I awoke where I expected to be. Slowly I rose from the cold stone slab, sitting on the rounded edge to allow my balance to restore before I attempted to stand.
"Welcome back," a serene voice greeted.
My still booted feet touched the dirt floor. We'd found this chamber digging under the current structure. A weak attempt to hide the fact that a temple once stood here.
"He wants to see you." A figure attached itself to the voice. The young boy was dressed all in white. Still a student then. Odd, that choice. He pointed toward the door.
"I have no doubt," I responded. "But he can wait. I require time to refresh and a change of clothes." My uniform stank and had streaks on it.
The boy hesitated, yet wisely did as I wanted. "If you'll follow me." He lead the way through the chamber that cried of the betrayal once done here, through the narrow way we dug in, to a chamber high above the clouds. He bowed out of the room closing the door behind him.
I crossed the lush carpet to stare out the window to the city below. Some things were the same, others were different. Shuttles fluttered by like bright insects scurrying off to some unknown destination. Bright advertisements flashed and lights all over popped on as night fell.
With a deep sigh, I found the bathing chamber and relaxed, enjoying the simple pleasure of a bath. Oils and sweet essences restored moisture to my parched skin. My nose drank deep of the scents and I remembered what my life had once been.
Once dried I found a closet full of a wardrobe I had not seen since, well, for a long, long time. I touched the soft fabrics, taking in the many colors, and almost found myself wishing for one of the dresses I had owned on the Galactica instead. Still, I could not be ungrateful for the choices and finally selected a long gown of shimmering green that almost matched my eyes.
In front of the mirror, I pulled by hair into a design I had used once for a formal occasion, fastening it with a simple silver clasp. Arranged on a nearby table were face paints and adornments. I kept my choices sparse wishing only to highlight my eyes and add a bit of color to my cheeks. Also, I found earrings and necklace to match. Once done, I examined my efforts and almost didn't recognize the high born lady.
I laughed at myself. How many times I had dressed as such in the past? For so many different reasons I knew I would never remember them all.
A soft knock on the door and the boy entered. "Forgive the intrusion, my lady."
No doubt he was growing impatient. "I understand."
With my guide I traversed the halls to meet the one I knew awaited. When we stopped the boy waved me inside and took a position beside the door. I entered, gazing around the tiered and deserted vast chamber. As if it would have been any different given the lateness of the day. The usual occupants no doubt were dining in the city or indulging in other activities. Entertainments here were vast and varied.
He lifted his head as he spotted me. Clear blue eyes met mine and he offered a smile of welcome, although I sensed his unease as well. "Your report."
"Not even the offer refreshment first? Or perhaps simple talk of your day?" I kept my tone light, almost teasing.
A long sigh escaped his thin lips. "Why are our meetings always the same with you?"
I hardened my tone. "I am not answerable to you. That you well know."
Brief anger reflected in his eyes quickly suppressed. He'd learned better control than his father had at the same age. "You were returned here."
"A question I will ask of those who sent me." I moved past him to view the darkened room. "Now," I took a padded seat across from him. "All that I need of you is transport."
He blinked staring at me in disbelief. "I'm not your servant."
"You have your place."
"And what place is that?" His hand motioned in the air. "Are we nothing of greater importance than to do the fighting and dying in this battle against a darkness we aren't even allowed to see?"
"You've been told what you need to know." The weight of my years and position in the fight pressed heavily on my shoulders. Suddenly I was tired and wanted only to be to leave.
"Always the same answer." He stood up. "Are we never to be trusted?"
"What was it you were taught?" Perhaps a reminder would help.
"From what I was taught," he replied. "Everything could change. Suddenly."
His eyes again met mine. "What makes you so certain what you have seen will come to pass?"
How could I explain the concept of history to one so young? That what had been seen had already happened and that it was the prevention of the dark future it had become my charge to change.
"Child," I began.
"Don't call me that!"
"To me, that is what you are." I rose gracefully. "Now, about that transport."
