BSG: BUMP IN THE NIGHT
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. This is me playing in the dark. No copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: Well, here it is. The end of this one. I'll bet you're tired of hearing apologies by now, so I won't make anymore. When I started this I had time to write. Pretty soon that will be gone again. I know it's taken me a while to put this up, but I also had another story to put up in a magazine. That was a project. Anyway, as soon as it was in, I went back to work on this.
When I began this little project I had no idea how it would go. I saw about three scenes in my head and cut everyone loose on it. I wish I could claim Apollo and Starbuck et al., but I can't. They still went off and did pretty much what they wanted to anyway. I wasn't expecting anyone to adopt anyone else really. I suppose, after living in a universe where things can wear the faces of loved ones, a certain skepticism is warranted, I'm chalking their enthusiasm up to the first rush of joy at seeing their lost family members. besides, Old BSG was a family show.
Big music, plz.
Chapter 6
Apollo stood in the open mouth of the landing bay, looking at the black sky beyond. Behind them, just to port and above the first of Galactica's flock, hung the well chewed bulk of the Warstar Elysium. He stood watching the tiny, gnat-like workbees cutting away dead metal and preparing for fleet repair ships still on the way.
"Hey buddy," Starbuck's hand fell softly on his shoulder. "How're you doing?"
"Better now that I'm home," the dark haired man nodded slightly.
He turned and reached out to the complicated amulet covering Starbuck's chest. When the young lieutenant looked down, he flicked his nose.
"Ha-ha," Starbuck rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you're feeling better." He stepped up and they looked at the big ship hanging across the way. "Weird, isn't it?"
"Which? Being part of a fleet again, seeing Elysium in our universe, or having an admiral aboard?"
"All of the above."
The dark eyed man chuckled, turned around and looked up the bay to where the techs were hanging banners and laying carpet. His expression lost a touch of its merriment, but gained appreciation.
"It's... like I've just come out of deep water after being held down for a long time. Don't get me wrong, Starbuck, I can't imagine doing anything better, but it's been..."
"Rough."
"Yeah."
"Well, it's almost over. Our side's Cylons will think twice about coming near our ships now that we have a warstar and her consorts hanging around." Starbuck gave his best friend a gentle nudge back towards the assembling crowd. "Pretty soon we'll be on the way into the big green and then back to Caprica eventually, for some massively extended R&R. I'll bet you can even write a novel, if you like." Starbuck paused, thinking years into the past, about their 'last' patrol before the peace. "Who knows, maybe we can get back into deep star exploration."
The sideboys had formed up and were standing at a stiff parade rest as one of Elysium's misshapen shuttles touched down and coasted slowly across the deck. Whoever was piloting the big beast must have known their craft, they aligned the hatch perfectly with Galactica's red carpet. The turbines were winding down as the hatch broke seal and slipped open.
"Attention!" a voice barked.
Boot heels slammed together. At the bottom of the formation Colonel Tigh, Captain Apollo and Lieutenants Starbuck and Boomer also straightened up.
Two blue-clad warriors stepped from the shuttle and fell in with Galactica's honor guard. Admiral Agathon came out next. He took his first step out as if he weren't sure the alloy deck would be real. Once the solid thump of his peg sounded, he steadied himself and marched forward like he owned the place. Other officers fell in behind him, eyes occasionally straying to the men and women in strangely colored clothes, or to some other part of the one ship they'd never expected to see. Admiral Agathon stopped three paces from the Colonel, came to attention and saluted.
Colonel Tigh had all but gaped as the group approached. With the Admiral strode the mirror images of several people he knew very well, one of whom was standing just behind him.
"Permission to come aboard, sir?"
"Permission granted," Tigh answered the salute promptly. "Welcome aboard the Battlestar Galactica. We haven't met formally, but I am Colonel Tigh. Commander Adama is ill. He is waiting with our surgeon and several other officers in the officer's mess, where he hopes you'll be good enough to join him."
The bristle-bearded man looked to Lieutenant Boomer for just a moment before returning to the Colonel's. "It would be an honor, Colonel."
Commander Adama sat in an overlarge, dial and control studded medical armature at the end of the long staff table. He hated the 'chair', it seemed too much like a throne. Salek wouldn't let him out of it. A warm hand slipped into his own, capturing his attention. Reflex painted a smile on his face as he looked up into his daughter's concerned eyes.
"It's going to be alright." Athena's voice was calm and smooth and everything an old man could need.
"I'm sorry, Athena," Adama rumbled. "I'm just tired. Every time I've prayed for an end to all of this..." he sighed. "I'm sorry."
"Hold on father," Athena squeezed his hand. "I think..."
The door at the end of the room was opened by one of the honor guards. Seconds later Admiral Agathon came into the room with Colonel Tigh on his heels. Immediately behind him was a young woman whose presence nearly brought the weary old man to his feet. Behind her, entering with a slightly uneven gait was another. Behind them was the one who so resembled his lost son. All stopped just inside the door.
"Amazing," Adama finally said.
"Isn't it? Sometimes even seeing isn't enough to prepare us for the truth," the Admiral replied. His normal fierce look lightened slightly. "I thought that since you were kind enough to send some of our most revered dead to our side of the wormhole, I would bring several to lighten your burdens as they have mine." He turned. "May I introduce Lieutenant Athena of the Warstar Elysium, Lieutenant Cassiopeia of our medical department and I think you already know our commander of flight operations, Major Sheba and the Commander of Green Squadron, Captain Zak."
Athena stood and walked over. Her tan twin reached blindly back. Her hand was intercepted by the woman in white. The motion was not lost by Adama's daughter. She offered her twin a smile as well as her friendly hand.
"Looks like Starbuck's in trouble," Athena blue said.
