Lighting the Path

By Michael Weyer

Pushed Arrivals

The chamber of the underground bunker was mostly empty when the crackling of ozone began. Lightning flashed, sparks of electricity raking about as the wind picked up. With a blast of energy, what looked like a clear globe roughly the size of a large van appeared. It hovered in the air as lingering traces of electricity slid off it before settling on the ground. A door opened at its side, allowing the passengers to exit. One was a tall and handsome man clad in a mostly gold costume with blue trimming from his mid-section to the arms and blue boots and gloves that seemed encased in some large gauntlets. A blue star was at the center of the gold chest with a blue head covering that left most of his face clear with short blonde hair flowing back and tinted yellow goggles over his eyes. Beside him flew a small metallic globe that was roughly egg-shaped with fins at the sides, gold-plated with a blue screen at the front.

The man sighed as he brushed at his hair and stepped onto the platform. "Hate traveling to the 15th century. Forget the Industrial Revolution, when are they going to invent soap?"

"At least you were successful, sir," the robotic globe stated in a crisp voice that still contained a dry humor. "The attempt to undo Columbus' voyage failed."

"Yeah, yeah, history goes its way again and we come back to our old lives," the man said with a deep sigh.

"Oh, dear. It's that time of the month again."

"Excuse me?"

"BPS. Booster's Pity Syndrome. The time when you begin moaning over and over again about how unfair it is to be the greatest hero history will never know."

"Well, I'm sorry, ok, Skeets!" Booster Gold snapped at his robotic companion. "I'm out there risking my life to keep the timestream from being screwed up and I can't get any respect for it because no one knows what I'm doing!"

"If I may, sir, that is the reason Rip Hunter chose you. Your…reputation was hardly that stellar to begin with. Your fantastic career in 25th century football ending when you were banned after being caught betting on your own games-"

"To help my dad, you know that."

"Reduced to janitor at a museum where you hit upon the idea of stealing a Legion flight ring, a time machine and myself, or more importantly, the historical files I contained, to come to this era and make yourself over as a hero for fame and adulation…"

"I did some good too, Skeets, you know that. I was part of the Justice League!"

"With all respect, sir, your version of the JLI is not quite known for its sterling legacy and more for being, to quote one book, the Saved By the Bell years of the organization."

"At least we weren't in Detroit."

"Regardless, sir, your constant need for fame and money is why Mr. Hunter decided you'd be a good person for his quest."

"Mr. Hunter…" Booster rolled his eyes. "That's not even his real name, Skeets!"

"In order to protect himself from evil time travelers, he must keep his true identity secret, sir. You, however, are well-known already. Thus, the best way to maintain your secret mission to protect the flow and history and see that time is not undone is to ensure that history only knows you as a vainglorious, money-grubbing dolt who never amounted to anything."

"Way to tone it down, Skeets."

"I was, sir."

Booster stopped to look at the robot. "You know, I think we need a break. We're starting to talk in exposition again."

"So noted, sir."

They made their way into the larger room of the underground bunker and stopped. The main lab was filled with various shelves of equipment, much of it beyond the realm of modern-day science. A shelf of books lined the walls and had someone taken the time to study them, they might have noticed how a few were full biographies of people yet to be elected President. The other side was dominated by an old-fashioned chalkboard before which Rip Hunter stood. He was a tall man who appeared in his 30's, also with dark blond hair and five o'clock shadow. He wore a green uniform with red trimmings, his face tight as he scribbled the chalk over the board.

"Oh, hell," Booster muttered. "He's writing, Skeets. That's never good when he's writing."

Skeets had to concur as the two looked at the chalkboard. The hard part of time traveling, Booster had learned, was keeping things in chronoal check. For a man who had been doing it all his life, Rip Hunter had the problem of letting his thoughts get jumbled and thus even writing things down, he couldn't help but be a tad vague, as evidenced by his writings.

Red, Blue, Green, Indigo, Orange, Yellow, Violet = White

Why is Max Lord?

Oracle takes flight.

The threads will embrace Wonder Woman.

No Salvation.

The Dark Knight will enterprise.

Old 52?

Krypton evermore.

And more, none of which made any sense to Booster. He coughed as he came up. "Um, Rip?"

