Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica belongs to Ronald D. Moore and the Sci-Fi channel.
Chapter 10: With every fiber
Tory glanced down at her hands, fidgeting in her seat like a child called to the principal's office. "I was… hoping to lose myself in a new society, to disappear. I understand that I could have a double running about-"
"Your double's dead," he told her bluntly.
"Oh," she paused, looking back at him.
The console crackled with a transmission. "We'll finish this discussion later," he told her before answering the call. "Colonel Kira, is that you?"
"Yes. Do your Cylons have the frequency?" she asked.
He checked the scanners and cleared his throat. "Affirmative, and they are ready to fire when we are."
"Good. There should be two additional shuttles by your position. They are ordered to fire when you do," she added.
The transmission ended and he told the Cylon baseship to fire. As he also began to fire, the shuttles followed suit. Through the modified scanners on the Raptor, he could see a bluish patch building. To the eye, it would still look like normal space, but with the scanners, he could see when it was patched. As they finished, he aimed the Raptor toward Deep Space Nine. No going back now, he thought to himself.
He turned back to Tory as the Raptor moved toward the space station. "So you lied to me. I almost thought you might be serious when you said you owed Laura Roslin. What about that?"
Tory averted her gaze again. "I wasn't lying about that part."
"Then I hope you understand why I have to leave you in whatever sort of brig they have," he told her.
"I shouldn't have expect any other option from you," she retorted.
Both remained silent until the Raptor reached the docking port. Kira stood to greet him again, eyeing him with surprise when he led Tory out toward her, wearing a hooded robe like his. "She needs to be placed in your brig. I don't trust her at all," Adama mentioned.
Kira put her hands up. "That's fine. Like I told the other admiral, your people, your call."
When the colonel led them to the brig, Adama stared at a few aliens in what appeared to be open rooms. "Colonel, how do you keep them in there without bars?"
She led Tory over to a cell. Once the former aide was seated, Kira touched a panel to the side and a static-like flash passed in front of the cell. Kira looked over her shoulder at Adama. "We use force-fields instead of bars."
"Interesting," Adama responded, clearing his throat again. After they had left the cell, he spoke again. "I'd like to know more about the Borg."
"Follow me," Kira motioned. She led him to her office and then accessed the database on her computer. A few pictures of Borg drones appeared.
After reading for a while, Adama looked back to Kira. "Have any ever tried to defect, to join your side?"
Kira paced her office for a moment. "The Borg don't work that way. They act like a collective mind. Once assimilated, their victims lose their individuality. It's one of the things that makes them so dangerous. The only way a drone regains individuality is to be physically separated from the Collective."
"I see. The Cylons bomb humans out of existence while the Borg steal their lives," he stated.
The colonel returned to the desk, spreading her arms out, leaning forward on it. "We can't let the Borg fined the Cylons. With that kind of technology, the Borg could hide their equipment and wander around on planets, looking like you and me, and then they could simply just walk up and assimilate people."
"How do you recommend that we stop them, Colonel?" Adama probed, clearing his throat again.
She sighed heavily. "I don't know yet, but I'm open to suggestions."
He removed the vial from his pocket. "This is a sample of a Cylon plague that we found. Our own doctor told us that it's a sample of a disease that humans are now immune to."
"Would you be opposed to having that analyzed?" she inquired.
"Go right ahead," he replied.
They took the vial to sickbay to have Dr. Bashir examine its contents. "Hmm. Very interesting. This is a strain of what appears to be the Bubonic Plague."
"What's that?" Kira asked.
Bashir looked up from the console. "It was a disease spread by fleas during various time periods on Earth, only it's been altered. This not only causes illness, the affect it would have on something with inorganic processing capabilities would be a breakdown of the neural pathways."
Kira watched the monitor showing different colors of the components in the vial. "Do you think we can infect the Borg with it?"
"It's never been done before. Because of how they are made, the Borg are more machine when it comes to their immune systems. Frankly, I'm not sure how a virus might affect them," Bashir answered.
"So these Borg are," Adama paused to clear his throat, "more computer-based than organic?"
Bashir nodded. "They assimilate people using nanoprobes, miniature robots that invade the body and implant chips, converting it to Borg parameters, including the collective consciousness that allows the Borg to think as one."
"I'm sure this is going to sound a bit dim on my part, but haven't you people tried sending a computer virus?" the admiral asked, biting back a slight cough.
"I believe so, but that's – I should've thought of it before," the doctor paused, facing the colonel. "Nerys, what if we tried both? We find a way to send a computer virus along with a sample of what the admiral has brought us."
"Then it's worth a try," Kira stated, pacing again. "However, the problem is how are we going to get it to them? It's not like we're going to find a volunteer who wants to commit suicide to destroy the Borg."
Bashir accessed the computer's information on the Borg. After a few minutes, he looked back at Kira. "The Borg recycle their injured or dead back into the system. All we would need really is a corpse. With the right cortical and motion stimuli, it would be possible to mimic someone being alive. We could then beam the body directly onto a cube. In theory, they would try to assimilated it, discover that they cannot use it, and when the body is recycled, both viruses could be integrated within the system."
The Bajoran shook her head. "I don't like it, Julian. First of all, it isn't as if we have a regular collection of bodies. Secondly, what about family ties? It's too complicated to ask family members to donate their relatives to something like this."
"What about a bomb?" Adama suggested.
Kira thought for a moment. "I suppose we could look into making some kind of bomb that can maybe spray the Cylon virus before it detonates."
"We might also equip it with something to hack into the computer system to implant our other virus," Bashir suggested.
"Do what you need to do," Kira responded. Then she turned to the Adama. "Would you like a glass of water, Admiral?"
"Yes, thank you. I'm probably not used to whatever you use to recycle your air," he mentioned.
