Chapter 10: dreams, and the dying leader
Back on Colonial One, the Gang and Starbuck had arrived on board. Aang and his friends now found themselves just outside the meeting room were the Quorum of twelve was having an session. With the group was the older woman from Galacticas meeting room. As it turned out, she was the president of the twelve colonies and she had arranged for them to meet with the government after she had been briefed about Zuko and the others. She and Zuko introduced themselves.
"President Laura Roslin of the twelve colonies." The woman said.
"Fire lord Zuko, leader of the fire nation." Zuko responded as they shook hands. Roslin was somewhat hesitant at first and Zuko took notice.
"My apologies. I just find it odd to see a teenager acting as a head of state." The president said.
"My father was the original fire lord. But recently he has been imprisoned for war crimes and I have taken over in his place."
"Yes, I read about that in the cylon data banks, and I have to say I was quite surprised to hear about the war your people went through."
Zuko looked at his feet with guilt. "100 years ago, my great grandfather thought he could make the world a better place by conquering the other nations. And our world paid the ultimate price for that mistake."
"If it means anything, over 58 years ago a man named Daniel Graystone on Caprica decided to create artificial life that could be used as a workforce to make life easier on the colonies. Just a few years later the cylons rebelled and the first cylon war began. We seem to share a similar history. Maybe our two civilizations are more alike that we give them credit." She said.
"I think your civilization got the shorter end of the stick. I mean there are only 39,000 of your people left." Zuko said.
"Hopefully, if we get through the next few days, our two worlds can work together to rebuild themselves." Aang said from the side.
Roslin just gave a little smile until she was interrupted by Tory Foster. The woman who had been taking notes in the briefing room on Galactica. She motioned for Roslin to fallow her out to the meeting room with the representatives. Leaving Aang, Zuko and the others in the room in silence. Aang decided to break the silence by asking Zuko the question that had been on his mind since the others arrived.
"Zuko. How bad is it back on earth?" He asked.
Zuko hesitated before answering. "It's not good Aang. After you were captured, the cylons took control of all the nation capitals and established an occupying presence in all major city's. We've managed to form a resistance movement made of the earth and fire nation troops as well as some water tribe warriors and we've established a base at the northern air temple."
"What about our dad Hakota? Is he still alive?" Katara asked from behind the two of them.
"Your father's fine Katara. He's in charge of our forces in the southern earth kingdom.
Katara breathed a sigh of relief.
"And my father. What about him?" Huru asked Zuko.
"He's helping the resistance train new recruits to fight."
Behind all of them, Sokka was busy pressing his face against one of the ships glass windows. As a passing viper flying CAP duties flew by the window, it's pilot noticed Sokkas face squashed against the glass like a fish. The pilot looked in bewilderment before throttling ahead, pretending he hadn't seen anything. Katara noticed this and rolled her eyes, reminding herself how silly her older brother could be even when he wasn't high on cactus juice.
"Sokka how long ago did you drink cactus juice?" She asked.
"I do nth kno. Abouth a dayth ago." Sokka said, his face still pressed against the glass.
"What?!" Katara said, not understanding what he said.
"He said a day ago." Suki translated.
"Why in the world would you willingly drink cactus in the first place?! After what happened last time!"
Sokka removed his face from the window. "I couldn't let the cylons get any information from me when we were captured! Plus that stuff tasted really good."
"Sokka sometimes I wounded how we are related?"
"Well were related because we both have the same parents but..." Sokka said before Katara swooped down and grabbed his blue shirt collar.
"That was a rhetorical question! Now I don't want to hear a peep out of you until you get the chance to sleep this off! do you understand me?!" She growled through her teeth.
Sokka nodded with fear and when she let him go, he quietly tiptoed away from her.
From his location Aang could hear president Roslin speaking to a group of people outside.
"I'm here because I want to convey my trust for our new cylon and human allies and what they mean for the survive of this fleet. I'm here to ask for you to listen. I'm here to ask for your support." Immediately afterwards the young woman with the long black hair steeped out.
"She's ready. You guys can come out."
