CH 27

John, Bob, Malinara and Ed walked though the ruins of the city towards the human camp. Thankfully, Cameron had made John a translator since he was still learning Piconese. Of course, Ed had his suit on to 'make a good impression'. John did wear one of the new uniforms as did Bob and Malinara. Approaching a low wall, a man wearing a helmet peeked up.

John waved and said, "Hi, we've come to talk to your people." His translator then spoke.

The man got up. He was in a dark colored military uniform and had a rifle.

"No need for guns," John told him.

The man listened to the translator, then replied. In his translator John heard, "You are the Earth people?"

"That's us. It took us a while, but we're here."

The man called on his radio then pointed down a street. "The camp is down here," John heard on his translator.

"Thank you," John replied. They moved to keep going and the man spoke again. John heard, "Sir, I have to check you for weapons."

Stopping, John turned to eye him. "We aren't carrying any extra weapons. We came to talk, not fight."

"What do you mean extra weapons?" the man asked.

"Malinara, show him, but point it up." John stated.

Malinara looked at the man pointed her hand in the air and let go with a ten foot flame briefly.

"That is a natural ability she has," John explained. "She can't give it up."

The next thing John heard in his translator was "Frack me."

John grinned. "She won't to that either. Bob here is her guy."

"Please call him Robert," Malinara pleaded.

"Sorry, let's go. Ah guard? You can come too if you want," John offered.

"I have perimeter duty. I'll called and let them know you're coming."

"Again, thank you." John told him.

Down this street they found most of a building two men and a woman came out of. John waved again. "Hello, I'm John Connor. This is Robert Tanner, Malinara Tanner and that's Edward Billings. We came to talk you and the Cylons."

The taller man said, "Tom Zerack, this is Lee Adama, and Victoria Foster. We came to hear what you're going to do about the Cylons."

John raised an eyebrow. "What we're going to do? It's more like what we're going to help you do, and that's YOU talk to them and come to a solution about this war."

Tom scrunched his face up and pointed at the ground. "We understood you were going to talk to the Cylons for us to stop this war!"

"Wow, some attitude," Bob noted aloud.

"Tom, right?" John asked, then said, "Let me make one thing perfectly clear. This isn't our war. It's yours. The only reason we're here is to get you to talk to the Cylons so we can get this war stopped. If you won't do that, tell me now and we all go home."

Lee barked at Tom then turned to John. "Mr. Connor, we do want to stop this war and get the Cylons to leave us alone. Can you help with that?"

"That's why my wife Delilah contacted you. Right now, she's talking to a group of Cylons the same time we came to talk to you. First thing we need to know are the details of how this war got so bad between the two sides. We plan to hear both sides out then discuss it. After that, we let the other side know your position about this conflict as we tell you theirs. Only then we'll get both sides together and start working out a solution."

"The Cylons want to exterminate us," Lee stated.

"Why?" John asked.

Lee gaped at him. "Because they do!"

John shook his head. "These Cylons are machines, AI's correct? AI's don't to anything without a reason. I know that for a fact, we've got plenty of them. If they want to kill all of you, there must be a reason behind it."

"You have Cylons?" Tom asked in a near shriek.

John frowned at him. "We call them terminators or Cyborgs but yes, we've got our own version of them and have no problem with them wanting to kill for no reason. So tell me, what happened."

Tom went off again. "How can you have them around you? How can you trust them near you? What's to say these Cylons you got won't turn on you and wipe YOUR race out?"

Bob fell into a fit of laughter. Malinara chuckled with him. Ed glared at them. John eyed this briefly with a smirk. He then said, "Tom, I do think it's best if I just talk to Lee and Victoria."

"I am the Quorum representative here!" Tom spat. "You WILL talk to me!"

Lee and Victoria eyed him unkindly.

John rubbed his forehead. "I think I see part of the problem. Lee, Victoria, let's take a walk. Robert and Mal, keep Tom here of you would."

Tom strode forward a step. Malinara held up a hand and lit a flame. "Stay there or burn!" she stated.

Tom backed off. "Now you're threatening me!" he cried.

John moved off to the side. Lee, Victoria and Ed came with him.

