Cavil's pronouncement sent Julia's mind racing. The odds were completely against them. But maybe if Jarod was ready, maybe they could stand a chance…
She decide to buy for time by going on the verbal offensive. "Like you were ever going to spare them. You were always going to kill the people from the Colonies," Julia charged.
"We had considered sparing them, if they posed no further threat to us," Cavil answered. "But it is clear they do through their connection to you."
"Bloodshed will not get you what you seek," Meridina said to Cavil. "It will only encourage our people to fight yours to the final end. Do you intend to sacrifice the future of the Cylon people due to your need to kill the Humans of the Colonies?"
"If you will not bargain in good faith, we have no choice."
At that Julia laughed harshly. "Really, you call this bargaining in good faith? That would mean coming to us openly and diplomatically, not attacking our ships and holding people hostage to force us to meet your demands. This was never a good faith negotiation."
The four Cylons' expressions went completely blank. A moment later Locarno's voice came back over the comm system. "Captain, a ship just jumped in. It's the Pegasus. They're hailing us and the Cylon ships."
Julia let out a breath. The odds were still really bad, but maybe with Lee Adama's ship helping they could buy enough time… "Put him on down here."
The main holo-display changed from the starmap to show the image of Admiral Adama standing beside his son Lee. They were in the center of the Pegasus CIC. "Attention Cylon ships," Adama said. "I'm here to open talks."
"You are irrelevant, Adama," Cavil said. "And more to the point, we're done talking. Your people die now."
"You're going to do that when you don't have what you want yet? Knowing that you'll never get your future back if you go through with wiping us out?"
Julia and Meridina exchanged small glances. They clearly wondered what Adama was playing at.
"What do you know about it?" Cavil asked, or rather challenged.
Adama stepped a little to his right, giving more room to the right side of the screen. They watched with some surprise as the Agathons stepped onto the screen. Helo had his hand on Sharon's shoulder. The Cylon woman was, in turn, holding their daughter Hera close to her chest. "The killing has to end," Sharon said to them. "We have to find peace with the Humans, or we're going to be wiped out."
"Traitor," the D'anna model hissed.
Cavil motioned angrily at her to be quiet. "Then you'll cooperate?" he asked.
"Give me the guarantee of the Consensus that Helo can stay with us without being harmed. He is Hera's father and he will remain part of her life."
"Come with the child and we will allow him to join you, without any threat," Cavil said. His voice sounded sincere, but only superficially. Meridina in particular sensed the intent behind the words. The promise was one that Cavil had no intention of honoring if he didn't absolutely have to.
On the screen Sharon and Helo looked at each other for several moments. Both looked to the screen again. "Then we'll come over," Helo said. "I'll pilot a shuttle into your Basestar."
"You'll pilot it to the Aurora," the Gina-model said. "When we're satisfied this isn't a trick, we'll take you to our ship."
They seemed to think it over. Finally Sharon spoke up. "Accepted. We'll be over in an hour."
"You'll be over in half an hour or nothing," Cavil retorted. "We're not letting you take the time to play a trick on us."
By now Adama was back on the screen. "Very well. Half an hour. Adama out." They disappeared from the viewscreen.
"We will await his arrival in our shuttle," Cavil informed Julia. "We have nothing more to discuss at this time."
"Very well." Ledosh nodded. 'I will be waiting for your signal to resume."
Meridina nodded and the security officers at the door opened it themselves. They delivered the news to Lieutenant Richmond, who spoke on the ship intercom. "Cylon party en route back to the main shuttle bay. All unauthorized personnel are to withdraw from the following sections…"
While Richmond did her job, Julia glanced toward Meridina. "What do you think?"
"Admiral Adama has discovered something of import about our enemy. Specifically, they place great stock in recovering the child." Meridina frowned. "But once they have her, they will attack. I am certain of this."
"Well, hopefully Jarod will be ready for that." Julia also wondered if the strike team was doing well. They'd been detected, but that didn't mean they'd lost…
The moment the Cylon-Lucy's red lightsaber blade crashed against Lucy's own blue one, a battle erupted around them. Jack O'Neill fired first with a barrage of pulse shots that took down one of the Cylons. A moment later Buck and Wilma fired on the other flank. Unseen energy from their laser pistols burned through the metal skin of a pair of Cylon centurions and destroyed the internals that made it function.
Teal'c's staff shot up. The tip shifted and pulled back into four parts, exposing the end blaster that put a bolt of red energy into another Cylon.
That they weren't mowed down was due to Gina. She reached out through her life-force to throw the aim of the enemy Cylon centurions high, causing their first barrage to miss completely. "Run!" she shouted.
Samantha, guided by the map showing on her omnitool, used her rifle to blow away the two Cylon centurions barring their way to the subbasement. "This way!" Sam cried.
Jack fired another barrage toward the northern entrance corridor that hit another centurion. "Daniel, you're on point, Teal'c, help Ms. Inviere watch our backs."
Daniel took the lead with Sam behind him. Buck and Wilma followed, fire from the Cylons narrowly missing, with Jack behind them. Teal'c shot up another Cylon before going through. The fire meant for him was deflected by the steady blade work of Gina, who was in the rear.
During this short firefight the duel between Lucy and her Cylon copy continued. Lucy felt herself evenly matched by her opponent. They were feeling one another's strikes coming, allowing neither to take a quick advantage. Blue and red light filled Lucy's vision as each attempted strike was parried, each attack deflected, in blurring red and blue. Further crackling and humming accompanied each meeting of their blades.
Learning to fight with her creation had been a challenge Lucy had already met. The idea of fighting someone using her weapon, and not as a practice duel but as a deadly serious combat, was something she hadn't contemplated yet. Let's hope I'm a fast learner then was her thought on that, after which their blades clashed again.
