Note: Thanks to feedback I received both here and another forum, I rewrote the previous chapter and changed a few key details. Please have another look at it if you haven't yet done so. :)


CHAPTER THREE
The Thirteenth Colony, Part Two

Olympus international space station
Low Earth orbit

Diego Swan was desperately fighting to not let his imagination get the better of him. He often thought nothing short of nuclear holocaust could get that sort of reaction out of Katalin Li. "What? What is it?" A beat, and then, "Talk to me, Katie."

"I've got an image," Kate replied. "Radar-generated, so it's iffy, but it gives us the approximate size and shape. Look, I know you guys don't think I'm a 'real' astronaut, but-"

"You're a computer engineer, which means you're more qualified to analyze something that machine does than anyone else on this bucket," Swan interrupted. "We all know that. I want to see that image."

"Aye, sir. I'll send it over to you as soon as I get a go."

Floating over to the nearest computer screen, Swan checked to see if the station's network was online yet. The indicator light was green, which meant at least the voice system had been effectively rebooted. If the quantum computer was working, as it should, that meant the data line was probably operational as well. "I'm logging on to the network," Diego said into his hand-held radio. "Send it over once it shows me."

"It should already be there."

Sure enough, once he had entered his password, an image flashed up on the screen. "Looking at it now, Kate."

To anyone else, it wouldn't look much different from any other grainy, radar-generated image, but Swan was a seasoned astronaut who knew how to interpret an image. The nearest earthly image he could compare it to was a helicopter, and with that thought in mind, he tried to piece things together. It was possible that it was two or more separate satellites, superimposed upon each other in the path of the radar scan. That was the most logical explanation, which was why Swan didn't like it. It wasn't impossible to the eye, but the instrumentation knew better: more than one craft would have registered an altitude difference, and there was no mistaking the trajectory. It was a transitory path, not an orbital one. It was either a chance reading of epic proportions, or they were dealing with something more.

"I'm coming over there; I want a look at that equipment," Swan said. "I'll have Holloman contact Dr. Tempas."

"Yuri wants to know if we should tell the Russians," came Kate's response.

It was a legitimate request; the station was, after all, a joint venture with six different countries. While no other countries had human representation aboard, and there were only four Russians compared to nine Americans, they were still involved. Whether it was a machine glitch or something else, they were all in it together. Diego Swan, however, was in charge, and his word was final. "Not yet," he said, stressing the "yet" to emphasize that he did respect the Russians' right to stay informed. "I want to talk to Dinakar and see if we can make some sense of this, and keep it contained for now. If it leaks, we could end up creating a lot of unnecessary panic."

There was going to be enough unnecessary panic aboard the Olympus; the last thing they needed was some conspiracy theorists or alien fanatics to hear that the space station had detected something that read like an electronic device coming toward them. Dinakar Tempas was sure to take one look at their surveillance conditions and tell them it was just one hell of a coincidence. Yet, at the same time, Swan couldn't shake the feeling that by the time all this had played out, he was going to wish it was some top-secret Korean project.


Reconnaissance Raptor
Somewhere over the Pacific

Despite all the evidence she'd presented to the contrary during the last twenty minutes of their descent through Earth's atmosphere, Kara Thrace's vocabulary did consist of more than the word "frak." She knew they were never in any real danger, but the ride down was not a comfortable one by any means. Turbulence threatened to tear them apart, shaking their tiny craft like a leaf in the wind. Kara knew some of this was to be expected – they'd detected high and low pressure systems converging in this area before they even began their approach – but she never suspected it would be like this.

"Feelin' all right, there, Starbuck?" Helo shouted above the noise of their descent.

"Yeah, if you don't count my stomach!" she called back.

"We're almost out of the rough patch," Sharon assured, keeping a tight grip on the controls.

Kara scowled. Sharon had said that ten minutes ago, but she tried to let it go. There was really nothing they could do other than hold on, and pray to the gods.

She was more inclined to believe Sharon this time, anyway, since they were now close enough to the ocean that they could no longer see the vast continent on the horizon. They held their northwest bearing, going toward the crescent-shaped island a few hundred kilometers east of the aforementioned continent, the one Gaeta had pointed out to them on the last pass of the whole planet before they descended to the point where they were no longer in anything that resembled an orbit. It seemed like a strange place to have a capital. There were few landmasses in this particular region of the planet, and the ones they did see were sparse and primitive, if they were inhabited at all. Perhaps the entire island was the capital. Gaeta had said that it was densely populated. The ocean surrounding it was essentially just a big moat. On a planet with over six billion people, it was probably prudent for the capital city to be in a location that provided it with some form of natural defense.

