The Starburst was the largest luxury liner in Orion's fleet. It catered for everything a person could want. Climate domes which spanned from polar, to desert, to rain forest among others. Five star luxury accommodation, casinos, spas, nightclubs and the finest in wine bars and restaurants. Before the fall, it had been one of five ships which only the very rich and famous could possibly afford to vacation aboard.
One of the ten luxury conference rooms was full of press and members of the public. All waiting for what would be the first of many chances for them to speak to the people running the fleet. A door to the stage opened and out walked Commander Johannsen, presidential candidates Milo Vents and Edgar Vance and the woman who would be chairing this afternoon's press conference Natasha Cobb.
She walked to the podium and was flanked either side by the men who had come on with her.
"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. For those of you who don't know, my name is Natasha Cobb and I have been assigned the position of fleet liaison leading up to the presidential elections. We have brought you all here today to tell you about what is going to be happening over the next three months. It has been decided that for the safety and the ongoing security of the fleet, Commander Johannsen, the commanding officer of the Battlestar Orion will declare martial law. There is no reason for anyone to panic at the though of this. Nothing will change in the day-to-day running and your day-to-day living. As soon as a president has been elected the running of our fleet will be handed over. With immediate effect we are imposing a new identification system. Every man, woman and child will be issued with their own ID card. This will be used for travelling between ships, it will be used as a kind of passport. It is also to help with keeping track of how many survivors we have, where they are from and what they did before the war. These cards are mandatory and it will be the responsibility of each ship captain to make sure everyone who lives on his or her ship has one. As I am sure you are all aware running the day to day goings on of the fleet, keeping on top of the security issues that we have and are sorting out every day and commanding a ship such as the Orion Commander Johannsen has, in agreement with our two presidential candidates and the fleet's Captain's designated myself and one of his senior officers, Lieutenant Georgia Taylor as the people you will report any issues or questions to and we will do our best to help you in any and all ways possible.
As you all know by now we are going to be holding Presidential elections in three months time. So far Milo Vents who before the attacks was the mayor of Caprica City and Edgar Vance who is the former secretary of defence are so far the only candidates. Anyone else in the fleet that would like to be seriously considered for this illustrious position has a further two weeks to put his or her candidacy forward. After that two weeks the candidates will begin their campaigning and we will be having live debates where questions will be asked so you can get to know the people who want to be your president. Once a president has been sworn into office he or she will then begin to put their cabinet together much as they would have back on the colonies. We want to create a democracy, which will benefit the people and the safe running of our fleet.
We would like to also address all the speculation as to where we are going now that we have left our colonies behind. Commander Johannsen took the initiative to leave our devastated homes and find a new world that we can settle on and begin to build new lives. This is a task that could potentially take a long time. There are very few planets out in open space that have all the conditions that we need in order to survive. The science vessel Columbus along with members of Orion's crew are putting together a list of specifications that we need. Just because we find a planet doesn't mean that you should all expect to settle there. There will be long and strict testing procedures that must be met.
The security of the fleet as well as its protection will always be left in the more than capable hands of Commander Johannsen. I would like to take this opportunity to give thanks the men and women who fight to keep us safe every day and say on behalf of the people of our fleet, thank you."
Everyone in the room began to clap as she spoke, "Without you gods only know where we would all be now. Over the coming days there will be more of these conferences so that any questions, queries and grievances can be aired. For now I would like to say thank you all for coming and do any of you have any questions?"
Nearly every member of the press core put his or her hand up.
Skeeter was trying to get to grips with his new position. He had been appointed as a deck hand on Orion. Currently he was working in Orion's Viper construction factory. He had thought having a history as a mechanic, he would be well suited to constructing fighters, he was beginning to think he had over estimated his abilities. As he tried to assemble yet another part of an undercarriage his hand slipped and deeply sliced his palm open on the tool he was using.
"Frak." He said to himself as he reached over and wrapped a rag around his palm, "Chief." He shouted.
Chief of the Deck Arthur James walked over to him.
"You okay Skeeter?" he asked.
"I'm gonna have to head down to sick bay." Skeeter replied.
