Thirteen
Chapter Twenty
Quiet Company
Admiral William Adama never thought he'd see it. When he told those assembled in the hanger deck for the funeral of those lost in the Cylon attack at Ragnar Anchorage, he had no idea even if Earth existed. He had told them it had and that he knew where it was, just so that his crew would have some hope. He had come to realize, though, that he had said it to give himself some hope for the future as well.
Starbuck had called him on his lie, which prompted her to disobey orders and follow President Roslin's and go back to Caprica to fetch the Arrow of Apollo. Strangely enough, it was the start of events that led to this moment.
The spaceport at the Earthforce base near Geneva was massive and vast, covering a great deal of the countryside across from the Earthdome, bordering Lake Geneva, in France. They landed at the farthest point on the field, docking in a location where few officers and enlisted men would be hanging around. President Hollifield had given orders to clear out that section, making it clear that questioning why he gave such orders wouldn't be good for the officers' careers who dared do such a thing. Hollifield's time in Earthforce was well known, and his service in the Battle of the Line, even though it was more than thirty years now in the past, still resonated with the commissioned officers.
When the shuttle doors opened, Adama tasted fresh air for the first time since Kobol. It was a cloudy, overcast day in Geneva, as fall was in the air, with a hint of the oncoming winter added for spice. He was glad that they recommended a jacket for this journey, because there was a chill in the air around the base.
"So this is it? Earth!" said Colonial president Laura Roslin with reverence. Granted, the view wasn't that great on the military base, but she had seen the mountains off in the distance as they flew around to find the exact place that they were ordered to land in. Lee "Apollo" Adama also was a bit speechless as he followed them off the shuttle. As the commander of all Colonial forces turned to his commander in chief, he could tell that there were tears in her eyes, as if she'd finally arrived at the destination that she had long dreamed of. It was then that he realized that he also had some tears clouding up his vision, and he quickly put paid to them.
Former Interstellar Alliance president John Sheridan followed them off, with Michael Garibaldi bringing up the rear. "Looks like rain. I hate rain." Garibaldi grumbled, which prompted Sheridan to chuckle and add, "You hate it because you're not used to it, being from Mars."
"Maybe I'm just nuts, but I'll never get used to water falling from the sky. There's just some things that water shouldn't do, ya know?" Garibaldi was tugging at his jacket, as the chill was a bit more than he felt comfortable with, but luckily for the lot of them, a limousine pulled up. The driver, an Earthforce officer, opened the door, saying, "President's compliments!". Roslin and the Adamas got inside first, then Sheridan and Garibaldi followed. It was very roomy inside, and the quintet had plenty of room to stretch their legs and relax after the long trip from Babylon 5.
As they drove off as part of a motorcade, Adama looked through the tinted windows out to the mountains that rose above the city of Geneva. They were snow-capped, and he imagined that they got quite a bit of snow during the wintertime. It also occurred to him that, much like the Colonials, the Earther's year was split up into twelve segments.
"So what month on your calendar is it?" Roslin asked, which bemused Adama. Sheridan said it was a month called October, adding, "In the northern hemisphere, the seasons are changing into our colder period, which we call winter."
Apollo's face squinted, and he said, "That's funny, we call it that too! You know, the more and more we interact with you Earthers, it seems like we have way too much in common."
"I agree.", said the elder Adama, "I'm not much for coincidences to begin with, and even if I was, this would stretch my belief in them to well past the breaking point."
"I know. It's something that troubles me, to be honest. It's possible after being separated from us for two millennia that we might have a few things in common, but there is just too much in common between us for this to be anything coincidental." replied Sheridan.
"These…Vorlons, you called them?" Roslin asked, which both Sheridan and Garibaldi nodded as she continued, "You said that they might be the likely suspects in any kind of interference, especially since our worlds were in what you called their territory. You must know that this is troubling to us, especially since this may mean that some of our religion might have been the creation of these aliens."
"We don't know that for sure, though. There once were other races just as old, if not older, than the Vorlons or the Shadows. We don't know as much about them as we'd like, because they mostly fled after the penultimate war with the Shadows over a thousand years ago. It's very possible that they could have also been involved in all of this, perhaps in alliance with the Vorlons."
Adama sighed and said, "This is almost too much for an old man like me. Just when you think you've seen it all…"
"Yeah, tell me about it!" Garibaldi added, and the three older men shared a laugh. Apollo changed the subject, asking, "Where are we going? This seems like a different direction than Geneva."
"You've got a good sense of direction." Sheridan said, adding, "We're heading to a city called Paris, which is the capital city of a country on our world called France, which is part of the European Consortium. President Hollifield is going to host a reception for all of you with high-ranking members of our military and government tomorrow. Today, though, we'll take in some of the sights of the City of Lights."
"Why not do it in Geneva?" asked Roslin.
Garibaldi answered, "Hollifield wants to do this in a way that doesn't raise too many red flags in the media. Our media is quite nosy; especially those who cover the government beat. He also doesn't know for sure if there aren't Cylons here on Earth, so he doesn't want to tip them off possibly to what we are up to. That's why his chief of staff has allowed the secret to sort of slip through, but in a way that clouds up the whole story so much that the people don't know what to believe. It's couching the truth inside of a big lie, and someone once said 'if you tell a lie long enough'…"
"Best not to bring him into the discussion, Michael."