"Large island chain coming up," Gaeta informed them. "Athena, recommend we drop to ten thousand meters and reduce speed. We should be over the city in about twelve minutes."

"By your command," Sharon replied though gritted teeth. It had been too long since she took a Raptor down through an atmosphere, and it required everything she had to keep it under control.

The craft pitched downward, and to the relief of all aboard, the turbulence dropped as their altitude and velocity did. They were also low enough now to make out details on the small islands below them. Amongst the mountains and forests, there were roads and buildings, ports, factories, structure and order. There was snow on the tops of the mountains, and the snow level gradually grew lower as they flew further north. They'd observed before that Earth rotated on a slightly tilted axis, which meant seasonal effects would occur, intensifying the closer one was to the poles. From the look of things, this hemisphere appeared to be in the early stages of winter.

"There it is!" Kara suddenly cried. "The main island!"

"Stay with me, Starbuck, I need you on those stability thrusters," Sharon reminded her, but she couldn't blame her for being excited. The sight of civilization was a comfort to all of them, but to her, it also induced feelings of regret. Sharon knew she'd never fully forgive herself for the part she played in the destruction of humanity. All she could do now was everything in her power to help her family and the life she wanted to give them.

Natural formations quickly gave way to an intricate, massive network of roads and skyscrapers as they flew further over the main island. A large, snow-covered mountain rose in the distance, higher than any other natural formation they'd seen on yet, but man-made structure dominated the scene below beyond that exception. The numbers Gaeta derived had to be a gross underestimate; now that they were looking upon it with their own eyes, none of the souls aboard the Raptor would be surprised if the number of people living below them doubled that of Caprica City.

"We going to land somewhere?" Helo asked.

"Yes, but not here," his wife returned. "Landing in the middle of that city says 'bad idea' to me right now." It was a recon mission, after all. They needed to be discreet.

"So say we all," Gaeta concurred. "There's another island north of here that's significantly less populated. We could put down there."

"Okay. Let's get this info back to the Old Man first."

"On it," said Kara. Pressing the Transmit button on her control panel, she delivered the information she knew was desired. "Galactica, Starbuck. Possible capital city identified. Sending coordinates."

Sharon increased the pitch angle and let the Raptor climb about three kilometers to a more appropriate cruising altitude. The idea was to maximize their range while minimizing fuel consumption. With their initial descent requiring more fuel than anticipated because of all they had to do to compensate for the turbulence, they were down to an hour of flight time left at their current rate. An atmospheric jump back to the fleet, it would have to be. Setting foot on Earth was a higher priority than preserving their stomach contents.


NASA Headquarters
Washington, DC

Ring...

Ring...

Dinakar Tempas woke with a start to the sound of his cell phone. As he reached for it, he silently cursed himself for falling asleep in his office again. His therapist would be disappointed, but at least it wasn't the six months he went without setting foot in his home after Jessenia's death. He'd finally started to feel as though he could put those ghosts to rest. The events of the last day, however, had once again affirmed that somewhere in his subconscious, he was still using work as a crutch after all this time.

He cast a bittersweet smile at a framed photo on his desk before answering his phone: a laughing man with glasses and a head full of curly red hair, the Dinakar Tempas of happier days, embracing a beautiful, dark-complexioned woman who had no idea what was killing her from the inside. That was the problem with true love. It made you blind to everything else, especially your own mortality.

"Yes?" he said into the receiver. There was no need to bother with introductions. The handful of people who had this number needed none.

"Did I wake you?"

"It's three AM, Rudy. What do you think?"

"Sorry; after a while it just becomes a preprogrammed response. Anyway, I've got Diego Swan on the long-range. Says he wants to talk to you."

Dinakar's eyes drifted to a different photograph on his desk, one that had only been there about thirty-six hours. If he hadn't seen the spaceship before now, he would have figured sleep deprivation was causing him to hallucinate. "Did he say why?"

"Some sort of technical glitch," Rudy answered. "Weren't they putting in the new qubit processor for the quantum computer right about now? Could be a problem there."

"Probably," Tempas returned, but Rudy's hypothesis didn't make do much to put the NASA director's mind at ease. Other than its need to operate in zero gravity, the quantum computer was perfect. It was the brain of the space station, controlling and monitoring every function aboard while only being pushed to a fraction of its true power. He expected that within his lifetime, there would be a quantum computer in every home. Yes, it broke down, but from the initial report, it sounded like one of the components had been broken by something on the space station, and it wasn't a flaw in the machine itself. It would take technology far beyond that which was present on the Olympus to cause hiccups. Furthermore, Diego Swan was experienced enough an astronaut to not request to speak directly to him without a very good reason. "Patch him through to my video line."

"Are you in your office?"