"Is everything okay?" Arthur asked.
"I've just put a screw driver through my hand." Skeeter replied holding up his hand covered by the already blood soaked rag, he briefly moved the rag away, instantly, blood poured onto the deck.
"Frak me, go go." Arthur said.
On the walk to sickbay a lot went through Skeeter's mind. Back on Sagittaron and Caprica he had no idea what he would do when he joined the fleet. Now he was here, he had thought getting a job on the deck would have given him more time with Mark, that couldn't have been further from the truth. Since he had been cleared for duty, Skeeter had barely seen his friend. He had also been re-assessing his mechanical knowledge. Give him a car, jeep or motorbike and he could take it apart and rebuild it from the ground up, his knowledge was not however transferring over to building Vipers and Raptors.
As he walked into the sickbay he saw the doctor sitting at her desk.
"Good afternoon Skeeter, everything okay?" Dr Hammond asked.
"Erm not really, I've just had an incident with a screw driver." He said pointing to his hand.
The doctor sat him down and began to take a look at the wound.
"Ouch." She said, "This must hurt."
"Well it doesn't tickle." He replied with a laugh.
"Well you came to the right place, I'll give you some painkillers and get you cleaned up." Hammond said.
"Thank you." Skeeter replied.
"So how are you finding life aboard Orion?" she asked as she handed him some painkillers followed by a glass of water.
"Want me to tell you the truth? Or want me to make something up?" Skeeter replied.
"The truth." Hammond replied as she began to clean up his hand.
"I hate it here." Skeeter said.
"It's that bad?" she asked, surprised.
"I thought as I'd been a mechanic, I would be able to just get on with the job, you know, transferable skills. Gods know what the Chief thinks of me? I have to ask for help all the time. What goes where etcetera. I thought taking this post I'd see Mark and Vannick all the time, I've barely seen them at all over the last month. I really don't think I'm cut out for this." Skeeter answered, sadness in his voice.
"Any ideas on what you're going to do?" Hammond asked.
"Doctor/patient confidentiality?" Skeeter asked.
"Always." She replied.
"I'm thinking of asking the Commander to let me go. I'm not cut out for this. I've been talking to Michaels one of the other survivors I was with back on the colonies, and he says I can go move into his place for a while." Skeeter said.
"Is he the guy living in the polar dome?" she asked.
"That's the one." Skeeter said.
"Can I give you a heads up?" Hammond asked him.
"Sure." he replied.
"If you're sure you want to do this, talk to the Chief first. Don't go straight to the commander." Hammond told him.
"You see that's another reason, I can't get my head around the military. When do I salute, when or who do I say sir and ma'am too. As I'm not actually a member of the military, do I even need to do that?" Skeeter said frustrated.
"Think about it before you do, you're not going to be doing any work for a while anyway, this is going to need a lot of stitches. Talk to Major Hunter, relax and give it serious thought." Hammond replied.
While the conference had gone well, the commander couldn't wait to get back to Orion.
"Commander." A voice said from behind him. He turned and saw a woman walk over to him.
"May I have a moment of your time?" she asked.
"If you can talk and walk." He replied.
"Thank you sir. My name is D'Anna Biers I'm a member of the press core." she said.
"Yes, I believe you're the one who has been sending interview requests?" he replied looking straight ahead.
"That's correct sir. I've wanted to interview Major Hunter about his experiences on Sagittaron and Caprica. I've talked to some of the people he saved and I've heard that he's quite the hero." she said.
"And you expect what sort of answer from me? I will not speak for the Major." Johansson replied.
"No sir, but you can put in a good word." she said.
"And why would I do that?" he asked, looking at her for the first time since finding out who she was.
"I'm going to be blunt, there is a large section of the fleet who distrust the military, and even with everything you've done for us. We all know what Pegasus did to those poor people and honestly, there are some out there who are scared you could turn round and do the same thing to us. I want to interview the Major because I think if they can see the type of man he is, what he's been through and with the position he holds so highly aboard your ship, then it would go a long way to quashing those fears." she replied in a matter of fact tone.
