Legends That Become Real - End Of One And Beginning Of New Era
Avalon System - Orbit of Avalon
There were lots of wrecks all around in space surrounding the planet. The last two Cylon warships were destroyed moments after Atlantis jumped away with the Dreadstar.
Massive search and rescue operation started to save as many as possible of the Colonial military personal that survived destruction of their ships or fighters.
In addition to SAR raptors, other craft were out collecting undetonated ordinance and otherwise looking to secure space over Avalon.
Admiral Thorn looked around in horror across the battlefield. Littered with dozens upon dozens of wrecks, many Colonial but many Cylon as well.
Reports were not bad as Thorn believed they would be. Only one large nuke hit a remote part of Avalon, the radiation contained in a mostly windless area, and several other smaller detonations across the edges of colonial society. None in major cities with the marine bases' defenses present had been affected, being able to take out any oncoming missiles.
Only those civilians that had renegaded against Stryker and general society, others wanting to live without technology, had been casualties. Thousands were lost, but the millions in the Avalon society were safe.
The radiation fallout was minimal and could be tempered easily enough with radiation treatment technologies on hand, with colonial centurions easily able to lend a helping hand. A biological device of the sixes and eights invention could even eat up the radiation, feed on it leaving none to pollute the ecosystem of the planet, and grow into the ground harmlessly.
However many standard missiles passed throughcolonial defenses and these did lots of damage, especially to the small towns and marines bases. Much of the infrastructure would take time rebuilding their defenses. There were several hundred more killed in the attack, over two thousand injured and even this was not the full report.
Despite these losses, military was hit far heavier than the planet. Several dozen defense platforms were lost, but those wouldn't be hard to replace and already the hole in their defensive line in orbit had been filled with other defense satellites and active warships.
Even Battlestars and smaller ships that were lost were not a problem, but their crews were. Colonial remnant lost lots and lots of ships. Too many. Despite Admiral Stryker's plan, Colonial forces still lost many ships. It was only because of the advanced ships like the Nikes, Sanctuary, Firestars, Supercarriers and the improved Invictus/Mercury class ships that they stood their ground.
One of the Titan class supercarriers was also lost, in a suicide attack. These ships were very hard to destroy in standard ship to ship combat with so many defensive guns present, though lacking offensive power besides their impressive number of fighter squadrons they could launch.
The enemy fighter force had been decimated due to their improved numbers of colonial fighters, which dwarfed any other launch of colonial fighters in any battle in colonial history. Though the Raiders decreased functionality from being lobotomized had certainly helped as well.
And then there is Atlantis, they still hadn't managed to find out where Atlantis jumped. Thorn had Theseus on standby, and awaiting the scout raptors to return and report. So that he could send reinforcements to Atlantis. But for now, still nothing.
Admiral Thorn was also worried, what if the Harvesters caught all this commotion and nuclear explosions on their sensors and decided to investigate? Colonial fleet in their current shape would not be able to stop them.
And there were the Arcadian's who didn't want to interfere with the Colonial-Cylon war, probably not wanting another enemy on their backs. They did report that they had some battles with Harvesters and that they were not going to be able to help Avalon. Their ambassador told that there is possibility that the Harvesters could manage to break their defensive lines and possibly find their home-world. It is possible that they may be defeated due to the sheer size of the Harvester fleet. And due to this problem they decided to stop any communication with Avalon for a while. This came at a bad time, but it couldn't be helped.
And again there is civilian government which wants to know what the current situation was. And where was Admiral Stryker…
Unknown system
Battlestar Atlantis appeared from nowhere moving hard to port in an uncontrolled tumbling spin, as several explosions rocked the ship. Things got even worse as the ship had jumped directly in low orbit of an unknown planet…
Battlestar Atlantis CIC
"Report," Stryker yelled, barely holding himself onto the table due to heavy shaking.
Loose conduits and a computer console terminal fell over tumbling end over end as the ship listed to one side unsteadily.
