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Dragonlots aka Dana Bell
Chapter 3
"Katie was right," Kit whispered to Mason as they waited for their shuttle to take them back to their respective ships.
"How so?" The black man glanced uneasily around.
"She told me, when she got back home, that she wouldn't have traded her time, you know where, for anything."
Mason shifted. "You shouldn't be talking to me. It looks suspicious."
She waved her hand. "Nonsense. Most aren't even paying attention to us." Kit pointed at her plain outfit. "We're dressed as the lowest of the low."
"Still. Jessica told us to be careful. She doesn't want anyone to figure out that we aren't what we're posing to be."
"Lee Adama knows."
"He never got a clear look at us."
"True. And we did leave before him and Jessica."
"Like I said, she was trying to protect us."
"I hate the idea that she has to face the Quorum by herself."
"Her cousin, Senator Collins, trained her well."
Kit shivered. "Did you ever meet him?"
"No."
"Consider yourself fortunate." She turned slightly to avoid Colonel Tigh as he made his way through. "Don't get me wrong, he's nice and all, but,"
"But what?"
"He gives me the creeps. You know, the whole, someone walked over my grave feeling."
"Like Baltar's spiritual change."
"Yeah, kind of like that."
Tigh was eyeing them strangely. Kit glanced over at him and quickly found something else to look at. "So does he."
Mason's dark eyes flicked over to where the Colonel stood. "Probably the eye patch."
She shook her head. "It's more than that. I can't explain it."
"Talked to Jessica about it?"
"You know she has to be careful. She can't even let people back home know the full extent of her abilities." Kit leaned a bit closer to Mason. "I think maybe the only one who may know is her cousin."
"We know."
Kit's face paled. "We didn't exactly have a choice."
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Jessica slowly moved around the table to stand near Lee. "You remember, Madam President, that I told you SG10 originally found your colony."
The older Adama inquired, "How did they arrive without us detecting their ship?"
"Did I say anything about a ship?"
Lee asked a question. "How could you get anywhere without a ship?"
She hesitated. "We came through the Stargate."
Laura Roslin sent a disbelieving look at her. "The what?"
"Oh, you know. The big round circle with all the symbols on it." She made a big O with her arms to demonstrate. "The one your priests warned all of you to stay away from or it would 'offend the gods'. " She couldn't help the sarcastic tone in her voice.
Roslin snapped, " Don't mock our gods."
"Look, lady," Jessica took a deep breath reminding herself of the diplomatic lessons her cousin had given her. "The Stargates are even mentioned in your holy books. Let's see what do they call them," she paused, "oh, yeah, the 'Eyes of the Gods'."
"Holy relics we took care to preserve in the Colonies."
That was a new development and caught Jessica's interest. "There are Stargates in the Colonies?"
Lee leaned close to her and made a suggestion. "I think you should tell her about how you found us."
She flashed him a smile. "Good idea." Jessica pretended to smooth a crease in her dress. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult your beliefs."
Zarek grinned at her from the other side of the room. "I think we can all understand your skepticism." He shot a look at Roslin as he sat back down. "Particularly since you only believe in one god."
"Well, I do. I know that's different depending on the person." She shook her head, trying to intercept what she figured was the Vice President's next question. "We have freedom of religion in my country, but the various belief systems are too complicated to explain."
"As I'm sure many of our beliefs and traditions are to you." His reply was very smooth. Jessica found she rather liked him despite his terrorist background. Her instincts told her that Zarek for some reason felt the need to undermine President Roslin.
"Mind if I sit down. Ours is a rather long story."
The President's aid, Tory, found a chair for her. Jessica sat, but gave the dark haired woman an odd side-long glance. She'd briefly sensed something. She also knew there were too many people for her to get an accurate reading.
"As I was saying, SG10 originally found you on PX7D. We give all the planets alpha-numeric designations. Not sure why. Some scientific thing."
Lee Adama turned slightly to face her. "How long were you on New Caprica?"
"You mean before the Cylons came?" He nodded. "A couple of months."
She took a deep breath. "When the original team got back to the SGC, they made their report. Landry wanted to send out SG1, but he got over ruled by the IOA."
"And the IOA is?" Roslin still didn't sound like she believed a word Jessica said.
"The International Oversight Committee. The Stargate program started out as just a United States operation, but expanded as more and more governments were made aware of it. And again, don't ask. Earth politics are confusing. I'm not sure how my cousin even manages."
"Maybe we shouldn't interrupt her with so many questions," Zarek recommended.
Jessica watched the look on the President's face and how much effort it took the woman to control it. That might be useful later and something she could use to her advantage.
"As I was saying, the IOA over ruled Landry and told him they wanted a civilian team to observe and report on what obviously looked like a new colony." She smiled. "Of course, we learned it was. Look, can I get something to drink. It's a very long story."
Roslin spoke to her aid. "Tory."
"Right away." The aid went to a side bar and poured a glass. She set it down in front of Jessica.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome." Tory resumed her place.
She took a couple of sips. "The team was carefully chosen. Many had been on previous missions and were experienced. Me, and a couple of others, well, it was our first time through the Stargate."
"How'd you end up leading?" Lee wanted to know.
"Political connections. Cousin Barnabas had been on the first oversight committee for the SGC. He called in his favors." She took her finger and gently rotated the glass on the table. "Dr. Daniel Jackson was supposed to go with us and he'd been appointed the team leader. However, " she giggled. "somehow he ended up engaged to Vala and they eloped to Vegas to get married. Although how they could have done that and taken the rest of SG1 with them, I have no idea." Jessica took another sip. "Anyway, after that, he got pulled because Vala is not exactly the most diplomatic person and they figured she might give the whole thing away. Since my leadership skills were already known, thanks to my cousin, I was the next logical choice."
She shook her head. "Poor Daniel. He was happy to be married and upset to lose such a good chance to study a culture unrelated to Earth. Or at least, we were assuming that."
"You've read our holy book," Laura said. "You know Earth is the lost tribe."
"I know you believe it." Jessica tapped her fingers on the table. They made a dull thudding noise. "Since we've been traveling to other worlds, I could very well argue that your twelve worlds are actually descended from Earth. The fact that your gods are the same as the Greek Pantheon strongly suggest the opposite of what your history says."
"Or it is your races' memory of the gods." The woman was just a bit too smug.
"The Gou'ald impersonated a lot of gods, Egyptian, Chinese, some Nordic and who knows how many others. Not just on Earth but all over the galaxy."
"I think the discussion on the gods is getting us nowhere," Zarek told them both.
"Just telling the facts," Jessica retorted. "I've read most of the SGC files. You lot have been very isolated."
"That may be true," Adama agreed in his gravelly voice.
"Tell me, have you encountered any other race out here?"
The commander shook his head.
"I didn't think so. Like I said, isolated."
"What about Atlantis?" Lee's eyes bore into hers.
Jessica's eyes narrowed. "I forgot you overheard us."
Roslin snorted. "Atlantis is a legend."
"Currently occupied by an Earth expedition."
The President slowly rose. "That's not possible."
"You know it amazes me, how much you think isn't possible. The fact that any of your race survived the Cylon attack on your home worlds is amazing if not downright impossible." She spread her hands to indicate everyone in the room. "Yet here you are."
"You have no idea what we've been through."
"Oh, no?" Jessica got to her feet and angrily addressed Roslin. "You're not the one who is going to have to tell a lot of families that their love one is dead and by the way, I'm so sorry I can't tell you how they died because it's classified. Just know they died serving their country and here's the flag from their empty coffin."
