Man and Machine 2
"Well, to be honest," Princess Ardala said, "It is a very pretty ship. Full of pleasant amenities, although it could use a pool or at least larger bathing tubs, but it is woefully under armed and it's defensive capabilities are a joke. And isn't this corridor of Draconian design?'
"Oh, Im sure that there are hundreds of different ships with corridors that look like this," Buck said, "and I'm sure I mentioned, didn't I, that the Searcher is an exploration ship. Its not designed for combat."
"Well, if you ask me, with a ship like this, going out into uncharted space, I think that silly computer council of yours is trying to send you on a suicide mission."
"Well, there have been moments when I thought the same thing," Buck found himself saying, "but never mind that, Princess. Admiral Asimov ordered me to give you this tour of our ship, against my better judgment, as a peace offering. You said you had some information for us, so lets have it."
"Direct as ever, Captain." Ardala said with a smile. "It's a good think you are cute, or I might take offence with your attitude. Still, you could make it up to me… or you could have that adorable Bird Man do it."
"Hawk is his own man, if he wants to talk to you, he will. I will of course advise him against it."
"There you go again, with that Rogers wit of yours."
Buck Rogers was about to say something else guaranteed to start an interstellar incident, but the Princess cut him off.
"Have you made the course correction that I advised?" she asked.
"Dr. Goodfellow and Crichton didn't scan anything in that direction, but we made the course correction. We are prepared to play this your way," Buck said, "for now."
"Good," the Princess said, "What I have come to tell you, at great personal risk, is important, and I don't want to have to repeat myself. Take me to one of those conference rooms, I am prepared to address your command staff now."
-o-
Tiger Man and Panter Man each stood behind the Princess Ardala as she seated herself at the conference table. The two impassively imposing men glared at every human in the room, especially Captain Buck Rogers.
On the opposite side of the table sat Admiral Asimov, Captain Buck Rogers, Col. Wilma Deering, Hawk, and Dr. Goodfellow. Behind them, waited the short humanoid drone Twiki and the tall lanky non-humanoid robot Crichton. Buck tried to remain impassively watchful of the Princess, while Wilma tried to dissect each look that passed between Buck and the Princess. Hawk remained completely silent and impassive, although he kept a hand on Dr. Goodfellow to keep him from wandering to the other side of the table as he was muttering to himself about everything from the rare jewels in Ardala's revealing dress to the probable ancestry her bodyguards. Of the Earth delegation only the Admiral was openly prepared to be diplomatic and civil.
"Ill come straight to the point," Princess Ardala started, "The Draconian Empire is currently at war."
"so you have come to ask for Earth's military support?" Wilma asked.
"Don't be absurd. The Draconian Empire needs help from no one, least of all a little world like yours. Besides, I would be holding that conversation with your Dr. Huer on Earth, and not here. No. I am here to offer you a friendly warning."
"Then you want us to stay out of the way?" Asimov asked. "We would be willing to allow you to use the Searcher as a neutral point for peace negotiations."
"I believe that would be a very poor move on your part. These aliens that are invading us are a robotic race that calls themselves the Cylon. They seem to have a fixation on humans, and demand that before they enter any negotiations with us, that we reveal to them the location of your Earth," Ardala said. "I have encouraged my father not to reveal this information to them. For now."
"Why are you protecting us, Princess?" Buck asked.
"Assuming that she is protecting us," Hawk calmly added.
"I am rather fond of humans," Ardala said, smiling at Buck, then she glanced over at Wilma, "certain humans. In the first attack, they captured Kane, after learning he was from Earth. I doubt he will reveal anything to them in interrogation, but if they should learn your world's location, this Kane will likely be killed. I was rather fond of Kane, he was always so… faithful."
"It's a wonder she knows what the word means," Wilma whispered to Buck. He gave Wilma a guilty look in return.
"Besides," Ardala said, "it would be unthinkable for the Cylon to invade Earth. With such a strategically placed world, they would be in a better place to strike against us."
"Especially if the Cylon suddenly found it difficult to tell the difference between Humans and Draconians."
"Indeed," Ardala agreed.