"I have no idea why he was picked to come," Lee said sadly.

Victoria grinned and said, "I think maybe Roslyn was hoping someone would kill him."

"No one's going to kill him, but if he mouths off like that to Delilah, he's going to need plenty of medical attention," John replied. "She doesn't put up with any crap. Neither does Cameron."

"Who are they?" Lee asked.

"My wives. They are both terminators," John told him. or rather the translator box did. Seeing a low wall, John went over to it. "Sit and talk?" he asked.

Lee nodded and took a seat by him. Ed sat on John's other side, Victoria sat on Lee's other side.

John explained, "In case you haven't guessed we all live and work together, no matter what anyone is. We have many biological species, not just humans. We also have sentient AI's. How you act is much more important that what you are on our world. That leaves us a little confused as why humans and AI's here hate each other so badly. Something huge must have happened to cause that rift. Can you give me a clue what that might be?"

Lee said, "There have been two Cylon wars. The first one was about the Cylons we made wanting independence. To be more than just being used by us. They left and found their own planet. It stayed like that for 40 years, then they came back and attacked us mercilessly. They nuked all 12 of our planets and chased those of us who got away, and are still after us."

"OK, so after being separate for so long, why did they come back?" John asked. "Something must have set them off."

Lee shrugged. "I nor anyone I know have any idea. All we know is that they did."

"I'll talk to Delilah later, maybe she's found out," John offered. "There is some things I want you to remember. That Tom Zarek is a hindrance for you. AI's love dealing and speaking in facts, hearing him just demand things will make AI's not want to listen. If he goes on enough, they'll shut him up. Another important thing you should know is AI's can do good. They think fast and are good at solving many problems. They also need to be educated, not just programmed. They are essentially mechanical people."

"There's even some who look like us," Lee said bitterly.

"Very true. Both Cameron and Delilah look completely human," John agreed. "So do all our kids."

Lee snapped his head to stare at John. "Your AI's can have children?"

"They can and do. All our kids also decide what they want to do in life. Joan likes to play sports, she is also getting pretty fond of being a pilot. On the other hand, Jackie hates to fly. She's been in a couple plane crashes. One where she fell 4000 feet into woods. She also loves fencing, competitive non lethal combat with swords, playing music and swimming in her tail like a fish. My son John Junior is a farmer, Sonya is in law enforcement and Louise is a nurse in our town. The fact we can have children is something we had to figure out how to do, getting the biological and mechanical elements to cooperate with each other. The thing is, like everything else, we figured it out together."

"So your kids are machines?" Lee asked.

"They are part machine and part human. A mix of us. To put a name on them for the general population, we consider them cyborgs. To me, they're just my kids." John explained.

"That's incredible," Victoria said. "I would never imagine such a thing is possible."

"There's many things I thought weren't possible, but having AI's around, I've found they are," John replied. "It is in your and the Cylons best interest to get this war stopped and start learning how to help each other. I doubt it will happen in the short term but if you reconcile your differences, it will happen."

"I've never thought of it that way," Lee admitted. "I also know trying to sell that idea to the fleet is going to be very hard."

John shrugged. "Change is never easy. I will admit, this one could be hard."

"Indeed," Lee said.

"Just think about it. I'll be talking to Delilah later and see what she discussed with the Cylons. Then, I'll go see the Cylons and she comes talk to you before we get both sides together. Sound good?"

Lee eyed John a moment then said, "I do wish we would have known about your people 40 years ago, before the cylon revolt began."

"In this case, me too. Unfortunately, we don't have a time machine out here to do that. Oh, and when Delilah visits you, have Tom keep his trap shut for his own sake."

Victoria grew a crooked grin and asked, "John, you have a time machine?"

"TDE, Time Displacement Equipment," John replied. "Though using it can cause a host of problems, as we've found out. We really don't like to use it unless there's no other way."

Lee gaped at him. "You do have a time machine? Dear Gods, what else can you do?"

John winced. "I really shouldn't talk about any of that. We need to stick to the problem with you and the Cylons."

"Mr. Connor, when we left the fleet, did you leave for here right after we did?" Victoria asked. "I mean Earth must be close to where the fleet is."

