The Fates
The first bullet strikes the bulkhead and drives inward with a shower of sparks and failing electrical systems. Nya jumps toward it and rips it open. She ducks the flames, using her hands to pat out the smoldering wires. Leoben moves to help her as Lee and Zarek move toward the Vice President.
Lee's voice is soft. "Put it down."
"Get away from me!" Baltar's voice cracks from the stress. "Do you know what he is? What it is? It's a machine! You're listening to a machine!"
"Put it down." Lee reaches out for it but Gaius swerves away from him, Six at his shoulder like an avenging harpy.
"He shot the guidance system!" Nya calls out. "Take that frakking thing away from him before he shoots anything else."
"We can reroute power through the subunit." Leoben says as he and Nya turn immediately to the problem of fixing the damage. They both assume that Lee has Gaius well in hand.
"Let me get the toolkit." Nya spins to walk toward the aft wall. The next shot punches a hole through Zarek's arm and the Quorum leader falls. Lee jumps at Baltar and they fight for control of the weapon, but Six lends her strength to the battle and the gun wavers all over the bridge.
Everyone freezes as another bullet strikes the overhead - bursting a light fixture. But no one except Leoben catches Six's movement, pushing Baltar's aim toward Nya. He shouts as though that might stop time…but time never stops. Not for the God-blessed and not for those blessed by Gods.
The last shot echoes out and Lee snatches the gun away from Baltar. He shoves the Vice President away from him and holsters the pistol. A quick glance shows that Zarek's wound is bleeding but isn't serious and Nya is still upright. He strides to the communication relay and opens a line to Galactica.
"Galactica, this is Apollo on board EV Journey."
"We copy that, Apollo." Dee's relief is audible through the connection. "What is the status on board?"
"One injured."
"By the Cylon?"
"Negative, the Vice President." There is silence on the line as Lee gives Baltar a dirty look.
"Nya?" Leoben's question is soft, she hasn't moved since she stopped, like she's waiting for something to happen. "Nya?"
"Daughters of darkling night much-named. Draw near, Infinite Fates, and listen to my prayer." Nya's prayer is not really an answer.
"Gods…" Zarek says it as an epithet.
Blood pours out of her cupped hands and splatters across the floor as a Cylon screams out in horror.
-----
"Why are we coming to this?" Leoben demands as he follows Nya along the rocky coastline of Delta on Sagitarron's uppermost continent.
"Because." She gives him an exasperated look. "The entire crew is coming. You don't go on a long journey without asking their blessing."
They reach the final outcropping and clamber over it. A Priest is waiting for them along with the rest of the crew of the Journey. Many are wearing the robes and garlands of their personal deities and even Nya reaches into her pocket and pulls out the tiny silver chain and pendant that represents Leucothea, savior to sailors and the shipwrecked, both of oceans and stars. Leoben has no such thing and searches himself for the day he lost faith in the gods, only to find no answers.
The Priest begins as soon as they take their places within the circle. "Daughters of darkling night much-named. Draw near, Infinite Fates, and listen to my prayer. From whence you came, wide coursing round the boundless earth. Your power extends to those of mortal birth and born with hope elated. A race presumptuous, and born to decay."
"Whose life is yours in darkness to conceal until each completes his appointed round. And hears from you, Life's last living sound."
The Priest approaches the altar and the sacrifices that have been set up to appease both the Gods and the Fates combined. He sprinkles sacred water across the offerings, each in turn and then pours the remainder out upon the soil. "Let no one speak an ill-omened word on this day."
"So say we all." Answers the congregation except for a silent Leoben.
"These men and women go forth to do your will. Bless them. Keep them safe and bring them home."
"So say we all."
-----
"Put your hands against it!" Lee presses Leoben's hands into her injury. He reaches up and slaps the comm. unit again. "Galactica, we are slowing to initiate boarding. Two injured. I repeat, two injured, one serious."
"Do you require Doc Cottle?" Dee's transmission is overshadowed by Adama's demand.
"Are you hurt, Lee?"
"Not me." Lee is trying to answer and guide Leoben's hands where they can do the most help. "Commander, it's the pilot. Baltar shot the pilot."
"We're coming." The reply is all that Lee needs to hear.