"Irritatingly Miss Biers you have a point. I'll speak to Major Hunter, that's all, I promise nothing." he said.
"That's all I ask." she replied confidently.
Archangel laid face first into the cockpit of his Viper. He had spent the last week trying to tweak the controls of the ship so it was more sensitive to pilot like his bird on Atlantia had been. The chief had thought he was crazy when he told him what he wanted to do, claiming no one could fly it after he had finished, but he knew to get the best out of it, these things needed to be done.
"Major." He heard the commander call from the hanger deck. With great care Archangel managed to manoeuvre, twist and wiggle himself back around, groaning and swearing loudly as he did.
"Yes sir?" he replied.
"May I have a word with you?" the Commander asked.
"Of course sir." Archangel answered
Archangel walked down the ladder to meet his CO.
"While I was on the Starburst I was approached by a journalist called D'Anna Biers." the Commander said.
"Sorry sir, I hoped she would have got the message by now." Archangel replied.
"She said that she wants to write a piece on you to help put the military in a more positive light throughout the fleet, a hero piece." Johannsen said.
"I'm no hero and what's wrong with the military?" Archangel replied.
"Scuttlebutt on Pegasus is still going round the fleet, people are worried that one day we could do something similar. It might do some good to let her interview you." he replied.
"Is this an order?" Archangel sighed.
"No, just a suggestion." he said.
Archangel sighed, "Fine can you get someone to arrange a time and a place?"
"Of course." the Commander replied with a smile.
"Thank you, I think." Archangel said sarcastically.
Skeeter walked down the hanger deck. As always it was bustling with life. He walked up to the Chief who was checking through spare parts.
"Chief can I have a word?" Skeeter asked.
"Sure. How's the hand?" Arthur replied with concern.
"Twelve stitches but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I know I haven't been here long, but I really don't think this job is for me. I want to request to be relieved of duty, please?" Skeeter asked.
"You sure about that?" the Chief replied.
"Come on, you of all people know that I'm not up this, people's lives are on the line down here, my best friend's life, I just can't get my head around this. I can't be responsible for the death of a good person, because of my stubbornness in doing a job that I know I'm not qualified for, please Chief?" Skeeter said.
"Well I won't say we wont miss you round here. I know that you've been having your problems, but you're sense of humour certainly lightens the mood down here." Arthur replied with a smile as he patted Skeeter on the shoulder.
Skeeter jumped as condition one began to sound.
"Action stations! Action stations! All hands set condition one, Cylon contact, launch Vipers." Colonel Garrett said over the COM.
Everyone went about their business as quickly as they could. Pilots began to appear and get into their Vipers and Raptors.
"Okay everyone let's get these birds into the tubes." The Chief yelled.
Skeeter saw Archangel and Bojay running towards their birds. Skeeter quickly ran over to them.
"Good luck out there." Skeeter shouted as Archangel got into his Viper and put his helmet on.
He gave his friend the thumbs up and winked as his canopy was secured into position.
Minutes later all the vipers and raptors were away. The Chief put the pilots chatter over the speakers, "Okay guys, lets get the spares ready in case they're needed, you know what you need to be doing."
"Okay kids we've got sixty inbound. Let's mop em up. Open racks and engage." Archangel said.
Skeeter stood in silence and listened as he heard his friends engage the enemy. Gunfire and shouting voices of the pilots echoed along the huge hanger bay. Skeeter was scared for his Mark. He looked at the other members of the deck gang and they all looked the same. A blank expression as they listened to their friends fight for their lives.
"Frak we lost T Bone." Bojay said over the COM, "Hold it together guys. Raptor's 5 through 10 form missile picket by Orion and engage."
Skeeter needed a cigarette but knew he couldn't smoke on the hanger deck, this was one of the most stressful moments of his life. He could only imagine how Mark, Bojay and the others must be feeling.
"The fleet is away, all Vipers and Raptors return to the barn and prepare to jump the ship." Garrett said over the COM.
"Okay guys let's get ready for the birds return." the Chief shouted to his crew.