"Explosions in secondary engine room. All main and secondary generators are off line. One blew up. We have just one secondary still working," Commander Haller said, reading off one of the computer terminals, which flickered as he looked it over and barley worked due to damage received.
"Casualties?" Stryker asked.
"Many injuries. No casualties reported yet," Haller said.
"Sirs!" Major Thrace said loudly from the helm station, holding on for dear life as the ship continued its downward spiral.
Outside, the ship was shrouded in red covering the ship, the ship beginning to heat up and even in some cases across the structure – burn up, in the atmosphere.
Both Stryker and Haller turned towards the helm station.
"I think that those reports should wait, we have bigger issues," Lieutenant Trace said, pointing to one of the working screens above Stryker and Haller.
"We jumped in orbit of a planet," Thrace said, "low orbit and we're caught by the gravity well."
Stryker stared at the monitor wide eyed. A blue planet, massive oceans and lush green continents.
He was no expert but he could clearly see it was habitable.
"Move us away!" Stryker barked out, tearing his eyes from the monitor to look over at Thrace.
"I can't sir, the ship's main thrusters are not responding. Only one main thruster is still working, barely… It's too late to escape the atmosphere at this point," She replied, worried.
The ship shook more and more and built up speed, moving faster towards the planet. Toward the hard unforgiving ground growing larger in the distance with each passing second.
"Can you use it to slow us down lieutenant?" Commander Haller asked.
"I can, somewhat. But it's gonna burn out and shut off, the strain's too much for one thruster holding back this big ass ship! I'll have to wait until we're low enough that we don't risk the atmosphere burning it out too… We're definitely going down no matter what, sir!" Kara Thrace said, a rush of excitement apparent in her voice, her adrenaline flowing. She grinned wildly.
Stryker turned toward Haller, "Commander issue evacuation of lower sections of the ship, relocate everyone into the middle of the ship. If the crews safe anywhere it's there, where we're most armored."
"Aye sir," Haller said, saluting and proceeded to give orders to the CIC's specialists.
"We don't have a choice Major take us in, do whatever you can to get us down to the ground in one piece," Stryker ordered.
"Yes sir," Kara said.
Atlantis continued to rush toward the ground of the unknown planet. Kara managed to correct its course at least a little with one of the secondary thrusters before it blew up, leaving her only the main thrust on the chin of the bow. Ironically the bow suffered heavy damage during its ram of the Dreadstar, but the thruster was heavily armored and was still more or less active.
Damaged parts of the ship fell off or were burned off as the ship dropped through the atmosphere. With impressive speed Atlantis rushed toward what appeared to be a large ocean between two continents. Without side thrusters Atlantis could not maneuver to evade the ocean crash landing.
"So we are going to swim," Haller said, grinning.
Although not in the mood for jokes Stryker nodded. "Unless", Styrker said uncertainly as he pushed the button on console and magnified the picture of the ground. A large island was in the middle of ocean, big enough from what he could see for crash landing.
"Lieutenant, do you see the island down there?" Stryker said pointing at the monitor.
"Yes?" Kara said, eyebrows furrowed in consternation.
"Could you land, well crash land us on that island?" Stryker asked.
"I.., I suppose I could sir?" Kara said uncertainly.
"Good," Stryker said, watching the island.
There was a large flat area on one side, the northern side which ended with larger cliffs and mountains. By his calculations the flat area was long enough and more than wide enough for Atlantis to crash and skid on it. And it was in the path of crashing so not much maneuvering was required. "Then do whatever you can to crash ship there not in the ocean Major."
"Yes Admiral, I'll do my best," Kara replied, already she was sweating like crazy, the ship's controls were barely responsive, without main thrusters she couldn't do much.
Stryker and Heller moved toward the first row of stations, several were empty as their occupants were either injured or helping the injured. Both commanding officers sat and strapped themselves down. Other officers did the same.
Atlantis continued falling toward the island, Major Thrace managed to slow their descent a bit using the last operational main thruster which died shortly after igniting. The ship moved closer and closer until finally Admiral Stryker ordered "Brace for impact!" on the shipwidecomms, his voice echoing arcoss the whole ship.
