I do not own Battlestar Galactica
Chapter 10 – Visions of things to come
Everyone was frozen as Elosha looked to her feet and saw a mine right by her foot and her breathing quickened
"Can you disarm it?" Roslin asked the military officers who shook their heads
"Not without specialist equipment" Lee told her grimly, Kendra began to slowly guide Elosha's slow movements away from the mine, each step so carefully guided until they were a metre away and everyone breathed a sign of relief
"Thank you child" Elosha told Kendra and the group prepared to continue their journey up the hill but before they could move out one of Zarek's guards was suddenly cut down by machine gun fire that came from Cylon centurions on the nearby ridge. As everyone dived for cover Kendra threw herself and Elosha to the ground, her body covering the priest. As they tumbled to the floor Kendra lost her grip on the older woman and slid down a nearby slope, spinning around like clothes in a washing machine. Kendra felt like she was about to be sick till she collided with a large rock that stopped her movement. Stars appeared in her eyes as her mind was clouded by dizziness, her winded body felt ok and gingerly once enough of her senses had returned she felt herself all over, no broken bones but she'd have a bruise or two.
Once she was steady enough on her feet she stood up and looked at the slope she'd just come down. It was steep, quite long and would take her time to climb back up so she took a deep breath and walked to the foot of the slope to start her climb
But then she saw movement in the corner of her eye and training took over as she went for her sidearm and pointed it at the moving bush. She slipped into the role of a cold soldier and her finger tensed on the trigger. Then a figure emerged from the bush and it was the last person Kendra expected to see
It was a woman in her mid forties with long black hair that was showing signs of going gray, her skin was mocha colored and her eyes a deep brown, Kendra stopped breathing for a moment till her body started to choke and she remembered to breathe, her shock was beyond words. There was no way she could be here.
"Mother" she breathed to the form that appeared to be Marta Shaw who smiled at her daughter and with her hand beckoned Kendra to follow. Without realising it Kendra's feet started moving after the woman who appeared to be her mother through a parting in the under brush. They carried on for several minutes till they reached a clearing. In the centre of clearing was an arch that must have once been once a part of a building prior to the fall of Kobol. Marta led Kendra to the arch and Kendra could make out the worn intricate engravings on the arch, she reached out with her hand to touch it and when her hand touched the rough stone her world changed in a flash of light
She found herself in a grand entrance hall with banners decorating the pristine white walls, everything had a kind of glow to it that made it all surreal. Kendra suddenly looked at herself to see her clothes hand changed into a black form fitting dress that fell to her knees, she saw in a mirror on a nearby wall that her hair was falling in soft waves loose past her shoulders, make-up was delicately applied to her face and her feet clad in three inch heels. Suddenly a feeling of weightlessness came over her again and her body stopped responding to her commands but she was still aware of what was happening and her mind screamed
'What the frak is going on?'
Then two people appeared from around a corner, a man and a woman the man dressed in a stylist suit and the woman in a white dress. She didn't recognise the man but the woman she did, it was a Six, a Gina skin job but despite her urge to kill her, Kendra's body wouldn't obey. The man and the Six came up to her and all three turned to the main entrance. There appeared two little girls, one looked a year or so older but still both very young maybe two or three years old, both had dark hair and mocha skin but their faces had no common features, their faces were a different shape and their eyes a different colour. Suddenly Kendra's body started moving towards the youngest girl but she had no control over her body, like she was a puppet on a string. As she bent down to pick the girl up a feeling of love came over her as the child and her eyes connected, eyes that were identical.
Without her consent her body in a gesture that just felt right pressed her lips in a quick kiss to the child's forehead who snuggled closer into her body as she carefully wrapped her arms around her. She looked over to see the Six had picked up the other girl and all three adults now carrying the children walked through a door into a stage of some kind like in an opera house and there in a box along the second level there was five white glowing beings.
Then there was another flash and Kendra found herself back at the ruined arch her body now back under her control and she was very much alone.
An hour or so later she found her way back to the path where she had been separated from the others her mind spinning with what had just happened, the experience was so disorientating that she could make no sense of it. She had never been particularly religious but she felt she had just been touched by the hand of the god.