They ease her down to the deck as Zarek grabs his coat and balls it up under her head. Nya is pale and shaking as shock sets in.
"Hang on." Lee orders. Leoben's hands are pressed deeply into her stomach and he stares in shock at the seemingly vast amount of human blood that covers them. His pale blue eyes, dilated with his own fear, are fastened tightly upon the woman that he knows he loves.
Nya's mouth makes the words so softly that it's not audible, but Leoben knows the prayer. "…whose life is yours in darkness to conceal…"
"You're not going to die." He gasps, trying to draw comfort from his own words. "Nya, you can't die. If you die, I'm going to kill him."
Gaius shrinks away on the other side of the room. "I wasn't aiming for her!" He shrieks.
Zarek pulls Lee away and replaces the younger man's hands with his own. "Get him out of here. We'll deal with this."
The look Leoben gives him is nothing but gratefulness, but there is a hint of something else underneath. The sheer savagery of a prophet who thinks he has nothing to lose or gain from his next actions. His slippery hands reach for purchase against the skin of her stomach and he jumps as he can feel her pulse race up through the contact as though searching for a new home.
"This was not how it was supposed to happen." He says to her. "God's will is not suffering."
She can't answer as a spasm of pain wracks her body.
"What if God is wrong?" Zarek's voice is so matter-of-factly that Leoben almost mistakes what was asked. Then the words hit home.
"That's blasphemy."
"Not necessarily. If God is so right, you wouldn't doubt the reason for her death. Do you have doubts, Leoben? Your God says that all humans should die. That she should die." Zarek removes his hands and pulls Leoben's away as well. Nya winces as blood begins to pump more strongly from her wound.
"No!" He drives his hands back down to compress the injury and can feel the pulse lose strength as her body tries desperately to stop the hemorrhage.
"Take your hands away. This was meant to be."
"No!"
"So who is right!"
The question brings a howl of anger as the last few subroutines that lingered in Leoben's mind shatter under the onslaught. He topples over and Zarek rushes to reapply the pressure. The human side of him wars with the Cylon side, programming evaporating and giving way to choice. Free choice, bound by no law except his own.
"Leoben?"
"I see now." He reaches down and plunges his fingers into her abdomen. Zarek falls backwards in horror, but Leoben ignores him as he feels for the vein that was nicked when the bullet struck her. Nya faints dead away as he reaches just a little deeper and pinches it off. He sends a tiny spark of energy down through his hand and cauterizes the end of it.
"What did you do?"
Leoben glances up and then back down at the blood coating his hands - her blood. That which he realizes he would die a hundred deaths to protect. "I've chosen a side."
-----
Six slams Gaius into a wall as soon as Lee Adama locks them into the small conference room. Her hair has come undone and is disarrayed around her face. "He has to die! Of all the things to go wrong! We have to kill him now!"
"I already tried that." Gaius tries to push her away. "How could he hear you? What the frak are you?"
"SHUT UP! Don't you understand? He could ruin everything!"
"I'm the one frakking the imaginary Cylon. He'll tell Adama. Oh my god, he'll tell them. This will be the end of everything. All because of you!"
She snarls, not so beautiful anymore as the vicious beast uncoils from its shell. "Get a grip, Gaius. This is bigger than you."
"Not to me it isn't."
She stalks towards him until her face is less than an inch away from his. "If he can subvert God's word, then it's possible that Sharon can as well."
"What would that mean?" Confusion is written all across his face.
"What happens when you become that which you're trying to destroy?"
"Fates have mercy." The prayer is out of Gaius' lips before he can stop himself. A childhood summoning that reminds him exactly what differentiates humans from Cylons. She would never have made that mistake.
"Not the Fates, Gaius. God."
Thanks again for reading. I love to hear it all; good, bad and ugly. Sorry for doubting whether or not Sharon can really love Helo - but I always wondered, how could she really know that it wasn't a program? Hopefully the arc will restore some faith. :)
Credit for the Fate's prayer goes to the Orphic Hymns which I altered somewhat to use.
Chapter 6 preview. Does Baltar really have the faith to finish what he started? What will happen when Zarek and Lee trust a Cylon more than they trust a human? And will it lead to the discovery of Six's real identity?
Stay tuned...