One thing was certainly clear. Her doppelganger was fully trained in the arts of swevyra. Her skill demanded every bit of attention Lucy had. With her life on the line, Lucy obliged.
Strong winds were beginning to buffet the Dale house. The lights flickered slightly, but none of the family paid them any heed.
Robert kept his eyes on his grandfather. Or whatever it was that was appearing as his grandfather. "What are you?" he asked.
"I'm your Grandpa," was the answer.
"No." Robert shook his head. "You're not. My Grandpa Allen died when I was still in middle school. What you are... I don't know. You're something tied to this place."
"Oh? What makes you say that, Rob?"
"Because this place is based on my memories… my dreams." Robert cast a glance to the family gathered in the living room. "Everything is built around how I view the world and what I want." He looked back to the image of his grandfather. "And as much as I love… loved… my father, I've always seen my Grandpa Allen as the source of wisdom and knowledge. He was the one I went to if I had questions when I was a child. So if this world is based on how I perceive the world, that means you should be that source. Which means you know what this place is."
There was no immediate reaction from the old man. Slowly a small smile crept across his face. "Well, Rob, that's pretty smart. But what you've left out is that I am still your Grandpa. Just as you remember him."
"What is this place? What's going on?" Robert asked.
"Well, the answer is… I'm not sure it's something even I understand, and as you said, I'm supposed to know everything in here." Allen glanced out the window. "You've been studying that life force stuff from the Gersallians, right? Their teaching about a 'Flow of Life' that connects all living things?"
Robert nodded. "Yeah. I've even sensed it, a little at least."
"So you have. Well…" Allen leveled a searching look at him. "Have you ever stopped to wonder if they were a bit wrong about it?"
"Wrong in what way?
"That the Flow of Life itself isn't alive."
Robert blinked at that. He let the idea work into his mind. "So you're saying it is? That… that the Flow of Life has its own mind? Its own life?"
"Something like that, I think," said Allen. "Yes indeed, something like that."
The thought was something Robert had to consider. The Gersallians saw the Flow of Life as the sum total of all life, particularly sapient life. They believed the Flow of Life was strengthened by positive feelings and weakened by negative ones. The entire Code of Swenya was based on the belief that those who could sense the Flow of Life should strive to strengthen it by making life better for others. While Swenya's successors could come off as monastic, their code was more like a knightly code, emphasizing justice, protection of the innocent, and making lives better to achieve that end. Their name for those who used those powers to uphold the code, "swevyra'se", was based around the Gersallian language's meaning for the "'se" suffix. That it denoted strengthening something.
But nothing he'd heard from Meridina indicated they thought the Flow of Life might be aware or intelligent in some way. If it was, it meant he and those who could use these powers had to consider the possibility what it might want or feel.
"I'm not sure you can define it, Rob," Allen said. "And the things Meridina taught you aren't necessarily wrong either. It's just that there's more to it."
"And how does that explain what this is?" Robert asked.
"Well, think about that, Rob." Allen never lost his trademark gentle smile. "What happened to cause you to come here?"
"I opened the core of the Doctor's time ship. The Time Vortex, he called it. It told me my life would end. I was supposed to die." As Robert said those words, he started to see what had happened. "But my power, the Flow of Life itself, this 'force' protected me somehow, didn't it? And it brought me here." His expression betrayed momentary confusion. "Why? It's not just about saving my life, if that was the point it didn't have to create all of this." He held his hands out.
"What makes you think that's what happened? Think about it, Rob. The Flow of Life might be alive, an independent force, but it still responds to you. To what you want to do." Allen's expression turned thoughtful. "My poor boy. You thought you were going to lose more people you loved and cared about. Of course you thought about us too, didn't you?"
Robert thought back to his conversation with the TARDIS. He remembered those feelings at the thought of Julia and the others dying. The pain of losing his family had easily followed that fear. "I created this place? Is that what you're saying?"
"You're tired of losing the people you love, Rob. So of course you wanted to get us all back." Allen spread his arms and grinned. "So here we are, Rob. Here we are."
Outside the first drops of rain began to pelt the windows and walls of the house. The storm was moving in again. "And the storm? That's me too?"
Allen nodded. "Of course."
"The part of me that wants to leave. It's making it." He shook his head. "That seems ridiculous. Why would I go out into a storm?"
"Because you don't want to, Rob. Who would? You know things are coming, things are going to happen, that any sane man would want to stay away from." The old man chuckled at that. "Just like any sane man would rather stay inside than go out into a raging storm."
An old memory came to Robert's mind. "When I was a boy, and I asked you why you went off to war, you told me a story about a school friend of yours."
Allen nodded. "Jake."
"You said he wouldn't volunteer. That he even talked about dodging the draft if he was picked, because to go would be insane."
"Yup. Jake was terrified of the Germans. Thought we'd all get killed just like all the Russians and French and other people they were beating."
"And you even agreed with him," Robert continued. "You told me that he was right. That it was insane to want to get into a fight like that."
"So I did." Allen looked at him closely, clearly curious as to where Robert was going with this line of discussion.
The rest of the memory played out for Robert. He had been ten years old, talking with his grandfather on the porch swing while Allen Dale had showed him pictures from the war and his old medals. He heard his own voice, or rather his voice when he was a child, ask the important question. "If it was crazy, then why did you want to go, Grandpa?"
The Allen in front of him spoke the same words as he had in the memory. "Because I had a good reason to go."
Robert nodded. He looked back to the window. The rain was growing in strength. Small pieces of hail smacked against the window as well. "So…"
"So…" Allen nodded. "Do you have a good reason to go?"
The entire trip back to the mining complex had been torment for Zack and the others. They had all pushed for this operation and, due to that, they had left the people back at the mine nearly defenseless. The call for help that had come once the Cylons brought down the protective shield over the complex made all of their calculations seem reckless. The smoke rising from the complex seemed to condemn them for their decision.
