- - for Terran Speech

" " for Colonial Speech

Sorry 'bout the delay, just lost the will to write for a while.

I hope now I'll get back into this regularly and get Ep 2 finished in the next couple of months.

3.

Galactica: Starboard Hanger Bay

-How is she?- Dragon asked as he watched as Showboat was helped down onto a bed.

Walters looked up from his computer, -She's showing the same symptoms as the others in the first stage of infection. Thankfully, I've been able to identify the virus in question.-

-So you can cure them?-

-Hopefully, it's a variant of influenza.-

-But the flu was eradicated on Earth about a hundred years ago.- stated a slightly confused Dragon.

-That's not entirely true.- Walters pressed a few buttons on his computer and another blood sample popped onto the screen. -This is your sample and the virus is still here, only now it's dormant. The rampant genetic manipulations done last century altered our basic body chemistry enough to allow our bodies to easily control the virus.-

-So when we opened the airlock here, the virus just jumped over to them.-

Walters nodded slightly as he pulled back up a colonial sample. -Essentially yes, but it look's like the virus has bonded with lymphocytic encephalitis so it's a little harder to track it.-

-Lympho-what?-

-It's a virus carried by rats. Normally it's not even found in humans but somehow these people are carriers of it. Don't ask me why, that's way out of my pay-grade.-

-OK, once you find out anything let me know.- stated Dragon as he started to walk back to over to were the other survivors of the Atlantis were gathered. He could see the fear beginning to creep onto their faces as they realised that their only hope for ever getting home lay with the crew of the Galactica who were starting to die because of them.

The faces of the Colonials not bed-ridden by this plague were just as easy to read but far more worrying. They were angry and that anger was directed at Dragon and his fellow survivors. Just after this fleet had found proof that Earth really existed, these brave men and women now were on death's door because of their savours. Dragon found it very hard to imagine what they were going through, though it was probably similar to what his fellow crewmates were feeling.

He swung a glance over at Shockwave and Stavros who were still trying to establish an easy method of conversation with Tyrol and one of the pilots. While Stavros was starting to get the hang of working out the variances between Colonial and ancient Latin, the computer was just as reliable as ever. Dragon remembered that Tigh had withdrawn to one of the nearby maintenance rooms. Taking one last look around the bay, and trying not to think too much on the looks being given by both crews, he headed over to the maintenance room to see what Tigh was up to.

GALACTICA: Conference Room Security Station

Given what he was seeing but not hearing, Helo knew that the meeting in the conference room had taken a turn for the worse in some way but he found that while was meant to be watching the security screens, he was more concerned and interested in the woman to his right. She was staring intently at the screens, continuously changing which camera shot was displayed on the main monitor in vain attempt to find a view that provided her with a clear view of the Terran officer's face.

"Starbuck, you ok?" he asked, worried about her as she hadn't responded to any outside stimuli since entering the security room. He looked at the two marines who were standing at the hatch. "Sergeant, did she say anything while you were bringing her here?"

The sergeant give a slight shake of her head as she answered. "No sir, she's been like that since the meeting began."

Helo sighed slightly and turned back to Starbuck, "Kara is everything alright?" he gently placed his hand on her shoulder and tried to ease her away from the displays. "Kara, what's wrong?"

"I need to be sure."

"Of what?"

She turned to look at him briefly before looking down at the floor and, in that split-second, he saw something in her eyes that worried him immensely. She was worried and scared, and that frightened him more than anything he'd ever known.

He gently placed his free hand on her other shoulder and stooped down so he could make eye contact. "Kara, you need to be sure of what?"

Her haunted eyes stared back up at him, "That he is bridge."

"The bridge to where?" Kara turned to look at the guards the monitors. "Kara, the bridge to where?"

"I need to see him." Before Helo could say anything to stop her, she had shoved him into the guards at the door, and while they were busy trying to un-tangle them-selves, she had vaulted over them and shot out through the door, and made set off at full speed for the conference room.

"Kara!!" Helo watched as she ignored his scream and ran around the corner. Quickly pulling himself free from the guards he turned and looked at the monitors. The Terran guest wasn't there, meaning he was in the corridor, giving Starbuck an easy opportunity to get hold of him.

