Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica belongs to Ronald D. Moore and the Sci-Fi channel.
Chapter 7: The Three Sisters Prophecy
Galactica arrived at the coordinates in two jumps a week apart. In between jumps, a return to business as usual kept Bill and Laura's minds off of recent events. There were daily Quorum meetings, a few minor power-outages on Galactica, and numerous committee meetings. A fleet-wide status report on supplies was collected and sent to Galactica as well as Colonial One via long range transmission, showing that though they were not out of algae, certain medical supplies would soon be gone. On day six the admiral halted all Raptor movements, deciding to have the specialists run diagnostic checks on them for the next few days.
On day seven from the first jump they found hope. A yellow star was surrounded by five planets, the third showing signs of being habitable. Laura smiled with a mixture of relief and hope, a few tears slipping down her cheeks as she unconsciously gripped one of Bill's hands. She did not drag her eyes away from the viewscreen until she felt him squeeze her hand.
"Well Madame President, you were right," he stated.
Quickly wiping her face with her hands, she squared her shoulders, taking back her professional appearance. "Thank you, Admiral. Now I believe we've got a lot of work before anyone heads to the surface."
He nodded, then turned to the crew. "We're going to scan for signs of life and check on the atmospheric conditions. Just because it looks good from here doesn't mean it is."
As they began the scans, the base ship appeared. "Looks like they took you up on your offer," Tigh stated.
With the appearance of the baseship, Laura recalled the dream. "I need a word with D'Anna on a secure channel," she told the admiral.
He raised an eyebrow. "Mind if I ask what this is about?"
She leaned closer to him. "Let's just say she's got some explaining to do regarding the Final Five."
"Alright," he responded.
Laura borrowed Bill's office, seating herself at his desk while she waited for D'Anna to respond. She had just called with her request for a private conversation. Fifteen minutes later D'Anna's face appeared on the mini-viewscreen. "Laura, what can I do for you today? It must be important if you had to speak with me privately."
The other woman brushed off D'Anna's tone, seeing as the Cylon was not taking the conversation seriously. "It's time you and I had a chat about the Final Five again. You told us that four were in our fleet. What about the fifth? Surely since Earth turned out to be not what we had expected, there is no longer a reason to hide the fifth, is there?"
D'Anna opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it again. She sighed, looking back at Laura. "Fine. The truth is that I never saw the fifth Cylon. I did see five of them, but the last one kept its head covered by a white hood. Speaking of the Final Five, what are your plans regarding your aide, Tory?"
Frowning, Laura folded her hands in front of her. "As far as I'm concerned, she doesn't work for me anymore and hasn't for a while. You can keep her."
"That's what I had figured. She's due back on our ship in a couple of hours anyway. She said she had some business on Galactica. Naturally I assumed it was with you," D'Anna mentioned.
Laura shook her head. "The only business she would have on Galactica is another conjugal visit to Gaius Baltar."
D'Anna's eyes widened with a rage that Laura was not expecting, though the Cylon's gaze was not directed at Laura. "I can't believe she could… how dare she… how could he… that weasel!" D'Anna tried to articulate, mostly to herself before ending the transmission.
"I didn't know she had a thing for Baltar too," a familiar voice behind Laura remarked.
She turned, smirking to see Bill. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to know that I'll be nowhere near Baltar when she gets her hands on him," Bill answered.
"I just don't understand what in the world that man has that women find so attractive. He's an arrogant, self-righteous, pompous lunatic who was probably one of those perverted little boys who got his kicks looking up women's skirts!" Laura exclaimed.
Bill snickered. "It's nice to know how you really feel about him."
She stood, shaking her head. "He's a lecherous worm who should've been airlocked."
"Now that you got that out of your system, would you like to join me as I finish the scans? You might find them interesting," he offered.
"You've got my curiosity," she told him as she followed him out of the office.
When they reached CIC, he used the viewscreen's demographic functions. Large areas of land were suddenly highlighted. "There is an energy signature that resembles the scrambler from that fourth planet we found, but it's either damaged or off. These areas that are showing up in red are populated by humans. These small areas marked in blue show technology emitting a traceable signal."
Laura looked at the screen in fascination. "If there are truly people down there, can we communicate with them?"
"Most likely yes, providing that there aren't too many language differences," he paused, folding his hands in front of him. "However, I'm not about to make contact without knowing who we're talking to first. We don't know if they're hostile or not. I'm planning to send a few groups out for reconnaissance."