They drove up to the closed gate of the complex. There were no signs of the Cylons. Anders refused to waste the time in opening the gate properly. The engine on the vehicle roared when his foot slammed on the accelerator. The vehicle picked up speed rapidly and slammed into the gate with enough force to tear it from its treads. After the impact Anders hit the brakes to let inertia carry the ruined remains of the gate off the front of the vehicle, jostling everyone in the car in the process.
The vehicles behind them drove on, going further into the complex. The various sounds of energy and ballistic weapons fire picked up. A check to the display screen beside Zack showed that Anders' people were tearing through part of the Cylon line approaching the mine entrance. The red markers representing Cylons began to disappear. It wasn't hard for Zack to imagine the various mounts on Anders' convoy opening up on Cylon centurions.
His imagination received confirmation when Anders caught up and stopped the car. The three jumped out of the car. The battle in front of them raged, with the mounted weapons tearing Cylon centurions to pieces. Screams and cries accompanied some of the Cylon return fire.
Zack pulled his pulse pistol from his hip holster and advanced with Anders and Thrace. The three took cover behind one of the makeshift armored trucks of the convoy for a minute before continuing on. A field of dead bodies and blasted Cylon pieces loomed ahead. Zack raised his pistol and fired off shots on a human-form Cylon, one of the ones that looked like Sharon Agathon. Because he was running and firing his aim was not accurate, and the distance meant that most of his shots went wide. The Sharon-Cylon turned toward him with a gun in her hand. She never got a chance to fire it, as one of his shots clipped her in the shoulder and kept her from firing. A follow up shot from another angle hit the Cylon in the collarbone and sent her down for the count.
"Anders, is that you?" Zarek asked over their comm system.
"I read you," Anders answered.
"Tigh is hurt and we've lost a lot of people. We're keeping them just outside of the mine entrance."
Even as those words were spoken, the rear vehicles of the convoy drove up. Anders waved them on and barked, "Secure the mine entrance!" At that command they drove on as instructed.
As soon as they had cover again, Zack opened his own comm line to Zarek and asked, "Where is Doc Cottle? Where is Clara?"
"Cottle is here, but Clara and Cally aren't." Those words made Zack's chest tighten in fear. "All I can tell you is that they got out of the ward before the Cylons overran it. That's all anyone's told me."
"Thank you," Zack managed, barely. He looked to Anders and Thrace.
They returned his look with understanding clear on their faces. "We'll get you to her, Zack," Thrace promised. "Don't worry about that. Just don't run ahead on us and get killed."
He nodded. He didn't want to obey that instruction, but experience overcame his impulse for the moment. When he left cover, it was with the two of them accompanying him.
When Sam and Jack entered the control center in the Presidential Mansion subbasement they were surprised to find that it was not manned in any way. Sam went for the controls. She was ready to find them destroyed or disabled, which is why she had a momentary flicker of surprise on her face when the hardlight keyboard blipped to life just under her fingertips.
"Well, that's convenient," Jack said. Behind him some of the others were entering. "It must be nice to not have keyboards taking up desk space," he said to Gina and Wilma. Neither gave him any reply.
"Okay, give me a moment." Samantha tapped at the keys. After a moment she swapped to the omnitool around her left forearm. "They've put a lockout on the system. I'm going to bypass it."
Buck and Teal'c looked out the door and quickly pulled their heads back. Weapons fire came through the open door. The bullets ripped chunks out of the wall opposite fo the door, raining debris over one of the work stations. The two kneeled back out and returned fire with their respective laser gun and blaster staff. "They're right behind us," Buck said.
"I'm having trouble with the bypass. The Cylons infected the computer with a control virus." Sam's fingers were more occupied on her omnitool than the main control. "This is going to take a while."
"Let me help." Gina walked up beside her. She reached into a pocket on her robe and pulled out a small knife. "I need a hard wire connection to the system."
Sam nodded and checked her omnitool. After a second she ducked in the chair and began pulling away a panel at the control station. As she did so, Gina took the knife and stuck the blade into the palm of her left hand.
"Woh, uh, what are you doing?" Daniel asked.
"I'm making an access port," Gina answered, all while working the knife toward her wrist. She stopped shy of it. The blood of her wound formed crimson lines on her hand. Upon reaching the edges of her palm the blood began to drip to the floor.
Sam sat up. She had a fiber-optic wire in hand, pulled from an access line in the console. Sam used her combat knife to cut the tip off, exposing the fiber-optic end completely. She handed this exposed end to Gina. With a wince Gina slid the wire into the open wound on her hand. Pain showed on her face while the wire crept up her arm. Her eyes fluttered and she went to a knee.
On both the screen and on Sam's omnitool, computer code began to flash rapidly.
"Are you going to be in any shape to help Lucero if she needs it?" Wilma asked.
"I must concentrate," Gina said. "Don't distract me, please."
"She's directly interfacing with the virus." Samantha turned her head and faced Wilma. "If we distract her, it could infect the computerized parts of her body. I don't think we should risk that."
Wilma nodded in acceptance.
"O'Neill, the enemy is preparing another attack," Teal'c said from his place at the door.
Jack motioned to Daniel. "Keep an eye on everything." He lifted his rifle and went to the door to squeeze off several shots.
"Hopefully we can buy the ladies enough time," Buck said to him while squeezing off a laser shot that sparked and scorched a Cylon centurion coming down the hall.
"Carter will get it done," Jack assured him. "Don't you worry about that. I just hope Lucero can beat her evil twin."
The foyer of the Presidential Mansion was no longer the pristine, abandoned locale it had been when Lucy and the others arrived. Now the walls were covered in black scorch marks. One of the chairs for visitors had been cleaved in half, plush and cloth and wood pieces now scattered around the room.
