called The Prophecy of the Fire-Storm.
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The Doctor looked up from inside Baltar's lab, he'd suddenly felt part of something profound. Something really, really important. Oh well, it had passed. He returned to twisting wires and fixing communications links. The minute they learned of his mechanical skill, not all of it mind you, which he passed off as part of his physics specialisation they put him to work on repairs. He was also due soon at the medical section to help with the newest patients.
If the last few hours they'd jumped another four times with an almost paranoid back glance. These people were really on the run and, finally, he knew why. Without saying anything and by listening, a skill taught to him by none other than Martha Jones, he'd learned that these humans had fled their planet, Caprica, because it had basically become a nuclear wasteland due to the attacks of the Cylons. The Cylons were sort of like Cybermen but had established as a completely separate race. They didn't convert humans, they weren't even part human. They simply sought to kill them.
Interestingly there were Cylons that also looked like humans with skin, blood and brains. It was because of them that Baltar built the scanner – they were almost impossible to detect. He'd have to be very, very careful. No medical check-ups for example. Like the one he was scheduled for in two hours. He'd have to make an excuse.
He'd also been quizzed about how quickly he'd been able to come up with those calculations but in the after-battle confusion he'd been all but forgotten. He looked around to find he was alone. It was time to check on the TARDIS. He wouldn't want her found after all. Not by a race as paranoid as this one.
He sauntered vaguely down to the hangar deck once more, dodging personnel as always. He arrived in a long hallway and noticed there were a lot of people in particular. They weren't hurrying to get anywhere. They were staring at the thousands of pictures adorning the walls. There were pictures of children, men and women. All smiling and carefree. There were even soldiers posted up and squeezed into all space available. The lighting was low and there were candles dotted around.
From the faces of the faces of those around him he realised that this was like a graveyard without a graves – a place from remembering their dead. He reached out to touch the wall and felt the brush of residual grief against his mind. He starred at the pictures and soon he wasn't seeing humans, he was seeing a burning fire long, long ago.
"You must be Doctor Smith," a voice called him back to the present and he turned to see a woman in the attire that designated a pilot. The stars on her shoulder indicated she had status. She was blond, slightly small and grinning.
He grinned back, "Oh! Hello there! Yes, I'm the Doctor! I just transferred in."
"I'm Kara Thrace, Viper pilot. Folks say you were the one who got us out of the last frack up, they say you're almost as smart as Baltar," she had her hands on her hips. Though the movement was aggressive he could tell she was merely friendly.
"You could say that," he replied wryly and turned his gaze back to the wall.
"That's good, I like anyone smarter than that jumped up nerd." She followed his gaze, "who'd you lose?"
He turned sharply, "excuse me?"
She sighed and the smile slipped from her features. "When Caprica burned we all lost someone, I lost my mother. Even though we didn't get along I...never mind." She looked deep into his eyes, "you're staring at the wall like it has all the answers. So. Who'd you lose?"
He laughed shortly, "I guess it is rather obvious," he mused. He straightened and turned away slightly, the pain was still so fresh after all that time. It was probably because these people were almost like himself, they had lost everything. Yet at least they still had fifty thousand people. He only had one other and he was a madman. "I lost everything," he said tightly.
Thrace was quiet for a moment, "how old were they?"
He looked at her. How could she know he'd once had children? "Not old enough."
"I'm sorry," he could hear the pity. He didn't need it. People shouldn't pity murderers.
"Don't be, it's all in the past now." There was an awkward silence. He cleared his throat, "can you show me to the hangar deck? I'm afraid I am completely lost and I think I've lost a possession down there," he continued, hiding the pain with a smile.
She smiled back, "sure. I practically live down there," she laughed. "Follow me."
So off they went wandering down the hallways and maze like doors. Eventually they emerged onto the enormous flat platform covered in Vipers. Mechanics ran to and fro in heated conversations with pilots. Like a light going on the sense of urgency was back.
"I hear you're quite the mechanic," Kara attempted to start conversation again.
"Well, I am brilliant after all. Not as brilliant as some of course but, not to blow my own trumpet, I am pretty amazing," the Doctor fell back into the familiar pattern of babbling. He kept an eye on the mechanics, some of which were clearly new from converted citizens. "You've got that upside down," he commented absentmindedly to a nearby man fitting a power conduit. The man noted, blushed and slowly turned it over.
"I thought you specialised in FTL travel, how do you know how to repair Vipers?"
"Vipers are part of travelling aren't they? I'm a doctor in pretty much everything anyway," he carried on grinning.
They were too busy talking that they didn't notice a rattling over head. A clanking getting closer and closer. It was crawling far above them in the very air vents. It watched and watched and watched. While it watched it waited, creeping closer. It whirred its cogs in excitement. The time had finally come! It crept forward on metal limbs, stalking and watching. Every now and again it sparked. It was broken after all.
While the Doctor was busy babbling about bananas he suddenly got the feeling of being watched and paused mid sentence. "Doctor?" Kara asked, wondering why he had frozen. "What's wrong?"
He opened his mouth to ask when suddenly there was an almighty rattle and bang from above, it shook the whole air vent.
"Must be a loose panel" a nearby mechanic called as they all turned to look, squinting at the ceiling.
The Doctor snorted disbelievingly, "a loose panel that can walk? Listen!" The rattle stuttered, trying to quiet itself. "Look there! It's trying to hide from us. Clearly some level of sentience."
The Doctor strode forward, following the sound while everyone gazed in mild shock. He pulled the Sonic Screwdriver from inside his jacket and as it flashed he read the scan of the area with curiosity. "Levels of erdicantium, hmm" he muttered.
"What is that?" Kara was getting creeped out, it was probably the lack of sleep.
"Erdicantium? It's on ore found on the planet Erdisix, very durable and actually more of an organism than anything. It's not unusual for creatures to actually be constructed of it." The Doctor held the screwdriver aloft, scanning still. "Now where are you?"
Following the loud whistling-buzz he came to a section of vent. Everyone jumped as the banging sounded again. "You're small," he said with curiosity, "simple too. I wonder," he pushed another button and abruptly the panel opened and something tumbled out and down. The Doctor held out his arms to catch whatever fell and found his arms full of clockwork and metal plates. The creature squirmed and thrashed, highly confused. From the fraying of wires he could see in the confusion he realised the poor thing was broken, injured and in pain.
"There, there" he murmured, stroking mechanical ears and setting the creature down. Slowly it stopped and curled in his arms purring. Eyes made of blue bulbs looked up at him and he felt a small mental probe as the machine-creature scanned him.
"Greetings, Master," a mechanical voice issued from just below the jaw of the creature through a speaker.
His head snapped up as he heard the locking of guns. His eyes met those of Kara Thrace who also had a gun trained on him and the creature. "What the frack is that thing?" she growled.
"Why, it's a cat of course," he replied with a smile as the small creature purred happily. In his mind he felt that TARDIS smile happily. What had she got him into now?
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Well? What did you think?
Please review and feed my attention-seeking ways! Pleeeeease?
Love ya all!
- D