Aang, Zuko and the others steeped out into the room. There was a long, rectangular table that ran the length of the room. Seated along the table were twelve people, six on ether side. All the eyes in the room were on them as they made their way to the podium at the front of the room. Behind the stand was a large flag with a symbol of a golden winged creature on it. Zuko stood up in front of the podium with Aang standing on his right side, Katara on his left. Sokka, Huru, Toph, and Suki stood in the corner looking out at the Quorum of twelve. Zuko cleared his throat and began speaking.
"Hello. My name is prince Zuko."
"Yes, we know who you are." The delegate from Virgon said holding up a set of documents that contained information given to the Quorum from the rebel baseship.
"Good. Then you know why I'm here. As of this moment earth, the 13th colony as you call it, is under occupation from the cylon army. Our only hope is your fleet and the rebel baseship forming an alliance to our four nations defeat the cylons."
One of the representatives interrupted him. "Is it true that this fire nation that you lead was responsible for a war that lasted over a hundred years on your world? A war that, and I quote, nearly resulted in the devastation of earth."
"Yes. It's true. My father, grandfather, and great grandfather were all responsibility for the war."
"The pardon me if we find it difficult to believe the word of a boy who's father is apparently a well know war criminal. How do we know you aren't the same as him."
Zuko clenched his fist in anger. If there was anything he hated it was being compared to his father.
"I am not my father! The things my father did were cruel and wrong! He burned and banished me when I was just 13! He banished my mother! He tried to kill me and my friends more times than I want to count! And when I finally turned my back on the fire nation it was to protect it from him and his imperialism."
The quorum was silent until the representative from Tauron, a young woman named Dahlia, spoke.
"Our apologies Mr Zuko but please understand our position. Your asking us to trust your word and form an alliance with an group of cylons who not long ago would have happily seen to the destruction of this fleet in a blink of an eye. What would you think if you were in our shoes?"
Then without warning, Aang spoke up interrupting the representative.
"May I speak on this mater?" He asked. The representatives were hesitant at first but decided to give Aang the benefit of the doubt and nodded in approval.
Aang looked out at the Quorum and spoke. "Look, I know how hard it is for you to trust the cylons after what they did to your worlds. Believe me I've been through it too. My people, the air benders, were completely destroyed by the fire nation in the beginning of the 100 year war. I escaped because I became trapped in an iceberg all that time.
After I was rescued by my friends Katara and Sokka, Prince Zuko constantly tried to capture me so that he could return to the fire nation after being banished. And when he finally turned against his people I have to admit we didn't trust him at first. But eventually he was able to convince us that he truly wanted to stop the fire nation from taking over the earth. Now there's probably nothing I can say to truly convince you to come close to trusting the cylons. After all it took my friends and I a long time to trust Zuko. Fortunately there is someone here who can help."
"Bring her in." President Roslin ordered to two guards at the other side of the room. A moment later they were escorting Starbuck and Natalie from the other room to the podium. Starbuck stopped at the doorway and stood at attention. Now all eyes were on her as Natalie walked over to Zuko who move out of they way so she could take the stand.
"In our civil war we've seen death. We've seen our comrades die, gone forever. As painful as it was, beyond the reach of the resurrection ships, something began to change. We felt a sense of time. As if each moment held its own significance. We began to realize that in order for our life to have any value it must end. To live meaningful lives we must die and not return.
The thing that humans spend their left time distressing over, mortality, is the one thing... well it's the one thing that makes you whole. I believe it was no accident that we found earth. Nor do I believe it was by chance that we were found by Kara Thrace. It was destiny."
Across the room Kara watched as Natalie mentioned her.
"No matter what happens even if it should mean my death..."
Suddenly images of the baseships hybrid flashed in front of Kara's eyes drowning out Natalie's statement.
"Thus shall it come to pass. A dying leader shall know the truth of the opera house."
"You are the harbinger of death Kara Thrace. You will lead them all to the end."
. . .
Many hours later after the meeting Laura Roslin was fast asleep in her bead on colonial one. As she turned to her side her mind was filed with the images of a disturbing dream. She was running through the illustrious hallways of an opera house calling out.