Another such chair met that fate at Lucy's lightsaber, cleaving the thrown object in two before it could hit her. Her Cylon counterpart, undaunted, pulled with her hand and sent a table at Lucy, causing the fliers and papers that had been set upon it flying. Lucy used her power to grab and throw it back. Her opponent's lightsaber sliced cleanly through the table. A spurt of will caused the two halves to fly to either side and miss her.
Lucy was following the table and went on the attack. Her opponent barely got her red lightsaber up to block Lucy's blue blade. Lucy drew back from the parry and went for a horizontal cut at the her doppelganger's shoulder that was evaded. She followed the cut through and twisted her whole body in place, bringing her lightsaber back to stop the counter-attack aimed at her side. She feinted toward the fake Lucy's belly and re-directed her blade toward her opponent's chin. Only a last minute twitch kept that blow from striking home with the sapphire light of Lucy's blade coming within half an inch of contact.
The Cylon-Lucy scowled at her. Lucy could sense her fury and frustration. Her copy was convinced she would win quickly. Lucy's failure to die as desired was infuriating the Cylon. Gold color formed in the Cylon's eyes.
That sent a chill up Lucy's spine, not just from the cold, dark energy the Cylon's life force was tapping, but the fact that those were her eyes turning gold. The sense of deja vu was visceral, bringing her back to the entrance to the Darglan database on 33LA where she had let her anger and fear rage out of control. For a moment what she was facing wasn't just a Cylon duplicate of herself but rather the thought of what she could become if she fell to her own darkness.
The Cylon-Lucy screamed in anger and lunged at Lucy. Again their lightsabers clashed, and the duel went on.
The security officers from the Aurora met no opposition in getting to the emitter. A pulse shot and a strong kick opened the door to the emitter's access room, where Reubens and Kripkt went to work. Lindstrom arranged the rest of the security detachment into a defensive position around the opening to the door.
He was barely done with that when Kripkt chirped, "Lieutenant, we have a problem."
Lindstrom re-entered the chamber. It was fairly well-lit thanks to LEDs. The tubing containing wiring and other connections criss-crossed the ceiling and the walls in some places. Reubens was in one access hatch, visible only from the hips down, while Kripkt worked a console. "What is it?" Lindstrom asked.
"The Cylons sabotaged the emitter," Kripkt said. "It is physically impossible for it to emit a field."
"You mean that even if Team A gets their side working, we'll have no shield?"
"Yes sir. And the emitter is useless for our purposes too. Not unless we fix it."
"Can you?"
"Yes sir," said Reubens. Her voice faintly echoed from within the access hatch. "But we'll need time. More time than the cloaks will keep us hidden."
"Right." Lindstrom had been expecting Murphy to screw with them in one way or another. He wasn't surprised at this. "We'll give you all the time we can."
It was almost time for Adama's shuttle to arrive. Julia and Meridina walked down the corridor of the Aurora toward the shuttle bay. Meridina could sense Julia's unease. The casual confidence that Julia often showed to others was completely gone at the moment, replaced by a carefully-obscured worry. "You have done all you can," Meridina assured her.
"My head tells me that." Julia shook her head. "My heart doesn't care. And I can't help but wonder if I made a mistake along the way."
"You regret sending the team to New Caprica?"
"I'm wondering if it was the right choice. Without Adama's arrival, the colony would already be gone."
"True." Meridina gave a single nod of her head. "I suppose I can understand. But if I may give you some advice, Captain?"
"Feel free, Commander. It's in the job description, after all."
"I would have made the same decision," Meridina said to her. "And while I understand doubt, at this time I do not think it is constructive. Indeed, much as it can undermine the power of a swevyra'se, it can also undermine the power of a commander."
Julia smiled thinly at that. "Well-spoken, Meridina, very well-spoken." She drew in a breath as they approached the door to the shuttle bay. It swished open to show Ledosh waiting to one side while, down by their shuttle, the four Cylons were gathered. "I just hope Zack's okay."
The Cylon attack on the mine started collapsing the moment Anders' convoy got to the entrance. With their heavy weapons they mowed down the Cylon centurions and humaniforms that had been on the cusp of overrunning Zarek and his last group of defenders.
Zack didn't bother going to the entrance himself. As soon as the shooting seemed to have stopped he started running toward the medical ward. He saw the ruined remains of a stretcher and a trail of blood drops. Worry gripped him that Clara was wounded. That even now she was bleeding out. He followed the blood drops, avoiding the smoking remains of Cylon centurions and the dead humaniforms and Colonials. The sickening smell of human waste hit his nostrils. It had been a long time since he had endured that stink and he gagged at it. But he pushed away any further reaction; he needed to find Clara. He needed to make sure she was alright.
So he searched. Through the twisted broken remains of machines, the blackened ruins of vehicles and mining equipment. He scrambled over a dead male Cylon - which type it was he couldn't say - and found he was approaching the rocky side of the mountain foothills with a large ore truck to his right. He was just a couple hundred meters from the mine entrance where everyone was still gathered for the moment. He could see them as distant figures. The warmth of hope came to him. Clara making it seemed all the more likely now.
He was so focused on the mining entrance far ahead that he almost missed the movement to his right. It came from a small pile several meters from the front of the ore truck; another Cylon humaniform, this one the bald dark-skinned model with the back of his head missing, was sprawled over two other bodies. An arm near the bottom of the pile twitched slightly. Zack ran up to it to investigate. He grabbed the dead Cylon and pulled him away.
The blood drew his eyes first. A coated woman with the coat and her trousers coated in dried and not-so-dry blood. Her hand was barely holding a sidearm, a mass effect Carnifex pistol. Training took over. His finger went to his omnitool. "I need help by the big ore truck, I've got a woman with a belly shot here."
"We're on our way," Thrace replied.