Atlantis slammed into the beach of the island with its nose. Violent shaking rocked through the ship, any unfortunate crewmember that didn't strap themselves down or hold onto something sturdy were thrown around like rag dolls. Some were killed from this.
Atlantis' bow was already seriously damaged and now taking the brunt of the crash, but the ship due to its speed continued gliding with its nose on the ground. A trail of broken up ground was made as the ship skid through the dirt on contact with the planet, rubble formed behind as sections of the ship came apart separating violently.
The entire ship was shaking and then thumped, both of the low flight pods were on the ground too. The ship's nose now rose a bit and continued sliding on the ground until finally a kilometer later the ship finally stopped, buried part way in the ground…
Commander Haller, cheerful for being alive was the first to say something, "Well sir, I can't say this hasn't been fun. Can we do this again?"
Admiral Stryker only smiled a little, "Thank the heavens we are on the ground."
A blinking light in the devastated CIC was all that was left of power in the compartment, most of the ship otherwise pitch black. The last generator was probably near death.
It took several days before Stryker could receive a full report. On the fourth day after they crashed he call on his officers.
Stryker sat down in the main conference room, which like the rest of the ship was in bad shape but still could be used. Including himself, there was Commander Heller, Major Thrace, Lieutenant Kingbell, ChiefPetty Officer Ronald Walker – who also was their main engineering officer now. He was on board the Atlantis since the beginning of the original mission to find a habitable world in deep space...
Major Morales was there as well, also on board of Atlantis from day one. And from then to now she remained at her rank, although Stryker offered her a promotion more than once, she always declined. She was one of the lucky ones on board Atlantis, her brother and sister survived as well her fiancé. Morales returned to active duty only weeks before the battle of Avalon, after giving birth to a baby girl.
There was also Doctor Parrsow, who become the new medical officer one year ago, and a few others.
Admiral Stryker watched every one of them, many of them he knew for long time. They'd been through a lot together.
"Chief I believe you could go first with reports," Stryker said, watching Chief Walker.
"Of course, sir. I'll start with the communication array; the main array is down, while the secondary short range array's still functional. Now if you ask me how long to repair it, I don't really know, if I had to guess; between two to three months. It's delicate equipment and we're short spare parts.
Thanks to the fact that we didn't carry any replacing materials, as Atlantis was the flagship and never intended to go far from Avalon. Not to mention recent construction efforts across the fleet drained our stores of most materials…It will take time to replicate materials and install them. But that is our smallest problem right now."
"How so?" Stryker asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"I know you'd want to know about our FTL capabilities, sir. Right now we don't have any capabilities at all. FTL, sub light, thrusters.. It's all gone. We can't even move the ship," Chief Walker said.
"Can't it be repaired?" Stryker asked.
"If we had a drydock it could, since we don't… We would need to build one around the ship. A job which would be almost impossible since we carry only light excavation machinery on board, but let's say we want to build something that looked like a makeshift dry dock… Barring other issues and even if we could make due with supplies on hand and what we could gather, it would take us from six months to one year. And that's being generous…
Thrusters would be a problem. Especially those on the belly, since we can't reach them. And since a Battlestar is not designed to operate in the atmosphere, we would need all of them to fly. If we could repair them, it would take two to three years. I had a hunch and one of the raptors launched yesterday found metal deposits on this island… So we might get what we need. Maybe.
Main engines, both standard and antimatter FTL's… You can immediately forget antimatter engines," Chief Walker said, shaking his head.
"Why?" Haller asked.
