Chapter 2
Location: Unknown Planet, Colonial Basecamp
Date February 6, 2020
Time: 1925 Hours
Things had been, in a word, surprisingly quiet since the Colonial exploration team had first set foot on this planet. Aside from the expected headbutting and whining that came when they needed to set up basecamp of course. But the tents and the cargo ROV's had been set up quite quickly and as was expected of the best, efficiently. They were tented up underneath the shade of the tall pines with the biology and geology tents set as far away from one another as Colonel Black allowed. Because it was quite clear that the two teams did not like one another. So with the tents arranged close together in a block with an open area in the middle where the water carrying ROV's were positioned underneath the shade of a large pop-up to minimize the heat their water was exposed to.
There were eight tents in total, with several shade pop-ups that were where a handful of tables and small chairs were set up with battery powered lanterns hanging from the middle of them. At each corner of the perimeter lasers and receivers were set up to alert the Colonials to any breach of security with loud whistles and lights. Trail cams similar to what was used by hunters and game wardens in the Colonies were laid out along game trails to get a look at any critters that took these paths whenever the biologists weren't looking. There were a couple of latrines set away from camp for men and women to use the facilities in peace.
So with all these basecamp tasks to complete it was a wonder the civilians had gotten any work done at all. But they had, and set about it with gusto. The biologists had immediately set about their own work, gathering plant specimens from every different species they saw, sealing them in glass specimen jars after digging out whatever ones they could. They'd actually had over a fifty such jars, and once they realized they were running out they'd forced themselves to reluctantly stop. And then they'd gotten to the toughest part of their job, at least as far as biologists go, observing and then collecting animal specimens. For this job they had numerous trail cameras, a tall panorama camera, and then for collection they had an pump action pellet gun for tackling small critters and for bigger ones, should they feel the need to do so, they were allowed to borrow the military contingent's sniper, Sergeant Joe Warren, who was itching for a chance to be the first Colonial to tackle a big game animal offworld.
However, as much as he wanted to, the biologists were hell-bent on observing first, and collecting only when they had to, and unfortunately the team sniper, the pellet gun and Sergeant Warren's rifle had gone unused. But he was still required to stick with them as they made several circles around the secured perimeter away from camp to observe and report on whatever peaked their interest.
"When are you gonna let me shoot somethin' Doc?" Warren asked tiredly as he trailed behind the pair of scientists and his spotter who was leading the foursome forward.
"When I tell you Sergeant, or if it attacks us," Dr. Gorman replied, walking forward with his own assistant, Dr. Steven Martin, carrying the heavier gear and the pellet gun slung over his shoulder. Neither were wearing their helmets, replacing them with some more comfortable patrol caps and had on a pair of sunglasses.
"What would it be Doc? Care to let us in on the secret?" Corporal Katie Corlew responded with a laugh.
"Your guess is as good as ours Katie," Martin said with a smile, giving her a wink.
"Out here I'd guess…large reptile," she said after a second of thought, "With all this sun a reptile would have the ability to quickly warm up and we've seen enough squirrels and rabbits and birds to sustain one as they digest rather slowly."
"Very good Corporal," Dr. Gorman said with some surprise, "You may have chosen the wrong career. You know your stuff."
"Nah, I like what I'm doing."
"Well we're always glad to have you tag along with us," Martin replied again, easily revealing his crush on the blonde Marine.
"Not up to us Doc," Sergeant Warren reminded him, "Not that I'd mind hanging out with ya'll."
"You just want an excuse to hunt don't you?"
"What was your first clue?"
"Freaking Picon hillbilly," Corporal Corlew grumbled under her breath.
"Whoa, hold on," Dr. Gorman whispered quietly, crouching down on his haunches.
"What is it?" Warren whispered, holding his rifle at the ready, keeping his eyes peeled.
"Saw something over there, I think it might be one of those deer-like mammals we saw on the drone's camera."
"Deer? That's pretty big game," Warren said calmly, "Hunted plenty of those back home."