Hunter turned to him, his eyes showing the strain from lack of sleep. "Oh, Booster. Good to have you back."

"What's wrong?" Booster asked. "I mean, aside from the usual insanity that goes on with our lives."

Rip sighed as he looked back at the board. "Something's coming, Booster. It's happening faster than I expected it to, faster than it should be. It's coming and it'll change everything."

"Great," Booster muttered. "Now, is this something we have to stop or one of those 'going to happen anyway' things? Or, better yet, one of those things I have to be a part of in order to let happen? Because I went there before with Coast City, not wanting to go through it again."

"I warned you, there are times you have to let history happen."

"I had to watch eight million people die, Rip!" Booster snapped. "I can't just get over that! It doesn't help how you keep acting like my father in all this."

Rip smiled. "I'm not your father, Booster." Had Booster not been so upset, he might have detected the hint of a hidden secret in the way Rip spoke. Rip's smile faded as he moved back to the chalkboard. "No, what's coming is something we can't stop. We can only prepare for it. Fate was supposed to take a different turn but now…now, something is spreading a new wave of history at us, one that can't be altered."

Booster nodded as he took it in. "So just ride this one out? Okay, sounds almost normal. So what are we facing anyway?"

In answer, Rip turned to the board and circled two large words in the center of it all. Booster stared at them and without asking, he felt a chill in his heart as he took them in.

HE RISES.

The ring was good but to burn off energy, jogging was still natural for Kara.

Her boots echoed across the halls as she ran, dressed in her old uniform, the headphones attached to her iPod. It allowed her to ignore the stares she received from those she ran past. It had been a tense few weeks since the Khund attack, the fleet pulling back together. Tyrol had been taking Cally's death horribly, drinking and getting into an argument with Adama so the Admiral had no choice but to relieve him of his duties. Kara had wanted to talk to him but the Chief (she couldn't think of him as anything but) had withdrawn into himself, refusing to talk to anyone. Not much better was Felix. They'd managed to fix his wound as best they can but like anyone else with an amputated foot, he wasn't handling the transition to mostly sitting around well.

Kara paused for breath. At least some of the tension had faded with Guy and the other Lanterns having to return to Oa for some big emergency. Kara should have gone with but Guy had said she was technically still a rookie and thus not eligible to take part in whatever it was. Had it been another Lantern, he would have insisted but Gardner had a way of following his own rules and seemed to respect Kara's ability to handle things on her own. She didn't really mind, she'd had enough of this insanity already. She just needed to get her head cleared a bit, try to figure things out on her own with Lee, with Adama, Roslin, the fleet….

"Hello, Kara."

Kara closed her eyes in pain. "Great. Just what I needed." She turned to the man standing behind her, obviously having waited to see her.

Even after hearing from people, Kara was still struck by how different Gaius Baltar looked. The once dashingly handsome man was a shadow of himself, unshaven and unkempt, his grubby shirt, vest and jeans a far cry from his once pressed and expensive suits. He was trying a smile but it didn't match his eyes, which no longer sparked with the genius of old but rather looked more haunted. Kara had never enjoyed talking to Baltar in the best of circumstances and sure as hell didn't want to now.

"You…look good," Baltar began. "I was happy to hear you were still alive."

"One of the few," Kara noted. She wiped at her brow as she removed her headphones. "What do you want, Gaius?"

He studied her for a long moment. "Your return has a lot of people talking, Kara. About what happened to you. Your…rebirth."

"I never died, Baltar," Kara snapped. "I got picked by the ring to join the GLC."

"Is that what you truly believe?" Baltar asked as he stepped forward. "I believe you were chosen, Kara. But not by some alien band. I believe you were chosen by God."

Kara stared at him for a long moment. "Holy frak, Baltar, I'd heard the rumors but I didn't believe them until now. You've finally gone off the deep end."

"I assure you, I'm serious," Baltar stated. "What happened to you, Kara…To be taken from us and then returned…That's a far greater thing than you can imagine." He was speaking quite calmly, almost reverently and that just freaked Kara out even more. "There are angels, Kara. I've seen them. I've heard them. Angels are among us and I believe you are living proof of that."

"You know, on Earth, you could get your own show with that talk," Kara cracked.

"I'm being serious, Kara."