His brother-in-law finally agreed to fly me where I needed to go. Aboard the battered freighter, I kept myself sequestered, not wishing to answer questions I knew would be on the man's mind and I had no desire to answer. Once our destination was reached I disembarked and waved him away preventing an even a remote possibility of inquiry. He sighed and took his battered ship back into space.
I stood on a broad plain. Yellowed grasses shivered in the cool evening breeze. Behind me stood bare dark mountains and before me the ruins of a once proud city. Pride had killed these here. As well as arrogance and the removal of themselves from all matters of the universe a dire mistake that ended their race.
My race I reminded myself. No, that wasn't quite true. I was descended of their race. A splotch on their proud pure gene lines. A reminder that their people had once traveled the stars and founded a powerful order. A fulfillment of an ancient prophecy they thought was mere legend.
How long it took me to cross the plain and enter the ruins I don't know. I found what I sought and marveled it had with stood the attack and still functioned. With trembling hands I touched the ancient device willing myself to see if my actions had changed anything. Had the history changed? Or did it still end with the galaxy plunged into darkness?
My answer surprised me taking a twist I had not expected. Shaking I rose to my feet, drained, yet oddly stimulated. My eyes drifted upward into the sparkling stars over my head.
I had no idea the true planet of my birth would play such an important role in the days to come. True, I remembered it only as dream for I had been taken from there when I was such a young child. Still, I dared not hope. They had come so far for ones still in childhood. Encountered enemies and defeated them. Traveled to beyond their own galaxy. Colonized.
Closing my eyes I allowed the wonder of it all to fill me. I sang and danced in the city of dead delighted with what I had learned. When I tired I slept, my dreams filled with knowledge from both of my peoples. With the dawn I knew I had to leave and continue to follow my destiny.
I gazed down at my right hand. I had one secret I had not shared with Daniel and Nona. One I would not have dared to. For I was a child of both the younger and older races. The one trained to blend them together to fight the darkness. And blended into my genes was a secret very few others had held.
Except my well-known ancestor. Or so he had been, before his people and their city had fallen and was now the rubble all around me.
Slowly and deliberately I concentrated until the clear ring of pure stone appeared on my finger. It flashed briefly like it had waited all its life to do my bidding. True, I had some training in how to use it, but my own sense of time and space were the most important skills. The ring was but a tool.
I took a deep breath. If I failed, then I would die and none would know. In truth, I had nothing to loose. But it wasn't myself I was concerned about. It was the future of the universe.
The Adama Journals
The send off ceremony of my first-born son still burns in my soul. I had learned to live with the pain of Zac's and Illa's deaths, yet Apollo loss weighs as heavily on me as the future of my people. He was such a great and skilled warrior I could not believe it when Boomer told me what happened. A part of me still refuses to, so I will not write of it here.
Yet, his is not the only loss we have suffered during the past few yahrens. Sheba is gone as well. Her death protected a trading mission on a planet we chanced to pass. I would never have thought a solar system could exist out here in the space between galaxies.
My nephew Antares and the rest of the Hawks are gone as well. They flew off on a patrol and I could only assume they lost their way since they failed to return.
A rescue shuttle containing our med-tech Cassie vanished as well. The fate of that mission never resolved.
I promoted Boomer to Captain and he now commands the squadrons. There are so many young recruits now I fear for the safety of my people if we encounter the Cylons. I have no confidence in their inexperience. What I wouldn't give to have my older warriors back!
We are still on course for Earth, though I have heard complaints coming from almost every ship in the fleet. They afraid of death in this vast nothingness. Many have begged that we return and settle on one of the many worlds we passed. As if the Cylons would leave us alone, all they would need is to discover and our new home and we would again take flight to the stars. Of that one fact, I am certain.
Yet, for the future of the children I continue on our chosen path. Boxey now renamed Troy as is his right when he turned twelve. An old custom many young men have not used in so many yahrens. I can only guess my grandson did not wish to continue to use his childhood name, rather a more adult one. Dillion however, chose to keep his name.
The two boys, correction, young men, are inseparable. They've been so since Rae's death and even more so now, with Apollo's. Athena and I will do what we can to help them grow into strong warriors, since that is their voiced desire.