She nodded. "Then let's go with that plan." Then she turned to Tigh. "Colonel, do you know the current whereabouts of Caprica Six?"
"She's currently staying in my quarters," he admitted quietly.
"I would like to see her," the president requested.
Saul shrugged. "Go ahead."
Laura turned to leave, but Bill caught her. "What's this about?"
"I need to ask her some questions of a personal nature," she whispered. He let her go, figuring that she would tell him later.
Laura knocked on the hatch, leading to Tigh's quarters. Caprica answered the door, surprised to see the president of all people. "Madame President, please come in."
Laura nodded briefly. "Thank you. I need to ask you a few questions."
The blonde woman shrugged. "Sure. Would you like some tea first? I was just making some when you knocked."
The president paused, contemplating the domestic nature of such an offer. "I suppose that would be alright."
"I'll be right back. Why don't you have a seat?" Caprica offered as she returned to the kitchen.
Laura sat on the couch, her thoughts running around the mental track in her mind. Who would've thought that I would be letting a Cylon serve me tea? Then again, Tory didn't try to kill me. Why should Six? I'm one too though. I never would've imagined that one. I remember growing up so clearly. And if I'm a Cylon, how did I see my mother on the other side of the river? This is all so confusing.
Caprica returned, handing Laura a cup of tea the jarred her out of her reverie. "Thank you," she remarked. She took a moment to smell the tea. "I haven't had this blend in quite a while. How did you get it? I was told that they were out."
The blonde woman blushed. "Your doctor had some in his stores for medicinal purposes and prescribed some for me. He said that it would be good for me as well as the baby."
"I'm glad he's able to see to your needs," Laura stated politely, taking a sip of tea.
Caprica took a sip as well as she faced Laura. "Madame President, I know that for you to come and see me, it must be important."
"You're right, Six. I've been debating how much I can tell you though," Laura responded.
The other woman sighed. "I know we haven't seen eye-to-eye as the expression goes, and I'm sure you would rather see me in the brig, but I choose the human side over the Cylon way of life. I have a name, Caprica."
She has a point. She does behave more like Athena. Then there is the fact that she has been trying to help us, that she willingly came to our side with Athena when they brought back Hera. Laura set her cup down, folding her hands in front of her on the table. "I'm not sending you back to the brig."
Relief washed over Caprica's face. "That's good to know. But why are you here then?"
"The dream has changed," Laura began.
Caprica nodded. "Yes, I know. It's changed because of you somehow."
"Why me?" Laura questioned.
The other woman shrugged. "You've always been the one guiding it. Your destiny has somehow moved beyond just finding Earth."
Laura leaned closer. "What can you tell me about the Three Sisters Prophecy?"
Caprica sipped her tea. "It was supposed to be a legend. I don't know much about it, only Hera represents the Cylons and humans uniting." She paused to touch her abdomen. "My child represents the Cylons uniting with the Final Five. I suppose the last child represents the Thirteenth tribe uniting with both the Cylons and your people. I'm afraid that's all I can offer."
"Can you guess who the third child belongs to? And why is it a girl instead of Tyrol's son?" Laura inquired.
The blonde woman shrugged. "I can't move in the dream. That's how I figured that you were the one guiding it; you're the only one operating without a fixed path. Athena and I cannot break out of our roles in the dream."
"Which means that we won't find out who the girl is supposed to be," Laura mentioned.
Caprica shook her head. "It means that you are the only one who can possibly interact with the girl. Whatever she means to the dream, you are the one who is supposed to find that out. Beyond that I don't know anything else."
Laura smiled briefly. "I should probably be going. Thank you for the tea."
As Laura stood, Caprica reached for her hand. "Wait. D'Anna doesn't know who the last Cylon is. She wasn't meant to know, but I think you are. It connects back to you. 'All this has happened before…'"
"'All this will happen again.' It's a well-known line from Pythia," Laura responded.
Caprica let her hand go, but walked her to the door. Then she glanced at her feet for a moment. "I don't have many friends here, but I would like some. Someday I would like to call you my friend."
Laura took a deep breath, suppressing the past for the moment. "In time, I hope you're right."
The blonde woman reached for the door, but looked back to Laura with worry in her eyes. "I don't know what is to come, but please be careful. If someone else realizes how connected you are to all of this, you could be in danger."
