Chapter 4
A pow wow of sorts was being held in Adama's quarters. Lee and Kara had gone there as soon as they returned from Moya to update the old man on what they had found out.
"Tell me again exactly what he said," asked Adama, pinching the bridge of his nose in worry and fatigue.
"In the TV show on earth, Baltar supposedly brokered a peace deal between the humans and the Cylons, but it was actually a trap and a fully armed Cylon force turned up and destroyed the defenceless human fleet and the colonies. Baltar got a powerful position in the Cylon empire out of it." Lee repeated what Crichton had told them about Baltar.
"That isn't something that Gaius Baltar could have done."
"No sir, but it is an inescapable fact that it was his computer defence programme that was breached by the Cylons, allowing them to destroy most of the fleet so easily, and there was all that business with the Shelley Godfrey woman."
"And he does seem to know a hell of a lot about the Cylons and their technology," Kara added.
"I have a bad feeling that we've been played here," Lee went on. "If you ask me, we're damned lucky that Crichton happened along to open our eyes to what's been in front of us all this time."
"But then you've never been a paid up member of the Gaius Baltar fan club have you son? I have to say that I'm a little surprised that you seem to be jumping to conclusions here; you're usually the one reminding everyone of a citizen's right to be thought innocent until proven guilty." Lee flushed at his father's words but noticeably didn't back down.
"I think that playing even the smallest part in mass genocide on such a scale might waive a few rights."
The small battle of wills between father and son was broken by the appearance of doc Cottle with a deep scowl etched across his face.
"Well?" asked Adama.
"Their story stands. I've run the blood samples I took from the child and the reference samples his parents gave me. John Crichton is definitely human but he's not from any of the twelve colonies; there are some obvious evolutionary differences as you would expect. Aeryn Sun definitely isn't human and the child is the expected mixture of both."
"I don't think we have any reason to doubt them, sir. They have nothing to gain by raising this question over Baltar," Kara pointed out.
"There's something else," went on major Cottle. "A while ago Baltar came to me and demanded a brain scan. He was acting even weirder than normal; took me three goes to get the frakkin' idiot to lie still in the scanner. He seemed to be worried about 'foreign objects' in his brain. He was less than happy when I found nothing."
"What's your diagnosis, major? Is he psychotic?"
"How should I know; I'm not a psychiatrist, but I do know that he's a frakkin' moron!"
Adama smiled slightly.
"Thank you for that ever eloquent medical opinion, major; I doubt you'd get much disagreement from anyone in this room." He sighed and was lost in quiet thought for a moment. He looked up to see three expectant faces staring at him, waiting for some pearl of wisdom to be delivered. "We need to think carefully about what to do here. The press have been going crazy wondering about this strange ship that suddenly appeared near the fleet. They're not going to stand for Roslin's playing dumb act much longer, but I want them kept out of it for the time being. I don't want to give Baltar a chance to get away or come up with some clever excuse that manipulates opinion within the fleet. If he is a Cylon collaborator we really need to find out how deep he's in and what information he's given them. Let's get him and Crichton in front of the president and the quorum asap. Tell them we want to discuss the information provided by our friends aboard Moya, nothing more specific than that, but I want the meeting held aboard Galactica so that we can control the security properly."
-
As they left his father's quarters Lee noticed that Kara was very quiet and he tried to start up a conversation to lift her out of whatever funk she had gotten herself in to.
"Boy, I always knew there was something weird about that guy."
"Yeah Lee, go on, rub it in, just go ahead and spell it out: it's very likely that I slept with the guy who helped the Cylons destroy most of the human race."
He felt his hackles rise at her tone, but for once he squashed down any smart retort: it was obvious that she really was very upset.
"I didn't mean to accuse you of anything, Kara or to make you feel worse than you obviously already do."
"Well it doesn't feel that way." She looked close to tears.
"Come here." He pulled her into a hug. "You weren't taken in by him much more than any of the rest of us were; we elected him vice president for frak's sake. I'm sure that alcohol was probably involved to impair your judgment that night." That raised a slight smile. "Hey, you should see some of the girls that I thought were attractive enough to be potentials fraks when I'd had enough ambrosia. I think one may even have been a guy in drag." She laughed weakly so he kissed the end of her nose and gave her a final comforting hug. Kara sighed; he really could be incredibly sweet sometimes.
−
Having been briefed on the plan by Lee and Kara, Crichton glanced around the room at the quorum of the twelve with interest. He and Aeryn had been introduced to them all, including the president and Baltar, but every time he looked around the room his gaze kept coming back to Tom Zarek. He couldn't escape the feeling that he'd seen him somewhere before. Suddenly everything clicked in his head.
"You're Apollo!"
Zarek turned and stared at Lee, who was standing behind him.
"Well of course he is."
"No you're Apollo," John replied, pointing directly at Zarek. "In the Battlestar Galactica I remember you were Adama's son, Apollo."
The members of the quorum looked at each other in surprise: was this a mad man that Adama was putting in front of them?