"First, the antimatter chamber is heavily damaged. Second, we spent all of the antimatter for that blind jump. Which I would say from what little we've learned of our location, that we jumped a very large distance. Now I'm sure we could repair the standard engines with the tools we have, but it's detailed intensive work that can't be rushed; we could be looking at maybe five or six years with other repairs going on. As for antimatter; we need to have antimatter, and we do not have any way to produce it... And this is not the only problem. Atlantis broke her spine, from the jump and our hard structural integrity is extremely compromised. Without advanced tools and a shipyard with basic tools; with what we have we will need 10-15 years… Could be as much as up to 50 years to fix the whole ship if my worst fears on her structure's state are true. Time will tell."
He stopped as others chat between themselves. But stopped when Stryker raised a hand.
"So we are basically stranded here," Stryker asked, looking for confirmation.
"I don't want to be blunt, but yes, we are. And even if we could fix our ship, if we had all the tools and materials… We don't even know where we are. Getting home is simply impossible," Chief Walker said darkly.
"Wrong, well mostly wrong," a man from the corner spoke up; Lieutenant Aaron Kazinski. He was an astrologist.
"Ship sensors are still working, well mostly. I managed to convince Admiral Stryker to give me one Raptor for trying to pin-point a known star, anything to get familiar stellar patterns for an accurate fix on our position from home. I was in orbit of this planet for several hours but I did manage to find onerecognizable star… Star Rhodos. It could be seen from Avalon as one of the most distant stars, it's interesting because it's near the end of its natural life and is blinking. After calculating our position and position of the Rhodos I came up with preliminary results. If we had antimatter FTL engines, it would take us five to seven years just to get to the Rhodos for a start, and possibly that long to get to Avalon. With conventional FTL engines at least twenty years to Rhodos and maybe fifteen to Avalon. "
"So we are stranded," someone said, hopelessly.
Admiral Stryker didn't say anything at first, but then, "Thank you lieutenant. Chief, what about the pods?"
"Both the port and starboard lower flight pods are pretty much destroyed, thankfully most of our surviving support crafts were on the upper ones. The Starboard upper port received heavy damage from that 250kt nuke. But it's still operational, the port upper bay is completely operational. We have ten Viper fighters on board, eight Peregrines, and nine operational Raptors;we have several more craft aboard but in bad shape.
The rest of our wings were left over Avalon, formed up with the rest of the squadrons of the fleet and couldn't make it aboard before we left Avalon with the Dreadstar. Only Major Morales squadron was on board; they managed to do combat landings shortly before we jumped away with the dreadstar in tow. There is one more thing I forgot to add before sir, all of our generators and reactors are pretty much dead. One secondary one's still working and that's giving power to the entire ship right now. I ordered shutdown of every nonessential part of the ship to conserve power but it will eventually run out too," Chief Walker said.
"How long do we have?" Stryker asked.
"Hard to say but several days at most, if I manage to get another one online we could extend that, but sooner or later we will lose power..." Chief Walker said.
Stryker thanked the Chief for his report and turned to Doctor Parssow. "How bad is it doc?"
Doctor Parssow removed his glasses and looked down before he started reporting, "From three thousand four hundred and fifty-four crew members, right now there's one thousand seven hundred and ninety two alive. Many were lost in combat. Several died during the crash and a few died after, the last one died four hours ago due to heavy injuries. The infirmary is operational, we were fully stocked with equipment and medications so we don't need to worry about that. Both operation and trauma rooms were in good shape, we are patching up those with life treating situations first then everyone else.
However if what the Chief says is true, soon the medical facilities will be useless as they need power."
Admiral Stryker placed his hands on the table and stared ahead. He didn't say anything at first, then he looked at the people in the room.
"We don't have any choice do we? We can't leave, and getting this ship operational would last more than we want it to," Stryker said quietly. He looked over at Major Morales.
"Major, you returned from scouting of nearby continents. Did you find something?" Stryker asked. He didn't even need to ask her, she did report that she found something big, but he wanted her to tell the crew.
"Yes, sir. My team found something. This planet already shows us that it supports life. It has fresh water, and there's food. Animal life like on the colonies. However there's something more important even to this. Sentient life. Not just any sentient life, human life, sir," Major Morale reported stiffly.
Everyone looked in her direction.
"Human life major?" Haller asked, bewildered.
