Thirteen

Chapter Seven:

Will the real Boomer please stand up?

"Ok, let me get this straight. These new arrivals, the Colonials, show up and claim that there is a younger version of me that's really one of these…what did you call them, sir?" Lt. Col. Sharon Valerii asked.

Admiral David Rissen replied, "They're known as Cylons. According to the Colonials, they are an offshoot of mechanized beings that they had created decades earlier. We have reason to believe that these Cylons had contact with some organic technology and were able to mimic it in some way. President Hollifield believes that the Vorlons may be involved, because these people came across the border we have with the former Vorlon Empire. Admiral Adama from Galactica claims to have proof and is bringing over the corpse of one of your 'copies' that he claims shot him some time ago."

Lt. Col. Valerii shook her head, stood up and walked around his office, then turned to her commanding officer and said, "Sir, what baffles me is how she got the nickname "Boomer". You know I went to the University of Oklahoma before I entered Earthforce Academy, right?"

Rissen asked, "What does have to do with this?"

"The nickname for the sports teams there is 'Sooners', and one of the cheers the crowd makes at football games is 'Boomer Sooners'. Since I was a cheerleader there and had a loud voice, that's how I got my nickname 'Boomer'. How she got it…sir, this is all confusing to me! I hope you understand that!"

Rissen nodded and replied, "I do. No one is accusing you of anything. Besides, if the Vorlons were involved, they very well could have kidnapped you without your knowledge, taken some of your DNA, and used it to clone copies of you. Either them or someone close to them. For now, think nothing of it, but stay clear of the Colonials. I'll deal with them myself."

Valerii returned to duty, manning the office in the Observation Dome and watching ships arrive and depart. She was finishing off a report for requisitions for the Colonials when a StellarCom transmission came over a Gold Channel frequency, asking for her. Valerii pulled it up and saw the image of an old friend staring back at her.

"Shellie G! Long time no see! I haven't seen you in years! But why are you on a Gold Channel frequency?"

Dr. Michelle "Shelly" Regina Godfrey stared back at her old friend from college days in Norman, Oklahoma and a smile came to her face. "Hey, Boomer! Listen, I've been trying to contact the president regarding a medical procedure I need to perform on his wife. You know, legal mumbo-jumbo." Godfrey said, rolling her eyes at the mention of legalese. "I've not been able to get hold of him, even over Gold Channel. Earthforce says that his ship is under 'radio silence'. Is there any way for you to get a message to him, or put me through to him, because this is very important!"

Valerii replied, "I heard about the First Lady. What do you need to do?"

"Well, she's got a lot of nerve damage that we need to straighten out in her spine. She's temporarily paralyzed until we clean it up, but it's nothing too complex about the procedure. But you know how we doctors like to cover our asses, so I need his approval because he's got power of attorney over her at the moment. I'd really appreciate any help you could be in this!"

"I'll run it by the admiral and see what he can do. I don't know what President Hollifield is up to, and I probably couldn't tell you even if I did know."

Godfrey held up her hands, showing the load of reports she had on her desk, and laughed, "I've got enough on my hands without having to worry about state secrets, but I know what you mean. Just do what you can to let him know and I'll take it from there."

"Will do. Hope to hear from you again soon, G!"

"You too, Boomer."

Later on, Lt. Col. Valerii was in Medlab 1 with Admiral Rissen, Dr. Biggs, as well as Admiral William Adama and Colonial President Laura Roslin, and they all stood around a table on which laid a body covered up with a white bed sheet. "So this is her?" asked Valerii, matter of factly.

Biggs nodded and uncovered the body, showing the autopsied remains of the Boomer copy that had been shot by Specialist Cally out of revenge for what she had done to then-Commander Adama by shooting him once in the gut and twice in the chest after a successful mission to destroy a Cylon basestar. The older, Earth-born Valerii looked at her younger copy and said, "Well, it looks like me, from about fifteen years ago or so. I'd say probably around the time of the Telepath War. She looks to be how I looked when I was between 23 and 25."

Adama coughed and said, "I'm sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, but we just need to know if they based this Cylon model on you, or, in fact, if you yourself are a Cylon model."