"Let's try getting some footage of it first shall we?" Martin responded, getting out the camera and passing it up his boss who promptly held it up, zooming in on the relative area he'd heard the noise come from. And after a second or two he saw exactly what he thought he'd heard.
"Look at that," Martin whistled quietly, pulling up his laser measuring device which he promptly aimed at the smallest of the red furred deer-like creatures.
The bright green laser points didn't bother the deer at all, who were too busy feeding on small patches of green plants. It was quite a simple tool, with the two parallel lasers that were arranged a foot apart.
"Sure you don't need a sample Doc?" Warren chuckled as he looked at the large antlers on the only male deer among the deer.
"I'm quite certain," Gorman whispered with a smile.
"Alright," came the entertained reply.
"Like I said, Picon hillbilly," Corlew grumbled as she too observed the small herd of deer.
"Hmm…looks like they're getting kinda agitated," Dr. Gorman said, laying his thoughts out there.
Indeed the deer were somewhat anxious, their ears were up and scanning as the lead male was sniffing and snorting, flinching back every so often which caused the other ones to do the same thing.
"He's looking at somethin' over there."
"Well he didn't like it, they're leaving," Katie whispered, herself now getting somewhat uneasy.
And just like she'd observed the little band of deer trotted away at a pretty good clip. They herd was very quick to disappear over the hill to the left and this left more burning questions in the mind of the two biologists.
"What do you think? Signs of a predator? A rival herd?" Martin said quietly, and put away the measuring device.
"Let's find out," Dr. Gorman said with a whisper, and walked forward, much to the surprise of the two soldiers.
"Whoa hold on there fellas," Warren said quickly, "We lead."
He and Corlew quickly made their way forward, taking up the leading position, weapons at the ready in the knowledge that something had made the deer skittish and who knew what it was or how dangerous it was. But more importantly they had no clue as to where it was.
"I'm not seeing anything Warren," Corlew said as she got to where the deer had been standing.
"Keep a look out, Doc, make it quick."
"Doctor Martin, break out the black light, look for urine markers," Gorman said, going down on a knee, and sniffed the air, smelling something musky in the air, "Sergeant do your Picon White Deer mark territory?"
"All the time, mostly they do it scent rubbed on trees or with bellows."
As they were looking around Corporal Corlew was moving in a slow half circle a few yards away. And as she was walking she felt her foot drop into a very slight depression, and she happened to glance down at it, knowing that the deer had been looking at something on the ground. What she saw made her gasp slightly.
"Doc…found something."
What she found herself standing in was a very big footprint that was basically a large version of a human foot. It had five toes, a heel print in the back and the same overall shape. She had never seen anything like it in her life, and she was quite certain that her comrades were in the same boat.
"What in the…" Martin whistled in complete shock.
"Now this… is a discovery," Dr. Gorman whispered, taking out a small camera and a ruler and snapped a few pictures.
"That looks very human," she said continuing to stare at it.
"That's not human Corporal, far too large, see your print? It fits in it completely, and it's nearly twice as long," Gorman replied, pointing at the slight imprint of her boot inside the prints.
"So what is it? Some kinda creature with human-like feet?"
"I'd say a very big creature, this print is quite deep for the ground being as hard as it is."
"Could it be dangerous?" Corlew asked worriedly.
"Well as far as we know mankind's closest biological relative is the Crowned Ape on Gemenon, and they have quite a temper if you get on their bad side," Martin replied.
"So, probably pretty frakkin' dangerous?" Warren surmised.
"Yeah best assume so."
"Pst…Warren, over there," Corlew whispered very quietly, almost inaudible in fact.
She was looking up the hill they'd been going down off to the right. Her head was down, eyes glued to her ACOG scope. She was looking at something that they hadn't seen quite yet, something unnatural. Up above them was a tall thin tree trunk jutting out of the ground. But was getting her attention was the fact that the rootball was on the wrong end of the trunk.
"What in the…" Gorman whispered, trying to put his mind around it.
"Let's check it out, carefully," Dr. Gorman suggested.
"Think we should tell the Colonel?"
"What do you think?" Warren growled in annoyance.