Gods she caught herself, she was human so she believed in the Lords of Kobol not the one god of the Cylons but despite her reasoning she still felt that it had been just one presence behind what had just happened
Scaring herself now with the idea that she was losing her mind she shook herself and forced her mind to concentrate on making contact with the expedition.
She eventually found tracks made by none metal feet and started following them, she saw the signs of a fight and spent rounds and a few wrecked centurions, there was only one human body though, the body of the guard Zarek had brought with him. The sky rumbled, she looked up through the gaps in the trees to see storm clouds gathering, threatening rain. Quickly she followed the tracks as fast as she could before it rained and washed away all traces of the expedition. Just as the rain started to fall she finally caught up with the group
"Where the hell have been?" Kara asked her angrily, she had been concerned about Kendra's disappearance but of course would never say it
"Fell down a slope during the fight, took my an hour to find my way back to the path and catch up" Kendra said, Helo handed her an identity rain coat to the ones the group was already wearing, she said "Thanks" and slipped it on quickly to keep her from getting any wetter
Without further words the group now reunited moved on, the rain pouring down with Sharon and Elosha leading the way. The group climbed over muddy hills and slippery woodland all the way. Laura started to run into trouble so Lee helped her out of the ravine so they didn't get caught in a flash flood. Climbing the large hill they were moving up became harder and harder to navigate even Sharon and Kendra were struggling so the group tried to find a place to make camp.
Zarek tried to get the Astral Queen to pick them all up till the weather clears but he was quickly overruled by Lee Adama. Kendra looked at Zarek and Meier as the two men talked quietly and her eyes narrowed but she kept her suspicions to herself.
They finally reached the ridge and set up camp, Kendra sat in the tent next to Lee and Kara's and watched the other people in the camp, particularly Helo and Sharon
"Gives me the creeps seeing him acting like that with her" Lee told Kara anger burning in his eyes as he looked on the twin of the assassin that had nearly killed his father
Kara looked at piece of equipment she was fiddling with and said without looking "He loves her. And, yeah he knows she's a machine. He doesn't care he loves her anyway" finally looking up at the loving couple under the tent a short distance away from them
Lee's anger still didn't abate "Frak. How can one of us get that roped in by one of them?" he asked and Kendra answered his question
"I did"
"What?" Lee asked, both he and Kara turning to face her, surprise evidence on both their faces
"Remember that blond skin job we met in the museum?" she asked Kara who nodded "That was Gina, she infiltrated the Pegasus while it was docked at Scorpio as a civilian technician, wormed her way into Cain's affections, made friends with me my first day and showed me the way to CIC when I got lost. After we escaped the attack on the colonies she helped me update and secure all Pegasus's gunnery controls and because she was my friend I gave her my access codes, she used them to override the security lockouts and sabotage the ship's defenses" the two colonial officers paid close attention, now wrapped in her story "Then when we were boarded she crept up behind me and knocked me, sent me to that prison camp. You know the rest" she finished taking a slip from her canteen to ease her throat
The two other officers stared at her for a moment before she added "It's what they do, exploit human vulnerabilities to gain a foothold but with Sharon its different" looking intensely at the human and cylon couple "It was Sharon's job to love him and she did it so well that it became real, he does love her and she loves him for the qualities that make him Helo Agathon. While Cylons may seem so different from us they still have the same vulnerabilities as we do so why is so unbelievable that humans and cylons could form attachments?" she finished finally making her point Kara looked at her then Helo and then Sharon, judging it for herself and started to see what Kendra meant. Lee did see but the distrust he held for Cylons held
"We should still keep an eye on her and him to for that matter" he insisted but Kara jumped immediately to Helo's defense
"Helo's a friend of mine, all right. He's one of the good guys." and before Lee could say anything back Kendra said to him
"Look Captain Adama, stop focusing on Helo's love life and instead look at your own, the same goes for you Kara" and that brought the thoughts of the two officers back to what had happened on the Astral Queen and Lee put his arm around Kara and pulled her close. The blond pilot looked surprised at the motion but went with and leaned into him.
