Chapter 81
Caitlin woke up in String's arms. She laid in the bed wondering if it was nothing but a dream for waking up in bed made the memory seem unreal. She reached over and turned off the electric alarm clock before it could buzz. She simply laid in the bed debating if what she experienced was real or some alien induced dream.
String came to next. His eyes fluttered open and he took in a deep breath.
She rolled to her back upon his waking. She looked into his eyes and asked, "Did you have the same dream? We were on the Galactica in space and flying Vipers."
"I did." he nodded.
"Was that real or do you think those orbs are screwing with us?" she wondered.
"The orbs are screwing with us. It was also real." he concluded.
"How can you tell?" she asked.
"I can't." he confessed. "It just doesn't make any sense to let Sam control highly advanced alien technology if there wasn't a reason."
"What do you think is the reason?" she wondered.
He admitted, "I dunno." He suggested as a wild theory, "Maybe the Cylons are already here. Maybe that's what the break away civilization that Sam's time is dealing with. Instead of outright attacking us, maybe they infiltrated from within. They have a two year head start." he concluded.
"You think those Cylons are already on Earth?" she questioned.
"Can't say they are not." he concluded. "Look at what tech has evolved to in Sam's time? The internet, the surveillance, the digital currency, that bug, the supply chain breaking down, the inflation…seems like some kind of attack to me."
Caitlin shivered, "The Clyons come and make contact after Apollo crashes. Since Apollo can't give the government any information or technology our government makes a deal with the Clyons." She gulped, "The Cylons are led by a traitor….Count Baltar." she recalled.
"They are lead by an A.I." String countered. "The Imperious Leader. Baltar was the traitor who set up the Colonies in a fake peace deal."
"Oh' right." she slowly nodded. "Do you think Baltar might have found Earth? Maybe with a rouge group of Cylons with him?"
"Or by himself." he agreed. "He's human. He could be here on Earth as we speak."
Caitlin shivered again, "Oh' boy."
"We should get up." he urged rather tiered and sleepy himself.
"It's Christmas in two days." she countered. "I think Dom and your dad gave the guys at the field the week off for vacation."
"They did." he nodded. "But if that guy Baltar in on Earth, we need to tell Colonel Austin."
"So much for a nice Christmas at the cabin by a roaring fire." she sighed dreaming of a romantic getaway.
He smirked, "We get to have Christmas in a hangar by a gas heater."
"Let's get going." she urged reluctantly.
Meanwhile
Colonel Steve Austin had risen from his bed feeing a bit sleepy eyed. He got dressed and then wandered into the kitchen of the home he shared with his wife, Jamie. She glanced over as she stood at the stove cooking wearing a while blouse with blue jeans. She asked, "Did you sleep at all last night, Steve?"
"Physically, not mentally." he replied and sat down at the table sporting tan slacks and a blue shirt.
"Maybe you are coming down with something." she suggested. "We're supposed to go to the hangar today. I can go and you can stay here and rest."
He shook his head, "I have to go." He sat back and asked himself, "How does Sam do that? Go to the Galactica when her body is asleep and then wake up back here and go about her day."
"The Galactica?" she asked him.
"John's ship." he nodded. "John's real name is Apollo. The craft is called a Viper and I was learning to fly one last night." He held up a hand as her concerned look, "I know how it all sounds. Trust me, I'm not losing it. Sam Hawke had an encounter in her time, in 2022. One of the orbs went right through her and it did something to her. It left her with some kind of nano based alien technology. She can control these nanites and she was able to have the nanites take our minds to the Galactica and we could interact with the crew of the ship as holograms. I could not use my bionics but I could make myself solid so I didn't walk through walls and stuff. I was an image of me on a deep space vessel with Apollo, Sam and the crew of Airwolf and we were being trained to fly their craft and were give a brief history of what happened and why they are trying to find Earth.'
Jamie stood with a spatula in hand at the stove and asked, "You sure you feel okay? Do you have a fever?"
He paused, "I don't think I have a fever." He placed the back of his hand against his forehead.
Soon the door bell rang. Steve stood up, "I'll get it." He then wandered out of the kitchen to the front door and opened it to reveal Apollo standing in jeans and a Star Wars branded t-shirt before him. He cocked his head looking upon the t-shirt. "Interesting shirt, John." he then kicked himself, "Apollo."
He held up a finger, "Better continue to call me 'John" until the Galactica gets here." He then admitted glancing down at his shirt, "I thought it was rather ironic."
"You have breakfast?" Steve opened the door for him to step inside.
Apollo followed Steve inside and he confessed, "No! I just got up and immediately drove my truck over to see you. Do you remember last night?"
He nodded closing the door, "I remember. Your friend Starbuck is a character. Damn heck of the pilot too." he mentioned. "He's the kind of guy NASA would have been after to fly."
Apollo had to chuckle, "I can see Starbuck flying for NASA." He followed Steve into the kitchen and greeted, "Morning Jamie."
"Morning John." she grinned back. "You eat?" she asked.
"Not yet." he confessed shaking his head.
"Sit down. I'll make you some eggs." she instructed.
