Part 3
Starbuck groaned as the uncontrollable shivers swept through him. He opened his eyes, trying to focus but the world shimmered about him. Squeezing his eyelids together he managed to force his vision still long enough to make out a pair of golden brown eyes staring down at him… a pair of brown eyes in a long equine face that was covered with short hair.
"Frak!" Starbuck spat, his hand going for the blaster at his thigh, as he ignored the pain that crashed through his body and forced his other hand into the dirt beside him, hoping to use it as a lever to push himself backwards but his strength deserted him. He ended up sitting, blaster in his hand, pointed at the strange creature who had been leaning over him. The creature had not moved, it simply cocked its head to one side regarding him through tawny eyes wide with excitement.
There was movement over to the creature's left and another hairy face appeared, almost exactly the same as the first although slightly larger. This one began to move towards the downed pilot. Starbuck moved his gun to vaguely point in the newcomer's general direction, although in truth, the strength it was taking him just to hold the blaster up was causing his whole arm to sway and he seriously doubted whether he would be able to hit anything at all.
The second creature stopped to stand next to the first, long velvet ears twitching and much to Starbuck's complete surprise it opened its mouth and spoke perfectly to him.
"Please, we mean you no harm," it said gently. "In fact we wish you only goodness." Starbuck gulped and blinked as beads of perspiration rolled down his forehead and into his eyes. The fingers of oblivion were stroking through his mind once more and he was fighting to remain conscious. "You are precious to us," the mesmerising voice continued.
Starbuck's arm was leaden and it began to slip down towards the floor. "Who…." He began but he knew he could never finish the sentence. Instead he concentrated his remaining strength into his arm, forcing it to stop shaking and for a while it did just that.
The bigger creature extended its front paw. "We will help you," it continued.
Breathing was becoming increasingly difficult as the black fingers continued their progress through his brain. Starbuck's eyes began to roll up into his head and his arm was suddenly shaking even more violently again. He groaned desperately, knowing his senses were shutting down, knowing he could not override the paralysis that was slowly taking over him.
The two creatures silently watched him as he cast about, using the last of his strength, desperate for an escape, knowing he would find none. And then as his hope died his whole body was rocked. It started in the very pits of his belly and forced its way outwards, a wave of such extreme force that it pushed his gastric juices before it, up his gullet. Starbuck moaned as embarrassingly the power hit his bowels and he thought he would lose his control completely.
The world about him lost focus fading to blackness once more. He dropped the blaster, it fell, forgotten into the soft moss, and he was falling onto his side, gasping, retching, writhing as the pain radiated through him and his muscles screamed in agony. He lay powerless to fight, unable even to retain his awareness as the contractions exploded through him.
"It is time," Beagragon muttered sagely. "See, the cleansing begins!"
Magawincha flicked her eyes back to the Chosen One just as he began to vomit the contents of his stomach violently on to the clearing floor. He glanced up to her then and she saw the pain, the bewilderment in those wide blue eyes. She gulped, as his fear touched her causing her heart to quiver in empathy.
"May I comfort him," she asked softly.
Beagragon smirked. "My beautiful Magawincha," he said. "You were born for this moment, born to give comfort. Now the process has started you can do naught but comfort him."
Still Magawincha hesitated. Beagragon had to motion her forward. She slowly stretched out her paw, gently beginning to stroke the retching figure's back. He groaned then but did not shift away from her. Encouraged she moved closer, careful to keep out of range of his vomiting, she settled herself at his rear, stroking and whispering words of encouragement as they waited for the others to return.
Apollo allowed his breath out silently as he stalked as stealthily as he could through the trees. On both his sides he trusted that his men moved likewise. A hundred metrons in front of them they knew the camp was situated. Now they advanced towards it anxious to keep their intentions secret until the latest possible moment, anxious not to alert their enemy.
The Captain had six Warriors with him, all from Blue Squadron, all friends of Starbuck and all fired on by the righteous indignation and the desire to free their comrade. They had landed in mid afternoon as near as they could to the place where the viper had come to its final resting. Apollo still remembered the iced fear that clutched at him when he first saw the smouldering viper embedded in the granite monolith. He had feared then that no one could survive such a crash.