Nearly ten minutes later Skeeter found himself walking the many halls of Orion with a cigarette in his mouth. He had to get away from here. At least when they were on Sagittaron and Caprica when they were fighting Cylons he was out there with his friends fighting side by side, now he just found himself feeling more useless as the days passed. Before he knew it he found himself in the memorial corridor lined with photographs of the crews loved ones. He stopped at the pictures Mark had added and stood looking at his friends Danny and Grace.
"Need some company?" Vannick asked.
Skeeter turned his head and saw Vannick standing next to him.
"How are you sergeant?" Skeeter asked.
"Good, getting used to life here. You?" Vannick answered.
"Leaving." Skeeter simply said.
"Why?" Vannick asked surprised.
"Same reasons I've been telling you for the past couple of weeks. I'm heading over to the Starburst as soon as the Chief gets it all approved." Skeeter replied
"We're gonna miss you over here buddy. You told Archangel yet?" he asked.
Skeeter shook his head, "No I barely have enough time to say hello to him these days. The life of a CAG and all that."
"Well make sure you do before you go anywhere, you're his best friend after all." Vannick said.
Skeeter just nodded his head, "You got time for a drink?"
"Sure my shift just ended."
As Archangel checked over his bird after the fight the Chief came over to him.
"Major there's a call for you from CIC." He pointed over to the phone.
"Thanks Chief." Archangel replied.
Archangel walked over and picked the phone up, "Hello." He said.
"Archangel it's Colonel Garrett, there is a journalist here to talk to you in meeting room four." Vanessa said.
He could tell there was a smile on her face and she was trying not to laugh.
"Can I make her wait a while?" he replied.
"She's already been waiting an hour for you." Garrett replied.
He sighed and rubbed his eyes, "On my way." He replied before putting the phone down, "Chief can you finish up my checks I've been called away?"
The Chief gave him the thumbs up.
D'Anna Biers sat by herself in the large meeting room where she had been for the last hour. She had expected they would make her wait but she was getting ready to give up and cut her losses when the door opened and Archangel walked in. This was the first time she had seen him. She had heard all sorts of stories about him from humans and other Cylons. He was as imposing as she had imagined him to be. The young man, still in his flight suit held out his hand, which she shook.
"Major Mark Hunter, pleased to meet you." He said as he sat down.
"D'Anna Biers fleet new service, thank you for agreeing to meet with me." he replied with a smile.
"If the commander hadn't thought it would be a good idea, trust me I wouldn't have." He replied.
"Well thank you anyway and I will make this as painless as possible. I'll be recording our conversation. Before the attack I would have been filming you but you use what you have." She replied as they sat down.
"That you do." Archangel replied.
"Shall we get straight into it?" she asked.
"By all means." Archangel said.
"Tell me about your life before the attack?"
"I was the CAG of the Battlestar Atlantia, a position I had worked my whole career to get." Archangel replied.
"I hear you are the youngest CAG in the history of the colonial fleet?"
"That's correct." he said
"What made you want to become a pilot?" D'Anna asked.
"A friend and I just decided one day. We had no plans for the future and to be honest at the time we thought it would piss off our parents." he said chuckling, "When we both got in we found out we loved it."
"Can you tell me about your parent?"
Archangel hated talking about his family. While he and his father had disagreed on much, they had always agreed, what's private is private and that had always included family. "I'm assuming you already know who my father is, Galen Hunter, he ran the largest fuel company in the colonies. Before the Fall, I heard he'd branched out into building ships for civilians and the military. Wouldn't have surprised me if one day he'd run for president. He had an ego like you wouldn't believe when he was the Galen Hunter the public knew, the man you all knew wasn't the same as the man I knew. He was as kind as he appeared, I'll give him that, generous to a fault, but he was stubborn. He was always right, even if you could show him the proof he was wrong. He was not pleased when I signed up. He intended on my working for him, it was not part of the plan. The last time we saw each other was a good day though, the day I made captain," he smiled for a moment, "He told me he was proud of me for the first time. My mother was too good for him. Her smile was enough to make everyone else smile. She was the kindest person I've ever known, everyone loved her." he paused for a moment, he couldn't talk about her any more, "My brother Illum, he was going to be someone. He was finishing college and he'd already signed for the Sea Bucks. He was good, I've never been prouder of anyone. I don't think any of them survived."