"I know, that's what's scary about this." She sighed. "Look, Baltar, I'm not going to become some new face of whatever lunacy you're up to. I've heard you've been welcomed by some folks, Gods know why. You want your own harem, feel free, I just feel sorry for those poor women deluded enough to be with you."

That familiar eyebrow arched. "I would point out you could be listed among them."

Kara's eyes narrowed. "You know I was drunk as hell and regretted it ever since. That was before I knew you had a big part to play in the Cylon attacks. Or before you led us down the road to hell in New Caprica."

"We came out of it," Baltar stated. "Stronger than before. We survived."

Kara rolled her eyes. "Great. I know someone in this fleet who's going to embrace that Darwin guy." She looked back at Baltar hard. "Baltar, let's make this clear. I was never dead, I'm not some angel and trust me, these gods you love aren't what you think."

"You have been to Earth, though," Baltar pressed. "You know it, Kara. You will lead us to the promised land."

"Oh, Gods, now you get religion," Kara groaned, rubbing her head. "Baltar, go back to your little commune or whatever you call it and let them soak in your brand of crazy. I've got more than enough in my plate as is."

"Kara…."

"She said to go, Baltar," Tigh growled as he walked up behind the man. Kara couldn't help but feel happy at the way Baltar nearly jumped at Tigh's presence. The single eye made it clear that he wasn't joking around and even in his state, Baltar had to recognize it. With a final look at Kara, he began to walk off, Tigh staring to make sure he left.

"How has no one shot him?" Kara asked.

"Gods only know," Tigh sighed out. He looked over at Kara, clearly uncomfortable. "Still not fitting in, huh?"

"I knew it wouldn't be easy," Kara sighed. "But this is still harder than I thought." She wiped her brow. "How's Roslin?"

"Trying to hide it," Tigh stated. "But it's obvious she's sinking bad. It's only a matter of months at the most."

"Dammit," Kara muttered. "Without Roslin, this whole damn fleet goes to shit."

"Amen there," Tigh agreed. He looked her over. "Listen, Thrace. I don't know how much of this stuff about Earth is real or not. Or these Lanterns or any of it." He looked her in the eye. "But I do know that when we thought you'd died…it ate the Old Man and Lee hard. Harder than anything and I've known Bill a long time." He set his jaw. "If you hurt him again somehow….if this turns out to be some trick…It might just break him. And if that's the case, I'll shoot you myself."

"Nice to see you've mellowed," Kara remarked as she put her headphones back on. She hit "random" on her iPod as she turned to jog again, the sound of a guitar riff coming into her ears. "There must be some kind of way out of here…" she softly sang.

"Said the joker to the queen."

Kara froze in place as she heard the absent tone behind her. She slowly turned to find the Chief staring right back at her, his own face frozen in shock and single eye wide. For a long moment, they just shared an uncomprehending glance before Tigh broke away, walking quickly down the hallway, sparing a last glance at Kara before turning a corner.

Kara just stared at where he'd gone, her mind trying to process what had just happened. A chill came over her as a thought entered her mind. She didn't want to face it but what she'd just seen was enough to convince her. Spinning on her heel, she broke out from a jog to a full-on run, shoving people aside as she raced down hallways and up stairs. She glanced about at a corridor intersection before running down another hallway and bursting into the pilot's room. "Athena!"

The pilots inside were startled at her sudden entrance. The Cylon who Kara still found herself calling Sharon was with them, frowning as she stood up. "Kara? What are you…" She was cut off as Kara grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to the middle of the room.

"Just stand still," Kara said. She held up a finger and the look in her eye was enough to make Athena close her mouth. "Trust me." She backed up and held up her hand. A green beam exited from her ring to sweep over Athena. "What the frak?" Helo yelled as he got to his feet. "What are you doing?"

"Something I should have done first day I got back," Kara said as she held up her first. "Ring. I need you to secretly scan the entire fleet for any physiologies matching Athena's."

"Scanning." The pause was agonizingly slow for Kara. She could have had the ring sweep beams of green around but thought it best to contain as much as she could. "Scan completed. Four life-forms matching data."

"Four…" Helo's eyes opened wide. "Holy shit, you found four toasters in the fleet?"

Kara took a deep breath. "Ring…show me images."

