Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica belongs to Ronald D. Moore and the Sci-Fi channel.
Chapter 5: A new vision
Bill woke as his alarm buzzed, feeling strangely warm despite the blankets being by his feet. It took him two seconds to recall what the weight on his chest was. Laura opened her eyes, giving him a sleepy smile. "Morning."
"Morning. Sorry the rack's not bigger. I'm surprised we fell asleep like this," he told as he smiled back.
She chuckled. "We weren't exactly concerned with the location last night."
He leaned in to kiss her gently. "As much as I'd rather stay like this, both of us have jobs to get to."
Sighing, she sat up and moved to the foot of the bed. "Bummer."
What started as a snort from him soon evolved to a full laugh. "'Bummer?' Where did you pick that up. I haven't heard that one in years."
She giggled. "I don't know. It was just the word that came to mind."
They showered separately and then ordered up coffee. When the coffee arrived, he joined her on the couch. "We've got a lot of work cut out for us," he remarked, handing her a cup.
She nodded, taking a contemplative sit. When the cup was half gone, she spoke. "Why don't I join you in CIC for a while. Maybe we can come up with something together."
He set his cup down on the coffee table. "I hope."
As they entered CIC, she nodded politely to everyone, including Tigh. "Madame President."
She smiled. "Colonel." Bill only nodded to him, looking over the scans of the planet.
"Since an electrical signal from Kara's Viper got us this far, why don't we scanning for more signals?" the president suggested.
The admiral's eyes widened as he faced her. "Why didn't I think of that yesterday?"
"Neither of us were in the mood," she reminded.
He turned back to his crew. "You heard her. Let's scan for any electrical signals and see what comes up."
After two hours, the only signal registering was the first one. "I'm going to see if Kara's reached that signal yet. Gaeta, get me the wireless."
The dark-haired man nodded. "Aye sir."
"Galactica Actual to Starbuck, do you read?"
Her voice was heard after a brief crackle. "Yes, sir. Starbuck here. What do you need, boss?"
"Did you find the source of that signal yet?"
"Yeah. It's coming from some sort of ruins, at about the area you and the president were at yesterday. I can't tell what they were though. It's mostly buried."
Roslin leaned over to Adama. "I think we should send the archaeologists over there to take a look."
"Good idea," he told her before turning back to the wireless. "Starbuck, are the archaeologists down there yet?"
"Yes, sir."
"Have them find you so we can dig out whatever's generating that signal," he told her.
Two hours later, the president and the admiral were still studying the scans. "I think we're missing something," she commented.
"We won't know much more until the archaeologists report back," he mentioned.
"True, but something is still not- I mean I feel like we're overlooking something," she assessed.
He faced her. "What would you suggest then?"
Thinking for a moment, she rested a hand on the console. Then she spoke again. "Bill, could we get the rest of the solar system on the viewscreen? I want a better look at our surroundings."
"Alright," he said, turning to tell Gaeta to change the screen.
A moment later, Laura saw all the planets, from the small ones close to the sun, to the larger ones with swirled clouds, rings, and even a distant planet that she thought could be a moon. She sat back to study the view, as if an answer would somehow appear in a line of subtext at the bottom of the screen. Her attention drifted to the reddish brown planet. Something about it caused her to pause. Then she saw it, a small flash, barely visible, but still a flash.
"I think you should try scanning the next planet away from the sun," she told Bill.
"Why? It's probably just as uninhabitable as the other one," Saul grumbled.
"Call it a hunch," Laura remarked.
At the first scan, the other planet gave nothing away. "I'm sorry, Laura. There's nothing down there, and from the scans of the atmosphere, there probably never was anything down there."
She shook her head. "No. Try it again."
Bill sighed, but continued to humor her. The second scan also came up empty, but he soon realized why. "There's a transmission that's blocking our scans."
"Sir, we might be able to scramble it long enough to get a few descent scans if I can figure out the frequency," Gaeta suggested.
The admiral looked to the man. "Good thinking, Lieutenant. Get to it."
After a moment, scans of an unoccupied base appeared. A tower in the middle of it was sending out the transmission. "It seems that your hunch was right, Madame President," Bill conceded.
"Whatever that is, it's worth exploring," she stated.
"It's not very big. Whoever used it must've had temporary intentions. From what we can see, it's only got that tower and four sections surrounding it," he pointed out as their scanning window closed. "But I'll see if I can organize a team."
After lunch Adama stood in the docking bay with Helo, Racetrack, Hotdog, and Athena. "We don't know if there are any functioning life support systems in there, so you know to where your environmental suits. I want constant radio contact in case you come up against some sort of booby trap or technical difficulty."