As soon as he said that Zack's eyes noticed the figure partly buried under the gutshot woman. His heart skipped a beat at recognizing the blue garment clad over the figure's legs. The blue of medical scrubs. He gently pulled back the woman on top, trying not to disturb and worsen her wound, in order to get at the figure below. As the wounded woman was moved, the sight of bloody scrubs drew Zack's eye. At first he thought the blood had come from the militia woman he'd just moved. It was only as his eyes actually moved over the figure did he see the multiple holes in the back of the scrubs around which the blood was particularly pooled. Without further thought Zack grabbed the scrubs-clad figure and flipped her. His eyes lifted toward the head as the body flopped onto its back.
Clara's blue eyes stared back into his.
And there was not a glimmer of life in them.
That terrible moment lingered as the details fought their way into Zack's mind. The cold blue of Clara's lips. The pale, grayish cast of the skin on her face. The vacant stare in her eyes. The blood on her mutilated torso and shoulders, where the high-powered automatic weapon of a Cylon centurion model had done its terrible work on her.
Zack stopped breathing. He felt like his heart simply stopped, as if he might simply fall over dead as well. Finally his body forced a breath into his lungs.
Every fiber of his body wanted to deny what his senses were telling him. It denied that Clara could be dead. That he had lost her. That she was gone. He took her hand with his right hand while the back of his left hand moved over the side of her cheek. There was still some warmth there. Not much. Certainly not the warmth of a living being. Enough to let the denial last for another crucial moment, the moment of cruel hope that his senses were deceiving him.
And then that moment ended. Zack took Clara into his arms and held her up in an embrace. A loud wail erupted from his throat. With denial gone, nothing could back the tears that formed in his eyes. The pain in his chest felt like it might just cause his heart to stop. All of those thoughts he'd had, all of those dreams of a life after the war, that image of a happy family home and picnics and baseball games and everything… they turned on him with a terrible vengeance. No longer the promises of what would be, they were the taunting remnant of what could never be.
Zack had cried over his mother. He had cried over his father. He cried again here, and not the kind of crying people usually expected. No, not the simple manly tears of grief. The wail in his throat repeated once more, and by the next one it had become a blubbering sob. His grip on Clara's body tightened with such a ferocity one might think he could restore life to her with that grip. The grief, the terrible painful grief, became a black hole in his soul, sucking in everything else until there was nothing else remaining.
The question posed by Allen Dale's likeness was still unanswered. Robert continued to look at the being emulating his grandfather while letting his question echo in Robert's mind. Did he have a reason to go out there? To leave behind a family he loved, intact and alive, for all of the terrible things that were still to come, represented by the howling wind and rain and hail of the storm outside.
He could wish it away. He'd done it before. He had firmly decided not to go out, not to abandon Little Robby or the family that was still alive here, and the storm had gone away. That it was coming back was his fault. It was from a part of him that had accepted this place was not real.
There was no keeping the conflict off Robert's face. He thought of the reasons he had to go back. The war with the Nazi Reich. Duties to the Alliance. The possibility that the Prophecy of the Dawn was going to come true and a terrible threat would descend upon the Multiverse. They were duties that called to him.
"It's not a hard question, Rob," Allen said. "The hard part is coming to terms with the answer."
"I…"
Before he could continue, a sudden sensation of pain washed over Robert. He felt a sense of crushing anguish with immense loss. He was familiar with loss and there was a moment he thought it might be his.
But it was only a moment. The loud wail from outside was barely Human. It pushed through the walls of the house with a power that defied reason and struck at Robert again. As the wail became sobs he thought he heard something familiar in them. Something familiar about the sensation. He turned away from Allen and went to the door. The cold, rainy wind bit into him when he pulled the door open and looked out into the storm-tossed farm.
Except the storm-tossed farm seemed blurry now. As if something else was imposing itself over the farm scene. Robert could make out dirt and grass that didn't fit Kansas, the hints of a distant mountain base, the shape of a vehicle of some sort, and near it two human figures, one on its knees holding the other. The second figure was limp in the kneeling one's arms.
Not just limp. Lifeless. Dead.
Robert focused on the sight and felt his gut twist painfully when the two figures became clear to him. "Zack," he whispered to himself in horrible realization at the sight before him. The sight of Zack holding Clara's dead body. He could see the bloody wounds from the gunshots that had mutilated Clara's torso, destroying internal organs and ensuring her swift death.
And he could feel the grief and pain coming from his old friend. A loss deep and immediate, not simply the loss of a loved one but the loss of a future, the loss of dreams, of everything that could have been.
Robert's mouth went dry at the sight. His friend was suffering. Heartbroken. He had to do something about it. He owed Zack that much.
Further images came to him. He saw Lucy fighting for her life against a jacketed figure with her own lightsaber blade. Jarod and Barnes working on something in the ship science lab. Angel and Cat and Nick on the bridge, Nick in the central chair looking at the main screen with concern. Julia and Meridina were with Ledosh, waiting with four figures...
Something was going on. Something terrible, something dangerous. And Clara was dead. Clara Davis, one of the sweetest, kindest people Robert had ever known.
Was this in the future? Was it in the past? Robert wasn't sure. He only knew what he felt. His friends were in danger. His friend Zack was heartbroken.
They needed help. They needed him.
The images faded just a little. Enough for the violence of the storm to return. Enough for more images to rush through Robert's mind. He couldn't get a firm grip on them. Some he remembered, like the cybernetic Turian, or the golden-eyed man in white armor upon a metal throne. The others were flashes. Spaceships burning, armies clashing, a city-planet under attack from orbit. He could hear his own voice screaming in pain.
And then the stars going out, in a spreading wave, galaxy by galaxy until nothing was left.
This is what awaited him if he went out into the storm. He would suffer. He would know pain. He would have to fight. And he would never again know the comforts he had loved in this place.
