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A New Angel, a New Fate
Sitting in Adama's office as he went over the star maps for a final time, the Doctor nodded in satisfaction; after so long feeling lost about something as basic as his spatial location, it was nice to have that kind of control of his location available again.
Getting access to the Cylons' star charts had been tricky to justify without giving away what he was planning- even if he trusted the intentions of some of the other Cylons, Cavil's motives were still questionable- but after he'd convinced both sides that he'd share all relevant information with both parties, it had been simple enough to work out where they were in the galaxy and trace the right route to his chosen destination. He still had to work out how he was going to sell the next stage to the Colonials, but so long as the currently-in-progress treaty held up, he saw no reason why this war shouldn't be about to come to a peaceful conclusion.
I might wish I'd come here sooner, but at least more than half of this fleet's original numbers survived what happened to them.
Of course, he was particularly pleased with the results of the Cylons' final vote. After the Cylon fleet as a whole had been informed of Cavil's true agenda, most of the remaining Cylons had decided to join the Colonial Fleet. The news that the Resurrection Hub had to be destroyed had sparked a brief argument, but that had calmed down once Tigh and the rest of the Final Five had agreed to create a new Hub for the Ones, the Fives, and any other Cylons who chose to stay with them. Ellen Tigh had swiftly been reunited with her husband and former colleagues, but knowledge of her true identity and return was being kept contained to a few key personnel on Galactica while the fleet prepared for the final jump.
"Doctor?"
"Ah, Admiral Adama, Madame President," the Doctor smiled as he looked up at Adama and Roslin as they walked into the room. "How are the rest of our motley crew reacting to the news of our peace treaty?"
"As well as can be expected when faced with something they believed was impossible," Roslin smiled. "I might have always hoped we'd find somewhere safe, but the idea that we can make a new peace with the Cylons on this scale…"
"Never stop chasing the impossible, Madame President; I learned the hard way that you can only find it by constantly looking for it," the Doctor said reassuringly. "As I suspected, there was a larger conspiracy behind the Cylons' design; with Cavil exposed, they're asking the right questions, and they made their own choices."
"It's… that's a good point," Roslin looked at him with a thoughtful smile. "You… you really knew what you were dealing with all along?"
"I had hope," the Doctor smiled. "It's a challenge at times, but if I don't try to find it, we're never going to get anywhere."
"Talking of hope," Adama smiled at the Doctor, "thanks for convincing Cavil to let Ellen return to her husband."
"I'm just relieved that 'Number One' had enough of a complex that he chose not to kill her until she'd seen the failure of everything she wanted to achieve," the Doctor grinned. "How is she settling back in?"
"Saul and Ellen are planning to find a quiet place to settle down once we reach our destination," Adama explained with a slightly wistful smile. "Advantage of Saul having such a high rank; he can pick out a good spot where they won't risk running into any random members of the Fleet who'd ask questions about how she came back."
"And if my calculations are correct, I feel comfortable assuring you that they wouldn't have to worry about hiding Ellen on Galactica for long," the Doctor said, nodding in understanding. "On that topic, how is everyone else coping with the end of the war?"
"The Agathons are certainly looking forward to the chance at a life together in peace," Adama acknowledged with a smile. "Lee is still considering his options, particularly after things ended with Lieutenant Dualla, but he's expressed enthusiasm for the opportunities to explore our new world once he puts down initial roots."
"Good for him," the Doctor nodded. "And Lieutenant Thrace?"
"Kara's been feeling a bit on edge, but she's admitted that she thinks she's going to enjoy the challenge of being grounded once our ships become unusable."
"Take away the alternative and people can adapt to anything," the Doctor mused, recalling how he'd grown so used to his exile that he'd maintained a regular 'home' on Earth for the rest of his third life even after he had the option of resuming his old travels full-time. "Besides… in Kara's case, I think she'll appreciate having a chance to get away from it all."
"And it's going to be a brave new world for us all to explore," Adama said, before he looked curiously at the Doctor. "By the way, where are we going?"
"My Earth," the Doctor replied, smiling slightly at the confused expression on the face of the two Fleet leaders.
"You… your Earth?" Roslin looked at the Doctor in confusion. "But… what do you mean? The Thirteenth Tribe-"
"Were Cylons," the Doctor cut her off; if this history was going to be lost to the rest of the universe, he wanted at least these two to know the truth.
"Cylons?" Roslin and Adama said simultaneously.
"The Final Five aren't the first human-form Cylons created by the mechanical models; they were the last survivors of the Thirteenth Tribe, who were the original Cylons," the Doctor explained. "They spent centuries living in isolation from the other twelve Tribes on this new Earth in a distant part of the galaxy, creating human bodies for themselves and losing the secret of resurrection technology, and then the 'Final Five' recreated resurrection just in time for a nuclear war to destroy everyone on the planet but the five of them."
"They destroyed their own planet?" Adama looked at the Doctor incredulously.
