Man and Machine 4
The tension was intense throughout the Searcher. Everyone, every last crewmember and passenger was on edge. The unknown was at hand, and everyone was on edge, but none were more on edge than the deck hands that stood at the edge of the Searcher's landing bay. Normally when ships arrived, they would swarm over them, refuel them, and get them ready for launch again, but this time they stood around the edges of the bay for fear of starting an intergalactic incident.
Lined up along the landing bay were four ships. One starfighter was sleek, which looked like two spears with engines on the back and laser mounts on the front, winglets on the sides with larger foils underneath and in between the spears were a long flat section where the cockpit was mounted. The next starfighter was a little more bulky built along a bird motif, including talon landing skids. The last two fighters were Colonial Vipers, with an intake in the nose of the craft, a single pilot cockpit just before three large turbocharged engines, and three wings, the lower two were angled with blasters mounted next to the fuselage.
Admiral Asimov entered the bay wearing his finest dress uniform, flanked by Wilma Deering and Dr. Goodfellow, Crichton and Twiki.
The birdman, Hawk, wearing his usual black leather and armor. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he moved over beside Col. Deering.
Buck Rogers climbed out of his starfighter, wearing his white Earth Protectorate uniform, which he found to be his preferred pressure suit while flying. Instead of joining Wilma and the others, he walked over to the Vipers, and waited for the two unknown pilots to exit their fighters.
It took a few uncertain moments for the Viper cockpits to open. After all, the pilots first had to check that the atmosphere was safe, and biological hazards, decide what to even say.
Slowly the cockpits to the Vipers opened, and the two Colonial Warriors climbed out of their respective machines. They each wore beige and brown uniforms, with holstered sidearms on their hips. One of the men had brown hair, while the other was blond.
"Welcome to the Searcher," said Buck Rogers, "I'm Captain Rogers, but you can call me Buck." Buck said, offering his hand.
"Captain Apollo," the brown haired man said, shaking the offered hand, "and this is Lt. Starbuck."
Buck walked the two men over to the waiting entourage. "Allow me to introduce the Captain of this magnificent vessel, Admiral Asimov. The lovely lady is Colonel Wilma Deering. You have already met Hawk, the elderly gentleman, barely able to contain his questions is Dr. Goodfellow. The little guy over there is Twiki."
"Biddi-biddi-biddi… How ya doing?" the little droid said.
"The tall annoying one is Crichton."
"How are you doing? I do hope the humans where you come from, are more enlightened than the ones I have been forced to endure," the tall robot said.
"As the Captain of this vessel, and the commander of this expedition," the Admiral said, "I welcome both of you to the Searcher. The Searcher's mission is to seek out and discover the lost tribes of mankind, and this is our first real success in that mission. It is my hope that this is the first step to establishing peaceful relations between our peoples."
Captain Apollo extended his hand in greetings to the Admiral, "That is a hope that we both share. I regret, however that this initial visit will have to be a quick one. If we don't get back to the fleet, they will change course and move on without us. Before we go, there are important things we need to discuss."
"I have a conference room waiting, if you can spare the time," the Admiral said.
Apollo agreed and the two Colonial Warriors followed the Earth representatives down the hallway to a nearby conference room.
"Do you get the impression you have seen that doctor fellow before?" Starbuck whispered to Apollo.
"He looks just like Councilman Anton," Apollo whispered back, "you should attend more Council Meetings."
The two parties gathered around the small council table.
"You say that your mission is to seek out other tribes of humanity," Apollo said. "That's funny, because for the longest time, our goal has been to find the lost Thirteenth Tribe, believed to have settled on a planet called Earth."
"Remarkable, my lad, quite remarkable…" Dr. Goodfellow started, but was quickly hushed by Wilma.
"In the interest of openness, you need to know that we are a hunted people. Our biggest fear was to discover finally find Earth, only to discover that it was not technicaly advanced enough to help us in our fight against the Cylon," Apollo said. "But we cannot ask you to take on our enemy unawares. If you do not want to run the risk of sheltering us and bringing the wrath of the Cylon Empire upon you, then just say the word, and we will head out to deep space—"
"Apollo!" Starbuck exclaimed, but was silenced by a look from his friend.
"I don't know what we would tell our people," Apollo continued, "but we can find a new destination, and try to lead the Cylons away from you."
"I am afraid, Captain Apollo," the Admiral said, "That your enemy has already found us. They do not yet know the exact location of Earth, but since they are currently fighting the Draconian Empire, I feel it is just a matter of time before they succeed in finding us. Our planet would be better prepared if we had your intelligence and expertise to assist us against this new enemy that seems to want to eliminate all of Humanity, regardless of its planet of origin."
"I am glad you feel that way," Apollo said, breathing a sigh of relief. He had not even realized he had been holding his breath. "I need to get back to the Fleet to let them know the good news, but first, we need to establish a rendezvous point so we can exchange further information.