"Yes, sir," they all replied.
He nodded. "Good hunting."
In CIC Gaeta managed to scramble the transmission long enough to see that the Raptor had safely landed. "They're on the planet, sir."
"I hope they find something useful," Laura remarked.
"So say we all," Bill responded.
While they were watching the viewscreen the phone rang. The admiral reached for the phone. "Adama. Yes, she's right here. Hang on." He handed the phone to Laura. "It's Lee."
She nodded and took the phone. "Yes? Again? Oh, did he now? Alright, I'm coming." Her mouth slipped into a tight frown as she hung up the phone.
"Dare I ask what that was about?" Bill inquired.
"Zarek arranged another meeting for the Quorum. He's not even giving us time to find anything," she fumed.
"He's up to something. I'd better come with you," Bill suggested.
She shook her head, lightly resting a hand on his forearm. "Actually I think it's better if you don't this time. If he's up to something, I'm more likely to find out about it if he's not worried about you watching him."
"But he could-"
"Lee will be there. I'll be alright," she told him.
He took a deep breath. "I don't like it one bit."
"I'll be fine," she stated.
As she left for Colonial One, Bill sighed, looking over to Saul. "You want to have that conversation now?"
Saul raised his eyebrow, but then nodded. "Now's fine."
They headed over to the control room. Once Adama had closed the door, he and Tigh stared at each other, letting the silence take over. Adama took a seat. "Well? Are you going talk or just stand there all day?"
Tigh took the other chair. He took his time, facing the admiral. "Bill, I didn't tell you I was a Cylon when I first found out because I knew it would be another blow to you. That, and I didn't want to believe it myself."
"So you omitted what happened to be a vital truth from your commanding officer?" Adama challenged.
Sighing, Tigh nodded. "I frakked up again. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about the blonde, Caprica. I'm sorry I'm such a lousy excuse for an XO. Mostly, I'm sorry I'm such a frakking coward."
Adama kept the cold, stoic expression firmly in place. "I asked you before. What are you going to do about that woman?"
Tigh sat back in his chair. "I'm going to do right by her. She's not like the others. She deserves someone who'll be there for her, and for the baby. I never wanted to be a family man, but obviously the powers that be had other plans. That's irony for you."
"Irony's a bitch. Everyone I've trusted has turned out to be a Cylon. I'm probably the last of the Final Five. Now that would be the ultimate irony," Adama responded.
The colonel smirked. "Something tells me you're not a Cylon. From what I've seen, you either have to be a drunk, a moron, a cold-hearted back-stabbing bitch like the president's aide, or the epitome of bad luck."
Adama smirked. "And I'm not 'the epitome of bad luck?"
"I think the president would protest if you claimed that you were," Tigh pointed out.
Even with one eye, he's observant. "I still need to know a few things. Where do you stand with the fleet, and with the Cylons?"
Tigh took a deep breath, weighing his next words carefully. "I don't give a frak what the Cylons want with me. I'm not going to do it. They can get somebody else. As for the fleet. I am Colonel Saul Tigh, XO of Galactica, and that's the man I'll be 'till the day I die. When I first signed on to this, I promised to serve the fleet with every fiber of my being. That hasn't changed."
Bill regarded his friend, weighing the evidence and testimony in his mind as a judge weighs a trial. The man on trial was more than just his XO; Saul was his friend for over thirty years. Saul Tigh had always been a deeply flawed man. At that moment Bill realized that it was those flaws that made his friend so human. He put a hand out toward his friend. "I'm willing to overlook the Cylon part if you keep doing your duty. Deal?"
Saul gave him a genuine smile and shook his hand. "Deal." Then he glanced at his watch. "Shouldn't we have heard from the president by now?"
The earlier feelings of worry rushed back to Bill. "You're right. I think it's time I dropped in on Zarek. Care to join me?"
"I wouldn't have it any other way," Saul replied with a smile.
On Colonial One, the president had not called because the meeting had run over the usual time. "As I told you before, we haven't had enough time to bring any reports to you. At least give us two more days," Roslin requested, leaning on the table as she stood.
"Caprica makes a motion to wait two more days," Lee chimed in.
Laura gave him an appreciative smile. Zarek sighed loudly. "Mr. Adama, there are more important things at work than you realize at your inexperienced stage."
The president looked over to Zarek, raising an eyebrow. "Mr. Vice President, I recall that Mr. Adama did a fine job as an interim president. What he lacks in experience he makes up for in accessing what needs to be done. Why don't we vote? All in favor of extending this by two days? All opposed?" As she watched only Zarek's hand rise, she noticed the admiral and the colonel enter the room with a few marines, out of Zarek's view. "It seems, Mr. Zarek, that you're outnumbered."