"Take that as a hell yes," she grumbled under her breath as she keyed her comm, "Colonel, this Corporal Corlew, come in."
"Go 'head."
"Sir, we've found something, a very big footprint, nearly twice the size of a human print. We're investigating another sign of this creature right now. And the doc says it might be dangerous."
"Very well, if you feel like you're in danger don't hesitate to open fire."
"Don't have to tell me twice," Warren chuckled as they reached the top of the hill, sweeping his rifle back and forth and saw nothing except for more reasons to have questions.
"Okay, we might be dealing with a sentient being here," Dr. Gorman whispered in awe of what he was seeing.
What these four Colonials were confronted with was a large ring of hand sized stones arranged around this upside down tree trunk. And in four groupings exactly ninety degrees apart were much larger piles of these stones.
"A sentient?" Martin asked, more to himself than anything, "Could it be that creature? The one who owned that track?"
"More than likely," Dr. Gorman said, picking up one of the stones and examining it, "I don't see any humans around here."
"Or at least that we've seen," Warren responded, "Look at this."
Everyone turned to see Warren holding up a piece of brown paper-like material with a burnt end rolled up in a cylinder smaller than their pinky fingers.
"A cigar?" Martin asked.
"Cigarette," Warren replied, sniffing the material lightly, "Been here a while."
"So our creature smokes?" Dr. Gorman mused, "Now that's a shame."
"Or it could be someone else, another group of humans," Martin started to say.
"You don't think…" Corlew asked, putting the facts together.
"Earth? You think they could've been responsible for…this?" Gorman asked, "I don't think so. The cigarette I bet was them but this…no an Earth biologist may have been standing here wondering the same thing I'm wondering. What kind of creature is out here?"
Location: Sagittaron, Mountains North of Tawa
The Sagittaron Freedom Movement had been driven underground for a very long time now. After their big move against the police station and jail that saw them free two hundred members of their movement the government had really cracked down on their known safe houses and strongholds. They'd been desperate in fact, and soon ran out of places to strike and found that the SFM had been a step ahead.
Their rather limited resources had been moved out of the cities, towns, and even the villages, and moved into the remote mountains, and then further hidden in the depths of the extensive silver mines that hadn't been utilized for hundreds of years. And here, they were safe, secret, and able to stay that way for a long time. So the vast majority of the SFM except for the highest and most wanted leaders had hung up their guns and bombs to return to a normal life, and wait. Recruitment had gone on as was always necessary for such a movement, minor shootings and press releases had kept the government thinking they'd busted the network down to a third rate group of thugs.
But thugs didn't plan for the long run, they didn't mass military grade weapons, explosives, and supplies to prepare for their inevitable move to, in their minds, free their planet. With these plans, preparations and other such strategic maneuvers they'd learned what to do and what not to do. They'd learned how to prepare an attack without garnering interest from their hunters, they'd learned how to amass weapons without arousing suspicion, and they'd learned who they could trust to recruit for them.
Sagittaron was quiet yes, but it would not be that way for much longer if their preparations continued as scheduled. At the moment Tom Zarek was at the permanent headquarters of the SFM's operations, deep within the silver mines with an entrance that was hidden expertly beneath overgrown evergreen trees and shrubs planted on top of a large folding door built for the purpose by a sympathizer in a nearby farming village. It was a quite well equipped command center for such a remote location. But after several years of forced isolation the SFM had to improvise. An offshoot tunnel was home to a bank of diesel generators that helped run the ancient air conditioning systems that kept air flowing throughout the complex. A large McGuyvered fuel tank fed all of these from the back of the room as well as their small mess facility that was able to house a dozen or so men and women at a time. In the midst of this HQ was a table layered with maps, lists, blueprints, photographs and everything needed for them to plan out whatever minor attack that would keep them looking like amateurs.