The ring sent a beam out into the air before her, lines forming into a quartet of faces. Each slowly rotated around, the color bright but the details of each face clear.

"Sweet mother of Artemis," Hotdog whispered. He was one of the few able to say anything as everyone took in the images of Saul Tigh, Galen Tyrol, Sam Anders and Tory Foster.

Kara knew the blood had drained from her face as she couldn't tear her eyes away from Sam's image. "Oh, Gods," she whispered, feeling as if she'd been the punch line of a massive cosmic joke.

Helo was the first to recover, moving to the nearby phone on the wall and yanking it off the receiver. Dialing a number, he quickly started barking into the phone. "We have a Code Blue, four counts! I need guards on Tyrol, Anders, Foster….and Tigh." He listened and snapped. "Yeah, you heard me! Get them caught now!"

Kara was already moving, feeling the energy of the ring flow around her and create her uniform. With a running start, she leapt up and flew down the hallways, not hearing the yells of people as she sped by them, twisting around corners and up ladders to get to her destination. She came up to Adama's quarters just as Lee marched around the corner with a trio of soldiers in full armor. She landed and saw the look on his face. "You heard."

"Tigh's in there," Lee stated. "He passed by me earlier, looked like something on his mind, said he had to talk to my dad."

"Frak," Kara muttered as she turned to the door. Taking a breath, she lifted her ring to form a ram and slammed it on the surface. The door gave way as she entered, her ring ready to fire. She saw Tigh standing before the desk, Adama staring at him with an expression that clearly said Tigh had already come clean about his true nature. The guards were behind Kara, aiming their rifles at Tigh. He glanced at them and then at Kara, who was aiming her fist at him, the ring crackling with green flame. "What are you waiting for, Starbuck?" he said in a surprisingly calm tone. "You can't tell me you haven't wanted an excuse to do it for years."

She wanted to. Gods knew she did. But she couldn't, not like this and especially not in front of the Old Man. She backed up, allowing the guards to grab an unresisting Tigh. Adama was staring at his oldest and closest friend before speaking. "Take the…Colonel…to the brig. Have the others put in there too, maximum guard." The soldiers moved to drag him away, Tigh staring after Adama all the while.

Lee carefully moved forward. "Dad?" he spoke, his usual brisk demeanor gone and replaced by a young boy concerned for his father. Adama leaned forward, staring down at the desk. In a flash, he swept its contents off the surface, screaming out loud. He lunged to a wall, smashing his fist into a framed photo of he and Tigh from years before. He collapsed onto the floor, sobbing, the pain of so much loss coming to the fore. Lee knelt with him, wrapping arms around his father to hug him tightly, his tears soon joining in with the elder man. Kara looked at them for a long moment before moving to embrace them both. Her own anger came to the fore now, causing tears as they sat together, each feeling a horrific pain at the truth coming out.

It was nearly an hour before Kara could pull herself away. She wiped at her eyes as she marched herself down two levels to the prison level. The guards gave her a glance but didn't seem surprised to see her enter. She marched into the room, seeing Sam, Tyrol, Tory and Tigh all inside with varying expressions of sorrow on their faces. Without breaking stride, Kara allowed her ring to form a green fist that shot through the bars to smash Tigh across the jaw. He stumbled back, rubbing it but not seeming upset about the blow. "How's the Old Man?" he asked.

"How the hell do you think?" Kara spat. She stared at them all. "How long have you known?"

There was a silence as they all glanced at each other. "The day you came back," Tyrol spoke up. "It was like…a switch got flipped somehow. Like we realized what we'd always known."

Kara shook her head. "Godsdammit….All this time?" She pointed at Sam. "You led a damn rebellion on Caprica! You fought your own kind!"

"I didn't know they were my kind!" Sam snapped. "Hell, I still don't believe it!"

"It's true though," Tyrol spoke from one of the cots inside. He was looking downcast and hard to speak up. "We know it. We've been this way all along."

Kara looked at Tigh. "Your own wife died because of them, Tigh!" He looked away with shame but she kept pressing on. "You're the one willing to kill ourselves just to get at them! Now, you're revealing you're one, have been one. Gods, you know how this will break Adama."