"Whose him?" asked the admiral.
"A guy by the name of Hitler. It's a long story."
Hollifield knew he had to tell the Senate about the Colonials, and he had to do it in a way that got across to them that they needed to keep their mouths shut. He decided to just give them a closed-door intelligence briefing before the whole Senate in their chambers, which perked up the ears of the media but also allowed his ever-able chief of staff, Dan Tanner, to help swerve them away from the truth. A part of Hollifield hated to lie like this, as the sense of morality long established inside of him by his uncle Walter nagged at him, but his political smarts told him that this was the wise course. As his mentor Luis Santiago once said, "Jesus may have never lied, but he never sought public office either, and he never had to deal with the media."
The room had been swept of any transmission devices, and Hollifield's trusted associates were using a jamming device that blocked any other recording devices that might pick up what was going to be said in the Senate chambers. Not since the declaration of martial law twenty years before had there been a closed session like this, and Hollifield had to reassure the senators that there was a very good reason why he was taking this extraordinary measure.
Instead of a staid speech, he used a series of photographs and videos in his address, laying it out for all of them, trusting them with the unvarnished truth. Many of his political enemies were in the chambers, but he also knew that they respected him enough to know why he was doing this. Normally during something like this, the senators didn't ask questions, but he had informed them all that he would field them, and the senators did just that. His answers bespoke of the seriousness of the matter.
"So these Cylons have somehow acquired the DNA of humans and used it to clone them into an unknown amount of copies? Do you know if any of them might be here on Earth?" asked Senator Hideki Modamo of Kenya.
"I wish I could say yes or no to you, but the fact is that we just don't know for sure. However, we are going under the working assumption that they have agents here. That's why we are keeping this at the ultra-violet level of security. I am sure you all can understand why I would want the highest security for something like this." Hollifield replied.
Senator Aswri Hosemi of Iran raised her hand up, asking in her Persian-accented English, "Are we sure there are only twelve copies? With all due respect, Mr. President, but I just can't believe that they would only settle on just a dozen of them."
"Senator Hosemi, you touch on something that troubles me as well. I don't know this for sure, but I get the feeling that the dozen we have found are only the beginning. You could call them prototypes, for lack of a better term. What worries me is what the version 2.0 of these humanoid Cylons will be like. Now, if there are any more questions…" Hollifield's presentation took over two hours, but the question and answer session took much longer than that.
He managed to get back to his office late that night, where Dan Tanner was waiting for him with his evening briefing. "Well, that went a lot easier than expected. Now the question is how many of them will leak it to the media." Hollifield said as he sat down in the chair behind his desk.
"Perhaps we could inform some of the reporters about this off the record. Might be wise to have a few of them on our side." Tanner added.
"Maybe. Incidentally, I hope you don't mind not attending the reception tomorrow night in Paris. I know it might raise eyebrows, but we need to keep our little secret about you or else all hell would break lose."
Tanner sighed and said, "If they found out about it, the Colonials would be the least of our worries. It would open the mother of all Pandora's boxes, and I'd rather not have to subject ourselves to that kind of inquisition."
"Yes indeed. We should do all we can to avoid that kind of situation." A voice said from the other side of the room. Alwyn and Galen emerged from the shadows of the darkened office, which didn't surprise Hollifield and Tanner in the least.
"Abso-fraking-lutely we should! If they knew of Dan's true origins…" Hollifield exclaimed.
"Fraking, Mr. President? That's an odd curse word, if I may say so!" Galen observed.
"Blame the Colonials for that. Now, I've got a job for the two of you, if you two are up for it…" Galen and Alwyn looked at each other, then sat down in the two other chairs in the room, and Hollifield explained what he wanted from them.
"It's a long journey into unsafe territory. The Vorlons never exactly had a warm place in their hearts for us." Galen mused when Hollifield finished.
"C'mon, my boy! Where's your sense of adventure?" Alwyn chided.
"Where's your common sense?" Galen replied.
"I know it'll be difficult, and I wouldn't ask it of the two of you if I didn't need the information. However, I have a couple of people here that will be of assistance to the two of you." Hollifield pressed a button, and a man and a woman came into the room.
Galen perked up to see his old friend and wife enter the room. "Matthew, it's been a long time!" he said as he nodded to his friend.
"Too long, Galen! So where's that girlfriend of yours?" replied Matthew Gideon.
"She's sleeping in the ship. Best not to lead her into temptation, especially in this city.", replied Galen.
"So, what do you and Mrs. Gideon think of this?" Hollifield asked.
The former Elizabeth Lochley added, "It's not everyday when we're asked to come out of retirement to help out some old friends. Besides, the tourist season is over for now, so we have to find something to pass the time until spring. So what do you want us to do?" After he got through with what he needed of them, Matthew Gideon sighed and said, "Well, I've always been up for some adventure. Just never thought it'd be going into the proverbial lion's den."
"So are you and Lizzie up for it?"
Before her husband could answer, Elizabeth Gideon said, "You're damn right we are!"