But on this table was currently a map of Tawa's underground catacombs. With marks where the SFM planned on digging tunnels to the surface or breaching the sewer mains to move fighters and weapons back and forth. Many of these went to autoshops where they planned on mating heavy weapons with flatbed trucks. Others went under police stations that would be packed with explosives and await the signal to be detonated. And still other smaller tunnels went right to the doorsteps of Army Reserve armories, chalk full of weapons and equipment. However all of these were low on the totem pole compared to their highest priority target, the nuclear powerplant on the edge of the city where they planned to take control of their trump card.
"How much longer are we gonna wait Tom?" Meier, Zarek's right hand man, asked as they finished the daily briefing on what the status of their preparations was.
"When we're ready we'll go. But as of now…we're not ready. We have to hit everything that the people see as associated with their oppressors all at once. And then we need to exploit it, and most of all get the people on our side."
"The Army and Fleet will pounce as soon as we launch our attacks. We have to find a way to keep them off of us don't we?"
"That's the reason we're getting a hold of the plutonium in the Tawa Nuclear Plant. We split it up into small enough dirty bombs to plant them on ships, nuke one of them and show we have the ability and willingness to use them."
"How do we get the material aboard enough ships to prevent them from being found?" Meier asked again.
"Leave that to me. But anyway, that'll buy us enough time and leverage to seize complete control of the major cities and equip a force with the weapons, equipment, and vehicles we have in these armories to form and support a legitimate government that we immediately have to get going on to organize elections."
"We've gone down this road before Tom you know that."
"This time it's different, we've always been afraid of being viewed as the black sheep, the one colony going against the many. But we're not alone anymore, Earth is out there, it's independent, and when the government tried to get them to join a fight broke out. We use that to our advantage. We point out that Earth has the right idea, that the government, in its quest for power and money tried subjugating Earth and Earth refused so they tried to do it by force and Earth stood their ground."
"It might be tough to prove that."
"But results are hard to deny, Earth's gone and the government's been made to look tyrannical, and that is just what we've needed to make this work."
"An example of the government trying exploit another colony for their own greed," he responded.
"And try and fail. They're an example we can say we're following," Zarek grinned, "And maybe, just maybe, there's a slim chance that Earth might see what we're facing and trying to do and help us."
"I don't know about that," Meier responded with a shrug, "They're more likely to not even know about it. And even then they won't try to actively help us."
"No but who's to say we don't already have it?" Zarek said with a smile.
"You mean to tell me that we're gonna bluff about it? And if Earth comes back they'll deny it and our bluff will be called."
"And what will the Quorum do first if they return? I think they might react a bit too impetuous don't you? Arming a terrorist group is likely to piss off the feds don't you think?"
"A war might break out…wouldn't that be just grand?"
Location: Caprica, Caprica City
Colonial Unification Day was a busy time for the Colonies. Fireworks, barbeques, parades, and culminating in one great display of Colonial power: The Grand Parade in the center of Caprica Square boasting the biggest recruiting tool for the Colonial Armed Services, over a hundred thousand troops marching en masse complete with tanks, artillery, missile systems, Vipers and Raptors of the Fleet, and this year, a single Marinestar in the center of this mass of power.
This was still a ways away, and it wasn't Laura Roslin's responsibility. Her job, at least as far as Unification Day was concerned, was to make certain that the people she'd delegated to deal with the preparations that fell within the education branch's reach were moving along. Normally she saw to it herself, being on the ground to see the new floats, preview screenings of any new documentaries about Unification Day, and go around to the many different museums to see what they were doing in preparation for the grand event. She also had to make certain that her department had its eggs in order so to speak, as the last event of Unification Day was the State of Colonies Speech made by the president. He was going to be in front of all of the Quorum, with many of the fat cats of the federal government in attendance. It had happened every year, and lately had become a political measuring tool to see what the administration had accomplished and what they hadn't accomplished.
Needless to say Laura knew Adar was going to be flaunting the greatest accomplishment of the Colonies, the utter destruction of their long-time foes, the Cylons. But she knew that he also had another lack of accomplishment to answer for now, the loss of contact with Earth. Although he was quite capable of turning that around on the Quorum, whose representative had caused the incident and was rightly punished yet avoided jail-time much to the ire of the executive branch.