And there is a part of me that almost fears their first flight. Their first fight. Their first injury. Always will the specter of death hover over me with the loss of so much of my family. I had dreams of all of us reaching Earth and starting a new life. Now, I know my dreams were for nothing.
Though I know there are those who would disagree. Colonel Tigh and Major Taygetta finally celebrated their sealing ceremony. It was a happy occasion and the two deeply love each other. I envy them.
"Pegasus! You've got two coming straight at you!" I called out the warning hoping it wasn't too late.
The two unknown ships continued their attack, tearing gapping holes in the Pegasus, one much too near the bridge. I held my breath as a sharp order from Cain suddenly ceased.
"Commander! Cain!" I called.
"Rae?" Don's anxious voice broke into my call. "What do we do?"
"What we do best." Many smaller ships escaped the larger ones. We hadn't seen them since the attack began and didn't know they existed. "Knock them out of the sky."
Events in the galaxy can be unpredictable. And I suppose, such is the way the of things. My old teacher told me that one can not truly predict what will happen until choices are made. First hand am I learning the truth of this.
The battle that rages between the galaxies is not what happened the first time. The first time the Cylons jumped the Pegasus, killing her commander and executive officer, and the ship was then rescued by those who raised Daniel and Nona. It made my reintroduction to the crew of the battlestar much easier, since they are allies against the darkness.
But not this time. This time, since those of my true younger race awakened an old enemy before their appointed hour and rushed events of which I should not have to now concern myself, all events have altered. Now there are others in the equation with whom I have no ties to ease the way. It will make what I must do much more difficult.
Of course, I can not blame my people. We are curious and explorers as were those from whose lines we descended. Not that the knowledge has been shared with the entire planet. They are still too young to grasp the concepts and accept them. Wars would result and they would fall into a darkness that is even worse than the one that still hovers so close.
I can only watch from a safe distance as the vipers fight the new enemy, the Pegasus hard pressed to fire on the two ships. In some ways they are evenly matched, in others, not so.
Cain once took on three baseships and won. True, they had no fighters. Yet in the explosion we could not tell if he had survived or not. He did not contact the Galactica despite Adama's constant attempts. I think even Sheba finally accepted the truth of his demise. Or what we thought to be truth.
Did I know? Of that, I am not certain. Perhaps for that time I simply went along with the popular thought to prevent the others from knowing I knew more than they. Who is to say?
"How bad?" I asked as I slid from my viper onto the launch bay floor. Quickly I counted fighters as they landed relieved we hadn't lost as many as I had first thought.
Starbuck spun around to answer me. His wife Cassie had been among those we'd rescued when a shuttle strayed too far from the fleet. She was busy tending injured warriors.
"Worse than we expected," he quietly stated. The haunted look in his eyes scared me.
"Cain?" I wasn't sure I really wanted to know.
"Daniel and Nona went to see."
"Rae!"
I turned to the voice I hadn't ever expected to hear again and had been shocked when we'd picked him up.
"I'm taking command."
"What about the colonel?" Starbuck asked.
"Dead. He was in engineering when the wall blew. Astraya is doing the best she can to get our systems up and running."
"Not sure Cain will like it," I put in, holding my breath since I sensed he knew something we didn't. The others in my squadron joined us. Don took my hand.
He bit his lip. "He's dead, Rae. The entire bridge crew is. Once we get the basic systems stabilized, we'll get suited up and start repairs."
"And bury our dead, cousin?" Antares joined us. His face was pale.
"If there's anything left of them to bury," Apollo agreed. "Where's Sheba?"
"Life Center," Cassie told him as she rose to her feet. The warrior she'd been treating was whisked off. He still looked like he was alive. "Cain made her stay there during the fight. Didn't want to endanger his grandchild."
Apollo nodded. They'd been sealed shortly after we'd rescued him. From what I'd heard they'd planned to be on the Galactica until Sheba went missing. They hadn't wasted much time when they'd been reunited. I swallowed realizing Cain never see his grandchild. He'd been happier about the prospect more than when they'd married.
