Ch 25

Kaede waited until they got settled on the Base Star to talk to Roslyn. When they met Caprica and Conoy, the ex-president stayed silent. Mr. Cantrell did also, only offering a week greeting. The rooms they were assigned to for the trip were like a small apartment house. The entry room had tables and chairs, four bedrooms off that one had large beds in each. They also had a bathroom with a large tub.

Each dicloni girl had a room with her marine. Kaede's guard and Mr. Cantrell shared a room, much to Cantrell's displeasure. Kaede and Roslyn shared the last room together.

Going into their room, Kaede noted the dressers and the 'sleeping cloaks' cylons had provided, which were essentially bathrobes. She heard Roslyn let out a snort. She eyed the woman. "Not up to your standards?' Kaede asked.

Laura shot her a frown. "Frankly, I expected worse," she stated.

"You mean a jail cell like you'd give a cylon? War's over. Get used to it," Kaede told her.

Laura turned around and ignored her. "I'm going for a bath," she stated.

"What a pleasant room mate, this will be fun," Kaede said in a sarcastic, musical tone.

Laura marched to the bathroom. Opening the door to step in, she saw the red headed Dicloni girl in the bath, sitting on her marine's lap. They were kissing. She backed out and shut the door. That was something she didn't need to see.

.

Cylon Base Stars were able to jump across the star cluster the fleet had struggled through, which was the main reason Kaede agreed a Base Star should make the trip. Kaede went to bed early, meaning she slept through the jumps. That suited her find. When she woke up, she noticed Roslyn had come to bed and was still sawing logs. That was fine too. She got up, cleaned up and went out to snack on food that had been brought in. The only other one that was up was her guard. He stood up when he saw her.

"Morning, Miss Vice President," he offered.

"Morning. You didn't need to get up just for me," she told him.

"It's a sign of respect, M'Lady," he stated.

Kaede sat down across from him and plucked up a fruit. "We're not on Colonial One here, no need to stand on formalities," she said.

"You are very different that any other politician I've met," he said.

"Is that bad?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No just … unnerving at times. Like when you take off and don't even tell us," he said in a not quite grumble.

"I can protect myself," Kaede said.

The man cast her a brief grin. "I know. Our main job, the one we vowed to uphold is more or less to be a bullet shied for the duly elected representatives of the Colonies. It's our job to make sure any threat does not get close enough to harm you. If it does, we are disgraced. We can't possibly protect you if we can't find you," he said firmly.

Kaede had to grin at his frustration. She asked, "What's your first name?"

"Madam..."

"First name," Kaede said, interrupting him. "I'm Kaede, and you are?"

"Frank," he said reluctantly.

"Pleased to meet you, Frank," she said and extended a hand to him.

Frank shook her hand. "This is politically incorrect," he reminded her.

"Ask me if I care," Kaede retorted. "We're going to be fairly close together the next few days, so call me Kaede. If someone don't like it, too bad."

Frank chuckled and said, "You really give the Quorum chills up their spines, you know that?"

"How so?"

"How you act, what you're capable of. Hades, we though your were going to kill half the Quorum when you got elected. We had bets going on what the body count would be after the first meeting," he told her.

Kaede grinned and asked, "Who won?"

"Derek, He was sure all of them would back down, and they did."

"Just showed they are a bit smarter than we thought they were," Kaede told him. "Speaking of the Quorum, where's Mr. Cantrell?"

"Still sleeping. At least he quit grumbling," Frank said.

"Roslyn 's not too happy either. I guess they thought this was going to be a pleasure cruise," Kaede said absently.

"How much danger are we in?"

"Not much, I don't think," Kaede told him. "The cylons won't shoot at us, it's the humans who've been on their own, struggling to survive that will most likely give us the worst problems. They have been out in the wild, out of touch and not trusting anyone for years. They are going to be very protective the ones they have left, and if we don't approach them slow and easy, they may well turn violent. Whatever you do, you can't shoot back."