The Quorum and the Executive Branch were still having pissing contests in government hearings, media firestorms, and information just kept coming out. Thankfully dealing with that type idiocy was not what Laura needed to do. Instead she was in the more politically sensitive arena of dealing, predominantly, with teachers unions and jockeying for funds with such competitors as social security, numerous civilian intelligence and anti-terror agencies, and finally the military which was still the biggest single recipient of money in the Colonies.
Roslin had been incredibly perplexed at the fact the military's budget hadn't been curtailed at the close of the now named Second Cylon War. They'd of course needed the funds to replace and repair dozens of large warships that had been destroyed or badly damaged in the six-months-long war. The war had been won within a few hours, but it wasn't over by any means. Hundreds of thousands if not millions of Centurions remained firmly entrenched on a dozen planets that had been colonized by the Colonials before the first war and had to be dug out and destroyed fortress by fortress, knocking out their factories, shipyards, mines, hangars, and control facilities. The Marines and Army were sent in, invading these planets one by one, using heavy weapons ranging from their sixty ton Mjolnir Main Battle Tanks to their heavy one hundred sixty millimeter howitzers and Hail Storm Multiple Launch Rocket System. They'd also found themselves totally emptying another powerful weapon in their arsenals. Their Marinestars had utterly depleted their Apollo Orbital Kinetic Energy Weapons within the first month as they'd annihilated extremely dug in Cylon positions with complete impunity aside from the few Raiders that a couple planets were found to have been producing.
Thousands of casualties had seen planets inhabited by hundreds of thousands of Colonial citizens returned to their rightful owners. Only a few Cylon warships had managed to put up any resistance once their main fleets had been wiped out in a decisive and surprising string of victories that had lasted the better part of the first week. The Fleet itself hadn't been anticipating such a one-sided victory, and its own strategic contingencies didn't even account for it. This led to a slight lull between the great fleet battles and the planetary invasions which lasted the rest of the war and ended with a final climactic ground battle that had seen the destruction of a massive underground Cylon citadel and ten thousand casualties among the Marines and Army troopers sent down to finish them off after a powerful orbital bombardment. And once that battle had been finished it was only a matter of mopping up handfuls of Centurions in small outposts scattered about and were dealt with quite easily with Viper missile strikes and at maximum a company of troops with a couple armored vehicles.
The war had been, in comparison to the First Cylon War, a total and decisive victory. And with its close came a real issue that was still festering to the present day: what to do with this massive bureaucracy and spending toilet that was the Colonial Armed Forces. Many thought that there was no longer a need for such a massive and complex military without a clear and present danger for it to face. Yet the military lived on, and much to the surprise of many, grew quite a bit. The final ships of the Zeus class Warstars had finally been completed and deployed along with an even larger and more advanced fleet of escorting Battlestars now brought up to the advanced refit standards of the Pegasus Class and Valkyrie II Class Battlestars. The cruisers and destroyers were by now mostly replaced with their own refit packages and were also more numerous than at any point in Colonial history.
And Roslin, as a senior department head, knew exactly why. Earth was still out there and she knew that they might still be somewhat pissed off with their cousins for the stupidity exhibited on the meeting satellite. Their fleet was a wild card, no one really knew what it was capable of, and the Fleet was well known for being paranoid and was still looking to get any edge they could. And they really couldn't say why, but after their massive victory no one really wanted to question the saviors of the Colonies.
"Madam Secretary," Roslin's ever faithful assistant, Billy, said on her desk intercom.
"Yes Billy," she replied pleasantly.
"Dr. Howard has arrived as scheduled."
"Oh good, please send him in, and can you have some refreshments brought up as well?" Laura asked.
"You're usual ma'am?" Billy asked.
"Of course Billy, you know me too well."
"Yes ma'am."
After a few seconds the door opened and one of Laura's past friends arrived with a folder tucked under his arm. He was an older man, with decades of experience as a university president. He was currently looking to utilize that experience to help reestablish a functioning system of schools for the reclaimed territories currently being colonized for the same reasons as they'd been originally colonized. A dozen new planets and tens of thousands if not several hundred thousand people would need a lot of infrastructure, much of which was still intact. But another thing, and for Roslin this was her job, was the fact their children would need good schools, community colleges, and eventually private and public universities.