"Yes, I am, and before you can ask why, it's not your business. Please connect me to the Olympus."

Tempas spent the approximately five minutes it would take to set up the connection between headquarters, the Johnson Space Center, and the Olympus station by getting his thoughts together and reorganizing the ominous pictures snapped by the Palenque probe.You're overreacting, he told himself. Getting paranoid in your old age. His forty-eighth birthday had been last week. While he wasn't the youngest director in NASA's history, he was among them; however, in the two years it had been since he took office, he felt like he'd aged twenty. He'd expected a lot, expected to see things he never would have thought could happen, but not this. Not this.

A panel on the wall behind him slid open, revealing a grainy image on a flat-panel monitor. Diego Swan's dark eyes were filled with concern as he gazed at the NASA administrator through the distance between them. "Dr. Tempas?"

"Yes, Commander Swan," said Tempas. "Tell me what's going on."

Swan cocked his head to the side, and curiously commented, "Sir, are you in your office?"

"The glitch, please, Commander," Tempas said, failing in his attempt to hide the annoyance in his voice. He couldn't blame either Rudy or Swan for their concern upon noticing his location, but every time he pulled an impromptu graveyard shift, everyone around him assumed his only motivation was because he didn't want to return to the home he once shared with his wife. It was impossible in this world for someone in his position to suffer a loss and then just be left alone.

"Yes, sir. The qubit processor is operational, but when we put everything back online, there appeared to be a false reading from the mid-range radar. Katalin Li reported the detection right after the reboot. It came into range sometime in the ten minutes that the system was down."

"What kind of reading?"

"Electronic, descending out of geo-trans orbit. Not large, but big enough to detect; probably around the size of the lunar lander. We think it could be multiple satellites superimposed on each other in the image, but..."

"But not at that orbit level," Tempas finished, understanding where Swan was going with this. He could feel his stomach sinking, but he knew how to keep his cool. "Send me the initial conditions. I'll see if I can draw any conclusion from my end."

"All ready to go, sir. Holloman, transmit."

His computer screen flickered to life a moment later, displaying the data from the space station. He was quite familiar with the equipment – the quantum computer was his brainchild, which, it occurred to him, probably had more to do with Swan's reasoning for speaking to him than the fact that he was the NASA admin. "Thank you, Commander," said Tempas. "Give me a moment to look this over."

As he turned toward his computer, the photos once again came into his line of sight. They gave him the chills. Could there be a connection?

He focused his attention on Swan's data. He could understand the commander's concern now: there was nothing in the coding that suggested a misreading, or that might give clues as to why something that showed up on the radar would vanish without a trace. Nothing besides aliens, that is.

"Sir, what are we dealing with?" came Swan's voice.

Tempas had to tell Swan something, but perhaps the truth wasn't in their mutual best interest at this time. "Don't worry about it," he said. "I'll need to cross-reference your readout with the known satellites within range, but it really doesn't look like anything more than one hell of a coincidence. The processor takes a few minutes to process its algorithms before it can display any meaningful information, which is probably why the sensors couldn't indicate distinct flight levels. This shouldn't happen again unless your boys decide to make a habit of crashing the quantum computer."

Swan gave a small smile that didn't hold as much relief as Tempas hoped it would. "Thanks, sir. For a moment there, I was afraid we were dealing with a real threat."

"Not today, Commander Swan. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to be getting home before someone starts to think something is wrong."

"Aye, sir. Terminating transmission."

As the screen faded to black, Tempas sighed and began to collect his things. At least one thing he said to Diego Swan should be true, and he definitely didn't need anyone questioning his sanity. Before he went home, though, there was one thing that had to be done.

Tempas sat down at his computer and began typing out a message.

Defense Secretary Tegler,
Let it be known that I just lied to one of our most trusted men because of your recommended course of action regarding the Palenque images. You already know the sentiments shared by myself and the vice-president, so I will not reiterate them, but I will make it known that this administration will not be subject to the consequences of your secrecy and inaction. If I believe there is a threat to those aboard the Olympus, they and their respective governments will be made aware of what they are up against. This cannot remain a secret forever, and I will not risk lives for what little time may be left.
D. Tempas


Mr. Sikora's secret fishing spot
Hokkaido, Japan

Sharon Agathon let out a long sigh of relief as she set the Raptor on the beach. Their primary fuel had nearly been exhausted on approach, and she would have been very cranky indeed if there had been a need to switch to the emergency stores. "Call the Old Man and let him know we have touchdown," she instructed as she began to undo her safety restraints. "Felix, what's it like out there?"

"Humidity level fifteen percent," Gaeta read from the sensors. "Temperature two hundred ninety degrees absolute. Wind from the northeast at twelve clicks an hour. Atmosphere composed of twenty-one percent oxygen. There should have another three hours of daylight based on the planet's rotational period."