"Thank you for that interesting observation commander Crichton," cut in Adama, "but I can assure you that whatever he may be, Tom Zarek is definitely not my son," he noted dryly, to some nervous titters of laughter from the quorum members. "Now if we might get on. Captain?"
"Yes, sir." Lee strode to the podium and proceeded to give a precise and in depth account of the navigation information that they had gleaned from Crichton's information. The detail and Lee's monotone delivery were both designed to convince the quorum of Crichton's veracity and lull them into a semi-somnolent state: it was exceedingly effective. Crichton would have clapped in appreciation of Lee's performance had he not been fighting to keep his eyes open!
"So in conclusion, we now have precise charts of the position of Earth relative to the Lagoon nebula," Lee finished up.
"Are we any closer to reaching the nebula itself?" asked the representative from Aerilon, fighting a yawn.
"No, but once we reach it we know where to go next, which was something that wasn't clear to us before Commander Crichton provided this information."
"And has Commander Crichton been able to provide any other useful information about Earth?" asked the representative from Geminon, beginning to wonder why they had all been dragged on to the Galactica for this dreary astronomy lesson.
"Yes! Yes he has," replied Lee. "Apparently our quest is already known about on Earth."
There was a gasp of surprise around the room. This was something that made the quorum members begin to sit up and take notice. Crichton charged into the fray. In a falsely deep, dramatic voice he said,
"Fleeing from Cylon tyranny, the last battlestar, Galactica, leads a rag tag, fugitive fleet on a lonely quest for a shining planet known as Earth! There's adventure, love, heartache, handsome heroes and really bad baddies; it's a real crowd pleaser."
"I take it that we're supposed to be the good guys in this scenario?" commented Zarek sarcastically.
"Oh yeah, you're all super heroes. Except there was a villain of the piece amongst you, like there usually is; the rotten apple in the barrel, a bad egg."
Six had appeared beside Baltar. She was dressed in a tight fitting black outfit as if she were going to a funeral.
"Don't trust him, Gaius," she whispered in his ear.
"And who exactly is that?" asked the president.
"Say something, Gaius! Stop this." Six sounded angry.
"Madame President, I really don't think we should listen to any more of this nonsense. As vice president and chief scientific advisor I think I should examine any evidence that these people have to offer before it is presented to the quorum. It's obviously highly unreliable."
Crichton went over to where Baltar was sitting and leaned across the table, getting right into his space.
"Well you would, wouldn't you, because in the version of Battlestar Galactica that I know about the bad guy's name was Baltar. Interesting coincidence huh?"
Shouts of amazement from the quorum members reverberated around the room. Baltar stood up so fast that his chair crashed to the floor.
"Oh this is preposterous! It's just gibberish! This is a complete fabrication made up by the commander and this…this…person from who knows where to discredit me."
"I would like to point out that all of Crichton's other remembrances have turned out to be strikingly accurate. The remainder of the twelve colonies' quest to find Earth, the lost thirteenth colony. Pilots called Starbuck and Apollo. A battlestar with a commander called Adama and his right hand Colonel Tigh. And there is no question that he is from Earth. Major Cottle has confirmed it through medical evidence." Adama's voice was calm, but his hard gaze bore into Baltar.
There was uproar in the room: everyone was voicing their opinion at once, some supporting their vice president and some people demanding Baltar explain how this coincidence was possible.
"This could be the end, Gaius, game over, adieu rather than au revoir; you need to stand up to this man, show these people who to believe in. God would expect nothing less of you." Six' relentless voice echoed in Baltar's ear above the cacophony.
"Will you shut the frak up?" He stared at her then shifted his gaze back to the quorum, realizing that he should be addressing them. "I mean will you all please be quiet; let's have a little decorum; this is supposed to be a government after all!" He drew himself up to his full height and addressed Crichton. "I won't be slandered in this way. What makes you think that you can just waltz in here and make accusations like this without any substantiating evidence?"
"Hey, I'm not accusing anyone. I'm just pointing out that the Cylon collaborator in the show I know was called Baltar. It's you that's getting all bent outta shape about it."
"Well I demand the right to discuss this matter privately before this goes any further. I won't be tried in front of my peers on a whim and without a chance to hear the evidence against me first." Baltar could feel every eye in the room watching him. He looked frantically for Six again but she had disappeared. Crichton watched him carefully, putting two and two together.
"They're here aren't they? The Cylons are talking to you," he said quietly.
There was complete silence in the room. Baltar stared at him in wide-eyed terror.
"She told me not to trust you," he whispered.
"Who? Who told you?" Every one held their breath as John held Baltar's gaze. They stared at each other for what seemed like minutes and then suddenly Baltar's shoulders slumped in a gesture of defeat.
"There's a Cylon in my head. She was here, but now she's gone."
"They're all the same these imaginary friends. Just using you for what they can get. Helpful one minute, killing you the next."
"I think that the Cylons have planted some device in me. It's manipulated my brain. You don't know what it's like. Your mind isn't your own." Baltar muttered in despair.