"Tell me about the day of the attack?"
Archangel let out a sigh, it was as fresh in his memory as if it had been yesterday, "I was on Sagittaron, I'd gone home for extended shore leave the day before the attack. I'd met up with some buddies I hadn't seen in a while and we got very drunk." He had a smile on his face while he remembered that part, "The next day we didn't see any of the morning, and I woke up with the hangover from hell. When I looked out of the window I saw nuclear clouds in the horizon, lots of them and suddenly the hangover was gone. My best friends Skeeter and Danny had stayed with me. We went into the town and looked for survivors but we couldn't find anyone, we found bodies but no one alive. Our friend had taken one look at the nuclear clouds and taken his own life and then the man who owned the local market where we had shopped since we were kids. We bought our comics from him and he always used to give us sweets, someone had beaten him to death. Of all the things I saw that will stay with me the longest. He was the most generous kind man anyone could want to meet, he would have given the shirt off his back to someone he'd never met if it meant it would help them. I wish I'd got there in time." Archangel said with sadness in his voice.
"What would you have done?" she asked.
"Whatever it took to keep that man alive. Anyway when we got back to my house that's where we found Grace. She had been hiking in the mountains when it happened and she had found my house when she was trying to get into the town."
"She was one of the casualties?" D'Anna asked, knowing full well what the answer was.
Archangel nodded his head, "Yeah, she was killed by Cylons a couple of weeks after Danny."
"What type of relationship did you have with her?"
"Erm, what? Excuse me?" Archangel asked sternly.
"I had just heard that you both got on well." she asked smiling apologetically.
"It took the end of the world for me to find the woman I loved." He said with sadness in his voice, "The Cylons killed her just as we had found a Raptor to get off Sagittaron and get to Caprica."
"Can I ask why you went to Caprica and didn't just go off into space?" D'Anna asked.
"Many reasons. I knew that our best chance of being rescued was to get to the capital. Going out into space would have been suicide. We would have run out of everything we needed before we found any kind of sanctuary." he replied.
"Did you know the fleet was gone then?" she asked.
"No but I had guessed it was. If they had survived the Cylons wouldn't have moved in and I had to do everything possible to keep the others alive."
"You had found others by then?"
"We found more people on Sagittaron. Vannick who is a marine, Bria another pilot and a group of civilians."
"Can I ask, at any point did you think of just giving in?" she asked, genuinely curious what the answer would be.
Archangel shook his head, "Oh yeah, when Grace died. If Brother Ramok hadn't found me when I did I was about to put a round through my head."
D'Anna was actually shocked, "Really?"
"Yes. It was when Grace died that it hit me, the emotion of everything that had happened. My parents and brother were dead, my friends and squadron were dead, and one of my best friends was dead. One thing I don't think the civilians in this fleet seem to realise, is that we're fighting to protect them everyday and every single one of us has lost all the same things they have. They have time to mourn, to wallow in their pain, we don't have that luxury." he said.
"Was it just Cylons you had to contend with on the colonies?"
"I wish it had been. Some of the people we met were worse than the Cylons. I figured out the Cylons hate us, I mean totally hate us with everything they are, with every fibre of their being. But our own people, our own flesh and blood, they made the choice to turn on their own, to kill, to steal. If there is one thing that the Cylons do that we could learn is that they are united against their common foe." Archangel said.
"It almost sounds like you sympathise with them?"
"No that's not it. While I've been in the military I've witnessed the kinds of brutality and cruelty that most people will never have to witness and the worst of it was from humans. At least you know where you are with a Cylon, it wants to kill you it will do everything in it's power to either put a bullet between your eyes or rip you apart limb from limb. Some of the humans I've met they smile, they welcome, they offer you somewhere safe to stay, somewhere to rest your head for the night and then when you're at your most vulnerable, they strike. Some of the hardest battles we fought on the colonies were between us and other humans." Archangel remembered.