Valerii looked at him unfazed, replying, "Well, if I'm artificial, they did a damn good job of faking me. I was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on what we call the North American continent. My dad worked as a civilian at the Earthforce base located nearby, and I lived there all my life. I went to the University of Oklahoma as part of the Reserve Officer's Training Corps for Earthforce, and went to the Academy after graduating. Since then, I've been assigned to a dozen bases on Earth and off world. How they got any of my DNA is beyond me."

Biggs thought for a moment, then asked, "Was there ever a time you were unconscious for any length of time, outside of being put under for a medical procedure?"

Valerii thought back, then snapped her fingers, "You know, there was that time during the Telepath War where I was assigned to the Agamemnon and we were sent to investigate raider activity near Proxima 3. We got jumped on because their base ship had a jump engine and my fighter was hit. The bastards fragged the rest of my squadron, but somehow managed to only damage my fighter. Well, I take that back, there was another pilot who survived the dogfight."

Rissen asked, "Who was that?"

"Guy by the name of Aaron Doral. He was a Lieutenant, if I recall correctly. He'd just been recently assigned to the ship and was my wingman for the mission. Doral got hurt badly during the encounter and left Earthforce not much longer after that. So far as I know, he's back on Earth."

Adama and Roslin both looked at each other and exchanged similar looks. Valerii noticed this and asked, "Don't tell me! Lemme guess: there are copies out there of Doral, right?"

They both nodded, and Valerii turned to her commanding officer and asked, "I want to find out who did this, because I don't appreciate having my DNA taken to make whatever the hell these things are. Whatever I can do to help, admiral, count me in!"

Inside the Earthdome's Medical Center, Dr. Shelly Godfrey poured herself a cup of coffee and didn't bother to add anything to it. She needed that strong, black coffee to help pick her up in the mornings. She brushed aside a strand of her light brown hair from her face and sat down in the hospital's cafeteria to eat her breakfast.

"Morning, Shelly. Have a good night last night at the concert?" said administrator Aaron Doral, who had his tray filled up with food and a steaming cup of java as well.

"Good morning, Aaron. Yeah, my gal pals and me had a great night at the concert. Going to see Ping Pong in concert brought back a lot of memories from high school, and it gave Dieter a chance to have an early start to a long weekend with the kids."

Doral nodded and said, "Good. At least you two still get along. As for me and my ex-wife, I think Narns and Centauri get along better than we do. At least we didn't have kids together, and she's too proud to have asked for alimony."

"Any luck with that new gal from India that just started working in the office?"

Doral shook his head. "Too early to tell. Indira's friendly, but she's still not agreed to go out on a date. Always have one excuse or something."

Another doctor came up to the table and sat down, with a similar array of foods and a cup of coffee on his tray. Doral looked up and said, "Hey, Leo! Vikings gonna win this weekend?"

Dr. Leo Conoy had his hair in its usual buzz cut, and the old man shook his head at the question. "Nah, Minnesota's playing Cleveland this weekend, and the Browns are good again this year, so I doubt we'll pull it off this weekend. Speaking of football, you still owe me ten credits from my LSU Tigers beating your Michigan Wolverines last weekend in Baton Rouge."

Godfrey laughed as Aaron Doral said, "Okay, okay, I'll pay up! I still think that was a touchdown pass no matter what the referee saw in the replay. Those ACC officials always side with you SEC bastards against the Big Ten!"

Godfrey said, "Yeah, but who's ranked number one again this week? Who blew the doors off Tennessee at Knoxville, mind you, 63-14? I think we know who that was!" and she smiled as she ate a forkful of eggs.

Both men shook their heads in disgust and it was Doral who said, "After what your Sooners did to my Wolverines last year in the playoffs, makes me wish we still had bowl games like they had back in the early 21st century!"

Godfrey was about to playfully stick the figurative knife a little deeper, but an older blond haired woman came in with an Earthforce officer. "Are you Dr. Godfrey?" asked the woman.

"Yes! You must be D'anna Biers, the First Lady's sister! What can I do for you?" Godfrey replied as she shook the hand of Ms. Biers.

The two walked off to visit First Lady Twanissa Hollifield in her private room, and the two men looked on as they departed. "You know, Leo, I think she'd be interested in you!" said Doral as he elbowed his friend.