"Yes sir," she stood and moved toward one large screen on the right of the Admiral, it was one of two large screens in the room. She added a small memory card in the side of the screen and turned it on.
"We are most definitely not alone on this planet."
A video start showing a primitive society. A large city surrounded by the desert, it was walled and there were lots of large structures inside. Lots of citizens of city could be seen. Humans. Then another city closer to the shores of the large ocean where their island was. Different architecture, but human built.
"There is from what we can see, many smaller empires - kingdoms. Human factions in short, across this planet. And this is only from our first patrols. We used the Raptors' organic scanner, sir. These are humans no doubt. Their DNA's identical to ours, with smaller differences but that is probably because of the planet and separation from our people," Major Morales said.
Many appeared memorized by the images on the screen before the group.
Of course, Stryker knew very well that after generations on the twelve colonies, humans while still being the same species, had differing traits that were normal to the worlds were they were born. Higher tolerance to heat, or cold…
"Their technology is primitive, but they learned to live in larger communities, to defend themselves. They use bows, spears, swords. And use animals for work, travel. They even have ships with sails to travel across deep waters, the oceans…" Morales said.
"Could this be?" Stryker said to himself said, a little too loud.
Others in the room turned to look at Stryker.
"Sir?" Haller asked, concerned.
"I believe we found the original home world of humans, the place where our species evolved," Stryker said.
Haller did know what the Admiral was talking about, but not the others. Stryker seeing that others were confused, decided to tell them part, but not all of what he knows.
"Our gods; Zeus, Athena, and others which we see as gods, were members of an advanced species which took humans from this world thousands of years ago. They brought them to Kobol, and then after another thousands of years, humans found a system with twelve planets and colonized it…
Now some of you will ask how this is possible, but I think it is, and I have a hunch that this really is the real birth place of mankind," Stryker said.
"If this really is humanity's real home, what we do now?" one of the lieutenants asked uncertainly.
"Since our options are so limited, there is only one option left. We stay.
We cannot contact Avalon and even if we repair the main communication array and send a signal, it would take years to arrive, by that time we and our children would have passed on from this life anyway. And by sending that message we could bring danger to Avalon if the message is intercepted by an unknown species or the Harvesters. As the Chief said with our limited tools and materials it will take us years to fix some of the ship's systems, and power will very soon go out and the ship will be useless. Even if we can repair the power supply it will only be a matter of time for the ship's systems to stop working. But of course this is a decision we all must agree on. I cannot and will not decide in your names." Stryker said.
After an hour of debate and rest of the reports concluded, everyone in the room agreed that the best option was to stay here, on this planet. Maybe one day Avalon would find this place, and even if not, humanity could continue to exist in another place. Everything was later shared with rest of the crew, at first many were angry, confused but soon realized with dead ship they will not go anywhere. Those that had families on Avalon, will never see them again, but at least their families will be safe, alive.
Around eighty of the crew came to Admiral Stryker, these were the worshipers of Athena. A cult which started after several crewmembers found out about Stryker's visions. These people really believed that these visions were true. They are true but nobody really believed in that with exception of Stryker, Haller, Thorn and a few others…
One of them, Lieutenant Sebastian Mazin asked Stryker to give them two Raptors to go live on their own. During exploration of the northern regions, Mazin found a large island with a lake in the middle of it which was perfect.
Stryker gave them two Raptors and Mazin and the group departed for the island. Neither Stryker nor Haller, who objected to this, knew that this was the birth of a new legend. Legend which will in several thousand years be known as the legend of Avalon. Mazin and his followers would build the first structure on the tiny island, dedicated to the Goddess Athena, which will later be known mother or lady of the lake and they named the island Avalon after the colony of Avalon.
Several months later...
As Chief Walker predicted, the last power on Atlantis went off, about six months after the crash, he was able to extend power that long but that was all miracle he could do, for Atlantis, giving her little more time. He was unable to fix it anymore and he even cannibalized several support crafts to increase the life of the generator, but it didn't help. Soon after mighty "lady" Atlantis was abandoned and Stryker and the crew decide to start all over again on the shores of the island, on the other side. When Haller asked Stryker what they should call this planet, Stryker just said "Earth".