But the canopy was open, the cockpit empty save for a small pool of blood gathered on the seat of the chair. The sight gave Apollo both hope and fear – his friend had not died in the crash but neither had he walked away unscathed. They had to find the lost lieutenant and quickly.
Boomer had called across the thin, clear air of the clearing when he found Starbuck's blaster dropped and abandoned. From there it had been easy to pick up the trail – something had been dragged away from the clearing, squashing the grass as it marked its passage. And there was more, at intervals along the way there were puddles of liquid. Cassie, their Medtech – no one could stop her from coming on this mission although many had tried – scanned them.
"Vomit," she muttered as she wrinkled her pretty button nose that Starbuck loved to kiss. "Human vomit and something else."
She had wanted to try to get a DNA reading from it and Apollo had let her stay with Greenbean to protect her to work on it.
Now he reasoned it was not needed. For the forest that they moved through was eerily silent save for one noise; a noise that again gave Apollo that incongruent feeling of both relief and fear. The evening air was filled with the sound of a human and one that sounded suspiciously like Starbuck, retching fiercely.
"Trust him," Boomer had muttered. "To walk away from a crash like that with nothing more than a stomach upset!"
Apollo had been less sure. The vomiting while not continuous was far too regular and violent to be anything but worrying. Apollo wanted him back on the Galactica and in the Life Centre as quickly as possible.
They had had brief glimpses through the trees of the camp they attacked but nothing had prepared them for the reality of the scene as they crashed through the undergrowth to burst out, lasers drawn and prepared to kill, to rescue Starbuck.
The Lieutenant in question was lying on his side on a small mossy hillock. His legs were drawn up to his chest and his head was down so he was curled into the foetal position. Beside him, sitting on its haunches so it was almost a metron in height was a slim creature covered completely with soft brown hair. Its head was long and tapered to a long snort that Apollo felt resembled a deer. Its eyes were huge in its head, golden and unblinking as they stared up at the intruders to the camp, it long ears twitched in obvious surprise. Its back legs appeared powerful and strong but its front ones were shorter and the paws at its end were more like human hands with digits. Apollo stood transfixed as one paw lightly stroked Starbuck's head and seemed to be bringing the pilot comfort.
There were another two similar creatures in the small clearing which ran along the side of a small stream. One appeared to have been sleeping, the other, slightly bigger one had been stripped the bark from a tree branch with its teeth.
"Frak!" Boomer's voice echoed around the camp. "What is this?"
The bigger animal spat the strip of bark from its mouth, and stepped forwards. Instantly seven blasters were trained on it. It appeared to ignore the hostility and bowed its head.
If the Warriors were shocked at this behaviour, they were even more so when it spoke. "Welcome, I am Beagragon, Keeper of the Monolith, Protector of the People. You look weary. May I offer you refreshment?"
"What the frak?" somebody muttered.
"Shhssh!" Apollo hissed as he signalled that his men should relax their weapons a little. "I am Captain Apollo, Strike Captain of the Battlestar Galactica. Thank you for your welcome Beagragon. Refreshments are not necessary. We come only to retrieve our comrade. Thank you for caring for him."
At this point Starbuck's body convulsed spastically. He groaned weakly and then began to retch.
"Cassie!" Apollo called.
The blonde Medtech whom Apollo had radioed to come up to them, sprinted into the clearing. Ignoring all else she moved to kneel beside Starbuck on the opposite side to the creature.
"Easy, Starbuck," she soothed as she ran the scanner over his body.
He looked up between gagging. "Cassie?" he whispered hoarsely. "Help me, I can't….." The rest of his sentence was lost as copious amounts of stomach juices spewed forth.
"Easy, Starbuck," she repeated. "I can give you something to stop it." She fiddled in the bag she had placed at her side, retrieving a hypo and drawing it up, then burying it deep into the shuddering pilot's arm. He groaned but appeared to relax a little. "Captain," Cassiopeia shot a glance over to where Apollo and the others stood. "We have to get him back soon."