"Hera?! Hera?!" She called to no avail. She wasn't the only one. Across the fleet on Galactica Sharon Agathon was having the exact same dream of chasing her daughter Hera, the only child in the universe born of both human and cylon conception. With her mother being Sharon and her father captain Karol Agathon.
"Hera?! She called out as she continued running. Soon she and Laura encountered each other on opposite ends of the massive opera house balconies. They stared for several seconds before continuing their searches. Laura woke up in shock from the dream and who she had encountered. Meanwhile, Sharon was still running through the maze of hallways and balconies until she came to the massive doors that were the entrance to the opera house was. She could see her daughter Hera standing near the entrance with three people.
One was a model six cylon, the other was a young teenage boy with messy black hair and a burn mark on the left side of his face over his eye. The teenager turn towards Hera and leaned down to pick her up in his arms. The six and the kid turned and walked towards the doors were the met up with a man that Sharon recognized as Gaius Baltar. Ex president of the twelve colonies and one of the least liked men in the fleet. Together the three of them took Hera outside into the blinding light as the doors slammed shut behind them.
Sharon awakened in her room on Galactica in a cold sweat. She felt the warmth of her husband Karol next to her. As she turn to go back to sleep, she saw her daughter Hera standing next to the bed smiling at her.
"By by."
. . .
Zuko awoke from his sleep disturbed by the dream he had. Every member of the gang was asleep on a series of large beds in one of the cabins on the cylon baseship. It had been decided that they would all stay on the basestar until the mission to attack the resurrection hub as it was more familiar to Aang, Katara, and Huru. Aang and Katara were currently asleep on one bed, Sokka and Suki asleep on another bed, Toph and Huru asleep on a third, leaving Zuko sleeping on the fourth bed alone. As he struggled to catch his breath he hear someone stirring in one of the other beads.
"Who's there?"
Zuko looked over to see Katara waking up, however she was still sleepy as her eyes were barley open.
"Zuko? What are you doing awake?" She asked.
"Nothing Katara. It was just a dream. Go back to sleep."
As Zuko lay his head down on the pillow he heard Katara speak again.
"It wasn't just a dream was it." She said.
"What makes you say that?"
"When me, Sokka, and Aang were on the run from the fire nation, I could always tell when Aang had a strange dream or nightmare. Is it something you want to talk about?"
"No." Zuko said. But the fear of having another dream soon got the better of him.
"I was in a large building unlike any I had ever seen before. I was there with two other people. One was was woman who looked exactly like one of the model six cylons. The other was a man that I've never seen before. We were approached by a little girl who was at least five... maybe six years old. When she walked up to us I had this strange feeling that I needed to keep her safe from something evil nearby. It was unlike any dream I've had before and I don't know what it means. I just know it's something really important."
Katara was quiet at first and for a moment he thought she had gone back to sleep until she spoke again.
"Maybe it's some kind of premonition? Like the visions Aang had in the past."
"I don't think so. Aang is the avatar. It's normal for him to have visions. It's not normal for me to have visions."
"Well in the morning we can all talk about it together. In the meantime you should try to get some sleep. It will help you feel better."
"Thanks." Zuko said. He heard Katara lay back down in her bed and go to sleep. Zuko decided to do the same as he turned to the side and closed his eyes.
But no mater how hard he tried though, Zuko couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen really soon.
As he drifted to sleep he began to hear a song. It was very quiet but Zuko could just make out the words.
"No reason to get exited, the thief he kindly spoke. There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke."
. . .
In Galacticas infirmary, Laura Roslin was once again receiving her morning cancer treatment. She was reading the same book she had the day before. As she read, she saw Kara Thrace walking up to her bed.
"I've got to hand it to you. If you are a cylon that was a hell of a plan. Give the fleet a way to earth. Throw in the kids from earth, the resurrection hub, the final five and the real kicker put the final five on the fleet. Even I couldn't pass that up." Laura said.
"You are having visions aren't you?" Kara said.