"Madam Secretary," the old professor of sociology said to her.
"Doctor I've been in this job for three terms and I still haven't gotten you to call me Laura."
"I know, but I'm a man of proper behavior."
"I remember, have a seat, please," Laura with a smile, gesturing him to the couch that was against the wall of her office with a coffee table in front of it.
"Now, shall we get to business?" he said opening his briefcase and withdrawing the proper papers.
"Of course," Laura smiled as Billy opened the door to let a steward in carrying a tray with a pitcher of iced green Energy Fruit Juice, an imported all-natural energy drink from Tauron that was well used by people who didn't like coffee but wanted the same effects. The tray was set down on an end table as the steward poured a glass and offered it to Roslin, "Thank you."
"Doctor would you like a glass?" the man asked politely.
"Oh no, but thank you for the offer."
"Very well sir," the man replied with classic tact and then walked out.
"I have to say you've got it pretty good here don't you?"
"Sometimes a bit too good," Laura shrugged after taking a sip of the tingling sweet drink.
"Well, there's always a place back at academia once you're done here," Dr. Howard chuckled as he spread out some of the papers on the table by their categories of concern.
"Now what have we here? Demographic projections?" she said with curiosity picking up one of the papers.
"No actual demographics of the catalogued volunteers that are moving to the new colonies. There's a lot of children and young adults among them. More than I'd bet you'd expected."
"Far more," Laura said, seeing the stats and her eyebrows perking up in real surprise, "My people had initially estimated a much lower figure."
"Well that's the government for you. Long on reports and short of facts."
"Isn't that the truth?"
"Well anyway, with all these kids we're gonna need quite a bit more people and facilities if we're to make sure that the education systems on these planets is up to par."
"How many more? And on which planets?"
"At least two hundred primary school teachers and as many as three hundred secondary school teachers and coaches. That was another thing. Your people didn't make allowances for athletic or physical education facilities or staff."
"No? Well then, we're very short of other things it would seem."
"Is the will to stay here one of them?" Dr. Howard poked with a smile.
"It's getting there, Gods know I'd like nothing better than to get back into a classroom," she said with a shake of her head, "That's where a teacher belongs. But I only have a few more months before Adar's term is up and he can choose a replacement. I'm gonna finish this task. We're gonna make sure these kids have the same chances at a first class education as their cousins here on the homeworlds."
"Fair enough. I'll keep a spot saved for you."
"You'd better," Laura said, "I'm your boss after all."
Location: Unknown Planet, Colonial Basecamp
Night had begun to fall incredibly quickly, and as per regulations the whole team was boarded up in the large basecamp with a constant patrol going at all times and one of their troops in a tree-stand twenty feet up in one of the pine trees that were smack in the middle of camp with some heat vision goggles to keep an eye out from up high. At the moment the team sniper was up on its square platform that was actually two pieces bolted together and nailed into place with large steel pipes teeth that dug into it.
Sergeant Warren hadn't been up there long before he started getting restless. He'd been there when the biologists had gone out on a scouting mission to find some samples and catch some local critters on camera for further study. He hadn't gotten a chance to shoot anything, but was assured that he would be the trigger man tomorrow when they decided to go after some live specimens with a tranquilizer. But he was most worried about the very large and very human-looking track that they'd found.
He was a native of Picon, and lived in the remote backwoods all his life, living off the land and becoming an adept hunter. But he'd never seen anything like what they'd encountered today. From the new species of deer, squirrel, rabbit, bugs, birds, and plants he'd been quite enamored with it all. However these creatures were at least like animals he'd known well back home. Whatever creature that had made that track was unlike anything he had ever seen. And the biologists themselves were quite shaken up as well, which didn't put him at ease. But being back at camp, and better yet up high where he was able to be alone with his trusty semi-automatic sniper rifle in his hands put him at a much calmer state.