And the island that they crashed on they named after their ship, Atlantis.
Settlement was built on the other side of the Atlantis, known collectively as Atlantea.
Over the years the surviving crew abandoned most of their technology and become farmers and traders. It wasn't long before they created their first wooden ships and established commerce with other nations, first observing them and knowing everything about them then engaging in contact and setting up trade... They brought what will later be called the Olympian pantheon to the Greeks. Items that the Atlanteans traded were created using the last of their advanced technologies and were highly praised by the rest of the world (with whom they traded).
...
The night sky was clear, dark with the moon of Earth seen clearly. It was seven years since they crashed on this planet. Some abandoned Atlantis, seeking a future somewhere else. Most remained. Stryker stood on the cliff overlooking the settlement near the shore. He retired from every vital function, having Haller to take care of everything. He turned toward the mountain range, behind it their beloved ship, which endured so much was lying in its final resting place. "Thank you old friend, may you rest in peace. You will never be forgotten." And Stryker was right, it didn't, despite later much much later people know about Atlantis legend, but all know about Kingdom of Atlantis, nobody know the truth.
There were a tear in his eye, then another one, and another. He missed his wife and child that would've been born several months after the Avalon battle, he never even got to see. He didn't know if it was a boy or a girl as he and his wife hadn't wanted to know. By now the child would have been seven years old.
Then he thought of his sister, the only member of his family to survive. Then Thorn and everyone else.
"Did I make a good decision? Staying here…" He said quietly.
"I don't know. Did you?" he heard a voice behind him. Stryker turned only to see Athena. As always wearing white, but without that light that surrounded her on previous visits. She stood there watching him. She looked human.
"Oh I am real," she said and came closer and pinched him on the arm. He flinched. She was real…
"How did you?" Stark said, then he remembered that she is member of an advanced species with very advanced technology and that she had ascended, whatever that meant. "Why are you here?"
She didn't say anything only smiled. "Last time I visited this planet I was so young… I didn't ascend, well, I never really fully ascended. My people as I told you found a way to ascend to a new level, which granted us far longer lifespans then that of humans. Only a few of our people could really achieve what you would call immortality. Last time I was here, it was when we picked up your people and brought them to Kobol.
And my reason for being here is you."
"Me." Stryker said, chuckling, shaking his head.
"I've been watching you from your birth. You were always a special person. Not by your accomplishments. Your heart and your soul were different. You are what my father would say, one in a billion."
"Special, I don't see myself as special in any way."
Athena smiled, "You don't, but I do. I will tell you a little secret. Over the course of over ten thousand years that my species has interacted with yours, only a few were exceptional like you, each in their own way. And that's why I want to give you a gift."
"Gift?" Stryker asked.
"Yes. I want you to go with me," Athena said.
"Where?" Stryker asked, startled.
"Anywhere," Athena said, smiling, her eyes sparkling with mischief.
"That would be a little problematic you know. My life is merely a blink compared to yours and when I die you will still be alive, and due to my injuries I may not have much longer to live…"
"True, but you are ready to evolve. And I can show you things you can't even begin to imagine," Athena said. "I can show you how to extend your life spawn, of course humans can do that, only few, your species is not ready for that, not by long shot and won't be for very very long time."
"If you want to give me a gift, why not bring me and my crew back to Avalon," Stryker said, frowning.
"That would be full intervention, I cannot do that. Your heart told you that you would want to see your wife and child. I could bring back you to them, but you would not want to leave your crew behind and only you to get back, doing that and you would never be able to forgive yourself... However you can go with me."
"Why are you interested in me so much?" Stryker asked.
Athena didn't say anything. But understanding dawned on Stryker.
"Oh I see, you have a crush on me," Stryker said.