Bashir considered scanning him when the station alarm sounded. "I think our friends are here," Kira said sarcastically.
As she left sickbay, Adama and Bashir followed her to the control center of the station. One of the Bajorans stood as she entered. "Sir, the Cylons have appeared."
"Weapons stations online. Raise shields," Kira ordered.
Adama stepped over to her. "I should be back on my ship, doing what you're doing."
She nodded and looked back at Bashir. "Go ahead and beam him over."
The admiral raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by 'beam?'"
"Come with me, Admiral. I'll explain on the way," Bashir told him. As they took the turbolift to the transporter room, the doctor briefly continued their discussion. "We have the technology to send matter from one point to another. Basically the components of the body are broken down into a microscopic bio-pattern and sent along an energy stream to another point."
It sounds really unappealing. "Couldn't I just take the Raptor back?" Adama asked.
"Don't worry. It doesn't hurt and everything will be fine," Bashir relayed.
The doctor led him to a room, up to a platform with circles to stand in. "You should probably send me somewhere near Life Station," Adama mentioned. The other man nodded and suddenly a bright light surrounded the admiral, accompanied by a scratchy warm feeling, like being trapped inside a wool sweater.
He appeared inside of Cottle's office. The door opened and Cottle dropped his clipboard. Catching his breath, he glared back at the admiral. "You sure know how to make an entrance."
Adama rested a hand on the desk to steady himself, then he coughed a bit. "That was one heck of a ride. The Cylons are back and I thought I should be over here."
The admiral tried to suppress the cough, but the effort only made it worse. Cottle shook his head. "You can't stay well for two seconds."
"I'm not… sick. It's from… the air filtration… system on the space… station," Adama protested.
The doctor rolled his eyes. "You do what you need to do, then I want you back here for X-rays."
Adama nodded. "Just need to get to CIC."
He started to leave the room as Cottle caught his arm. "Remember, you've gotta fake like you're dying. If anyone asks, I let you out against my better judgment."
As the two men exited the office, Adama's eyes scanned the area. "Where's Laura?"
"The other admiral sent her to CIC, said it was where she needed to be in a battle," Cottle replied.
"And her daughters?" Adama questioned.
"Hannah's reading to him and the little one's asleep," the doctor told him.
Adama reached CIC with remarkable speed for a dying man. Fortunately everyone else was already stations wherever he or she needed to be. He stopped just inside the doorway of CIC to battle a hacking cough. Laura looked up from the lower center as he made his way toward her. She met him halfway with a reproachful glare.
"Bill, are you out of your frakking mind? What the hell are you doing out of Life-" at that moment, her eyes widened. In the dim light she had mistaken him for her Bill. "What are you doing here?"
"The Federation… succeeded in closing the hole. I was on the station when your Cylons showed up. I thought… that I should be in CIC," Adama explained.
She sighed. "He told me that I should be here, that as a leader of our people, now was not the time to keep a deathbed vigil."
"He has a point," Adama agreed as they slowly walked toward the center of the room.
As he coughed again, she took hold of his right arm. "You're a better actor than I would've given you credit for. I don't think I could fake a cough that realistically."
Spotting a tissue box sitting on the counter behind him, he placed a tissue over his mouth as he continued to cough. Absently he noticed that when he removed the tissue, there were blood spots. He quickly stuffed it into his pocket so that she did not see it. "I'm not faking anything. The air filtration system on the space station doesn't agree with me."
"Mom, what's going on?" a voice behind Laura asked.
Adama looked passed her to see a face that he had not seen for several years. Spotting the rank of a captain on the uniform collar, Adama noted that his son Zack had the golden hair from his biological mother's side of the family, along with his father's blue eyes. Bill found himself unable to look away. Laura turned to face him. "Zack, we've got a lot to talk about, but later."
Zack looked at Adama and shook his head. "You never could stay out of a battle."
"Some things are too important to avoid," Adama answered.
The admiral took a moment to look past his son to see the current CIC crew, knowing already that he would not see Tigh. Dee sat at her usual post, as did Helo. However, there were less officers than he was used to seeing, and Gaeta was missing. "Where's Starbuck?" he asked Laura.
Zack spoke. "She's on maternity leave, Dad. Remember?"
At this Adama raised an eyebrow, looking back to Laura, who nodded. "Right," he stated.
Then the admiral turned his attention to the viewscreen and the DRADIS. Vipers had already been launched and the Cylon baseships were firing on Deep Space Nine. Adama faced Laura. "How many nukes do you think their space station can stand?"
She chewed her lower lip. "I don't know."
"Dee, see if you can get Colonel Kira on the wireless," he ordered.
"Yes, sir," she replied.
After a pause, he heard Kira's voice. "What do you need, Admiral? We're a little busy at the moment."
"I understand that, and we're heading toward you to help. How are your shields holding up?" he asked.
The com crackled as she spoke again. "Cylon nukes are affecting the shield's polarity. We're doing the best we can."
He fixed his gaze on the viewscreen as the transmission ended. "We're not going to stand back here for this battle. Helo, Captain Adama, arm nuclear warheads and prepare to fire."
Galactica moved closer to the Cylon fleet and Adama spotted a resurrection ship. "Laura, was the Cylon Hub destroyed in this universe?" he asked in a whisper.
She shook her head. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Adama began firing at the enemy. However, the Cylons, rather than deciding to continue the fight, retreated. "Why are they just leaving?" Zack questioned.
"Probably… going to… regroup. We… can't let our… guard down," Adama mentioned, coughing again.
Laura took his left arm. "Bill, I think it's time we got you back to Life Station."
Adama nodded. "It's yours, Zack," he said as he let Laura lead him out of CIC.
(My thanks to Idellis65, Mamabella, carolann, Alecandrain2, and McGonagallFan for reviewing :D)