As he continued on a cyclical path on his perched hide he could hear someone coming up the rope ladder to join him. He looked over the side to see the figure of Dr. Beverly, the team's priest and translator. The older man was slightly struggling, but made it all the way and pulled himself up onto the high platform with a last minute tug from Warren.
"Ah thank you my lad," the man said with a smile.
"Whatcha doin' up here Doc?" the sniper asked as Dr. Beverly leaned back against the tree.
"Well you seemed like you could use the company and I, as you can see could use the exercise."
"Yeah, it does get boring up here."
"It has been the same way with me as well, not much in the way of translating to be done out here."
"Ain't that the truth. The only thing out there is critters, trees, and desert."
"And one creature in particular I would dare say has our esteemed colleagues up in arms," Dr. Beverly said with a chuckle, "It reminds me of a time when I was on Gemenon, on an archaeological expedition looking for the Ark of Gemenon. We were out in the high desert, much like this area as a matter of fact, and we encountered the strangest thing."
"Was it a giant track?" Warren asked as he looked around, continuing his overwatch.
"Oh heavens no, that desert was much too barren to support anything larger than wild dogs. But we did encounter a curious old hermit who spoke of a large hairy beast that had been terrorizing his mushrooms."
"Mushrooms?" Warren scoffed.
"As I said my boy he was quite a curious individual. But anyway, we thought that he was crazy, until he gave our party a parting warning. He said that if we hear screams or banging in the forests not to go near it or the Wildman would kill us."
"Wildman? I've heard of that, supposed to be an urban legend ain't it?"
"Oh I'm no sure, we camped at a commonly used campsite high in the mountains where we could begin looking for the object of our quest. We had a fire, we talked, we ate, and went to bed. And that's when it started."
"Oh I gotta hear this."
"I was awoken by a loud banging noise, like a large branch being knocked against the trunk of a tree. I grabbed a flashlight, and looked out of my tent. The knocking had stopped and after looking around I thought it might have been this hermit trying to scare us off. And then…"
But before Dr. Beverly could continue his story an echoing scream reached the ears of the entire camp. Beverly's mouth dropped instantly upon hearing it, Warren's military and hunting instincts kicked in, and brought his goggles to his eyes and started scanning.
"It can't be," Dr. Beverly whispered, standing up and looked out and held his cane in his hand.
"Don't tell me," Warren groaned.
"Yes my boy that is exactly what came next. An inhuman roar, it scared us so badly we left camp in our trucks and didn't go back."
"Well we ain't gonna do that Doc," Warren said as the camp now started to stir as the biologists came running out of their tent, camera and sound recorder in hand.
"I'm grateful for that, this time I have this," Beverly said, pulling his pistol from its holster.
"Put it away Doc, I'll hit it with before it comes within your range."
"Oh yes, right," he responded, putting his weapon back in place and then an idea struck him, "Let me try something."
He took his wooden cane and stepped to the edge of the platform and then whacked his cane against the tree three times. The loud bangs echoed through the night and the Colonials strained their ears to listen many of them now holding their weapons in hand, looking around with flashlights shining, searching for anything that could have made the scream that had started their hearts thumping at twice their normal paces. But after several seconds there was nothing and everyone sighed in slight relief.
"Hmm…perhaps I may have misremembered," Dr. Beverly mused.
"Maybe, it's just some other ape-like thing. Similar but not…"
As soon as Warren began to say that three loud return wooden knocking noises echoed back at the Colonial camp. It was something that made every single one of them feel chills crawl up their spines. Dr. Beverly was very much stunned and dumbfounded, and expressed it.
"Forgive the unpriest-like exclamation but what the frak is out there?"
Sorry for the delay but I've had a bit of a rage quit moment with the previous version of this one. I'd had about five thousand words done of the last one but my computer did a restart for my anti-virus software and it didn't save. So I said fuck it and took a hiatus and came back a bit later. Now I'm working on Chapter 2 for the Earth half.
Next Chapter Preview: Things get wild on the Colonials first mission offworld, and the Cylons aren't gone, so let's find out what they're up to.