Leo chuckled and replied, "Yeah, like I'd stand a chance with her at my age!" The two men laughed and finished their breakfasts.

On board the Independence, Earth Alliance President Garrison Hollifield was going over the plans for the raid on Caprica with General Susan Ivanova, Captain Siobhan Brennan, Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, and Rangers Denise Sanchez and Dar'an, a Minbari female who was taller than the president. They were going over the plan to find the Caprican Buccaneers group that Starbuck had encountered on the planet when a Gold Channel message came through to the ship. XO Akhbar came onto the console and said, "Sir, it's a Dr. Godfrey, and she says it's about your wife. Shall I put it through?"

Hollifield said, "Excuse me for a moment." , getting up from the table and standing in front of the communications panel to answer the call. "Receive."

A disheveled looking older blond woman in a white medical coat was on the other end of the call. "Finally!" she sighed and then quickly composed herself, "Mr. President! My name is Dr. Shelly Godfrey, and I am sorry to bother you, as I am sure you have important matters to attend to…"

Hollifield replied, "No, that's quite all right. When it comes to my wife, I'll make time for her. What do you need of me?"

As they conversed, Starbuck's eyes widened. It can't be her! That voice…, she thought as she focused on the woman. It wasn't quite like the Cylon woman she had fought on Caprica when she was in the Delphi Museum to retrieve the Arrow of Apollo, but it sounded a lot like her and looked like her if she had aged fifteen years.

"Have you been able to contact anyone in her family? She has a twin sister that lives in Auckland, New Zealand…" said the president.

"Yes, she's here. D'anna?" Godfrey said, and Starbuck's eyes nearly shot out of her eyes when she recognized the woman on the control panel as the same woman who was a reporter for Fleet News Service, only older, roughly the same amount of years as the doctor was.

Starbuck whispered, "My Gods!", and put her hand to her mouth, trying to quell the fear rising inside her. Ivanova noticed and asked, "Something wrong?"

"You could say that." Starbuck whispered back to Ivanova. "I recognize those two women in the monitor!"

Ivanova asked, "How do you know them?"

"Because they look like, or at least what they would have looked like when they were younger, some of the Cylons I've encountered. One I didn't know until I saw that D'anna Biers come on screen."

The implications hit Ivanova just as the president turned away from the monitor, saying, "Sorry about that. An Aaron Doral needed me to approve of a medical procedure that Dr. Godfrey will be doing on my wife. D'anna thought she could approve of it, but the law says it has to be a spouse if the patient is married. Paperwork!" Hollifield rolled his eyes, then noticed the mood at the table had changed, and really got worried when he saw the look on Starbuck's face. "What's the matter?"

Ivanova looked at her old friend and said with that certain tone in her voice that always indicated serious trouble was ahead, "We've got a problem, Mr. President."

Hollifield replayed the message for Six and Dr. Gaius Baltar and Six looked like she'd seen a ghost. Gina, the Cylon copy of Six that had been horribly abused on the Battlestar Pegasus, had been moved to the Independence and was under heavy sedation as Dr. Stephen Franklin was personally caring for her. "Is that…me? Is she alive?" asked Six.

"Very much alive. I didn't recognize the resemblance because I've only seen Dr. Godfrey a few times when I was at the hospital with my wife, but seeing Gina confirms it."

Dr. Baltar walked away from the monitor, deep in thought, and then said, "But she's older than she is, as well as Gina! How can this be the same model?"

Hollifield said, "I don't think this is a model, doctor. I think this is the original."

Baltar looked shocked, saying, "You can't be serious! How did the Cylons go to Earth and get copies of these people?"

It was Six who answered the question, and it began to mark a change in her. "I don't think it was the Cylons who got the DNA for my copy to be based on. I think it was someone working for them, or with them. I can't think of anything else that would come up with it. From what I've read of Earth culture from the files I've had access to, I see way too many coincidences between Cylon philosophy and that of certain Earth religions and philosophical movements. I thank you again for the access, Mr. President. They have been quite…revealing."

"No problem. As an old friend of mine once said, 'There are no coincidences'." Hollifield replied, and all three stayed deep in thought over the consequences of these revelations that had come about on this day.