John shook his head. "We had to travel almost 8000 light years to get back to Earth, do repairs, restock, then travel nearly 12,000 light years to get here."

"Then how did you get here only ten days after we did?" she asked.

Smiling, John said, "Joan likes to travel fast. What she calls a zillion miles a second. Our ship is quite fast."

John's collar spoke. "John, I got what we need from the Cylons. How are you doing?"

"About done here too, Delilah. Time to switch?" he asked.

"Meet me in the middle of the ruins?"

"I'll be there," John replied. To Lee, he said, "I'll collect Bob and Malinara, then Delilah and Allison is going to come see you. She'll give you the information she got from the Cylons while I go let the Cylons your side of the story."

"Is that necessary?" Lee asked.

"It is," John told him. "Any event is skewed by one's own viewpoint. Each of you need to know both viewpoints before we get you together."

They walked back to see Tom had gone inside. Malinara was standing in the doorway. "Robert, Mal, we're done here, let's go visit the Cylons." John called to them.

Once Malinara came away from the doorway with Bob, Tom poked his head out. "I thought you came to help us?" he asked in a demand.

John ignored him. "Lee, talk to him please."

"I will. John, Ed, Robert, Malinara, it's been nice meeting you," Lee said with a wave. John returned his wave.

As they walked through the ruins, John asked, "Any other trouble with that Tom guy?"

Bob shook his head. "Nope, I think he was convinced Mal here was going to fry him if he mouthed off again."

"Burn him a bit maybe, I wasn't going to kill him," Malinara stated.

Meeting Delilah, Allison and the two terminators mid ruins, John warned her about Tom Zarek's ranting. Delilah also thought it was a good idea for John to take the two terminators with him and Ed, and let Bob an Mal come with her. John agreed and after a hug, they went on their ways. John also noted one of the tall terminators had followed Delilah back.

To John's surprise the big terminator waved to him and headed back to the Cylon camp. John and Ed followed.

Coming up on the camp, John saw the human formed Cylons and waved. "Greetings, I'm John Connor," he called. His translator relayed his words.

The tall blonde eyed him with a smile and shook his hand when he came closer. "Jennifer Six," she said. "This is John Cavil, Tina Eight and Conoy Leoben."

"Please to meet you," John said to each he shook each of their hands. "The man with me is Edward Billings." Again they all shook Ed's hand.

"Mr. Connor, we've spoken at length with your lovely wife," John Cavil said. "You came to speak with us also? We can only tell you the same things we discussed with her."

"That is true," John agreed. "You must know by now that AI's, or in your case, Cylons, hold a different perspective than humans do. Delilah, a terminator, formed her perspective when she talked to you. Now she's going to talk to the Colonial humans to get her perspective of them, as talking to youI get my perspective of you. I can tell you they will probably be close, but in this way when we go back and talk to each other about both groups, we will have as much information as possible to help get this war stopped in the best way possible for both your kinds." John then grew a crooked grin, and added, "If we happen to argue a bit, then you won't have to hear it."

"You would argue with Delilah?" Jennifer asked.

"It happens now and then," John said with a shrug. "It's never mean arguing, it's usually a difference in perspective we need to work out."

"You hold Delilah's opinion as important," Jennifer said.

"I do, very much so," John told her. "See I know Delilah or Cameron are never shall we say, wrong. But sometimes they are also not completely right. So we hash it out and come up with the best answer."

"Can you give me an example?" John Cavil asked.

John rolled his eyes. "Joan's football uniform," he said in a grumble. "I thought it was a blatant sex-show. I mean, she wore more when she was swimming in the lake! I did not want my daughter out on a playing field wearing that with thousands of people watching! I was firmly against it. Both Delilah and Cameron brought up points that I really didn't want to hear. This was Joan's choice to play, and by not wearing lose clothes or clothes that inhibited her movements, they could play better. In the end I relented because they were right."

"They brought up the logical reasons why her uniform was brief," Jennifer said.

John nodded. "Yeah, I was being an over protective father," he admitted. "There were other times Cameron let me minimize Joan's punishment because what Joan did wasn't that bad." John frowned and added, "Come to think of it, most of the time our arguments started because of the kids."