"You know what you have to do, Rob," Allen said. His voice prompted Robert to turn. His family was lined up behind him. He could feel the love and affection from them. "And you have your reason."
Robert nodded slowly. "You didn't say that the last time. When the Doctor tried to get me to leave, you asked me to stay."
"Because it's not just about leaving," Allen answered.
Robert nodded in understanding. "It's why." As he said those words he knew his choice was made. Looking at his family made it hard. They'd been taken from him before. To regain them had been a miracle; losing them again, willingly this time, made his heart feel like it was being ripped to pieces. "I don't want to leave you."
"We know, son," Michael Dale said.
"But its what you have to do," Leigh added.
"You have to do the right thing, meine kleiner." Anna nodded. "Just as we raised you to do."
"I'll miss you, Rob." Susannah waved. "And will you let Cat know I miss her too?"
"And Beth," Michael said. "Let her know we all love her and miss her."
Robert nodded quietly at them. Tears were filling his eyes as the weight of what he was going to do pressed upon him. A small part of him quailed at it. It didn't want him to leave them behind.
And it wasn't alone. Little Robby dashed ahead and grabbed Robert by the leg and waist. "No!" he shrieked. "Daddy, don't leave me!"
Robert lowered himself to one knee to look into his son's green eyes. They were welling with tears just as his eyes were. He put his arms around the little boy and held him close. His hand reached up to take his head, resting in his son's blond hair. "I love you," he said. "And I always will."
"Daddy, I'm scared," the child wailed.
"Don't be. It'll all be okay." He said those words knowing what would happen. That Little Robby would cease to exist along with the others. The pain inside of him increased until it felt like his entire chest would explode from it. Again their tear-filled eyes met. Robert swallowed and said, "I never realized how much I wanted to have a child until I laid eyes on you, son. I love you. And I'll always remember you."
"Daddy…" The little boy's protest broke up into sobs.
"I swear it," Robert promised. "I'll always remember you." He stood up and gently set his son down. Behind him the wind and rain was picking up again.
Little Robby looked ready to grab him again. But Julia stepped up before he could and lifted him into her arms. He turned his head and started to cry into her shoulder. She looked at Robert with all of the love and respect that Robert knew the real Julia had for him as well. "I'll be waiting for you out there," she said.
"We're not married there," he told her. "I'm not sure we'll ever be."
"Whether we're married or not, or whether we'll ever be, it doesn't change the fact I'm still waiting for you," she answered. With nothing else to say, she took the last step to him and kissed Robert on the lips. He accepted the kiss, enjoying how sweet it felt as long as it lasted.
It ended and Julia walked back to join the others. "Good luck, Rob," Allen Dale said. "We'll be rootin' for you."
Despite the pain he felt, Robert smiled at that and nodded. "And I'll always have you with me. All of you." He drew in a breath and said the painful word he'd been trying to avoid. "Goodbye."
And he prompted turned and ran out into the storm, defying the biting wind and sharp rain and bruising hail while his legs continued to move, pushing him further and further into the storm. He glanced back just once, enough to see his family waving goodbye.
The storm closed around him. The nice, big house on the mound was gone. The barn was gone. There was no sign he was even on the farm anymore. There was nothing but the storm. He continued to run to the center of it. It seemed like the storm would never end.
Until it did, in a burst of light that overwhelmed Robert's senses, forcing his eyes closed. The rain and wind and hail went away until he felt nothing of them on his skin, not even the wet rain.
He opened his eyes again and immediately felt the need to squint at the bright light above, as if he had been sleeping for a very long time. He opened and closed his eyes a few time until they adjusted to the light. He forced his body to sit up, his muscles stiff and protesting, and he looked around at the site around him: the Aurora medbay ward.
"What…?" he managed to croak out through a throat that felt as dry as a desert.
With no fighting going on, Leo's place in the crisis was to wait until someone called. He was thus seated at his office desk checking medical files on the new crew when Nasri came to his door. The look of surprise on the Darfuri nurse's face was complete. "Doctor, come quickly! He's awake!"
For a split second Leo almost asked who. But there was no need to. There was only one person Nasri could be referring to. Leo jumped from his chair and ran out of his office. Nasri followed him in his dash to the non-critical ward.
They found Robert already clambering off the bed. Or attempting to at any rate. His muscles, dormant for months, were so unresponsive that he toppled over. "Rob, stay still!" Leo shouted.
"I'm.. I'm okay," he managed. He raised a hand toward them, signalling them to stop, wishing them to.
The power within him surged unexpectedly. An invisible wave of force erupted from Robert in the direction of his hand. It slammed into Leo and Nasri with enough power to send them flying into the wall around the entrance to the ward. As they recovered Robert stared at them and then at his hand, shock plain on his face. "What… what's happening? I couldn't control it…" With his limbs and joints stiff getting to his feet was a surprising challenge, but he managed it after several seconds. "Are you okay?"
"What was that?" Leo asked. His voice made it clear how stunned he was at the sudden violent burst of energy.
"I don't know. My power just flared up. I…" Robert stepped once, bracing himself by holding the bed he had just vacated. He tentatively reached for the power within him in the hope of finding out what was going on with that warm glow he had come to know as swevyra.
But the warm glow wasn't a glow. It was a light. Strong, stronger than he'd ever felt it. Instinctively he reached through it toward the others, hoping to sense Meridina and Lucy.
What he got wasn't just them. He could sense many more beings. Even those who didn't have the active energy he knew seemed to light up for his senses. The Flow of Life resonated around him in a way that actually frightened him. The power he felt in his connection to the Flow of Life was greater than ever before. He struggled to withdraw his reach. There was no way he could sense them like this.
An image suddenly flashed in his head. Julia, Meridina, and Ledosh with four figures. Robert recognized three of them. Cylon models. They were dealing with the Cylons. To his horror, however, he watched as the Cylons did something he couldn't make out, and with a flash of light everyone was gone and the shuttle bay severely damaged.