"You've killed a person before?" she asked.
"Yes, I've killed a lot and every single one of them wanted to kill me first. If I wasn't going to let the Cylons kill me I wasn't going to let a human."
"So what made you change your mind? One minute you we're about to kill yourself, the next you were fighting again for your survival?"
"I realised that I was being selfish. These people looked to me to keep them alive and I made a promise to myself and to them on that first day that I was going to keep them alive, the more the group grew the more the feeling grew. It's the same as it is now, just on a larger scale. The people of the fleet need me, need this ship and need this crew, it's exactly the same."
"Did you loose anyone when they attacked today?" D'Anna asked.
"Yes we did Lieutenant Kyle Turner, but we called him T-Bone. He was a good man, from Picon."
"May I ask do you know all the names of your pilots?"
Archangel smiled, "Yes I do, every single one, I owe them that much."
"Is it easier to be a CAG again?"
"Easier than what?" he asked.
"Being on the colonies?"
"Very much so. On the colonies we were running for our lives every single day. Some days we would get lucky and they would either leave us alone or they wouldn't find us. Other days we were fighting them off with everything we had. At least now I have a little more firepower behind me and a safe place to lay my head that isn't either in a cave or a forest. I'm by no means a religious man, but Orion is our saviour. The first time I saw her was one of the best moments of my life, I'd been shot in the chest and the leg but all I could think was they're safe."
"What do you think of the unease in the fleet because of what Pegasus did?" she asked.
"I can't say I'm surprised the people are uneasy. I can't imagine what they went through, being striped of everything that could possibly keep them alive. What the crew of the Pegasus did was unforgivable."
"What would you say to them to try and ease the unrest?" she asked.
"The first thing, Commander Johannsen is not Admiral Cain, he is a decent, good man who has nothing but their best interests in mind. I know these people are untrusting of us but they need to know that Orion and the people who serve aboard her are only concerned with their safety and survival. We risk our lives every day to keep them alive, T-Bone risked his life and died in the process. I would ask that they try to trust us because anything else is a slap in the face to his memory and every other member of this crew and my squadrons who have died so far. We will die for you, all we ask is you cut us some slack and at least try to trust us." he said.
"Thank you Major I'm going to leave it there." She was genuinely shocked by her short time with Archangel, unknown to her, like Grace before her she was totally taken in by him.
"Is that enough?" he asked.
"Yes it is and I can't thank you enough for talking to me. I just want you to know that I am going to give you the hero piece you deserve."
"Just do one thing for me?" he asked.
"Anything."
"Please don't call me a hero, I don't do any of this for a pat on the back or a medal on my chest. I do it because it's the right thing to do, because it's my job." he said.
"Of course. Oh could you do one last thing for me in return?"
"Sure." he said as he stood up.
"Say hi to Bojay, tell him I'm thinking of him."
Archangel let out a little laugh, "No problem ma'am."
Doctor Hammond sat looking at a brain scan. It had been exactly as she had feared and now she had to share the worst news possible. She turned to Hawkeye who was sitting opposite her.
"It's bad isn't it?" Hawkeye asked.
"Jenna I don't know how to tell you this." Hammond replied.
Tears began to fall down Hawkeye's face, "The headaches, it's what we feared isn't it?"
Hammond nodded her head, "You have a brain tumour."
"Is there anything at all you can do?" Hawkeye asked, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"I've discussed it with the specialists on the Medstar and I'm afraid there isn't, Jenna I'm so sorry."
"How long do I have?" she asked.
"I would think about eight months at most."
Hawkeye began to cry properly, "How bad will it get?"
"Jenna we can give you medication, there are procedures we can do to give you as much time as possible." Hammond replied.
"Will it keep me in sickbay?"
"We would transfer you to the Medstar and yes, you would be there for most of your time."
Hawkeye wiped the tears from her eyes, "No." She took a deep breath, "I'm going to go and live whatever life I have left till I can't."
"Whatever you choose I'll back you completely. Would you like me to tell the Commander for you?"
"No, I'll tell him myself." Hawkeye replied.