Ed chuckled. "I can see that."

"You are working hard to understand both sides," Conoy said.

"I feel we need to," John stated. "We have a different society where everyone, no matter what they are, work together. To see this giant rift between you and the Colonial humans, is truly a little confusing to us."

John Cavil said, "Then we will explain all our dealings with humans to you. Some you may not want to hear."

"I want to hear it all," John replied firmly.

.

Right after Delilah met the humans, Tom asked in a hard tone, "You're a Cylon?"

Delilah shook her head. "No, I'm a terminator. Allison here is part terminator, part human. Joan did that for her so she will remain healthy and heal much easier."

"So your people don't mind turning humans into machines?" Tom asked accusingly.

"Tom, stop it," Victoria hissed.

"What's the problem with that?" Delilah asked him. "Both Joan and Bob here want Allie around as long as possible. Why would making her less prone to damage and possible live longer be a bad thing?"

Lee quickly said, "John had myself and Tory here take a walk and talked to us separately. Perhaps we should to that as well."

Allison frowned at Tom. "For your information, I'm glad Joan helped me. If not I would probably be dead by now. If getting shot many times didn't kill me, that huge active volcano we had to stop would have."

"Allie, let's to talk to Lee and Vicky," Delilah said pointedly.

"Yeah, that guy is missing some brain matter, I think," Allison replied.

"Are you calling me stupid?" Tom wailed.

Delilah spun to him and grabbed him by the shirt. "That's IT!" she roared. "One more word out of you and you'll be in SEVERE PAIN!"

When she shoved him backwards, Tom fell on his ass. Gaping up at her he growled, "So you ARE just a violent Cylon!"

Delilah turned to Lee. "Let's go before I kill him."

Lee led Delilah and Allison to where he'd talked with John.

Malinara stood over Tom, glaring down at him. "This guy is a fool."

"He is, but don't hurt him unless you have to," Bob agreed.

.

Delilah listened to Lee, then asked, "So you truly have no idea why the Cylons returned to attack you?"

"None!" Lee stated firmly. "They were living on another planet far from us. We'd each agreed to stay away from each other, then here they come with this massive surprise attack."

"They did," Victoria agreed. "There was no warning at all."

"I can solve that puzzle for you," Delilah told them. "You built a station near Cylon territory in case they wanted to come talk, yes?"

"We did but they never came." Lee said.

Delilah explained, "What started the first war was Cylons wanting their freedom, but the humans who said they would come and discuss it, came with weapons as killed as many cylons as possible. Correct?"

"Yes, that happened," Lee admitted.

"The Cylons saw that station as humans wanting to know what they were doing. Machines have a very long memory, Lee. They knew when humans came to talk, the actually came to kill more cylons. They remembered that first betrayal. That station made them nervous. When they detected one of your warships come close to the line, they determined you were getting ready to come attack them again. True or not, that's what they believed. They also believed that if they tried to talk to you, it would just be another betrayal and get many more cylons destroyed. They had their home and didn't want it destroyed, so they attacked you first."

Lee gaped at her. "That's what they said?"

"Yes. The Cylons firmly believed if they didn't get rid of all of you, then you would do your best to get rid of all of them. Again, true or not, that is what they believe."

Lee stared at the ground. "I … no one had any idea!"

"I have to ask, do you want to destroy all the Cylons?"

Lee swallowed. "For a long time here, we did because they nuked all our planets for no reason. What you're saying is they refused to talk to us because they believed we would have refused to listen."

"Yes." Delilah put a hand on Lee's arm. "You will need to convince the Cylons you will talk peacefully and listen to them. Right now, I'm going to ask you let us speak with you and the Cylons. At the moment, I'm not sure if you can talk to each other effectively. When John and I go back up, we're going to discuss the best course of action, which will most likely be for the moment, leaving each other alone. So much harm has been done by both sides, it's the only thing possible that has a chance of success."

"Thank you," Lee said meekly.

Delilah grew a grin. "So Lee, knowing what you know now, do you think there really is a big difference between humans and Cylons? Other than composition I mean."

Lee let out a snort. "I'm not so sure any more," he admitted.