For the first time Athena blushed. "I never experienced love before, it was a human thing. Love, a word without meaning to my people. My people were, shall I say, infested by it. It changed our community, it showed us to take care of people, more than that use them, for our wills. Your species which compared to ours was primitive, insignificant, showed us something that we in all our knowledge and power didn't know. It showed us how to be us again even now.
I understand that you have love for your wife, that you love her and the child. If you return there will be questions what happened to the rest of crew, and how did you return... But you can be at peace. Your wife and sister are alive, your child is alive, you have offspring and your name will continue.
You are dying and I'm giving you a chance, one chance that my father gave to me for you. I want you by my side."
"What about this place, my crew?" Stryker asked.
"Commander Haller is a very capable man, he will take everything under his wing. Your crew will have its descendants, and they will have theirs. They will survive."
Something inside Stryker was wrong. He knew that he did not have much time left. He didn't want to go. And now he had one final chance. Maybe he could help them that way… No they need to be on their own. He was always curious, always wishing to explore when he was little. Now he had the chance.
"Could you tell me, my child, is it a boy or girl?" Stryker asked.
Athena smiles. "Yes of course, your wife had a boy. She called it Marcus, named after you. He is seven by now and is healthy. I personally blessedhim with long life and health."
"Then I am at peace," Stryker said, again having a tear in his eye.
He took out a small notebook, and a pen. He wrote several sentences in it and left it on the spot where he stood.
Pain again started but he had strength enough to walk.
"Okay I'll go with you."
Athena extended her arm to him and he took it. It was warm.
Suddenly a small ship appeared, shaped as a teardrop.
She moved toward the ship and he followed her.
"Come," she said as she entered the ship and he enter after her.
The teardrop ship then burst into the skies.
Several days later Haller found the notebook…
"Dear friend, my time has come, I am with Athena now. Take care of the crew and let this place grow. Thank you for everything. Marcus.
Richard Haller spent two weeks searching every inch of Atlantis but Stryker was never found.
It was not the only disappearance, Kara Thrace also disappeared. Nobody knows where, she didn't leave any note. It was believed she smuggle herself on one of the ships and go to the world.
Avalon - Months After Atlantis Disappeared
Fleet Admiral Thorn looked out at the darkness of space from one of the observation decks of the Unity.
"Where are you Stryker?" he said quietly. He was forced to cease the search for Atlantis three weeks after their disappearance.
Stryker's wife had a baby boy, she called him Marcus. "Another Marcus Stryker, one gone but another born, I hope your son will be as you are. Good bye friend." Thorn said and returned to his ready room and his desk.
7 years later...
Stryker was gone for seven years. Things changed. Thorn was still Fleet Admiral. The Colonial fleet rebuilt itself, now calling itself the Avalon Defense Force. The Arcadians launched an all-out war on the Harvesters, wanting to destroy their nemesis once and for all. But Avalon itself was not spared the war. Avalon ships engaged Harvesters in the Avalon sector. Thus setting the stages for a new war.
...
Two thousand years later Atlantis Island, the final resting place for the ship that the island gets its name from, sunk into the seas. Most of its citizens were lost. Holy shrine and forbidden place which was the remains of the Atlantis itself disappeared with island.
Survivors of Atlantis founded some of nations near today's Mediterranean sea. A thousand years after, Greek Plato would read about Atlantis; from a man who claimed to be descendent of the Atlantis survivors. Plato was the first to create the myth of Atlantis;the kingdom that wields superior knowledge more than anyone else. The place that was claimed by the sea.
A second legend was born as well. In the Islands of Britannia. A mythical place called Avalon always in the mist, was believed to be home to the lady of the lake: the great mother. Of course nobody knew her real name, Athena. It was where King Arthur obtained the magical sword of Excalibur. A tale or truth… For generations people wondered if these legends were true or simply legends.
A few knew that both of this legends were true. Atlantis was real, the guardians of Atlantis searched the seas to find the place where their ancestors lived.