"They're in danger," Robert rasped.
Leo was activating medical scanners on his omnitool as he approached Robert. "What?" he asked. "What are… wait!"
It was too late. Robert was running through the door.
The Alliance Mark III shuttle from Pegasus slipped through the atmospheric containment field of the Aurora main shuttle bay. It came to a precision landing beside the waiting Cylon craft. Julia was watching it so intently that she almost missed Meridina's sudden look of shock. "What's wrong?" she murmured.
"I just felt something. A ripple in my swevyra. I…" The confusion was joined by a look of uncertain joy. "Could he be…?"
Both had to direct their attention to the opening of the Pegasus shuttle's rear ramp. Adama stepped down first, followed by the Agathons. Sharon had her baby daughter clasped tightly in her arms.
The look on Cavil's face was surprising. He seemed pleased, even anxious. The others were clearly intent on the child as well.
"You will hold up our bargain?" Sharon asked.
"Yes. We will leave the people of the Colonies alone," Cavil said. "Now…"
"Wait." The Gina model's brow furrowed. "Something isn't right." The others turned toward her while she pulled out a scanner. Julia looked to Meridina to see if she had any insight. The uncertain, worried look on her face was not comforting. A glance toward Adama showed he wasn't reacting at all. As if the situation had nothing to do with him.
After several moments of looking at the scanner, the Gina model's face twisted into an angry scowl. "They're fake!" she declared. Her finger stabbed a key on the scanner.
Energy rippled through the air in front of it, barely visible save for the slight distortion of the air around it. When it reached the Agathons they flickered slightly, like a television screen getting snow from turbulence.
"Holograms," Cavil noted. His expression betrayed his anger. "They're holograms!"
Please be ready, Jarod, Julia pleaded in her mind. Please.
In the Presidential Mansion subbasement, Jack and Buck fired another barrage at the Cylon Centurions gathering in the hall outside. As they pulled back into cover Wilma and Teal'c fired their weapons into the hall. They didn't hit anything, but the Cylons were forced to take cover. "Major Carter, status update," Wilma said.
Sam looked up from her omnitool screen. "We're almost in." She glanced in the direction of Gina. She was still holding the wire in place. Blood covered her palm and was now pouring onto the floor. "You're bleeding too much."
"I'll be okay," Gina insisted. "Let me concentrate." Her eyes remained fixed to a screen. Sam got the feeling she really wasn't looking at the screen itself but doing everything in her head.
There was more gunfire from outside. "We're not going to be able to get out of here without help," Jack noted.
"Well, like you said." Buck leaned around the door and squeezed off another shot. "We have to hope Lucy finishes off her evil twin."
The screen on the main computer shifted to show a command interface. "We're in!" Sam declared. "I'm going to try and activate the colony's defensive shield."
"I've purged the virus from the mainframe and given you complete command access." Gina's fingers wrapped around the wire and began a gentle, slow pull of it from the open wound in her hand. "You shouldn't have any problems."
"I'm activating planetary defense now… oh no."
"What do you mean, 'oh no'? Sam?"
In response to Jack's question Sam began tapping keys. She shook her head. "I'm in the system but it's not responding. It looks like the emitter was sabotaged."
"Let's hope Lieutenant Lindstrom is handling that," Wilma said. "For now, we have to hold this room."
Gina finished removing the wire she had used. Daniel was on hand to apply a bandage to the deep wound. Before he was done Gina's head snapped to the wall on their left. "Get ready," she said.
"For what?" Daniel asked.
"The Cylons are going to come through the wall. Any moment now," she said. Gina reached for her belt and pulled her weapon. "Be ready."
"Carter to Lindstrom." Sam held her omnitool close to her lips. "Lieutenant, this is Major Carter. I need that emitter fixed, and I need it now."
When she finished speaking the wall exploded in a cloud of masonry particles. The figures of Cylon combat machines appeared as outlines in the cloud.
Sam lifted her rifle and fired in tandem with Daniel. One of the drones fell in the second before their return fire sent everyone for cover.
Lindstrom heard Carter's call just before he opened fire with his weapon. His shots blasted the leg off of one of the approaching Cylon Centurions. "Kripkt, Reubens, status?!"
"The Cylons made a mess of things," Reubens said. "Full restoration is going to take hours."
"We don't have hours!"
It was Kripkt who answered, "I believe I have a solution. If we tie the portable deflector shield generator into the emitter's projection chamber, we might be able to restore deflector capability without requiring the extensive repair."
"Get to it then!" Lindstrom swept the pulse rifle to the right and hit another Cylon Centurion as it fired. The cry of pain from the same direction told him one of his people had been hit. He went over to the fallen Human male and grabbed his uninjured shoulder to pull him into the safety of the emitter assembly. "We're running out of time here."
I'm running out of time was the thought that went through Robert's head as he dashed up the access stairwell. He sensed the moment of danger approaching and worried that his body, as unused as it was, wouldn't get him there in time. His muscles screamed in pain at the sudden effort they had been subjected to after months of immobility. Robert knew that if he stopped moving, he might not be able to keep going.
This meant that the closed door that he met was going to be a challenge. If it didn't open fast enough he'd run into it. He felt no choice but to use his power to force it to open more quickly than it normally would. He reached out and felt the warm energy leap from his hands. Immediately he tried to stop it. It was too much.
It was also too late. Instead of simply sliding the door open more quickly, it bent both sides of the sliding door open. The tracks that kept the door in place began squealing in protest as the warped structure of the door no longer allowed it to function. Robert slipped through the resulting hole and kept running.
What was happening to him? He'd never managed something like that before. With a brief shake of his head Robert compelled the thought to the back of his mind. He had other things to worry about right now, like keeping his aching body moving to get to the shuttle bay before it was too late.