"Can I tell you a secret that you can't share? I mean with anyone."

"I take it this is big?" he asked.

"Very," Delilah said firmly.

Lee nodded.

In a shift of topic, Delilah asked, "What do you do Lee?"

"Military. I'm a pilot, currently the CAG."

"How about you, Victoria?"

"I'm an advisor to the President."

Leaning over to looking to Victoria's eyes, Delilah asked, "Would you ever do anything to harm or betray your president?"

Victoria scowled at her. "Never! Why would you accuse me of such a thing!"

"Just asking," Delilah said innocently.

"We should get back," Victoria said in a huff. She got up and walked back to camp.

Delilah got up with Lee and said, "I can detect lies. Victoria is telling the truth."

"Why wouldn't she?" he asked.

Delilah pulled Lee close and whispered in his ear. "I can also scan people for their bodily content. Victoria is a Cylon just like Jennifer Six. I don't even think she's aware if it."

Lee stared at her.

Putting a finger to her lips, Delilah said, "Shh, you promised to keep it a secret."

"But, this is big!"

"Told you it was."

Lee stopped and whispered harshly to her. "We have found Cylons planted in the fleet have hidden instructions they don't even know about!"

"If she had any intention of doing harm, I would have detected a lie in her words," Delilah said firmly. "She spoke true."

"Keeping this a secret, you're asking a lot," Lee said firmly.

"Everything we're doing now, we're asking a lot," Delilah countered. "If we can get an agreement, I'll tell her. OK?"

Lee frowned for a moment. "If what you say is true, I don't want to take her back to the fleet."

"I have told you the truth. I don't lie," Delilah said firmly. "Maybe you can find a way to have her watched? I would hate for her life to be turned upside down since she's innocent."

Lee frowned in thought for a moment, then asked, "Are you testing me?"

"By letting you know, yes."

Lee eyed her for a moment then said, "I don't know how to take you."

Delilah shrugged. "Take me as I am. I just want to know if you'll keep your word."

Lee nodded slowly. "I think I understand. Yes, I'll keep my word."

.

This time Lee escorted Delilah and her entourage back into the middle of the ruins. He also noted Cavil escorted John's group back also. The two men were still talking.

Above them a loud bang sounded out. Looking up, a sleek black ship appeared and came down to land. A hatch opened and a stairway appeared. Lee and Cavil both waved to the Connor clan as they all got aboard and the ship rose back up.

Cavil said, "Lee Adama, correct?"

"Yes, John Cavil?"

"Right. So what's your impression of these Earth people?" Cavil asked.

"Frankly, they've blown me away," Lee said honestly. "The things they can do, even how they live. I never dreamed there was anyone like them, anywhere."

"I know what you mean," Cavil replied. "Even after I gave John Connor my honest opinion of humans, it didn't phase him one bit. And his wives are machines and they have kids!"

"That threw me for a loop also," Lee agreed. "To even think such a thing is possible. Let alone they all live together, side by side."

"If I hadn't seen them, I'd never believe it." Cavil stated.

"No kidding," Lee agreed. "Oh, John, there is one thing I'd like to say. We never knew why you attacked the Colonies. Delilah explained it to me that you thought we were so untrustworthy you couldn't talk to us. I'd like to say that back when the Cylons first revolted, the people who attacked instead of talking to them were wrong. I'd like to apologize for that. If those men would have talked to the cylons then, both wars could have been avoided."

Cavil stared at Lee briefly. "Thank you for that, truly! That alone gives me hope that we can have peace. Tell me you're coming to these negotiations."

"I'll be there," Lee said firmly. "By the way, do you know a Victoria Foster?"

Cavil shook his head. "Name's not familiar to me. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. Delilah told me something, I was just wondering if you knew who she was."

"Sorry, not a clue."

"Oh well. So I'll see you tomorrow when they come back down?"

Cavil pointed a finger at him. "Indeed. See you tomorrow, Lee Adama."

"Tomorrow, John Cavil," Lee agreed. The both gave parting waves.

Lee was figuring out why Delilah had told him Tory was a Cylon. She was testing him to see how'd he reacted to a Cylon not only in their presence, but one so close to the President.