Apollo took a seat at the table as Steve gathered two cups of coffee.
Jamie mentioned, "Steve said he didn't sleep very well last night."
Apollo agreed, "I don't think any of us did. That mental stretch to the Galactica takes a lot out of you. I wonder if that will get easer as the Galactica gets closer?" he pondered.
Jamie looked at the two men confused, "Okay…what don't I know?"
He stated, "My name is Apollo! I'm from Caprica and I am the leader of the blue squadron onboard the deep space battlestar, the Galactica. Sam is a peacekeeper and can facilitate a communications link between myself, Steve and the crew of Airwolf to the Galactica. My father is the ship's commander. They are on their way to Earth but there is a possibility the Cylons already know where Earth is. The original Clyon race was reptilian, they created an artificial intelligence to serve them and fight wars on their behalf eons ago. The original Clyons died out leaving their creation behind. They are run by an Artificial Intelligence that is called 'Imperious Leader'. After a thousand years of war between the twelve colonies and the Clyons, we were suckered into a phony peace deal by one of our own who was a traitor. He sold us out to the Cylons who attacked us when our guard was down. Only two Colonial battlestars survived: the Galactica and the Pegasus. The Pegasus took a different route and we don't know what became of the ship and crew. The Galactica remained with the civilian fleet. We are escorting the survivors to Earth but up until recently, we didn't know where Earth was. I accidentally found Earth going through a wormhole after the Clyon fighter. I neutralized the Clyon but the force of the wormhole shot me right into Earth gravitational pull and had damaged my Viper. I crashed hard! I couldn't remember anything until Sam used the nanites to restore my memory."
Steve gave a nod, "About sums it up."
Jamie stood at the stove as the bacon burned. She gasped, "Wait! John is an alien from space?"
Steve nodded, "He is." He noticed the burning smell, "Um…"
"When were you gonna tell me?" she asked feeling a bit out of the loop.
"Um…Jamie…the bacon." he pointed.
She quickly turned her attention to the food and then looked back at Steve, "I think you should have told me before all this."
He agreed, "I should have but it was need to know only and until now, you just did not need to know."
"You still should have told me." she miffed.
Apollo sympathized, "He didn't tell me either so don't feel too bad."
Steve warned, "Jamie…the toast." He spied smoke rising from the toaster as she was distracted.
She wagged the spatula at him, "Don't tell me how to cook if you can't tell me that John is an alien from space." She attended to the food in a bit of a shock.
Hangar
String and Caitlin returned to the hangar later that morning. He had taken the liberty to call Ralph Hinckley and asked the teacher to meet with them as he had news on aliens.
Ralph arrived with Bill Maxwell. The men were unsure what news the crew of Airwolf could bring them about the suit that they didn't already know. Upon parking Bill's car the agent looked over at the truck that pulled into the airfield behind him. He squinted, "Who's truck is that?"
Ralph sat in the passenger's side of the car and looked over. He remarked, "I have no idea."
Colonel Steve Austin stepped out of the vehicle followed by Captain Apollo and Steve's wife, Jamie Sommers.
Jamie smiled, "This kind of makes me want to fly a glider again." she stated looking around the airfield.
Apollo asked her, "You are a pilot, Jamie?"
"I used to be." she nodded. "Until I had the accident."
Apollo looked at Steve and the motioned his head towards Jamie, "The fleet could use all the pilots we can get. Even remote pilots."
He stated, "I'll have Sam add her to the remote pilot list." He closed the door and looked upon Bill and Ralph. He introduced himself, "I'm Retired Colonel Steve Austin. You two must be Bill Maxwell and Ralph Hinckley." He approached the men offering a hand shake. "String told me he was calling you both this morning."
Bill shook his hand, "Pleased to meet you, Colonel." He looked to Apollo, "And you are?"
"I'm Captain Apollo of the Galactica." he flatly told him.
Bill traded glanced with Ralph and then looked to Steve.
Steve suggested, "You may need to come up with a first name here, John…" he winced, "Sorry about that."
Apollo slowly nodded, "I think you are right. I will need a first name. How about 'John'?" he asked his friend. "John 'Apollo' Adama. After my father."
"Could work." Steve agreed.
Both Bill and Ralph bore a confused expression.
Steve stated, "We will explain inside. Shall we?" He motioned towards the door.
Ralph opened the door eager to ask Sam what was going on. Upon entering he found the inside of the hangar was decked out with Christmas decorations. Christmas music was playing over the radio. In the far corner stood a large pine tree with String, Dom, Caitlin and Sam all placing ornaments on the tree cheerfully. A smile grew across Ralph's face as the family had decorated the business for the holiday. He found it was must uplifting seeing all the lights and shiny ornaments.
Dom held a needle with a fishing line attached. He was carefully piercing popcorn to make garland. He was nearly done and then bit the line and tied it off. He grinned, "See Sam! I told you that you can make garland out of popcorn."
"I've only ever seen in in cartoons." she confessed.
String asked, "Didn't Jo and Sinjin ever make popcorn garland."
"Mom did try but me and dad always ate it all." she recalled. "That or it was burned."