The Aurora shuttle bay echoed with the angry declaration of the Cylon Cavil. "This is what we get for trying to deal fairly with Humans!" he spat. "Treachery and deceit!"
Julia thought of a counter to that, but it was Meridina who spoke openly. "You do not deal fairly at all. You use murder and violence to compel others to obey you and show no regard for life. You have become an abomination."
"Do you truly believe you can prevail in a conflict?" Ledosh asked the question and continued with his observation. "You have made some advanced in technology, yes, but you cannot fight the entire Multiverse alone."
"God will bring us triumph." The D'anna model had a triumphant sneer on her face. "You cannot resist Him." She reached her hand toward her belt.
Behind them the shuttle door swished open. Julia looked to it out of habit. She stared in wonder at the arrival of Robert, still clad in a medbay gown. "Rob?!" she managed.
"It's a trap!" he shouted, his arm in motion toward the assembled Cylons. "Get down!"
Julia and Meridina were the quickest to obey the instruction. Ledosh, sensing the gathering power and what was to come, grabbed Adama and pulled him to the ground. The four Cylons all began reaching for something on their belts.
Robert summoned up his power again. There was no time to try and regulate it, or control it; the Cylons were seconds away from success. He let it loose in one large surge. The others could feel the power push against them even though they were prone. The surge caught the Cylons and sent them flying backward, as if struck by a speeding train. Their cries of surprise ended abruptly when they went flying through the atmospheric containment field.
At first they simply seemed to spin on in the vacuum. But each disappeared in a flash of blinding light. The forcefield crackled violently for a few seconds before stabilizing.
Locarno's voice sounded from Julia's omnitool. "Bridge to Andreys. Captain, we just recorded four thermal releases aft of the shuttle bay. What's going on?"
Julia was on her knees by this point, in the middle of getting back to her feet. "The Cylons had suicide charges. But we're okay. Resume Code Red immediately, I'm on my way back to the bridge."
"Aye, sir," Locarno answered. "The Cylons are taking up combat formation now. They're launching fighters."
"Launch ours and prepare for evasive maneuvers. Andreys out." Now standing again, Julia looked to the others to make sure they were okay. Of the five, only Robert wasn't back to his feet. He was laid out on the shuttle bay floor. Her heart skipped a beat to see he wasn't moving.
Meridina went to his side as a soft groan showed he was not completely unconscious. Julia could see Meridina's surprise was as great as her own. "Robert?" she asked gently.
"I can't move," he answered.
"I shall arrange for his return to your medbay," Ledosh promised. "You must go back to your duties, now."
The urge Julia had to talk to Robert, to see how he was feeling, gave way to her duty. She was needed on the bridge. So was Meridina. "Let's go," she said to the other woman. She looked to Adama next. "Are you joining us, Admiral?"
He nodded in response.
Julia tapped her omnitool. "Andreys to Transporter Station 1. Three for emergency intraship transport to the Bridge. Beam myself, Commander Meridina, and Admiral Adama."
"Standby, Captain… energizing."
The shuttlebay disappeared from Julia's view in a burst of white light. When the light receded she was on the bridge. Angel and Cat were in place, but Neyzi was still at Ops. As soon as she returned to her chair, with Locarno resuming the helm, Julia tapped the key on the right arm of the chair to activate the ship's internal communications system. "Bridge to Science Lab 1. Is it ready?"
"Almost," Jarod answered. "We're compiling the code now. Give me five minutes."
"The Cylon fighters are coming together for an attack run," Cat said. "Ten Cylon ships are moving into weapons range. They're targeting us."
"Status of our side?"
"Fighters are launching now," Meridina confirmed. Julia could imagine the Mongoose fighters streaming from their launch tubes along the upper deck of the drive hull. "The Pegasus has also launched its full complement of combat craft."
"Too bad they're still outnumbered, just as we are," Julia murmured. By the numbers there was no way they could win this. "Any sign of the shield over the Colony going up?"
"None yet." Caterina audibly gulped. "And they'd better hurry."
"What?"
"The Cylons just fired missiles at the colony," she replied. "Impact in one minute."
Gunfire echoed in the control room. The Cylons pressed at the main door and through the breach they'd made in the wall. Everyone was behind cover in one of the stations except Gina, Teal'c, and Buck; the former was using her powers to protect the other two from the Cylons coming through the breach, allowing them to continue firing on the Cylons coming down the main hall.
The warning tones and red light immediately informed Samantha Carter of their plight. She finished firing a burst into the torso of one of the Cylon attackers and turned her head to the main display. Her eyes made a quick examination of the data before her finger pressed the send key for her channel to Lindstrom. "We need that emitter now! Missile inbound!"
"Reubens, Kripkt!"
Lindstrom's shout forced Reubens to look up from his handiwork of connected wiring. "We still need five minutes!"
"You don't have five minutes!" came the frantic reply.
To give herself more room for maneuver Lucy had brought her opponent outdoors. Her doppelganger's frustration had become fierce rage and made it easy to pull her along. It also made deflecting her fierce blows more of a chore. With her rage fueling her, the Cylon-Lucy was calling upon her life force energy more and more. Lucy had to exert herself to deflect the faster strikes from hitting her.
One such strike went toward her shoulder. Lucy's blade intercepted it. Instead of pulling back from the failed attack her doppelganger pushed into it. Lucy set her feet and met the push with a defensive stance. She looked into the angry, hate-filled face of her foe and felt a visceral disgust at what the Cylons had done with her blood. Now this thing, this creature of darkness, went around doing who-knew-what with Lucy's face.
A sense of danger filled Lucy's senses. Her counterpart glanced toward the sky and let out a laugh. Lucy couldn't help but look up to see what was going on.
It was when she spotted the missile contrail in the sky.
And she knew there was nothing to do at that point but pray.