"Some species can make foolish mistakes," the Doctor shrugged. "The most ruthless race I ever knew came about because they spent literally centuries at war with another race on their planet, and the nuclear radiation from the weapons used in the wars mutated them from a humanoid form into a state that needed these twisted travel machines just to survive…"
"Huh," Adama said, studying the Doctor with a more thoughtful expression.
"The point," the Doctor said, looking between Adama and Roslin, "is that you literally can't find the Earth you're looking for, but you can find a new planet at these coordinates."
"How can you know?" Roslin looked urgently at the Doctor. "This treaty you've proposed, the planet you've directed us to… how can you guarantee that we'll be safe here?"
"Because of the one thing I haven't told you yet," the Doctor said, grateful that only the two fleet leaders were here to learn what he was about to tell them. "Compassion doesn't just travel through space; she can travel through time."
"Time?" Adama looked at the Doctor in surprise, before inspiration dawned in his eyes. "Hold on; if Fitz came from Earth-"
"Exactly," the Doctor nodded. "I don't know where the Earth you heard about is located, but Fitz is from the future of the Earth I've just found the coordinates of."
"But…" Roslin began, her expression going from thoughtful to stern as she looked at the Doctor. "Why did you lie to us when you came on board?"
"I told you as much of the truth as I could without making things too complicated," the Doctor corrected the president. "Be honest, Madame President; would you have believed me if I told you that I was a time traveller?"
"We might have-" Roslin began.
"Without asking me questions about the future that I couldn't answer because I genuinely didn't know what was going to happen to you?"
"You don't?" Adama looked sharply at the Doctor.
"I didn't," the Doctor corrected with a smile. "All I knew for sure was that I was at a point far in the past from any point in human history I had visited before now, with no clear way of knowing what was going to happen to this fleet because there is no historical record of you in the future."
"There isn't?" Roslin looked at the Doctor with a new sense of anxiety.
"But I had an idea that might account for that," the Doctor smiled at the president. "You adopt a blank slate."
"Blank slate?"
"Once you get to Earth, you all just… start over."
"In what sense?" Roslin asked, looking at the Doctor with tentative curiosity.
"While I greatly admire humanity as a species, Madam President, one of your greatest flaws as a civilisation is that… to quote one of Earth's most famous works of fiction in the future, so often you spend so much time trying to find out if you can do something, you don't stop to consider if you should do something."
"Interesting view," Roslin noted.
"And you think we could end this if we just… start over?" Adama looked at the Doctor in a contemplative manner.
"Take your culture and your language to Earth but leave the technology behind beyond what you'll absolutely require to get started," the Doctor affirmed. "The human race I know won't remember what you did to get here, but they'll have retained everything that makes you as a species worth defending and they'll have more time to develop as a culture without the native population undergoing a massive technological leap forward."
"Set down on a new world with only clothes and provisions?" Roslin looked thoughtfully at Adama. "It's… a bold move."
"But it could work," Adama nodded. "As the Doctor said, we can give the natives of this new world the best part of ourselves, letting science fall behind for a change."
"We spread the civilians at various points around the planet, spreading out the supplies to increase the likelihood of our civilisation surviving whatever is to come," Roslin nodded thoughtfully. "It could be a hard sell, but if we emphasise the need for a clean slate…"
"My thoughts exactly," the Doctor nodded. "If you let the Cylons go free in full knowledge that you have no intention of hunting for them again in the future, something like that has to at least help end the cycle. As for the Fleet itself… well, I'm sure I can set up a network and plot a course that will take them all somewhere out of the way once you've gone."
"That's… fair," Adama nodded, looking around the room with a thoughtful expression before he turned back to the Doctor. "It's going to be… well, I'll miss the old girl, but if she's lead us to safety… it's time to move on."
"Believe me, I understand being attached to your ship, and I appreciate how difficult this must be for you," the Doctor smiled solemnly at the admiral.
"Thank you," Adama nodded at his scientific advisor.
"And on the topic of protecting Earth," the Doctor continued, smiling as he looked between the man and woman he had grown to respect on a level beyond what he normally felt for people in their line of work. "Admiral William Adama, President Laura Roslin; from the perspective of the rest of the universe, at this moment, you two are the first joint rulers of humanity as they settle onto this Earth."
"So?" Adama looked curiously at the Doctor.
"So," the Doctor said, stepping forward to place one hand on Adama's left shoulder and another on Roslin's right, staring resolutely between the Fleet's leaders, "in your capacity as humanity's first leaders as they prepare to settle on Earth, I make you this solemn vow; from this point onwards, in your species' future, and in my past, present, and future, I will always be the guardian of humanity on this Earth. Whether internal or external, whether great or small, whether self-inflicted or externally motivated… if anything attempts to destroy or harm the human race, I will do everything in my power to protect it."
For a moment the room was silent, as the two humans looked at the strange humanoid alien who had literally dropped into their lives and changed so much of what they believed about the universe as a whole and their enemies in particular, until Adama stepped forward and clasped one of the Doctor's outstretched hands in both of his own.