Laura returned to her reading ignoring what Kara said.
"Thus shall it come to pass. A dying leader shall know the truth of the opera house." Kara said. Laura looked up at Kara in surprise.
"What did you say?!"
"Thus shall it come to pass..."
"The opera house! What did you say about the opera house?"
"A dying leader shall know the truth of the opera house." Kara repeated.
Roslin gasped in amazement. "We're did you hear that?!"
"The hybrid from the baseship before they unplugged it."
"How does this hybrid know what is in my vision?"
"I don't know."
"These visions, it has to stop. I've got to find out about these visions. Will you help me?"
Kara nodded in response.
"Find me captain Agathon." Laura said.
. . .
On one of the lower decks of Galactica, several marines were escorting Gaius Baltar from one of the lower cargo bays where he currently live to the flight deck. When they got there he was lead to a waiting raptor. He climbed up into the cabin only to see president Roslin siting in the rear section.
"Of corse." He said.
"Get in." Roslin ordered.
Baltar got in and sat down in the adjacent seat.
"We're going to settle this." She said.
"What's to settle? Your chief of staff is incoherently talented."
Roslin smiled. "I have been sharing visions with Sharon Agathon and the six in Galacticas brig."
"So in my wireless broadcasts I was only speaking the truth?" He said. She nodded in response.
"The hybrid on the baseship spoke of an opera house and a dying leader. So we're going to talk to the hybrid."
"And why would you require my prescience?"
"Because your in my vision." She said. Baltar was authentically shocked by the news.
"When we get to the baseship, we're going to meet someone else from my vision. One of the children from earth. Together we will reactivate the hybrid and figure this vision out once and for all."
. . .
In one of the cabins on the baseship: Natalie, Leoben, and one of the Sharon models were meeting together.
"When I spoke to the Quorum, I could feel it. The contempt. It was just like with Aang and the others when we told them who we are." Natalie said.
"Then you were right. The colonials aren't ready to trust us." Leoben said.
"No, I was wrong. We aren't ready. We're deceiving them."
The Sharon stood up. "For protection. For necessity."
"Out of suspicion and fear. What if the final five are watching us, judging us on our actions? We are about to resort to violence and coercion. What if the five refuse to come with us? We can't do this!"
"It's to late." Leoben said.
"No. We have to order the centurions to stand down." Natalie said. She turn and almost made it out the hallway outside when Leoben quickly reached out and grabbed her wrist.
"It's to late! Their committed."
"Then we need to tell the humans the truth." Natalie said.
"What?! No?! You can't do that! They'll never trust us again! They already know the coordinates! They'll just go destroy everything!" The Sharon said.
"Go. talk to Adama. Tell him anything. Anything but the truth. I'll deal with the centurions." Leoben said.
Natalie turn around and left the room. Leaving the Sharon and Leoben alone.
. . .
Zuko was sound asleep when he felt someone trying to wake him. He sat up in bed only to come face to face with a colonial marine in full body armor.
"Mr Zuko. The president requests your presence on the flight deck at 0600 hours." The man said.
"What for?"
"She didn't say. If you'll come with me I'll escort you there now."
Zuko wanted to argue but the soldier didn't look like he was in the mood and the strange black weapon he carried didn't seem too friendly ether. Zuko got out of his bed, trying not to wake the others, and walked out into the hallway. Zuko fallowed marine through several winding corridors until they got to the massive hanger deck. He was lead to a waiting raptor were president Roslin was waiting with the raptors pilot. standing next to the man that Zuko instantly recognized from his dream.
"Fire lord Zuko. Let me introduce you Gaius Baltar." She said.
Zuko and Baltar shook hands. Zuko took a close look at Baltar. He was marginally tall and skinny with a little stubble on his cheeks and face and his eccentric expression made him look like a hobo you would find in the streets of a city.
"Zuko. I asked you here because I want to know something and it is going to seem out of nowhere. Have you had any strange dreams or visions lately?"
"Actually I have. And this man was in it believe it or not." Zuko said.
"That's what I thought because I had the same vision" she said.