Frank nodded. "I understand. Just stay behind me then."

"No, you are going to stay behind me, in front of Roslyn," Kaede told him. "I can stop bullets, she can't."

.

By the time the arrived in orbit everyone was up and had something to eat. Kaede gathered everyone together. The eight in charge of the anti-radiation project here came up and told Kaede about the bombings, and where the humans were. Kaede listened then said, "Athena, you and Lt. Edmonson will take us down then stay with your raptor. When we go up, I will lead. Roxy, you'll be on my left, Julie, on my right, all the humans in between us. Mr. Cantrell, you'll speak to your people AFTER I give you the word to come forward, not before. These people are nervous, they may shoot. NO ONE returns fire on them. Once we get close, I'll go speak to them. After I know it's safe, I'll call for Mr. Cantrell to join me. We go from there. Any questions?"

"I should speak to them first," Cantrell stated.

"And possibly catch a bullet when someone that thinks you're a cylon plant and shoots you?" Kaede asked. "No, You speak to them only after I determine it's safe. Act out on your own, and you'll wish you hadn't. Lives are on the line here, you need to think about that, first."

Although he didn't like it, Cantrell stayed quiet.

"Now, I'm hoping that seeing Mr. Cantrell and Colonial Marine uniforms will be enough to keep things peaceful. I will not count on it though. Everyone stick to the plan, and we should be fine," Kaede told her group.

.

Jack got his squad together for their afternoon patrol of the mountainside they were assigned to. He checked their gear and they were off. Heading down the path to the lookout post, he noted the men there aiming down hill. Ed was there, looking though a rifle.

"Guys, spread out, move onto the line they set up. Hold you fire until ordered," Jack said. They crouched over and ran to join the line. Jack settled down next to Ed. "What do we got?"

"Strangest frakin thing. Here, take a look. Straight down the path, a couple hundred yards away." Ed said and passed him the rifle.

Jack looked through the scope and searched. He found the group walking up the trail. In the lead was a pink haired woman, two others with odd hair colors to her sides. Behind them were a man in a suit and a woman in a blouse and skirt bracketed by three Colonial marines. "Looks like a few marines are escorting a couple … and have some prisoners too. No cuffs though, and what's up with that hair?"

"Damn suspicious," Ed said and rubbed his chin. "If they're cylons, it's none I've ever seen before. If they are colonials, how come we haven't seen them around?"

"Want me to go down and talk to them?" Jack asked.

Ed frowned a moment, then said, "Yeah, go no farther than 50 yards. We'll cover you."

Jack gave the rifle back to Ed and set his own down. He watched the group approach, then when they were about a hundred yards away, he got up and walked towards them. Upon meeting eye contact, he raised his hands. The pink haired woman in front did the same. She turned her head, the rest of the group stopped.

Jack and the woman walked towards each other until the were only ten feet apart. "I'm Jack Raven," he offered.

"Kaede No Kaze," the woman replied. This close he saw what he had thought were radio devices on her head were bone colored.

Not understanding what she just said, he asked, "What's that on your head?"

She grew a crooked grin. "Horns. I'm not human, but I brought some humans with me. Do you know Jacob Cantrell?"

"He was our Colonial Representative. What about him?" Jack asked.

Pointing behind her, she said, "He's right back there. He wants to talk to you, but I don't want anyone shot so before I let him come forward, I'd like your word no one will shoot at us."

Jack looked. He didn't know the man well enough by sight to determine if that was him. "How did he get here?"

"I brought him to talk to your group," Kaede stated.

She sounded sincere. Jack said, "Wait here a moment." He went back to the line and told Ed, "That woman says she's escorting Jacob Cantrell to us. He's our representative to the Colonial Quorum."

"They all got blown up when the cylons attacked," Ed stated.

"I never seen him before personally, we got anyone who has?" Jack asked.

Gina, a brown haired woman spoke up. "I saw him once."