"Why the frak do you think we kept it quiet all this time?" Tigh demanded. "Until we knew for sure we weren't going to snap and start blowing up ships, we had to hide this. From everyone."

Kara turned her eyes back to Tyrol. "Cally?"

Tyrol looked away in pain. "She…found out when those…aliens attacked us. She was running when…" He rubbed at his face and Kara could see his grief was genuine. She looked back at Sam, her eyes hard. "Guess we finally know a legitimate reason we could never work out," she groused. She knew it was petty but it was all she could think of to say right now.

Sam just returned her gaze. "I never meant to hurt you. I never asked for this. After the hell I went through on Caprica and New Caprica and everything…To find out I've been one all along…This is hell on us all, Kara."

"I'm so glad to take your feelings into consideration," Kara sarcastically replied. "Hope that goes over well when it gets out to the rest of the fleet we've had four Toasters among us, one the second-in-command, another with an ear to the President and a third who's been helping make sure our flagship is in flying shape."

"What happens to us?" Tory asked, her face tight.

"What she means," Tigh added. "Is how long until we hit the airlocks?" He ignored her glare. "Oh, like we don't know it's coming. It's what any of us would have seen done not long ago."

"Not my call," Kara said. She set her jaw as she looked over them all. "Hope you've all gotten used to being Cylons because ten to one you're going to die as some." Her eyes held Sam's for a long moment before turning to walk out of the room.

She leaned on a wall, rubbing her eyes over as if that could erase things. She heard footsteps and looked up to see Lee coming up to her, his face drawn. "He finally got to sleep," he answered her unasked question. "Roslin is coming over as soon as she can."

Kara raised an eyebrow. "Wait, just for him? Are they…?" Lee nodded and Kara scoffed. "About frakking time."

Lee looked at the room. "You believe them? That they didn't know?"

Taking a moment to mull it over, Kara nodded. "I do. The behavior changes explain a lot. I should have seen but was too distracted coming back to really judge."

"We all were," Lee pointed out. He loosened his tie, looking more ill-fitting than ever in his suit. "Gods, what a mess. This may be it. The fleet's been at the breaking point for so long but now…" He shook his head. "I don't think we can come back from this, Kara. I don't know if we can recover from this."

She looked at him, his words sinking in. She then lifted her fist to gaze at her ring. "Frak it," she boldly declared before turning on her heel to march down the hallways. Lee blinked before following although he knew it was futile to talk to her. He knew Kara Thrace enough to know that was her demeanor when she had her mind set on something.

She burst into the CiC with all eyes on her. It was odd seeing Dee in uniform, holding down things. It was clear word of what happened had reached the command center, the technicians in various forms of shock, going about their work mechanically. Felix was sitting at his console, his artificial leg awkwardly sticking out as he maintained the nav computer. Kara moved to the main navigation post and lifted her ring to it. "Ring. Access those navigational charts I downloaded off Gardner's ring."

There was a pause before the ring responded. "Complete."

Kara nodded. "Okay. Correlate with current position. Now scan over the fleet status and give me the fastest jump route to Earth."

The mention of the word got the attention of everyone around her. Lee had entered the room, his face thrown by what she was saying. "Kara? What are you doing?"

"You said this can break the fleet," Kara said, her eyes fixed as the ring emitted a beam into the navigational computer. "There's only one way to stop that from happening."

"You said it was dangerous," Lee pressed, coming over to face her. "That Earth may not react well."

"That's their problem." Kara looked him in the eye. "Maybe I'm a Lantern. But…I'm human first. And I'm not going to see us tear ourselves apart when I know a way to stop it."

Lee shared her gaze, the two seeming to speak without words. Nearby, Dee couldn't help but narrow her eyes at the connection she could never touch with Lee. Finally, he nodded and backed up, a soft smile on his face. "Go for it."

Kara turned back as the ring emitted light from the computer, forming lines that soon came together to create star charts. A series of lines cut through leading to a globe she was very familiar with. The line shimmered to form a series of numbers. "Felix," Kara called out. "Get these down."

He was startled but the navigator in him was quick to respond, grabbing a pen and paper to run them down. "Ring, give me a fleet scan, let me know if they can make this in one jump."

"Negative. Insufficient power in inter-spacial engines for required output."

Kara bit her lip. "Can you give them a boost?"