Helo cursed under his breath as he grabbed the com-unit.

"CIC," before the system routed his call through Helo slammed down the phone. Not that many of the crew knew that Starbuck was alive and fewer still knew she was out of the brig. All it would take would be for one crewmember to see her and, thinking she was a Cylon, shoot her down.

Helo turned to the marines, "I want you two to get to the infirmary. If Starbuck can't get our mobile guest then that's where she'll head." The Sergeant nodded before taking of a quick jog down the corridor. Helo took one last glance back at the security monitors before he turned and raced after Starbuck, hoping he could keep her out of trouble this one time.

GALACTICA: Conference Room

Adama looked down at his glass as he gently swirled the water inside. Everything they'd just heard told him that there would be a lot to sort out once the fleet reached Earth but, at least they had a real destination now as opposed to a wing and a prayer.

He glanced up at Roslin and Zarek who were also contemplating what they'd just been told. While he was more interested in the limited information they'd managed to get about the Terran fleet, and it sounded impressive if a little small by Colonial standards, he was sure Roslin was more concerned about the religion, or should that be religions, of Earth. He was sure she was trying to figure out how to tell the Gemenese and Sagittarons that Earth's major religions had more in common with the Cylon beliefs then those of the Colonies.

Still, all that paled in comparison to the bomb that had exploded inside everyone when it was realised that the Cylons had been to Earth. He decided to talk to Athena and have Tigh interrogate the Six about the Final Five.

"What if the Final Five are trying to protect Earth?" he thought to himself.

"Admiral?" he looked at Roslin and noticed the look of shock and confusion on her face. "They're trying to protect Earth?"

Adam tried to hide the grimace as he realised he'd done more than think about the question. "Sorry, I was just thinking loud. Don't give it any thought."

No," interrupted Zarek, an idea suddenly forming in his mind, "no, you may be on to something. What little we know about these Final Five suggests that they opposed the destruction of the Colonies but maybe there's more to it than that. What if, What If, they actually wanted to live in harmony with us but were unable to persuade their brethren from attacking the Colonies?"

"Maybe they grabbed onto the idea of Earth," continued Roslin, seeing where Zarek was going with his idea, "and took it, like we did, as a chance to start again. And they were able to find Earth."

"So why did they attack then?" asked Zarek, deflating his own bubble, "that's the part I can't figure out."

"To unify the planet," stated Adama as he nonchalantly took a sip of his water. "Orion said that Earth was, not that long ago, split up into different coalitions. By attacking them, during a war no-less, the Five used their own defeat as a way to solidify Earth for when either the other Cylons or ourselves came looking."

Roslin nodded slightly as she pondered the idea. "Yes, that's a definite possibility. If they knew that the Cylons weren't going to come looking for Earth in the near future, and given that the Colonies were totally uninterested in proving Earth was real, then the Five could afford to use a long-term plan to prepare Earth for what was going to happen."

"So if the Final Five did attack Earth for that very reason, are you saying that all five models will be on Earth now?" asked Zarek.

"That seems, a little unlikely," said Adama as he looked up from his glass. "It's much more likely that …." Adama stopped in mid-sentence at the room com-unit rang.

"Adama," he said as he placed the receiver to his ear. Roslin and Zarek, watched as Adama's expression turned from one of mild annoyance, to one of pure irritation.

"What's wrong?" asked Roslin as Adam placed down the receiver.

Adama turned and faced Roslin before making a beeline for the door. He could be heard muttering one word as he walked past Roslin and Zarek, "Starbuck."

Galactica: Corridor Near The Conference Room

Apollo stared back at the giant bulkhead door as it was closed behind him. He turned at stared at Orion ash he stared to re-play the meeting in his mind.

The idea that the Cylons had already been to Earth as both worrying and confusing, if they had already been there then why were they looking for it and why did they only attack once, over forty years ago by the Terran calendar.

"Orion," he waited till the Terran had stopped and turned around before continuing, "It's only just occurred to me but, how do your people measure time?"

Orion smiled slightly at the question, "Strange, it's taken us what, four hours, to finally realise to even think about the little differences between our people?"