Ed nodded to her. "Leave your weapon, go back with Jack and see if that's him."

Jack plodded back out with the woman beside him. Approaching Kaede, Jack motioned to Gina and said, "She can identify him, can she go look?"

"You both can," Kaede said and started back, waving for them to follow.

"There's others left besides us?" Jack asked.

"A whole fleet," Kaede replied. "The current Colonial President is Lee Adama, we're currently at planet we call the Algae planet. Algae sucks to eat by itself, but we're fairly safe, the weather's not bad and people are off the ships and making homes for themselves."

"What about the Cylons?" Gina asked.

"I convinced them to stop the war. It's over," Kaede stated.

"You did? How?" Jack asked.

"They stop the war, I don't destroy them. Everyone wins," Kaede said with a grin.

"What did you say your name was?" Jack asked. He remembered Ed telling something about a fictionous super-woman.

"Kaede No Kaze. In your language it means, Wind of Death." Kaede stated.

Gina laughed. "Yeah right!" she snorted out. She then yelped as she was lifted in the air by nothing and brought around to face Kaede, looking down on her.

"I am trying to be pleasant and calm. Do not disturb my mood," Kaede warned, then set her back down on the ground. Gina stumbled back and fell back on her ass.

"What the frack was that?" Jack asked, eyeing Gina who was scrambling back to her feet.

"A warning," Kaede stated.

"Kaede!" Laura Roslyn yelled. "Stop that!"

"Pack sand you old witch," Kaede grumbled. To Gina who was gaping at her in shock, she barked, "Move, will you?"

Gina did, making sure she stayed ahead of this frightening pink haired freak.

"How did you do that?" Jack asked, gazing at Kaede.

Kaede touched a horn and said, "I'm not human, I'm a diclonius."

"Never heard of you. What planet are you from?"

"Earth."

"No shit? Earth is real?" he asked.

Kaede nodded to indicate the group ahead. "We're real, Ask them."

A frazzled Gina identified Jacob Cantrell as indeed the real article. Jack and Gina bracketed him as he led the party back to the defensive line.

Ed was cautious, but two of his people identified Jacob Cantrell. One man who was a teacher also identified Laura Roslyn as the Minister of Education. They were escorted to the main camp, where Jacob gave them this speech about how 'they' had stopped the war and the Cylons were here to do their 'reparations' of removing radiation from the planet. Kaede wasn't going to argue and put up with his loud, self absorbed ranting that was sounding like he had done much to stop the war. He was getting people to cooperate, that was what was important.

Frank was getting irritated by Mr. Cantrell's claims of 'bringing the cylons to heel'. Instead of smacking the man one like he wanted to, he just turned and watched the perimeter while keeping an eye on Kaede.

Ed walked over to him. "Hey soldier, where you from?"

"Picon, originally," Frank told him. "I'm in the Colonial security brigade. I help keep the elected officials safe."

"So, you're here to protect Mr. Cantrell?" Ed asked.

"No, I'm here to protect Kaede. She's the Vice President of the Colonies."

Ed glanced at Kaede and asked, "That freak is the Vice President?"

Frank glared at him. "Yes, she is. That freak is also stole a cylon ship so we had room to house people. That freak forced cylons to surrender to her. That FREAK attacked the cylon home world by herself and destroyed their resurrection capability. She hit a mountain with an equivalent power of a 5 megaton nuclear blast using only the power of her mind, so you may want to be a little more respectful when speaking about Miss Vice President."

"That can't be true," Ed said weakly.

"There's plenty of video footage when she did it," Frank stated. "Mr. Cantrell is full of shit in his claims. Knowing Kaede, she's not saying anything because it is keeping everyone calm and is giving people here some hope. She doesn't care about getting the credit, she only wants results."

Jack came in and jogged over to Ed. "Cylons are coming up the path, unarmed, but there's three of the with a pair of centurions.

"Kaede will handle it," Frank said. He went over to Kaede, "Miss Vice President, cylons are coming up the mountain path."