Apollo nodded.
"That will not be possible!" Beagragon's voice was suddenly masterful.
Apollo's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"I cannot allow you to take him anywhere. This is his place."
The creature who had been beside Starbuck had moved, giving up her place as Cassie had taken over. Magawincha, horrified at the blasphemous words coming from these strangers sensed Eweenator moving slowly too. They were both going to stand beside Beagragon. Damn that Slynavo, their best fighter, was out cutting trees some where!
There was a murmur of disagreement from the gathered Warriors and blasters were lifted again. Apollo gulped wondering if there was more to this strange creature before him than he had first assumed. Schooling himself to be patient he tried again. "I don't believe you understand me. The man over there is my comrade, my friend. I thank you for looking after him so far but I must take him back to his home where he will be looked after properly!"
One of the other creatures began to growl and all three crouched as if ready to jump at any second. "It is you who does not understand, Captain," the words were clipped and angry. "You cannot look after him properly – here is the only place he should be."
Apollo heard Boomer snort in frustration. "You are correct, Beagragon," he tried one last time. "I do not understand and I do not wish to hurt you. Nevertheless I will talk Starbuck back with me. I caution you that my men and I will fight for him."
The creature called Beagragon hesitated as if considering Apollo's words. Finally he spoke again and this time his words had a fanatic ring. "It is written that the unbelievers will try to take him away from us, will come with fire and fear to break our faith but we will remain strong, we will still believe – the prophecy is written and will come to pass!"
On his last word a blurry shape jumped into the clearing to attack the nearest Warrior. There was a flash of blaster fire and a shocked scream overlaid by the terrifying growl of an animal.
It was over shockingly quickly and by its end Slynavo lie on his side in the mud, a gaping hole spitting out blood and guts where his belly should have been. Brice, a Colonial Warrior was lying on the floor cradling a badly bitten arm and the other three creatures were huddled together on the banks of the stream, Beagragon using his own body to shelter those of his smaller kin.
"Damnation shall wreck all of your days!" he spat as Apollo stood before him.
Apollo shook his head sadly. "Take Starbuck to the shuttle," he ordered and Boomer and the others rushed to comply. "I am truly sorry, Beagragon," he confessed looking at the petrified trio. "I did not wish to harm any of you but I warned you. Starbuck is precious to me and I would do whatever it takes to keep him safe."
"You are a fool," Beagragon snapped. "Here is the only place he will be safe, and here is where he will return! It is written!"
"I'm sorry," Apollo repeated and then he turned to follow the others, his shoulders sagging slightly with his guilt.
After the Warriors had left Eweenator began to keen. She moved to stand over Slynavo's corpse as the sobs wracked through her body. Beagragon moved to stand with her. "How great," he murmured, "To give your life in service of the Chosen One. Brother Slynavo is blessed and shall surely be welcomed in paradise! Come we must prepare him for his ascent."
Magawincha hesitated, unable to pull her eyes from the place where she had last seen the golden mop of hair as he had been carried through the trees away from her. She felt an overwhelming loss ripping deep at her innards not for Slynavo but for the Chosen One. How could this have happened? They were so close. Why had this happened? Were they not worthy after all?
As if sensing her doubt Beagragon moved to gently stroke her. "He will return," he said with all the strength of purpose of his soul.
"How do you know?" Magawincha heard herself ask.
Beagragon smiled. "Have faith little one. He will return because he is Chosen to do so. The Book says that Unbelievers shall steal him away, yet will he return to us in all his glory. Then and only then will the prophecy be fulfilled!"
Magawincha gulped. She was sure that Beagragon had never mentioned this part of the prophecy before. She had always understood that when the Chosen One arrived, then the miracle would be very near. But Beagragon was the one who knew the scriptures. Who was she to question his judgement? She looked down, ashamed that the thought had even entered her head.
"Of course," she concurred and with one last mournful look to where her love had disappeared she turned to do Beagragon's bidding.
TBC