"We accept your vow, Doctor," the last Colonial admiral said, smiling gratefully at the Time Lord.
"We do," the last Colonial president added, repeating the gesture of her military counterpart as she smiled warmly at the Doctor, clasping his other hand in hers.
"And I will never let you down," the Doctor replied, looking between them with a warm smile before he stepped back and tossed Roslin something from his pocket. "By the way, you might appreciate this."
"This?" Roslin looked at the object in confusion, realising that it was a small glass tube. "What is it?"
"Something I whipped up in Compassion's medical bay earlier," the Doctor grinned. "It probably won't taste very good, but just drink that and you'll be back to full health."
"Full…" Roslin trailed off, looking incredulously between the tube and the Doctor. "This is a cure for cancer?"
"Well, I wouldn't normally do something like this to avoid the risk of changing history, but to be blunt, whether you live or die is unlikely to impact whether you both leave a biological legacy at your age, but giving you more life lets you both have a happier one than you would have had otherwise," the Doctor clarified with a smile. "Just drink that within the next couple of weeks and you'll be back to full health; I'm going to go and calculate the final coordinates before looking into how I might get this old girl linked up to the rest of the fleet's computers for their final trip."
As the Doctor walked out of the room, the two fleet leaders exchanged sad and amused smiles with each other.
"He'll be leaving once we've all settled on Earth, won't he?" Roslin mused.
"And we'll probably never see him again after that," Adama nodded, looking thoughtfully after the Doctor. "But you know… I think that works."
"I… I know what you mean," Roslin said, her smile becoming slightly more amused as she looked after the Time Lord. "He's led us to the end of this journey, but the things he's described… I can't be the only one thinking that he literally can't stop travelling?"
"He had his reasons for staying this long, but he has far more he wants to see out there, while our own journey's come to an end at last," Adama smiled before he looked at Roslin with a more affectionate smile. "Maybe I can finally have time to put together that cabin we discussed on New Caprica…"
"Maybe we can," Roslin replied, looking at the phial in her hand with a thoughtful smile.
The Doctor's time with them had been brief, but after he'd given them the chance for a future they'd believed would be impossibly out of their reach before that chance encounter in the Temple of Five, it was touching to consider how much faith he'd apparently placed in them.
Roslin would be sorry to see that strange man move on, but as Admiral Adama- Bill, as she'd be able to call him once they reached the Doctor's Earth- had already observed, the Doctor might have been part of this fleet for a time, but she doubted that she could have ordered him to stay even if he had any official obligation to do so.
Good luck, Doctor, Laura Roslin mused to herself as she studied the phial her scientific advisor had just given her. And may whatever's out there guide to your own destiny…
"You're sure that's all we need to do?" Fitz looked uncertainly at the Doctor as the Time Lord tapped away at Gaeta's borrowed computer. "I mean… well, this isn't exactly your style…"
"On the contrary, Fitz, this is exactly my style; it's just not a part of my style I normally get the chance to explore," the Doctor corrected his friend with a grin as he entered the last data into the computer. "I always want to encourage people to do something other than kill their enemies; it's just not always practical."
"And that is how we ended up with him, in case you're forgetting," Compassion pointed out.
"Right…" Fitz nodded uncertainly at the living TARDIS, once again uncomfortable at the reminder of his time as Kode, before he turned back to the Doctor. "So… that's us? I mean, we're done here?"
"As far as I can see," the Doctor nodded. "At this point, as far as I can tell we've tied up all the important loose ends; Lieutenant Thrace is freed from the burden of her destiny, the remaining Cylons have rejected Cavil's old vendetta, and Cavil's own group are setting off out there to explore their own future evolution back into artificial beings."
"That… seems a bit-"
"I don't entirely like their decision to reject humanity, but forcing that on them was what caused this war to escalate in the first place," the Doctor corrected his friend. "In any case, I say we wait here to make sure they get to Earth, and then we can move on to continue our own efforts."
"Fair enough," Fitz shook his head with a wistful smile. "So, we're no longer on the run from killer robots, but we're back to running from the Time Lords?"
"Essentially."
"That's life for us, I guess," Fitz shrugged, glancing around the room with a grin. "Still, we saved the early human race from killer robots; that's always a good thing, right?"
"Indeed," the Doctor nodded at Fitz. "Still, that's what I like about this life; we meet so many fascinating people and learn some of history's greatest secrets."
AN: From this point onwards, it's a relatively straightforward chain of events as the Doctor, Fitz and Compassion wait for the Fleet to jump into Earth orbit before they move on themselves, with Compassion's proximity to Earth leading to her being caught in the Time Lord trap that led to the events of the novel The Banquo Legacy, at which point canon takes over once more…
End result is that this just seemed like a good place to end the storyline, but I hope you enjoyed my various twists and turns in any case, as the Doctor achieved the most unconventional rescue of humanity he's ever pulled off in his existence.