Kaede nodded. "Tell the leader here I'll handle them."

Jacob Cantrell turned to her. "Yes, please handle the problem," he said pleasantly.

Speaking to her like she was an underling finally popped Kaede's cork. "Perhaps you need to join me," she grated. When she walked away, she hauled him by the front of his shirt with a vector. He stumbled along behind her with as much dignity as possible.

"You cannot treat me like this!" Cantrell stated in a whine.

"Don't want to walk? Fine!" Kaede stated. She jumped herself and him up, catapulting them up into the air. He screamed as Ed's people watched.

Frank chuckled. "Never anger Kaede. It doesn't end well," he said, and jogged after them.

.

Kaede assured the Eight, Two and Four that came that the problem was over. She had the two centurions wait as she led them with Mr. Cantrell back up to talk to Ed. She let everyone know that if there was any more violence or harassment by either side, she would come back, and whoever was at fault would be very unhappy. She also let the Cylons know that humans could assist in radiation removal, and would be paid for their efforts. Once she was sure everyone was in agreement, she took her entourage back to the raptor to head for Caprica.

.

Looking down on Caprica City from the base Star in orbit, Kaede showed Athena where they had to go. Pointing to the building, she said, "Set down in this parking lot, the entrance to the vaults is behind this bank, the door on the left. Myself and Roslyn will go in first to see if what we're looking for is there."

Besides the raptor, a Heavy Raider went down in case Kaede needed help getting into the vault. According to the cylons, they hadn't even thought about taking precious metals from the colonies. Kaede was fairly sure the Colonial gold was safe.

Kaede took her guard and Laura Roslyn with her. That was it. Four centurions were going on the Heavy Raider to guard the entrance for her.

Ready to finally do her part so she could get her pardon, Laura Roslyn said, "When we get to the surface, I should show the pilot where she needs to land."

Kaede cracked a grin and said, "I already did. Parking lot behind the First Colonial bank, left side door as you're facing the building. That leads down to the vaults."

Roslyn stared at her briefly. "If you knew, why did you let Admiral Adama insist I was the only one who knew?" she asked.

"I'll answer that after we get inside," Kaede replied. "And don't forget your flashlights, it's going to be dark down there."

Laura hugged herself. Why had Kaede brought her all this way for no reason? No, Kaede had a reason, and it wasn't to show her where the vaults were. That made her scared of why Kaede brought her to someplace far away where no one would be watching.

.

Landing in the parking lot Kaede waited until the centurions were positioned the slippied a vector through the locked door to open it.

"Miss President, let me go in first," Frank said.

Kaede motioned for him to do so. After he went in, Kaede noted Roslyn seemed nervous. Kaede stepped in behind him into a hallway. She watched to be sure Roslyn followed. Following the hallway, they came to a heavy steel security door. Kaede unlocked this door and swung it open. She then told Frank, "Stay here. You can hear if anything happens outside, and come warn us if there's danger. There's no one below."

He shifted in place, and said, "Yes, Ma'am."

Right after the security door, there was a stairway down. Kaede turned her flashlight on and floated it ahead of them. Shining it down the stairs she started down, Roslyn behind her. "I'm sure you're wondering why you are here?" Kaede asked.

"Am I going to leave this place alive?" Laura asked.

"Unless you seriously frack up," Kaede stated. At the bottom, she saw another steel door. "This place loves doors, doesn't it," she grumbled. Getting to the small platform at the bottom, Kaede unlocked this door and pushed it open. The smell of death inside wafted out to them.

There was a room to the side, a security station with dark monitors and a skeleton on the floor in a guard's uniform.

"That had to be a horrible death," Kaede said with a wince. "He died at his post, he was a very honorable man."

"He was," Laura agreed.

Kaede turned her flashlight to scan down the hall as she said, "You do know why you were sentenced to jail, don't you?"

"You ensured it," Laura said flatly.