Caitlin kidded, "Don't eat the decorations, Sam!"
Steve called out, "Tree looks good!"
The group looked back to their audience as they walked closer.
Jamie complimented, "I love the tree."
Steve introduced, "Everyone, this is my wife, Jamie Sommers." He then pointed to each, "Jamie, meet Dominic Santini, Stringfellow Hawke, Caitlin O'Shannessy and Dr. Samantha Hawke. Inventor of the engine."
"It's my pleasure." she told the group.
Sam asked, "You have bionics too?"
"I do! Right arm, both legs and my right ear." she informed.
Ralph spoke up, "Bionics?"
Bill grinned at Steve, "So…you are the six million dollar man. I read the file on you. Your name was redacted. I also read they did the same to a female." He motioned to Ralph, "Back in the seventies the OSI had this program where they put bionics in two humans and a dog." He grinned at the pair. "It was you two."
"It was us." Steve confirmed. "The dog has since passed away. You are the FBI agent, right?"
"Bill Maxwell!" he nodded. "This is my friend Ralph."
Ralph offered a handshake, "Ralph Hinckley." He greeted both Jamie and Steve.
Bill looked at String, "So why did you call us in?"
"Earth could be invaded by Clyons." he told him.
Bill and Ralph traded glances unsure what he was talking about. Bill then asked, "What is a Cylon?"
String explained, "An alien race of artificial intelligence. An A.I. race. Using the nanites, Sam can remotely put us in contact with a deep space vessel called the 'Galactica.' They are humans; our cousins in reality. Apollo is from the ship. He crashed landed on Earth two years ago while trying to stop the Cylons. His ship and this rag tag fleet of survivors are on their way to Earth as we speak. They are refugees. Thing is, these Cylons have had a two year head start and could already be here. We think the reason you were given the suit Ralph and why the orb attacked Sam was to make both of you 'Peacekeepers' to help protect Earth from the Cylons and the lizard people you saw in the other reality. Apollo has been on Earth for two years now but only recently got his memory back. The crash nearly killed him."
Bill simply blinked and then stated, "That's a lot."
Ralph urgently asked, "What can we do?"
String stated, "We need to be ready for a Cylon attack on Earth. You and Sam have the nanites. They can remotely bring us to the Galactica. We can only appear as a hologram but we can be solid so we can interact and touch things. We just went through Viper pilot training. We don't have those Vipers here. They are on the Galactica and we have to be in a state of sleep to go there remotely."
Steve spoke up, "That's not entirely true."
All eyes fell on Steve.
Sam asked, "Which part was true?"
"We have had two years to reverse engineer Apollo's Viper. We have about a half dozen prototypes of our own that we have been working with. The ion weapon systems has given us a huge boost." He told them. "As far as I know we do not have a warp drive engine, Sam. But we do have the technology from John's viper that crashed." He looked to Apollo, "Once the Galactica and the fleet gets to Earth, the United States will want to take possession of the Galactica and started our own deep space program. We will want to build own battlestars."
He warned, "My father will not give up the Galactica. Not even to the United States."
"Your father will be offered citizenship, a commission and put in charge of the program." he told him. "You will be offered the Galactica. You will have full power of the United States military and our allies behind you, John. Your father will be helping us develop Earth's fleet." He looked to Sam, "And so will you."
She blinked, "Are you serious?"
Steve nodded, "I am. You will be working directly with NASA and the US military."
She squinted, "And if I said no?"
String stated, "They will reverse engineer the Galactica, Sam. Colonel Austin is trying to make it so you will have oversight and input. Take the deal." he advised.
Jamie assured her, "Steve has your back. He won't let anyone steal your engine or John's ship." She then corrected, "I'm mean Apollo's ship."
"John is fine, Jamie." he assured her. "I'm used to the name anyways." He felt better knowning Steve would make sure his people were represented the taken care of once they reached Earth. A fleeting thought crossed his mind, "Everyone aboard my ship will need to pick Earth sounding names. I wonder what name Starbuck would choose?"
Steve stated, "The Government will issue a surname for each family. You family surname will be Adama, after your father. What was Starbuck's father's name?"
"Thrace." he recalled.
Steve informed, "Then Starbuck just needs to pick a first name."
"Hmm," he wondered what Earth sounding name his friend would pick. He shook the thought from his head and then focused on the present. "We need to smoke out any Clyons that could be on Earth."
Ralph asked, "How do we do that? We don't even know what we are looking for."
String asked, "What happened to the Cylon wreckage that Apollo shot down?"
"The remains were taken to Area 51 along with the viper wreckage." he told him. "Baltar Research and development was give the contract…" his words tailed off. "Balter was the name of the guy who betrayed your people, right John?"
"Count Baltar." he nodded.
"About a year a half ago a new and very advanced research firm got a few major contracts for NATO and the military." Steve told him. "Baltar Research and Development. The stuff coming out is way ahead of curve." he mentioned. He then grew concerned, "The robotics is really advanced. My bionics are already outdated." He looked to String, "I think we need to make sure Baltar Research and Development is not a Cylon front."
"I think you are right." he agreed.