"Carl," Apollo began to rattle off orders. "See if you can help Astraya. She's short handed. Don, take a team and see about the secondary bridge systems. Maybe we can run the ship from there. Cassie, take over in the Life Center. Doc was among the first casualties. Rae, round up the warriors and get them and anyone else you can find to start clean up. Starbuck, check on our supplies."
We all just stood there too numb to move.
"Move it!"
Yahrens of training took over and we dispersed to do what we'd been told. I noticed Apollo left with Cassie. Made sense. He'd be the one to tell Sheba about her father.
I wanted to check on Kendra, but I knew she was in the Life Center and safe. All the children would be, including Jerik's and Stacie's two, Jason and Astraya's three, and Starbuck's and Cassie's two.
Odd to think of all the sealing ceremonies that had been performed on this ship. Mine as well, since Don had finally spoken up and expressed his true feelings about me. Finally explained to me all his strange reactions while I was with Darius. He'd been in love with me and jealous.
"Don!" I called. He stopped before leaving the bay. "Be careful."
"You, too." He came to me and gave me a kiss. "Watch any area you're unsure of. The Pegasus took a pounding."
"At least we finally sent those ships and their fighters to Hades."
My husband's face held a grim expression. "We paid a horrible price."
Centaurs later we learned the full extent of the damage. The engines were off line and we had no lightspeed. It was going to take several sectons to get moving again. If, Carl and Astraya could repair what was broken and jury-rig parts. The secondary bridge was working, but without engines all they could do was hopefully watch for any more unexpected attacks.
Apollo had taken Starbuck and they'd inspected the main bridge. Neither of them spoke about what they'd seen and the rest of us could tell from their faces, it was better not to ask.
About a secton later we had a send off ceremony for all those who had died during the attack. Sheba stood beside her husband, tears streaming down her face as we said goodbye to her father and our commander. Bodies were sent drifting into space and we continued our efforts to repair the Pegasus.
How long our work lasted, I honestly don't know. When the ship began to limp along the course for Earth, we were all relieved. The worst wasn't over, but at least we were moving again.
Apollo called for a meeting with his surviving officers. We met in his quarters. He sat behind the desk that was once Cain's. The rest of us sat where we could. Sheba stood next to him.
"We have a decision to make," he began. His eyes had dark circles under them. I doubted he'd slept much. None of us had. "Unlike Cain I don't think we should continue to keep our presence a secret from the Galactica."
"They're farther away now," Starbuck reminded him. "Wouldn't be wise for them to turn around."
"I wouldn't ask my father to do that."
I spoke up. "I could take the my squadron."
Antares shook his head. "Daniel and Nona would be better."
"Why?" Our new commander frowned.
His cousin didn't answer immediately. "They know things about flying the rest of us don't."
"Explain."
"I can't."
"Antares," Apollo leaned slightly forward. Sheba's hand gently settled on his shoulder. "What do you know that I don't?"
"You remember what an excellent warrior Jenn was."
We all knew that.
"They had some similar training. That's all I'm going to say."
"I don't like secrets on my ship."
"Can't be helped, Apollo. I understand why they won't say anything."
"And you won't tell me."
Antares shifted. "If they chose to, then that's their choice."
Loyalty in squadrons and the willingness to keep certain confidences to themselves, is one of the things encouraged. It helps build trust among warriors.
I should know. Gold has some several secrets we've not told anyone.
"Apollo." I had to think how I was going to say this. "If they're half as good as she was, I think maybe Antares has a point."
"Good enough she got herself blown up by Cylons." Apollo didn't really need to remind us of that.
His cousin glanced down at the deck. I frowned. Was there some other secret he wasn't sharing?
"Risking two is better than six." Starbuck finally joined in. "They could take a list of anything we need and bring it back."
"He's right, Apollo," Sheba agreed. "Once we have what we need we could use lightspeed and catch up with the fleet."
"Providing the fleet isn't too far ahead of us," Starbuck said.
"We need to take the chance." Apollo stood and we all rose to our feet. "Tell Daniel and Nona I want to see them."
Antares's eyes drifted to the door. "They're already outside waiting."