Skeeter walked into the pilot's mess and was greeted as always by pilots who were pleased to see him. He saw Archangel, Bojay and Bria all sitting together.
"Hey look who it is." Bojay said handing Skeeter a shot, "You're just in time. All you guys shut the frak up. We're all here today to pay our respects to Lieutenant Kyle Turner. He was one hell of a viper jock, one hell of a man and we will all miss him. May the gods take his soul and take it into the afterlife. So all you mother frakers raise your glasses, to T-Bone."
"T-Bone." Everyone shouted before downing his or her drink.
Bojay took a knife out of his pocket and walked over to the wall where all the other names of those lost had been carved and began to put his name on it.
"How you doing?" Bria asked.
"Better than I have been. Mark can I have a quick chat?" Skeeter asked.
"Sure." He replied downing another shot before following him out of the mess, "Are you okay?"
"I'm leaving Orion." Skeeter replied.
"What? Why?" Archangel replied, this had been a curveball he hadn't been expecting.
"I can't do my job here. I'm a car mechanic, not a viper mechanic. I nearly put a screwdriver through my hand earlier, twelve stitches because I can't do my job properly." he said raising his bandaged hand.
"But where are you going to go?" Archangel asked.
"Michaels said I can stay with him for a while."
"But I'll hardly ever get to see you." Archangel said.
"We never see each other now and we're on the same ship. I know that you're a busy man and I understand that, I just don't fit in here. I'm not happy."
"Seems like I'm not going to be able to change your mind?" Archangel said.
"No you're not. This is your war, mine ended when we left Caprica." Skeeter replied.
"You'll stay in contact with me?"
"Try to fraking stop me. Anyway Bojay was telling me the pilots rotation will give you a few days off at a time, you'll be able to come to the Starburst?" Skeeter said.
"I will, I promise." The two men hugged, "You coming back in for more drinks?"
"Why the frak not." Skeeter replied with a smile.
The conferences on the Starburst had been going well. Commander Johannsen sat in a lounge with the two presidential candidates and Natasha.
"There is something that I have decided it is time to tell you," the Commander said with a sigh,"I haven't known this for long. The Cylons have the ability to mimic humans, they can look exactly like us."
"What?!" Edgar exclaimed.
"Major Hunter and the other survivors we rescued have come into contact with at least three male Cylons. This is why we had suggested the ID cards. Once we have copies of them the Major will begin to look through them to see if he recognises any of them." Johannsen replied.
"We have to inform the public." Edgar said.
"I'm not sure that's the wisest cause of action." Milo said, "At the moment only a handful of people have seen any of them, we have no way at present to show their faces. All it would succeed in doing is causing widespread panic and people accusing each other."
"I have to agree with Mr Vents." Natasha said, "Until we know for sure that we have any Cylons in the fleet, we should keep it on a need to know."
"What if any of the survivors open their mouths and spurt it out before we have a chance to tell anyone?" Edgar said.
"They have all been asked not too." Johannsen said.
"Oh sorry they've been asked not too. They're civilians, they don't follow orders!" Edgar said.
"They are the survivors who were with Archangel, he himself was the one who asked them to keep it to themselves. They are all fiercely loyal to him, they've also been told that if they do and it causes panic they will end up in Orion's brig." Johannsen said.
"Archangel, now there's a name I'm getting sick of hearing." Edgar said.
"Excuse me?" Johannsen said starting to get annoyed.
"Gentlemen we are the people at the top, we have to at least act like we're getting on. We vote and the majority rules." Milo said.
"Agreed." Natasha said.
"Well I vote that we tell them." Edgar said.
"I vote we keep it to ourselves." Natasha said.
"Me too." Johannsen replied.
"As do I. Majority rule so for now, we keep it to ourselves." Milo said.
"Well don't all come crying to me when this comes back and bites us in the ass." Edgar snarled getting up and leaving the room, slamming the door behind him.
"Gods help us all if he's elected." Johannsen said.
"I know I shouldn't show my feelings on this but I'm sure once the public get a glimpse of his winning charm then the right person will be elected." Natasha replied.