Now Zuko was visibly surprised. "How is that possible? What does it mean?" He asked.
"That's why I asked you here. I have reason to believe that the hybrid from this baseship may know something about these visions. So we are going to plug it back in and talk to it." She said. And with that the four of them fallowed a squad of marines to the hybrid room.
. . .
"Do you have the coordinates?!" Cavil asked the fours.
"Were isolating them now. We will be ready to jump in a few minutes." One of the fours said.
"About time. Arm all weapons."
"Should we launch raiders?"
"This time I think not. Natalie's base ship probably damaged and doesn't have raiders of its own to protect themselves. There's no point risking our fighters when were so far away from the resurrection ships. We'll jump in, strike them with our ship based missiles and jump out before they know what hit them."
"By your command." The four said.
. . .
Azula couldn't take it anymore. She had to escape this cage. By this point her mind had warped itself into something unrecognizable as she rolled up her body on the floor with her hands covering her ears. Tears flooded her eyes as voices filled her head. Voices of her father, her mother, her brother, and of corse that song.
"I need someone to watch over the homeland. It is an important task I can only entrust to you."
"My own mother thought I was a monster."
"Sorry Azula but your not going to become fire lord today. I am."
"In time they would all have betrayed me. Just like Mai and Ty Lee did."
"None of them along the line know what any of it is worth." Azula sang quietly as she continued crying.
Azula finally looked up at the locked door that lead to freedom. She had already tried using fire bending against the lock but the metal was to strong. She though about using her lighting against it but she couldn't achieve the inner peace necessary for it. Her mind was in to much turmoil.
As Azula lay on the ground she began to realize something. What if she used the song to clear her mind. If she focused only on the song she could achieve the state of mind necessary to produce lighting again. She slowly got to her feet and faced the door.
"There must be some way out of here
Said the joker to the thief
There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief."
She sang to herself as she concentrated.
"Businessmen they drink my wine
Plowmen dig my earth
None of them along the line
Know what any of it is worth."
Soon she had calmed down just enough to create lighting. With several swift, fluidic motions of her hands bright sparks shot from her fingertips as she aimed the built up energy right at the door lock. A powerful burst of electricity shot from her fingers and impacted against the metal door blasting it off its hinges sending it flying into the centurion guarding outside, causing it to be smashed against the wall. Azula looked in amazement at her accomplishment before yelling up at the ceiling.
"You see that mother!? I escaped your prison! I escaped from you! Now I'll find little Zu-Zu and give him the death he deserves! There is nothing you can do about it! MY THROWN AWAITS!"
With that Azula walked out of her prison over the dead centurion into the hallway.
. . .
Sharon Agathon had finished a long shift at work. So when she returned to her quarters she was ready to hit the sack. She opened the bulkhead door and walked in. Hera was siting in her corner drawing on paper with crayon. She noticed Karol wasn't back from his milk run to the baseship yet. As she removed her flight suit she looked over at Hera.
"So, what did you draw for mommy today?" Sharon said in a little baby voice. But when she turned around she saw that Hera was gone. She started looking around the cabin when her eyes stopped at the drawings Hera left. She gasped in shock when she saw a cylon baseship drawn in grey crayon on the paper. Next to it was the drawing of a woman in blonde hair and the number six next to it.
"No!" Sharon said as she looked over and saw that the cabin door was open. She quickly ran out the door.
"Hera! Hera!" She screamed down the hallway as she ran. The images of the dream flooded her mind. She ran until she came across a crew of engineers lead by Galen Tyrol who were working on the walls.
"Tyrol! Have you seen Hera?! I can't find her anywhere!"
Tyrol just gave her an unsympathetic look before going back to work.
Knowing that he wouldn't be helpful, she charged down the hallway looking for her daughter. When she was out of sight, Galen look where she had left. Paused. Then set his tools down and went after her
. . .
Katara awakened to the sound of what she could almost describe as laughter. She looked around the darkened room. Everyone was fast asleep in bed save for Zuko. His bed was completely deserted. Deciding not to wake up Aang she got out of bed to look for Zuko.