Sharon nodded in acknowledgment. It was a typical temperate coastal zone, with the numbers consistent with the early winter season they suspected from their flyover of the larger island. As for the scene itself, one could not ask for a more beautiful sight. The small, rocky beach was highly secluded, forming a roughly triangular shape with the ocean, the edges of an evergreen forest, and the lee of a large rock formation. The once-blue sky above them was overcast and gray from a veil of clouds. A narrow path was visible through the trees, suggesting that this area was visited, but not frequently.

"Galactica, Starbuck," Kara radioed. "Landed safely on Earth. Commencing with surface venture."

She removed her helmet, tucked it under her arm, and began to move toward the door. Helo and Sharon had already done the same and were on either side of Gaeta, helping their one-legged companion, toting a case, to a standing position. Kara initiated the raising of the door, and all four of them gasped as they inhaled a near-forgotten scent: the crisp brine of salt water intermingled with cool, fresh pine. She stepped out first, followed by the Agathons and Gaeta. Gentle waves rolled in and out before them, and overhead, a flock of white sea birds announced themselves with a series of caws. The air was crisp and cold, and nipped at their exposed skin, but they welcomed the sensation. Anything they felt would have been welcome, because it was here on Earth.

"So beautiful..." Gaeta said, and gazed around in wonder as the others murmured their agreement.

Kara took another deep breath and long look, indulging all her senses in the feel of the scene, then released the air in a short burst. "Okay, guys, let's do this. Felix, got those test tubes?"

Gaeta replied in the affirmative and opened the case, handing several test tubes to each of the other three. Sharon and Helo stayed to the shore, collecting samples from the rocks, dirt, and plants on the beach, and Kara went to the water. She shed her flight suit, and in only her fatigues, leaped into the waves. She emerged gasping – the water was ice cold, like a thousand tiny knives trying to penetrate her all at once – but laughing at the same time. "Frak, that's cold!"

"Good job, Starbuck," said Gaeta. "You went a whole fifteen seconds longer before getting in the water than I thought you would."

"How else was I supposed to get a sediment sample from the bottom?" she asked innocently, shaking wet hair out of her face. "Be right back."

As Kara continued her frigid dip, Gaeta hobbled back to the Raptor to prepare for sorting the samples. Sharon and Helo kept to their work, rotating off and on with who would collect an item and who would take it to their craft. Kara's teeth were chattering madly when she finished her work in the ocean about three minutes after getting in, but her trademark glare prevented any of her companions from remarking anything along the lines of "I told you so."

All in all, the team spent the greater part of half an hour gathering and sorting anything they could find that could be made to fit in a test tube. Kara had re-donned her flight suit, and tossed her wet fatigues in a corner. Despite the rough descent and physical and mental demands the expedition placed on them, their spirits were high, and all four were laughing and joking as they prepped the Raptor for takeoff. This place was so much more than somewhere to call home. It cradled the human race in its arms. It was somewhere they could raise their children where they could see the sky. It was the future, for all of them.

"So what do you think, Athena?" Kara asked as the Raptor's primary systems powered on. "You guys staying in, or you think you'll settle?"

"I don't know," Sharon admitted. "I'd like to settle, but maybe not right away. With Helo's promotion and the new treaty in place, things are really working well for us in the service. It may depend on what kind of Colonial military or government exists once all this plays out."

"How about you, Felix?" said Kara.

Gaeta shrugged. "Who knows? Could be anything from doing exactly what I am right now to singing in nightclubs." After a round of laughter, he added, "And you, Starbuck?"

"Always figured I'd be a Viper jock," she replied, "but with all the sleep I'm not getting lately, the most appealing thing sounds like opening a coffee shop."

"Hmmm... Starbuck's Coffee," said Helo. "It's got a nice ring to it."

"We're online," Sharon announced. "Let's get back to the fleet before Starbuck dies from hypothermia."

Kara's slightly blue lips broke into a grin, and even as she shivered, there was joy in her voice. "Galactica, Starbuck. Commencing with departure. See you soon." Releasing the Transmit button, she said, "Let's see if we can get back to the fleet before the radio signal does."


Just beyond the tree line, an elderly Japanese man named Sikora Michinobu watched, dumbstruck, as a machine that looked like it came straight out of the science fiction movie his grandson was watching yesterday came into sight. There was glass in the front, and he could see two women inside, working at what appeared to be an instrument panel. Its jet-like thrusters pushed it straight up to an altitude of about fifty meters, and then the whole thing vanished in a flash of light.

Sikora's fishing pole hit the ground, and he raced back to town faster than he ever knew he could.