Apollo chuckled as he thought about that. "Yeah, I guess it just slipped through the cracks." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the watch that Garner had left with him and laid it down on a nearby container. He found himself thinking of that day even as Orion stared at the watch and timed the ticks made by it.

"Well this is interesting." Orion's statement drew Apollo back to the present. "It looks like our basic unit of time is identical. Sixty ticks equals one other tick, sixty outer ticks completes one rotation and how many rotations in one day?"

"Twenty-four. The ticks are called seconds, next are the minutes and a rotation is called an hour."

"How many days in a planetary rotation?"

Apollo paused as he tried to remember each planet's particular calendar. "Each of the colonies had its own calendar but the calendar for Kobol, which was almost identical to that of Caprica, our capital planet, marked one year as three hundred and eighty-four days"

Orion whistled as he ran though the figures in his head, "Would you believe Earth has the same timing system for everything except the year, Earth stands at three hundred and sixty-five days, which makes me about two years younger by your calendar than mine."

"I'm guessing that's gonna make your female crew members happy." remarked Apollo, drawing a laugh from everyone except the female marine.

The joke had barely had time to settle when a thundering crash could be heard from just down the corridor. The marines immediately took defensive positions facing towards the noise as Apollo stared to push Orion back towards the conference room.

Orion saw a female pilot come thundering round the corner, the marines froze, as though they were looking at a ghost, before she crashed headlong into them, causing both marines and the female to crash to the ground in a heap.

"Starbuck, what are you doing here?" asked a concerned Apollo as he turned towards his friend.

Starbuck tried to untangle herself from the marines but, even though they were also lying on the floor, "I need to see him Apollo."

"Why is he so important to you?" he asked, as he begun to doubt his father's logic on letting her out. "What does he represent?"

Starbuck stared up at him, he eyes seemingly staring right into his soul, "I need to know if he is the bridge."

"What?" asked a startled Orion, "What did you say?"

Starbuck stared at the human in the flight-suit, "I need to know if you are the Bridge."

Orion stared at her, lost in his thoughts, as he remembered something he had thought was just a bad dream. "Aurora? Are you her?"

Starbuck stared at Orion in disbelief, "How could you know that? You must be him."

"He must be who?" everyone turned to face Roslin as she and Adama came into sight. "Who is he?"

Starbuck stared at Adama, totally unsure of how to handle this situation, now that her adrenaline had died down, she was realising that this was probably not the way she should have handled it but it was probably they way Adama expected her to.

Adama gave her a wry grin as he looked at each person in turn. "I think it would be best if we continued this in the conference room." he said. He turned and started back towards the room, knowing that everyone would follow out of curiosity.

GALACTICA: Conference Room

Orion stared at Starbuck as she sat across from him. He couldn't believe he was looking at her, again.

"Lieutenant," Orion turned to face Adama, "You said you've seen Starbuck before?"

Orion nodded, still in disbelief at how this was even possible. "Yes, but you're not going to believe me."

Adama shared a smile with Starbuck, much to Roslin and Apollo's annoyance, "You'd be surprised,"

"Ok, here goes."

Three Years Ago: In Orbit Above Mars

The small fighter turned away for the stellar buoy and swooped down into the atmosphere of the planet below at an alarming speed.

"Cobra zero-zero-two, you are going too fast, pull up now. That's an order Orion."

Orion groaned slightly as he heard the order come over the speakers. "Roger control, increasing decent angle. No problems reported by the computer so it can take it. Why do you worry so much control?"

A sigh could be heard on the other end of the comm channel. "Because that little ship you're flying cost several billion to build. If this test fails we'll have to wait another year before we can try to convince the admiralty again. Just because you're the Fleet Admiral's grandson doesn't make you special."

Orion laughed gently at the comment. "You still think that's why I'm flying the test flight and not you Ranger?" Before Ranger could answer an alarm sounded in the cockpit of Cobra zero-zero-two. "Control, my scanners have detected an unknown bogey, zero-eight-four mark zero-nine-three."

"Checking your data-stream, we're seeing it here as well. Strange, the base scanners can't detect it."