"Believe me I do: been there, done that and got the frelling tee shirt. An evil genius planted a chip in my brain and he tormented me for years. What's yours like?"
"I met her on Caprica. She was one of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen; a blonde goddess. I thought she wanted the information about my defence programme for her research work. We were involved so I suppose I let her have what she wanted. She told me that she was a Cylon on the day they attacked. She helped me to escape Caprica, but then she just started appearing everywhere. She isn't there all the time. She just appears when it suits her. She tells me that God has a plan and that I'm part of that plan. She gives me sexual pleasure if she's pleased with me."
There was a collective gasp and a hiss of whispers around the room.
"Oh man, how'd he get so lucky?" Crichton said in an aside to his wife. "I get the ugliest son of a bitch in the whole damn universe in my head and he gets a fantastic horny blonde hotty!" Aeryn shot him a frown. "Not that I would have enjoyed that. No, no. Not…at…all! Now if she'd been a dark haired ex-peacekeeper that would have been more like it." His wife raised her eyebrows and gave him a slight smile.
"I'm not a bad man; I didn't do anything on purpose. It's just…..she flattered me and I couldn't resist her. I'm sorry….truly, truly sorry." Baltar was now looking about the room, playing his last card by trying to elicit sympathy. Crichton could read him like a book and went in for the kill.
"Oh yeah, I can see that you're really weighed down with the guilt of it all; you've obviously been in a deep well of contrition and remorse since you found out that you played a fundamental role in the downfall of your own race. What's it been? Six months? A year? Hey, but what's a guy to do? Confess his sins and accept the punishment of his people or get elected vice president and have illicit sex with an imaginary female machine! Geez, I've done some pretty despicable things in my time to stay alive, but you just sicken me man."
Gaius fell to his knees and started sobbing. The stunned silence in the room was broken by the president.
"Well, commander Crichton, that was certainly an enlightening discussion. Any more revelations that you'd like to share with us?" John grinned at her.
"No ma'am!"
Adama motioned for a team of marines to take Baltar away to the brig.
"We need to decide what to do with him Madame president." Several suggestions were made by the quorum members, ranging from throwing him out an airlock to putting him on to the Astral Queen and letting the prisoners "take care of him", but no one seemed willing to reach any final conclusions so Crichton spoke up.
"We'll take him."
"What?" chorused Adama, the president and his wife in unison.
"Its OK honey, bare with me here. You guys don't want to have to deal with him and you don't want the Cylons to know what's happened to him. We've got plenty of experience in dealing with basket cases with other people inside their heads," he grinned at his wife. "At least Aeryn has. We'll take the problem off your hands. Moya used to be a prison transport so we've got plenty of secure accommodation and I know just the place to take him."
"I take it that you've got a plan in mind for him?" asked his wife.
"Oh yeah! Major payback time!"
She shook her head in wonder at him, but didn't object any further.
"Well if you're willing to take him off our hands then we're more than grateful." The president held out her hand to Crichton and shook on the deal.
"We'd better get a move on and get back to Moya. I've got a feeling there's a wormhole coming soon and we need to go back through it."
−
They said their final farewells in Galactica's the hanger bay.
"It's been an honour, John," Lee said, shaking Crichton's hand.
"Likewise."
"If you're ever in the area…."
"Yeah, I'll drop in and make sure that I have a good supply of beer. We never did get to finish that Nicks game and I have to show you Star Wars; you'll love it!"
Aeryn hugged Kara. "Remember what we talked about. Do it!" she whispered in her ear.
"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya." Kara rolled her eyes. Lee gave her a funny look and she just smiled sweetly back at him.
They stepped onto the transport pod, leading a handcuffed Baltar between them. As the pod pulled out of the bay, Lee turned to Kara shaking his head.
"Did I dream all of that or did it all really happen?" he asked her. She pinched him hard on the arm. "Owww! What was that for?"
"Just checkin' for ya. Nope, definitely not a dream!"
−
In Moya's command, John waited patiently for the wormhole; he predicted that they had about another five minutes before it would appear. Baltar was gazing out of the view window at the fleet, trying to comprehend how he had ended up here and process the fact that he was being taken away from everything that he knew. John wrapped a friendly arm around his shoulders.
"Now Gaius. Do you mind if I call you Gaius? We've got a lovely cell….I mean room for you here on Moya and we're gonna take you to see a great guy who knows all about neuro-chips and invisible alter-egos frelling with your mind. He'll sort you out just fine. I'm sure you'll like him; I mean you've got so much in common; he'd sell out his entire civilisation for his own ends as well. His name's Scorpius, but I kinda like to call him Scorpy. Harvey or grasshopper works too. He's got this lovely, comfy chair; you'll have a blast……..!"
THE END
−
Author's note: there it is! I've been struggling with this chapter for the last week, trying to get the balance between drama and humour. I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for all the feedback.
P.S. For those of you wondering, Chiana is on Hyneria with Rygel!