"I did," Kaede agreed as she eyed the doors to the side. "You tore a family part just because you hated who the mother was. I let it be known that it was you go to jail for your crime, or I was going to rip your arms off to ensure you never stole again. The Agathons would have their justice, either way. What you did to them was spiteful and cruel."

Laura took a deep breath, then choked on the smell down here. "It was," she admitted.

"You were too used to getting your own way, regardless of advice for caution others provided. Somewhere along the line, you cast yourself as the ultimate authority," Kaede said as she inspected another heavy steel door that had a heavily barred window to the side.

"That is NOT true!" Laura replied heavily. "Tell me do you not do the same?"

"No." Kaede said and shown her light into the room beyond the barred window. It was another security room, she didn't see a body inside. "Take for instance those hostiles in the Quid system. I was all for going to war to obliterate those things for stealing other planets and murdering the native populations. I wanted to teach them a lesson they would never forget. Others did not see it like I did. Adama wanted to stay out of it completely. We reached a compromise. They would help me perform a strike and take me to talk to their monarch. That's what we did. We blew an airfield to Hades and left their capital city ablaze as well. I gave a strong warning to their King, but I let him live. I also made sure the quid are protected. I got to do the hostiles some damage, and unless they decide to push it, there will be no war."

Kaede reached into the steel door and unlocked all four locks and pushed it open. "Now, getting rid of the resurrection system, the cylons didn't like that, but doing so put them on an even playing field with us. Once they die, that's it. They stay dead like the rest of us. That also got them to appreciate life a little more. They were actually glad I destroyed the Cavils. They can all think for themselves now. Even the centurions who had been basically held as slaves."

This hallway had multiple steel doors with large spoked hand wheels in the middle. Three to each side of the hallway. Kaede turned to Laura and said, "I will not tell you I am perfect. There is evidence to the contrary. What I will say is that I hold families and lives as important. Now Cavil, who enjoyed his reign of slaughter, oh yes, I enjoyed killing him off. I made him scream in agony and let him know his empire of ruin was being destroyed as I killed him. He deserved death. I gave him a very painful one. Even Helen, who didn't even like hm, was appalled at what I did to him. People like the Agathons? They didn't deserve what you did to them. Are you beginning to understand?"

"Punish only the guilty, that's what you're saying?" Laura asked.

"That's part of it," Kaede agreed. "The other part is when you do something, figure out what is best before you act with no hate or showing favor just to one group. I think these are the vaults up here."

Laura followed Kaede and watched as she stared at one of the vault doors. She had no idea how Kaede was opening them, other than concentrating on them. When the thick, heavy steel door opened, she asked, "Is that why you brought me here? To tell me about your morals?"

Kaede eyed her, then shown the light inside. She smiled and said, "Come take a look, it appears your gold is safe."

Laura looked in. Inside bars of gold were staked high. in the back they were stacked to the ceiling. "We can back our currency," she said in relief.

"The radiation here is less. It might be wiser to leave all this gold where it is," Kaede said in a mussing tone. "Some cleanup, put guards on duty and problem solved."

"If the radiation can be cleaned up," Laura agreed. "This would be safer than any place we can make quickly on the Algae planet, or a ship."

"So let's go back and see what Lee thinks," Kaede said, shut the door and spun the wheel. She then turned to Roslyn and said, "I have thought much about you, besides the dirty trick you played on Helo and Athena. I won't say I like you, that would be a lie. From what I've seen of you in Lee's memory and others, you are a tough woman who won't stay quiet or go along with someone else's idea if you believe it isn't the right thing to do. You will stand up to anyone you think is wrong."

"That's right," Laura said firmly.

"Lately, I find I'm faced with too many who agree with me, just because I am me. Lee has a backbone, so does his father. Not too many others do. I would like you to be an advisor for myself and Lee. We don't really have any right now and we could really use one."

This was the last thing Laura expected would happen down here in these dark hallways. "You would have me as an advisor?" she asked in surprise.