Edgar Vance walked into his luxury sweet and threw his tie across the room before pouring himself a drink.
"Stressful day Mr Vance?" a voice said.
Vance flinched and looked into the darkness. He saw the shadow of the man and the light from the end of his cigar.
"I didn't expect to see you so soon and yes it's been very stressful." Edgar replied nervously.
"Well you know better than anyone Mr Vance I can't just show my face anywhere."
"Of course." Edgar said.
"So do you have any information for us?" the man asked.
"Oh do I. It turns out the Cylons have the ability to appear human now." Edgar told him.
"Now that is interesting."
"It's been decided that for now at least it will be kept secret from the public."
"That doesn't surprise me." The man replied.
S"So can I ask how are you and the rest of the twelve going to ensure I win this gods dam election?" Edgar asked.
"Just smile and say what needs to be said, we will do the rest."
Edgar downed the rest of his drink, "Thank you."
"You're very welcome."
"Mr Caprica, please give my thanks to the others."
"I will and don't worry Edgar, as soon as you're in office the New Colonial Order will come out from the shadows and we will lead this fleet to salvation."
"So say we all." Edgar replied.
Hawkeye took a deep breath before she entered the commander's quarters. Inside waiting for her was the commander, Colonel Garrett, Archangel and Bojay.
"Lieutenant please sit down, it sounded serious when you asked for the meeting." Johannsen said.
"It is." She said as she sat down, she took a deep breath. "I've been getting these really bad headaches recently. I've always had them so I never really thought anything about it. I went to see Doc Hammond and it turns out I have a brain tumour."
"Oh my gods." Johannsen said. Everyone looked utterly shocked.
"What can they do?" Bojay asked.
"Nothing. It's bad and I only have eight months to live." Hawkeye replied.
"There has to be something, anything they can do." Bojay said.
"Jimmy there isn't. Commander I would like to be relieved of my duties so that I can go out into the fleet and live whatever life I have left." Hawkeye said.
"Of course." Johannsen said looking utterly shell shocked.
Seeing Garrett and Bojay begin to cry set her off.
"I just want you to know that I'm okay. I'm going to enjoy every last minute I have." Hawkeye said.
Bojay hugged her.
"I just can't believe it." He said.
"Anything at all we can do, anything you need no matter what it is, I will make sure it is available to you." Johannsen said.
"All I want is to slip away under the dradis. I'm going to go to the Starburst, get a tan, swim a bit, come to terms with what is happening to me."
"Lieutenant Jenna Riley, I hereby release you of your duties and discharge you from the colonial military with full honours." The Commander stood up and saluted, Hawkeye did the same followed by the others.
"It has been my greatest honour to serve with you." Hawkeye said.
Michaels opened the door of his cabin and smiled as he saw Skeeter standing in front of him.
"Hello old friend, come in come in." Michaels said.
Skeeter shook his friends hand as he walked inside.
"Thanks for putting me up." Skeeter said.
"Not at all, you're welcome here for as long as you want. Let me show you your room." Michaels took him through to the back of the cabin to the spare room. After a few more pleasantries Michaels left Skeeter to unpack. Skeeter looked around with a smile on his face. He opened his bag and took out his clothes, underneath them were bundles and bundles of cubits. He took a large bundle out and smelled it.
"Time to enjoy life." He said to himself.
D'Anna sat and waited. 1 sat over from her and smiled as he finished reading her article on Archangel.
"Excellent. This will help to bring calm to the fleet." 1 said.
"Can I ask why you want that?"
"Because they have no idea what is coming. The chaos, which will come from the calm, will be enough to rip this fleet apart. Orion, Archangel none of them will be enough to stop it."
"Anything I can do to help?" she asked.
"I'm glad you say that 3 because there is one more mission I want you to do."
"Anything." She replied.
"I need you to kill him. You can get close now. Once you've done it they will send you back to our brothers and sisters. Make it public, I want as many people to see this as possible. A great spectacle that everyone will remember. With him gone Orion will fall apart from the inside out."
"By your command." she replied.