There was a pause as if the ring was hesitant to answer. "Within power ring levels to increase engine power. Will leave ring level at 7.1%."

"Fine by me," Kara leaned to the computer. "Felix, start entering those numbers in. Dee, open a channel to every ship in the fleet." The black-skinned woman was quick to respond, somehow realizing what Kara was planning. Bringing herself up, Kara spoke out. "This is Kara Thrace to all captains. We're sending you jump coordinates that will take you straight to Earth. I'll be giving us a boost but still need them entered in the computers. If you want to find that place at last, enter them in. You don't trust me, fine, stay behind. Your choice."

"This is Lee Adama," Lee spoke up unexpectedly. "I can confirm what she's saying. I know you're scared but this is our best chance. Maybe our only one. Please…listen to her."

After a pause, the communications board began to light up. The technicians were quick to respond, Dee moving to look over them. "We're getting confirmations," she called out. "And Roslin wants to speak to you."

"Tell her to wait," Lee stated. It took a few moments before Dee turned to them. "All ships reported in. They've got the numbers set."

Kara nodded, lifting her ring up. "Okay…on my mark then." She concentrated and the ring spread out a ring of energy that flowed outward. Kara furrowed her brow as she concentrated, imagining the beam touching every ship. She could almost see as the energy flowed into every jump drive, pushing them to limits their designers had never anticipated. Kara grit her teeth as she tried to hold it together, the agony of the situation pressing but she willed herself to push it further. "3…2…" She closed her eyes as she held her ring arm with her other hand to brace it, sweat pouring off. "Mark!"

And in a combination of white and green, the fleet winked out of existence.

Monitor duty may not be the most exciting job for a Justice League member but it was far from the least important. Vixen had learned that the hard way over the years as more than once, a threat from space that struck when least expected. Unlike a few younger members she could think of, she didn't use the satellite's massive computer system to play video games or catch up on TV but did her best to keep an eye on the world. It could be hard figuring which disasters required League attention or not but most days, the world was able to keep itself below total chaos level enough to let her enjoy a break. She was just settling back into her chair with a coffee and a new book when an all too familiar flashing light caught her attention.

She leapt up, her senses instantly alert. Reflexively, she touched the totem around her neck, ready to use its powers to summon the attributes of any animal that could help her. For all she knew, a legion of aliens in armor were about to teleport past the shields to try and attack. It'd happened more than a few times before and Vixen wasn't about to let this happen on her watch. Sometimes I wonder if the Detroit bunker was all that bad.

She frowned at the readings on the screen. Something was being detected on the spatial sensors, hinting something coming toward Earth but she didn't see anything out there. The scanners had been designed to cut through a dozen different types of cloaking shields but it still seemed as if there was just empty space out there. Narrowing her eyes, Vixen summoned her powers to allow her vision to become as sharp as a hawk's. She stared out the window and could see a shimmering, as if something was shading the stars.

Vixen yelled out as the flash of white and green came over her, pulling her vision back to normal. She blinked as she saw nearly thirty ships appear out of nowhere. She reflexively moved to the main alarm, pressing down to let a loud alarm echo around the satellite. The same alarm was also sounding to the White House, the Kremlin, 10 Downing Street and a dozen other key addresses across the world. It also sounded to every member on the current JLA roster. Leaning in, Vixen spoke into the communications array to address the latter. "JLA Code Red! Alien ships arriving over Earth! No signs of hostile intent as of yet, no communications. Emergency, all members report to Hall of Justice ASAP!"

Vixen rose just as a beeping sound came to the communications array. She calibrated and realized it was coming from the ships. She touched a button to let the voice crackle, the system's universal translator quickly turning it into English:

"To the people of Earth. This is Laura Roslin, President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. We are happy to finally meet our long-lost brothers of humanity."

Vixen sighed and sat back, rubbing her temples. She wasn't upset over this fleet of humans appearing with no warning. She wasn't upset about the chaos of Earth being addressed as "brothers" of these aliens. She wasn't upset over how they were going to handle this new influx of people.

No, what upset her was that she was about to endure one of her least favorite things: Batman once again being proven right.

Next chapter begins the fallout of the Colonials' arrival and things getting far more dangerous. All comments welcome as I hope to have it up a lot sooner.