Guardians had some knowledge about it. They believed that the people of Atlantis came from the skies…
Epilogue
2.7.2015
Professor Strasberg stopped for a moment. He took a sip of water from his flask. He was in the middle of the UK but he was sweating like he was in the Sahara. He and his team were exploring the ruins of an old Church built on a small island on Glastonbury.
While to the naked eye it looked like a simple expedition and exploration. Professor and his team were aon special mission. To find the truth about the Avalon legend.
The professor took out a small coin he held onto. It was not oval like all other modern or ancient ones. It had eight sides, golden in color and there was a sign on it that looked like a fire bird spreading its wing (a cubit). The coin and a few other small trinkets were in his family for generations. He and his family were members of the Guardians of Atlantis. These trinkets were believed to originate from Atlantis. Avalon was believed by the Guardians to be established as an outpost of Atlantis.
He spent his entire life searching for the truth or some sign. He was close. A set of clues and coordinates which eluded many for generations, he managed to piece together.
"It must be here," he said to himself.
After another hour, one member found what was believed to be an opening in the church floor.
A second layer of stones, from the looks of it much older than the last one. Another big rock marked the spot after it was removed. He took the lead into the opening.
It was cold and the only light came from his and flashlights of his companions.
"This must be the church of the Holy mother, the lady of the Lake."
"Yes. It looks very old."
They continued deeper as there was only one path leading the way. The church was built on the remnants of an old shrine which itself was camouflaged so well that nobody would say it was here.
It took the team almost two hours of following the tunnel. Surprisingly it didn't collapse. It was built to last. The team believed it would lead to nowhere wanted to turn back but the professor insisted they continue just a little more. After an additional fifteen minutes there was an opening and a large cavern, two actually separated by thin wall.
Stalagmites and stalactites were everywhere. Professor continued passing through an opening in the thin wall, which looked like it was carved by human hand. The second room was even bigger, a small light came from above. He looked up, he was deep underground.
"Where the hell are we?" he asked.
"Professor look!" one member of his team yelled, and pointed at the other side of the room. Professor moved toward that direction, pointing his flashlight to light the way forward.
Two large objects were there, he noticed they were large as he came closer. He could recognize the first part of the objects as some kind of canopy like that in helicopter. And large engines on the aft section.
"Those must be spaceships." Someone said.
"Yes, chariots that brought people from Atlantis," the Professor replied. He then opened a patch in his jacket and removed a small round emblem. It had the same markings as those on the side of one of the ships. The markings of Atlantis.
"These are from Atlantis" he said, and started crying.
A generation long mission was completed. Or at least half find. He found proof of Avalon and its legend originating from Atlantis. Now maybe he can find Atlantis itself. He slowly touched the side of the ship (not knowing the real name Raptor). It was smooth, no rust even after all this centuries or millennia's.
"But professor, I don't understand what these ships, whatever they are, have to do with Avalon."
"They bring the followers of the lady of Lake, the great mother, to this place. From Atlantis."
"So it was true?"
"The legend of King Arthur and the round table was just a story, cover up for this." He said pointing toward the Raptors. "We don't even know half about what lies beneath the surface, our own history. These ships are proof that Atlantis existed. But there is a lot to learn and to find. This is just the beginning."
...THE END...
NOTE:
So this is the last chapter for Battlestar Galactica: Operation Exodus
It started seven years ago, seven long years. I hope you guys like the story and that you enjoyed it. I for sure did enjoy writing it and of course reading it. I thank all of you who follow it and reviewed it. Thank you very much.
I also thank good friend Christopher Taylor who was main beta reader for this story and who for years moderate and fix errors in this long story. Thank you again.
Now it's not over, this story is, but new will came.
for my other projects i tend to finish second BSG story, Kali the Journey of the Godess
and announcing an sequel to the Operation Exodus. BSG:OE - Harvester Wars - Story which will feature many returning characters but not Stryker and Atlantis.
well i did give you some short glimps, but i wont give you more, you will need to wait.
Once again, thanks everyone.