"When is he not?" Athena tan returned, a grin blooming on her face. "This is my wife, Cassiopeia. I believe you have one aboard Galactica as well?"
"We do," Athena blue released the other woman's hand and held it out for the scarred woman to take. "She's on her way now."
"Oh yes, Starbuck is doomed," the new Cass said. "Again."
"What?" a voice called from the corridor. "You guys need something? I thought I heard my name."
Dinner was not what anyone had expected, Agathon thought as he sat back. The food had been acceptable; plenty but plain, which really was more than anyone could expect when one considered how long it had been since Galactica had seen a supply depot. No, it was not the food which was making him feel warm and comfortable, it was the behavior of the assembled officers. The first few minutes had been tense as people assembled and watched each other. Commander Adama's daughter, daughters, he supposed, had gone a long way in the mass exchange of olive branches. It was almost as if this universe's Commander had just recovered a lost son and gained a daughter he'd somehow missed.
'Two really,' Agathon thought. 'Adama and his children have already accepted our side's Athena and Cassiopeia as family.'
He watched them laugh and joke, once again at Starbuck's expense. He looked around the table. The Boomers were near the group, of it, but on the edge. Both watched over the safety of those they were familiar with, occasionally locking eyes with their opposite number, nodding and returning back to their habitual scan. He watched his white clad Cassiopeia slip away from her wife and a second later this side's version moved away from Cap... Lieutenant Starbuck to follow.
"Soon this will become a family reunion,' He thought. He clapped the side of a utensil against his glass. 'Too bad I must end it.'
"Ladies and gentlemen," Agathon's deep bass cut through the conversation better than a blaster bolt. "This has been an excellent dinner, but I fear it's time that we return to being officers." The room quieted and people returned to their seats. Agathon waited for all of them to be seated before he stood. "As you know, I've been in contact with fleet Command. Preparations are under way for your civilian population to be returned to Colonial Space. Fleet is sending troop transports to retrieve them."
Even the senior officers were caught up in the applause. Agathon couldn't blame them. If half the things Captain Apollo said were true, the efforts these people had gone through to keep those civs alive were nothing short of heroic. That heroism, that spirit, was going to make the next part a great deal harder.
"The Battlestar Galactica and crew will be taken to the Fleet Yard at Piscia. The Battlestar is to be... decommissioned and her crew paid off."
The room was very, very quiet.
"Sir..." Colonel Tigh began.
"Colonel, please," Agathon raised his hand. "I believe I can anticipate your objections. Neither your fighters nor your battlestar are capable of combat on the other side of the wormhole. Your power systems alone would require a full overhaul..." He sighed. "Command is of the opinion that it would be easier to build a new battlestar than it would be to take Galactica into the yards, take her apart and rebuild her from her keel up."
"Admiral Agathon," Adama rumbled. "This ship and crew deserve better than this."
"Yes Commander, I'm more than aware of it," the bristle-bearded man frowned. "The problem is that there can't be two Galacticas. Ours burned in the sky over Caprica tow yarens ago. She saved our world. For you to return there, you must trade yours."
"With respect, admiral," Tigh broke in. "We're the ghost ship that scared the ghosts. We can use that. Our engineers have just about rebuilt this ship under combat conditions any number of times..."
"Colonel..." Agathon's voice rose. He checked himself when he saw the Colonel's eyes. He looked at the others. All of Galactica's officers held the same iron. So did At least three of his own. "I refuse to give you false hope. Your pilots need training on new Vipers, your engineers need training on new systems..."
"Then perhaps it's a good thing there's a warstar across the way that needs repairs more than we do," the Commander's daughter said. "Our engineers will be invaluable in your repair efforts. At the very least, they'll be more useful than your average able spacer."
"There will be replacement Vipers among our supply ships," the tan clad Athena nodded to her twin.
"And it's a long, long way to Piscea from here," Captain Boomer added with a nod. "Galactica's engines aren't made for our side of the universe. She won't be able to travel at more than half speed safely."
Even Major Sheba jumped in. "I wouldn't presume to tell the Colonel or the Commander how to run their commands, but from my experience, a rigorous training schedule keeps the enlisted ranks from making trouble."
"Officers as well," Tigh agreed with a knowing glance to Lieutenant Starbuck.
"Commander, Colonel," Agathon sighed. "I can make no guarantees. Your battlestar has been through the mill and, even if it were one of ours, it would need a major refit after all the action she's seen..."
Commander Adama surprised them all by chuckling.
"Is something amusing you, Commander?" Agathon asked.
"No disrespect intended, Admiral," the Commander raised a placating hand. "We've faced long odds before. It's what we've done for the past two yarens and here we are." A smile lit his pale face. "It would seem that the gods love ships named Galactica."
A small group walked down the corridor in peace and growing friendship. Anyone seeing them would have probably done a double take. Because of the nine, six were twins.
"Captain Apollo said that my father's dead here," Major Sheba said to Galactica's medtech.
"Everyone not in the fleet is dead," Cassiopeia replied quietly. "When we cross over, every human being in this universe is dead."
"My... Commander Adama used to believe in the legend of the Thirteenth Tribe," tan Athena prompted.
"He still does," her twin replied. "They were who we were searching for when we found you. It was the dream that held the fleet together." She looked over. "Have you found them?"
"No. We haven't had time to look."
"Well then," Athena blue replied, "maybe we'll have to find yours then come back for ours."
A/N: Yes, it was short. To continue past this point would really be to start another story and I wanted to leave the possibility there in case I ever had time again. I really do have other ideas for this universe. Work is my enemy. I need to win the lottery or something so I can have the time I need and the money to pay bills, dangit.
I hope you have enjoyed the ride. Let me know.