"I appreciate your concern, but I'm already aware of that. Thank you again for the tea," Laura stated as she left, heading back to the admiral's quarters.
Bill returned a few hours later. Laura looked up from the book she was reading on the couch. "Did you find anything more?"
He walked over to the pitcher, pouring himself a glass of water. "No, but I've sent a recon mission down to the surface, Kara, Dee, Athena, Racetrack, Hotdog, and Anders."
"Are you sure that we can trust Mr. Anders?" Laura inquired.
Bill unbuttoned his jacket and sat down next to her. "This is a test for him. I'm hoping it'll also give him and Kara a chance to talk."
Laura smirked. "How do you solve a conflict? You lock the two offended parties in a small room and they will either work it out, or only one will survive."
He shrugged. "Something like that."
"How has Mr. Gaeta been holding up? He seems fine in CIC, but I thought I'd ask anyway," Laura mentioned.
"He's managing. And I'm seeing to it that he's not bored. He'll be managing a lot of the data we get from the scans and the recons. Now, what was so important that you had to talk to Saul's Six?" Bill questioned.
A thought made Laura smile wryly. And here we have the caveman principal: when in doubt of how to define a woman, define her by the man. "First of all, she's not 'Saul's Six' as you so eloquently put it. She calls herself Caprica."
"Alright then, why did you need to see Caprica?" he acquiesced.
"The dream I've been having about the opera house has changed. It used to be Athena and myself chasing after Hera. Then Caprica would pick her up and walk with Baltar into the concert hall and I would wake up. The last time I went into the concert hall as well. Athena was there, and Caprica, but so were the Final Four. Caprica was holding a blonde girl. Then a red-haired girl walked in asking for her mother. Caprica said something about the Three Sisters Prophecy. I woke up after that," Laura explained.
Bill rubbed the bridge of his nose. "On a hunch I'd say that the blonde girl is the child that S-Caprica will have. But who does the other girl belong to?"
Laura crossed one knee over the other. "That's what I wanted to ask Caprica about. She's not clear on the Three Sisters Prophecy, but she told me that the first child is the uniting of the Cylons and humans, the second relates to the Cylons and the Final Five, and the third relates to Cylons, us, and the Thirteenth tribe. All that leads me back to two questions: who is the girl and what is my role in all this?"
"Have you thought that you might just be seeing a younger version of yourself? Since you're one of the Final Five, I think it's a reasonable suggestion that this child is actually you," Bill pondered.
"But Bill, I'm in the dream," Laura reminded.
"That doesn't mean you can't see yourself. You said you saw the other Final Four. Maybe for some reason you see yourself, but younger," he offered.
She sighed heavily. "I don't know. I also don't know why Nikki Tyrol isn't a part of all this. If he's half-Cylon, then why isn't he in the dream?"
Bill thought for a moment. "There is a possibility there that only half-Cylons born from female Cylons are important. You said it was called the Three Sisters Prophecy, not the 'Two Sisters and one Brother' Prophecy. And then there is the possibility that perhaps Galen Tyrol isn't Nikki's father."
Laura's brow furrowed. "That's a rather crude suggestion. What made you come up with that?"
"You remember the trouble we had with Baltar's book, don't you? Callie Tyrol was a big supporter of Baltar's book. You mentioned Baltar earlier and I've been wondering if there was something more between them than just Callie's seemingly radical politics," he recalled.
"I don't know, Bill. That's a bit of a stretch," Laura commented, leaving the couch to get ready for bed.
He stood, taking the glasses into the kitchen. "Maybe. Or perhaps it's bringing us one step closer to finding out why someone wanted her dead. Jealousy is a strong motive these days."
As she prepared for bed that evening, Laura removed her wig in the bathroom before brushing her teeth. She had the toothbrush in her mouth before truly looking at her reflection. Having gotten into the habit of not looking past her eyes in the mirror anymore, she did not notice until she had brushed the upper row of her teeth. She blinked several times, seeing new hair on her head. Taking her free hand, she felt the short auburn hairs. What should have looked like only tufts looked like three or four months of hair growth. I suppose there's an upside to finding out you're a Cylon, she thought to herself before putting on the headscarf.
(A/N: I borrowed the idea that Nikki isn't Tyrol's son from episode 4x12)
(My thanks to kywildcat, WonderfallsonDaisies, carolann, McGonagallFan, and Mamabella for reviewing :D)