Orion pressed some buttons in his cockpit but the scanner contact remained. "Could it be a sensor glitch?"

"Might be, just ignore it for now," replied from Ranger. "We're launching a combat patrol to investigate. Continue on to target Alpha."

"Roger control, setting course for Mount Olympus." Cobra zero-zero-two banked hard and swooped down towards the dusty surface of the planet. Soon one mountain began to dominate Orions' forward view.

"The interceptors can't find your bogey." Ranger reported, several minutes later. "Guess it's just a glitch after all. We'll have a look at the scanner program after the test flight."

"Acknowledged control, beginning attack run now." Cobra zero-zero-two began to increase its' speed as it neared the base of the mountain. The distance between the fighter and the first target closed rapidly.

"Alpha target in range." reported Orion. "Missile is away." The missile shot from Cobra zero-zero-two and struck Alpha target.

"Dead centre, excellent shot Orion. Proceed to Beta target."

"Acknowledged control, moving to Beta target." suddenly another alarm sounded. "Scanners show the bogey is back. Bearing zero-zero-two, mark zero-four-six. Range, fifty klicks and closing fast."

"It's just another glitch, ignore it."

Orion strained to see if anything was actually there. "Control, it's not a glitch. I'm seeing the target now, moving to intercept."

"Belay that Orion, we don't have anything on the scanners here. Continue onto your next target." Orion watched as the alien contact turned and shot past him.

He glanced down at his scanner to see where it had gone. "Target is now behind me, trying to shake him now." Orion dropped his fighter down till he was almost touching the surface of the planet. He engaged his afterburners and pushed the small ship beyond the design limits in an attempt to lose the fighter behind him.

"Orion pull up now, that is a direct order. The Cobra was never designed to be pushed this hard. If you keep it up you'll crash and burn."

Orion ignored control and focused on his scanner and what he could see in front of him. No matter what he tried the bogey stayed behind him. "Control, whoever this is, they're good. I can't out-run or out-manoeuvre him, going to try something else so I can get a good look at him."

Orion went vertical and, once he was sure the bogey was still following, he simultaneously flipped his fighter upside down and jammed on the air-brakes. He watched as the bogey flew past and its' pilot waved at him as it did. The features were unmistakably human and female. He could see her blue eyes clearly. She almost seemed to be laughing at him, and yet, she looked almost serene as she flew.

"Orion, report!!" screamed the voice of Ranger back at Control.

Orion engaged his afterburners again and tried to follow the bogey. "Control, bogey is human, female and she's playing with me. I'm at full burn now and I can't even keep up. Her ship is smaller than mine but it's faster and more manoeuvrable. It's got to be a dog-fighter."

"Orion, slow down, whatever it is we've finally got it on scanners now. Interceptors will be in weapons range in ten seconds. Just keep track of it."

"Roger control." Orion tried his best to follow the smaller ship but he began to rapidly lose it when they ducked into a canyon.

"Interceptors, have a lock. You've got inbound missiles so pull out of there." Before Orion got a chance to comply the bogey spun round a corner and disappeared from Orion's scanners.

"Control, it's gone."

"What do you mean gone?"

Orion frantically scanned the canyon looking for any sign of wreckage. "As in vanished, one second it was there, the next it wasn't. I've got no debris anywhere. Suggest having the interceptors carry out a detailed scan."

"Ok, they're on their way but you're ordered to return to base ASAP."

"What's up?"

"Don't know, but this comes straight from Admiral Jackson."

Orion nodded, more out of habit than anything else. "Roger control, Cobra zero-zero-two is returning to base."

Orion turned Cobra zero-zero-two around and started back to base.

As the test facility came into sight Orion began to feel a massive headache as his small fighter was bathed in a glorious white light. "Control, Orion, I've got some kind of energy reading bearing one-eight-zero. Range," he paused as he re-checked his readings. "Range is less than two klicks. Time to intercept is less than ten seconds."

"Orion, we see it too." came the concerned voice of Ranger over the com-link. "Get out of ………." The signal was drowned out as the light overloaded the sensors on the small craft and Orion lost consciousness as his headache became too much for his brain to handle.