She wandered the hallways of the basestar searching. When she finally decided to head back she noticed a figure at the end of the hallway. At first she thought it was Zuko since the figure was wearing a red and black outfit. But as Katara got closer to see more detail her mouth dropped in horror.
"Azula?!"
Azula smiled at her.
"Well there you are you disgusting peasant. Now the last thing people will hear from you is your scream." She said with a smile as she created a ball of blue fire in her hand a shot it down the hallway. Katara jumped out of the way as another fire ball came her direction. She ran down another hallway with Azula not far behind her.
"Get back here! Your going to pay for what you did to me!" Azula yelled.
Katara knew that with her own bending out of commission she was no match for Azula on her own. She had to get back to the others. She ran as fast as she could dodging blue fire left and right. But as she started running out of breath, she realized that she would never get to the cabin at this rate. She had to do something drastic. At the last second, she spun around and ran back down the hallway towards Azula. Azulas surprise gave Katara enough time to close the distance. When she was close enough, Katara punched Azula in her face as hard as she could.
The shock was enough to throw Azula off balance allowing Katara to deliver several quick and powerful jabs to Azula back trying to block her chi like Ty Lee could. The tactic didn't work as Azula recovered at the last second and fired another blue fireball. The shot hit Katara in the chest at point blank range sending her flying across the hall until she crashed into a wall. Katara was barley able to maintain conciseness as she saw the blurry figure of Azula towering over her with another blue fireball in the palm of her hand.
"I'm going to make you burn as bright as Sozins comet in the night sky." Azula said before throwing the ball of fire in her hand at Katara.
Suddenly a wall of fire erupted between Katara an Azula, absorbing the blue fire ball. When the wall died down, Katara and Azula turned to see Aang, Sokka, and Toph standing down the hallway in their fighting stance.
"Give up Azula! Your no match for us all at once!"
"I beg to differ." Azula said before firing a blue fire ball at the group forcing them to duck.
. . .
"Hera! Hera!" Sharon called again. Still no answer. Just when she was about to break down in tears Tyrol came around the corner holding little Hera in his arms.
"I found her! She was wandering around the fight deck." He said as he set Hera down next to her mother who gave her tearful hug.
"Don't run away from me like that!" She said trying not to sound angry before looking up a Tyrol.
"Thank you." She said.
"Don't mention it."
But suddenly they were interrupted by the sound of the ships alarm and Mr Hoshi's voice over the loud speaker.
"Action stations, action stations! Set condition one throughout the ship! This is not a drill! Action stations, action stations!"
Tyrol and Sharon looked at each other.
"I need to get Hera to the shelter." She said.
"No. I'll take her. You get down to the hanger deck." He said. She nodded and Tyrol took the girl in his arms and carried her down the hall while Sharon went the opposite way.
. . .
"Report?!" Admiral Adama barked out.
"Dratis contact! Two confirmed cylon baseships! Point blank range!" Mr Hoshi yelled out.
"Launch alert vipers! Order gun battery's to target the center axial of the nearest ship! Tell the civilian fleet to jump immediately!"
"Mr Hoshi Any contacts from their raiders?!" Saul Tigh asked.
"Negative sir. No enemy fighters."
Colonel Tigh walked over to Adama.
"Why the hell would the cylons jump in right on top of us and not even bother to have air support ready. Could they be rebels?" Tigh asked but was interrupted by the impact of a missile against the hull.
"Their's your answer." Adama said.
"Mr Hoshi! Transmit the emergency coordinates to the rebel baseship and tell them to jump with the fleet. We'll cover their retreat." He ordered.
. . .
"Frak!" Cavil swore.
"Galactica has hit the center axial of the other baseship! It has taken severe damage!" A five said as the ship vibrated from explosions outside.
"Fire all missile battery's and Launch raiders!" Cavil ordered. No mater how hard he tryed he couldn't imagine the Natalie had formed an alliance with the humans.
"We can't. Were so close that anything we launch will be shot down by Galacticas AA guns or their vipers. We need to move out of their range and regroup." A four said.