"I didn't think that Earth was strategically placed," Wilma said.
"It isn't," Ardala said, "But it would be if a powerful enemy took possession of the planet, able to strike at us from two different fronts.
"So what do you want of us?' Admiral Asimov asked.
"I am playing a hunch," the Princess answered. "A few weeks ago, one of our patrols reported contact with an unknown contact. Per standard protocol, we attacked them, but our patrol was lost. If they changed course to avoid us, then you should run across them along this course."
"Are you sure your patrol didn't run across more Cylon?" Hawk asked.
"Quite sure," the Princess replied. "The Cylons seem to operate the same way that we do. When our respective patrol craft found each other, the situation simply escalated, resulting in the loss of my flag ship."
"That must make it very difficult to make new allies, don't you know… if you always attack first… or do you only attack if there is no communication attempts first?" Dr. Goodfellow said, but was largely ignored.
"Emperor Draco is the finest leader of our time," Wilma said, "if those are the tactics that work for him, perhaps we should adopt some of them ourselves?"
"Wilma, I may not have met the guy, but however powerful he is, everything I have heard about the gun, he sounds like just another petty tyrant. Earth use to have hundreds just like him."
"Buck, you are talking about your future father-in-law. As I was saying, it seems to me," the Princess continued, "That since the Cylon seem to have prior knowledge of Humans, but not of this galaxy the source of this other patrol, that is very good at eluding detection, could be the very thing your Searcher is looking for."
-o-
"We can't trust her, Buck" Wilma said, while the two of them were walking along the corridor.
"Nobody said anything about trusting her," Buck said, "but there still may be something worth checking out about her story."
"I just feel we are walking right into a trap," Wilma said.
"Of course we are, Wilma," Buck said with a smile, "the thing is, this time I'm not sure the trap is for us this time. Still, she will be off the ship in a few hours."
"This marks a momentous occasion then," Wilma said.
"What do you mean?"
"This is the first time she is leaving without trying to take you with her."
"Well, she still has a few hours yet."
-o-
Kane remembered being cold. He remembered pain. He remembered questions. Questions about Earth, and about things he had never heard of before.
Despite the pain, Kane was grateful. If the Cylon interrogator had been Draconian, he would have been forced to reveal all he knew and more. These Cylon machines were amatures.
Slowly he opened his eyes to see an emaciated man standing over him with a grin that was just as trust worth as the grin on a hungry hyena.
"Welcome, my friend," the man said, "looks like you are their new favorite toy. You must have some juicy secrets, eh? What is your name?"
"I am Kane."
"The legendary Commander Cain of the Pegasus?" the man said, recoiling back in horror. "I thought you were older… and dead."
"What are you talking about," Kane said, "I am Kane of the Draconian Empire, and consort to Princess of the Realm, Ardala."
The other man came closer, "Well then, Kane. I am Baltar. Former commander in the Cylon Empire, now fallen on hard times, and left here to rot, after the Cylons picked me up from where the Galactica marooned me."
"So, you betrayed your own people for a position of power within the Cylon Empire," Kane said. "I know your kind very well."
"How could you possibly know all that?" Baltar asked.
"We are very much alike, you and I. I once betrayed Earth for a position of power within the Draconian Empire. So what happened to all that power you once had?"
"Earth?" Baltar said, shocked. "So after all these yahrens, Adama was right. Earth does exist! You must tell me, where is it?"
"You seriously expect me to just tell you that, after the Cylons tortured me for hours for just that information. My life will end the moment I divulge that information. Either at the hands of the Cylons, or by you, so you can use the information to barter your way back into power."
Baltar burst into maniacal laughter. "Yes, my friend, you do know me all too well. I can tell we are going to be very good friends. The Cylon who rescued me from the planet I was marooned on, thinks that I betrayed the Cylons to the Colonials. After all, who can trust a betrayer? Now, if it had been Lucifer, he would have listened to me at the very least. Lucifer would have understood."
"You are mad." Kane observed.
Frothing with wide eyes and an even wider grin, Baltar looked over at his new friend and nodded in agreement. If he agreed that he was mad, or with some other real or imagined comment, only the Lords knew.