Sam joined Kendra in her tent and smiled "You through playing the love doctor?" he asked playfully
"Only to other cases" she said as he sat next to her and pulled her into his arms, she leaned against him and rested her head on his shoulders. This was where she felt safe and whole, whatever had happened earlier was momentarily forgotten as three couples bonded through the night.
The next morning Helo and Sharon scouted a little of the area towards the mountains before returning to camp so the whole group could get ready to move out, Kendra lay with Sam in their tent, awake but just enjoying each others company
Suddenly and plants rustled and some birds took flight as they were disturbed by something close in the woods. Everyone immediately jumped to their feet and took out whatever weapon they carried and faced the direction of the noise
Lee swung out from behind his tree as Kara moved to cover him only for Lee to stop when faced with the man who stood there in forest combat dress and an assault rifle in his hands. The older man was a stockier man than Lee but his eyes remained focused and emotionless, a strong aura extended from the man. Although Kendra and Sam had no idea who this man was the rest of the camp did and Kara lowered her weapon as did Helo. But Lee remained frozen his weapon still aimed straight at the unknown man.
"Put down your weapon Captain" the older man said in a deep graveled tone and almost immediately Lee did as he was told, then the older man lowered his own weapon and moved closer to Lee, and then showed the first sign of emotion when he pulled Lee into a tight hug and tears formed in his eyes. Still holding Lee the older man turned to Laura and with a certain tension in her voice she greeted him with
"Commander"
It then dawned on Kendra who this man was; Commander William Adama of the Battlestar Galactica, a living legend in the fleet and Lee's father.
But it seemed Commander Adama was happy to see Laura "It's good to see you too" he told her with a slight smile and Laura visibly relaxed, a smile coming to her face. Then it was Laura's turn to be shocked as a young man approached her from behind the commander.
"Madam President" the young man greeted and Laura looked at the young man with relief and tears of happiness in her eyes
"Billy" she said "Billy you have no idea what it means to me to have you here." Billy smiled back
As Laura went to reconnect with Billy, Commander Adama went over to Kara. Kendra, Helo and Sam watched as the old man tucked a strand of her blond hair behind her ear in a paternal gesture
But the beautiful moment was short lived as Sharon stepped inner view from behind a tree, one of the new arrivals shouted to the Commander who looked up at the woman who bore the same face as the woman who had shot him and walked slowly towards her
Helo shouted to him that she was on their side and Kendra held her breath to see what the man would do
Then he struck Sharon to the ground and held her throat as if to strangle her, everyone jumped forward to pull the Commander off of Sharon but Kendra moved faster than any of them and with strength that she shouldn't have possessed with a frame of her size single handedly pulled him off Sharon and passed him to Lee. Her show of strength shocked everyone but it was forgotten as more pressing matters took hold
As the Commander and Laura spoke privately to resolve their issues, Kendra sat with Helo and Sharon and Sam
"You sure you're alright?" Helo asked while holding Sharon protectively in his arms and she smiled back
"Yes I'm fine, thanks for getting him off before he could close his grip" Sharon said and turning to Kendra "How'd you pull him off by the way?" she asked and Kendra suddenly felt scared, she'd dreaded answering this question
"I don't know, I just sort grabbed him and pulled him off. I'm not that strong, I don't know how I did it" she confessed and Sharon looked her straight in the eye and said
"It's your Cylon physiology, you must still be changing although as you're just the template you shouldn't have all our abilities so why your still changing I don't understand"
"I had a vision" the words came out of Kendra's mouth before she could stop them "Of the Opera House here on Kobol when I found this broken arch. Why?" she said not really expecting an answer but now she'd confessed it the weight lifted from her shoulders and the others were shocked at her revelation
"A vision" a soft voice sounded from the side of the tent as Elosha appeared "The gods have gifted you with a vision of things to come, please" She said sitting on the floor of the forest "Tell us"
So she explained what she had seen and Elosha looked at Sharon for a brief moment and pulled out her copy of the Book of Pythia
Life is crazy but updates will come
Thank you those who found the time to read