"Yes. It's still up to Lee, but I want to propose it to him. Before I do, I wanted to be sure you were willing." Kaede stated.

Looking at Kaede, Laura said, "I really don't know whether to thank you or smack you. I was afraid I was going to die down here!"

Kaede laughed and said, "Trying to smack me would be a bad idea. Why don't you thank me for seeing what a benefit you are to the fleet?" she asked.

Laura shook her head. "I truly can't decide if you are a curse on the fleet or our savior."

"As long as you are thinking about what's best for the fleet, that will do," Kaede replied.

"I accept, Kaede," Laura said firmly, "I also have to admit, you are one HADES of a manipulator!"

"Thank you!" Kaede beamed. "You aren't too bad yourself. Let's get out of here and lock up. I'll have those centurions guard the outside entrance until Lee decides what he wants to do with the gold."

Walking back though and re-locking doors, Laura asked, "Did you have this planned?"

"Have what planned? getting you down here alone?" Kaede asked.

"Everything. From getting rid of Baltar to now."

"Some things, yes. Others I just took advantage of opportunity. Speaking of that, you need to get your cancer checked. Everywhere it is in your system," Kaede said calmly.

"How do you know about that?"

"I read Doc Cottle's mind when he asked me to show him how I did it," Kaede said with a wink. "I might not get it all out, but I can remove much of it if I know where it is, with out those agonizing treatments. I think the Admiral wants you around for a while longer."

.

The Honsho King went through several emotions over the next few months after the attack. At first he was in shock that anyone was capable of attacking them. As the body count and destruction was tallied, his mood passed into sorrow and regret. The more he dwelled on it, it turned to angry that anyone would do this to him. In thinking about a retaliation, and how badly his military had performed against these unknown mammals, he felt fear settle into his guts. His ships were no match for whatever they had, and unlike the Honsho need to clear space, then go planet side once resistance in space was gone, these mammals dove straight in, destroying orbital defenses and hit the ground at the same time with a devastating strike with no warning at all. Even that single Mammal had destroyed his guards and tossed him around with nothing. His gun had done nothing to it, and it spoke directly into his head.

To start a war with beings like that was a folly. That being told him not to try to take over any more planets, or it would return to destroy his planets. It was hard, violent and nothing was able to stop it. He decided to keep up the rescue and rebuilding efforts, and keep ships up in space within their system. As for that planet they were looking to take over, he scrapped those plans, as well as any plans in other systems they were looking at to expand his empire. He had the feeling that if he wanted any empire left, he'd better keep clear of those mammals.

.

Algaeville was having it's first concert. Pink and a couple girls turned a hillside into a curved stadium seating and made a platform in front of the stair stepped hillside for the entertainers. A group that was based on the Rising Star was eager to play. Their manager/promoter had scaffolding set up to hold large copies of the Quid translation boxes for the light show.

Looking for new music to play, Ron Fineman went to the Cylons to see if they had any songs no Colonials had heard yet. He was disappointed they didn't have or play any music. They idea was intriguing to the bios though, and Centurions were curious about this concept. They wanted to attend this concert as well. Suddenly, the seating for 3000 didn't appear to be enough.

Ron found Quid style entertainment was all light show - it figured. Still he had the light show being set up, so they could come enjoy it also.

In his search for new, original music, he did catch a break. A number Two cylon had brought a pack of Earth humans on a tour of Algaeville. Ron got to meet with them and asked them about their music. They were eager to share the songs that were handed down to them. It was a chore, for the tunes were simple drum, flute and very basic string instruments. Still it was new music, and fairly easy to translate and improve. With good instruments and a professional band, he could see some lively and rich music hiding in the Earthmen's tunes. Once Ron and his composers had the tunes and words down, he had his band start making and practicing new songs.

Ron also found that the Cylons were setting up a similar 'music stadium' on their side of the planet so his band could come there and play as well. Finally, after years of fleeing, the music business was taking off!