Lee stood. "I believe this concludes the meeting, Madame President?"
She nodded. "Yes."
As the other Quorum members began to file out, Zarek leaned toward Roslin. "I need a word with you again, Madame President."
Bill Adama appeared to his left suddenly. "I believe we need a word with you, Zarek."
Tigh watched the vice president closely. When the other man made a motion toward his blazer pocket, Tigh grabbed him by the neck, pressing him against the wall. "Admiral, get this Cylon off me! He's trying to eliminate a legitimate member of the government," Zarek demanded.
"I'm not the one who brought a gun to what was supposed to be a standard meeting. Admiral, I think you'd better check his pockets," Tigh remarked.
Adama found a hand gun in the blazer pocket. "Care to explain this one? The last time I checked, there was a 'no guns' policy at Quorum meetings."
"I wasn't going to hurt her; I just wanted to persuade her to resign," Zarek protested.
Tigh shook his head. "Throwing a coup de etat is my job."
"You're under arrest," Adama informed the vice president.
"For what? I haven't done anything yet," Zarek reminded.
One of the marines handcuffed him as the admiral spoke. "You admitted to conspiracy to coerce the president."
"Damn you, Adama," Zarek spat under his breath as he was escorted from the room.
Tigh went with him while Bill turned to Laura. "How are you feeling?"
"Just fine Bill, at least physically. Something tells me this isn't the end of whatever he was planning. He's probably got others involved," she answered.
"Yes, but for now he's one less problem," Bill stated.
They headed back to Galactica and soon found themselves in CIC again. Laura's stomach growled. She sighed and looked at Bill. "It's been a long day and I'm starving. Somehow I missed lunch. Why don't we order up a snack at least?"
His stomach growled as well. "That's a good idea."
Green noodles were sent up and they were eating in the control room when a transmission came through. "It's from Helo," Tigh informed him.
The admiral dashed back down to the center of the room. "This is Galactica Actual. What have you found?"
"It's what we thought, only four small rooms and the signal tower. Life support wasn't functioning, but the database was. Apparently the people only built this base as a marker to let others know where they'd gone. We have the coordinates to another planet in a star system that doesn't seem too far away," Helo explained.
"That's excellent news. Was there anything else?" Adama asked.
"Their technology is a bit different from ours, but not too hard to figure out. Whoever they were, they networked their computers though. And their database had several hundreds of languages. Ours just happened to be one of them," the captain finished.
"Good, we'll see you back on Galactica then," the admiral closed.
Laura folded her hands in front of her as the transmission ended. "I really hope those coordinates prove to be worth our while. I'm tired of coming up short."
He nodded. "Since we can't live on Earth, we've got to follow any leads we can get."
That night Bill was looking over the coordinates as well as pictures from the recent mission while Laura slept in his bed. She tried to keep her eyes open and wait for him, but exhaustion from the day beat her willpower as her eyelids shut.
She was in the opera house again, chasing Hera. But this time the girl stopped in front of the Six. Six held a small blonde girl in her arms as she stood by Baltar. Then the doors opened. Laura followed them through a blinding white light, and then found herself in a concert hall of the opera house. Four figures stood in the first row of box seats, wearing white robes. Six walked over to the one farthest on the left and reached up with one hand to remove the hood. It was Saul. As she stood next to him, Baltar pulled back the hoods of the other three, revealing Tory, Chief Tyrol, and Anders. Though it seemed odd to Laura, it was as if she was seeing information that she was already aware of.
Then she heard a tiny voice enter the room from another door. A small girl with auburn hair looked around the room, calling out "Mommy? Mommy?" Something about the girl caused Laura to hold her breath, waiting for someone to claim the girl.
Laura then heard Six's voice. "The Three Sisters prophecy will be fulfilled."
The phone rang, startling her out of her dream. She sat up, noticing that Bill was not in the room. "Bill, your phone is ringing."
"Laura, could you get that?" he called from the bathroom.
"Sure," she responded. "Hello?"
"Figures you'd be the one to answer the phone," Cottle remarked.
"What is it, Jack?" Laura encouraged, forgetting about the dream.
"I want you and Bill over here immediately. Something's come up regarding the blood work."
The color drained from Laura's face. "Is it bad news?"
There was a pause on the other end. "In a manner of speaking."
(A/N: For some reason, I always thought that Caprica would have a daughter, so in my version she's expecting a girl)
(My thanks to McGonagallFan, carolann, and Mamabella for reviewing :D)