"No, prepare the FTL drive. We're leaving." Cavil said.
"We shouldn't bypass this opportunity." The four said as the ship was hit by more explosions.
"We are outside the range of resurrection. Stay here and we risk a permanent death!" Cavil said.
"Let's put it to a vote. Those in favor of fighting rase your hand." The four said. All the other fours raised their hands.
"All in favor of leaving." The ones and the fives raised their hands.
"Then that settles it. Prepare to jump the ship." Cavil said.
. . .
"Katara! Get behind us!" Aang said. Katara managed run to the safety of the others.
When she was clear Aang he used his staff to shot several waves of air at Azula. Azula somersaulted to avoided the first two waves but the third came in low and knocked Azula to the ground. She got to her feet only to barley avoid having her head removed by a large ball of metal Toph had created from pieces of the wall. It slammed into the wall behind her.
"You need to aim better than that you blind freak!" Azula said. No sooner had she said that then three more metal projectiles came her direction. She dodge the first two but the last one hit right in the stomach. She was sent flying back to the wall at the far end. When she got to her feet she was clearly injured with bruises and cuts all over her. But this only fueled her rage as she looked back at the others.
"How do you like my aim now!?" Toph said.
In a fit of anger, Azula swung her arms around in a circle and sparks began forming at her finger tips as she prepared to fire another bolt of lightning. While the rest of the group backed away, Aang stood his ground. He calmed his mind as he prepared to redirect the lightning away from his friends
When Azula fired, Aang was ready. He saw the zigzagging beam of light heading towards him cutting through the air. Only to be interrupted by the cylon leader Natalie who had come running in through the opposite hallway. She had been on her way to the hanger when she saw the fight. Natalie tackled Azula to the ground, interrupting the lightning she shot.
Natalie got to her feet before Azula and grabbed her by the throat, slamming Azulas body against the wall. Using her superhuman strength, she lifted Azula off her feet as Azula struggled against her grip as Natalie's face hardened in anger.
"People like you give the human race a bad name! Your a wast of resources that would be better spent helping those who are more than you will ever be! Nothing but a self centered bitch who uses fear to control and destroy others! We should have left you in your cell on earth! That way if Cavil destroys the planet you could feel what it's like to burn in nuclear fire instead of surviving in the safety of this ship!"
"Natalie! Stop!" Aang yelled.
But before Natalie could release her grip, Azula released another bolt of lighting at Natalie.
"NO!" Aang screamed as Natalie was thrown against the wall from the impact. A large burn mark was on her black top over her stomach. Azula gave an evil cackle as she charged another bolt. But before she could fire the sound of gunfire filled the hallway as two centurions arrived and shot at Azula. She dodge the first stream of bullets but the last burst hit her leg.
Toph used metal ending to encase the injured Azula in a cocoon of metal while Aang and Katara ran to Natalie.
"Will she be all right!?" Aang asked.
"I don't know. Aang, my water bending still doesn't work. I can't heal her."
"Then let me try." Aang said.
Katara handed her water pouch to Aang who opened it and used his water bending to empty it. The water formed around his hands and began to glow. As he set his hands aganst her wound, Natalie started whispering.
"Heavenly Father...give me the strength...the wisdom...and above all..." Suddenly she raised her hand in the air as if reaching for something. Aang took her hand and held it. As he did Natalie let out her last breath.
"...a measure of salvation." She said as life left her body. Aang closed his eyes to hold back his tears.
"I'm sorry Natalie." He said.
. . .
In the hybrid room, Roslin, Zuko, Karol and one of the eights walked in.
"Plug it in. I need to take to it." Laura said. The eight began plugging the power lines back in.
"Let god's will be done." Baltar said.
"Shut up. It's time to get some answers." Roslin said.
The eight plugged the last power conduit in. Just as she did the lights in room lit up, and the hybrid screamed in terror.
"JUMP!"
Outside in a bright flash of light, the cylon basestar's FTL drive activated and the ship jumped away.
ok, so I forgot to say mr Hoshi's name instead of mr Geata during the call to action stations. I have now fixed that.