Torallia, Colony of New Tollana, 1230 hours.
The planet Torallia was one of the Colony worlds of the Tollan, and when they found out that their homeworld was destroyed years ago by the Goa'uld.. understandably the colony worlds were deeply worried about their brothers and sisters. It was only days later that survivors from their previous homeworld re-established communications from the colony world that would later be renamed as New Tollana. In the Tollan colonies, everyone knew about the Goa'uld, and they also knew about the threat that they represented with their new upgrades that prevented the famous Tollan Ion canons from repelling the latest attack. Since the landing of the survivors, a new Curia was formed on what became known as New Tollana, and programs on upgrading their weapons were launched. Now every colony world, including Torallia, had Ion cannons situated at critical points. This world even had the latest technology to prevent any race conducting a scan of the surface to see nothing.. no life.. no technology. It is something that they believed was the perfect defence.
That is what the Curia had told them years ago, that if ships running scans from orbit saw nothing on the surface, then they would have no reason to land. In theory that made sense with the Tollan, the Goa'uld wanted slaves and they always looked for populated planets.. and with the upgrades to the Goa'uld shielding, people knew that the parasites would launch raids from orbit to take down the cities, and enslave the survivors. But then again, the Goa'uld didn't know about the upgrades to the Ion cannons which would blow the ships out of orbit in only a few shots.
The colony worlds were also told about Earth, and many had mixed feelings in the Colonies.. just as in New Tollana, about the role played by the planet. However, the colonies never heard about teh advancements that were made by the Earth forces due to the Curia's own pride that a supposedly inferior planet had gained much technology in only a few years; all this despite Narim, as well as others, insistence that the Tollan had to change.
That it was time to change.
However, the need for change would come too late for the colony world of Torallia. Among the little more than a million people spread over four cities, Melian Rak was an engineer who had just walked out of his home after saying goodbye to his family. He was heading for his work at one of the fuel depots that was responsible for refining naquada, the energy source for their cities, their Ion cannons, their vehicles… basically their lives depended on the refinery. As he walked down the three flights of stairs from his home, he looked out at the high rises in the distance before smiling at the bright blue sky. He then briskly walked to his vehicle before, just as he was about to open the door, heard a sound in the distance. He turned around and looked up to see six small ships flying over the city. It was then that the worried man ran back up the stairs as one ship, a grey coloured vessel with wings that swept in front of what seemed like something the shape of a mask, flew right over head.
It was then sirens rang throughout the city and then, when Melian was on the second floor of the five story complex, he looked out of the open hallway as the Ion cannons started to fire at the small vessels. He cheered when he saw two of them get destroyed before the other four vanished in a flash of white light.
With the sirens still ongoing, Melian ran the last flight of stairs and onto the third floor corridor where he saw his wife running out of the house with his three children.
"Kasen" said Melian, "it is alright, they have left.. they have left."
"The sirens" said Kasen while she was carrying their two year old girl while their six and seven year old boys were holding onto their father, "we must…"
The sirens immediately stopped followed by a voice from the government building in the center of the city telling people that there were no ships in orbit. That they were safe, and that no damage was done to the city itself. The voice, that of the Chief Minister of the city, told everyone through speakers in the buildings that the Curia on New Tollana had been notified through the Stargate.. and that they've already sent a ship to Torallia.
However, the leader was interrupted when there was the sound of a door slamming open in the background, followed by worried muffled voices. It was then that Melian and his family saw the Ion cannons opening fire into the sky.
"Attention" said the Chief Minister, "I am ordering emergency evacuation protocols.. I want everyone to get to your assigned shelters and…"
Melian and his family closed their eyes as a bright light flashed from the center of the city, cutting off the communications from the Chief Minister. They then felt the ground shake as Melian looked up and opened his eyes to see a cloud rising from the center of the city… as well as a shockwave of dust, debris, fire, coming towards them.
"Nuclear Weapons" shouted Melian as he ran with his family when the ground shook even more. He looked back while running and saw six more clouds rising in the distance, and more streaks falling through the sky. He knew that they needed to get to the bomb shelter underneath the building but they never made it to the second floor.
As he pushed his family along, another missile hit and his building was destroyed. None of them felt any pain. And they would be the lucky ones, some of the nuclear weapons fell on the naquada refinery; and the resulting explosion ripped a chunk of the planet away with the Cylon Colony just managing to escape in the nick of time from the orbit of the planet.
Battlestar Galactica, Orbit of New Kobol, at that same time.
It was over the radio that Willow, Colonel Carter, and the other Earth officers heard that over the last hour Colonel Tigh and his wife Ellen, who was screaming all the way down the hallway that she wasn't a Cylon, was brought over to the awaiting Raptor where Vala and Faith were guarding the Number Three humanoid model, and Chief Tyrol. They were then told that the Combat Air Patrol that was performing manoeuvres out in space would be called back to the gigantic ship for their scans while another group of Vipers took over their duties. It was then that at around a quarter past twelve that Vala said over the radio that they had found the last of the so called Final Five, a man named Samuel Anders who was shocked about finding out that he had nanites.
Back on the Raptor, the Galactica Marines were looking into the ship through the open rear door confused at the Number Three, Colonel Tigh, Ellen Tigh, Chief Tyrol, and Sam Anders; the last of whom just entered the rear of the small ship surprised everyone, just as he was surprised by seeing all of them in the same place as the rear door to the Raptor closed.
"You have got to be kidding me" said Anders as he looked wide eyed, and surprised, at the people around him, "don't tell me… no way… there's no way."
"That's what I've told the Old Man" said Colonel Tigh as he looked at the rookie pilot, and then back at his wife who was leaning forward with her head down and in her hands. He then looked at Chief Tyrol who was simply shaking his head in shock before the older man looked at the Number Three next to him, "you… you've been with this crew from the beginning and…"
"What about you?" asked the D'Anna, "you've been hiding and…"
"We're not Cylons" said Colonel Tigh as he leaned forward and hissed at the woman, "and once they've proved I'm not.. that none of us are Cylons.. then all agreements be damned, I'm going to ask the Commander to have you detained so that we can throw you out of the air-lock."
"I saw the scans" said the Chief as he rubbed the bridge of his nose before he looked up at the Colonel, "what if it's true and…"
"No" said Ellen as she looked up and glared at the Chief, "no.. no.. no.. Saul, tell him that we're not Cylons."
"I am Saul Tigh, Colonel in the Colonial Fleet" said the man as he looked at everyone on the small ship before looking at Ellen, "that is my wife, Ellen…. That is who we are, that is who we'll be. We're not Cylons, we're human beings."
"This is frakked up" said Anders as he leaned back against the interior panelling and put his hands on his head, "I'm Samuel Anders, I was born in Picon, I've dreamt about playing pyramid since I was three and…"
Each person in the ship shared their story with each other to prove that they were not Cylons before they noticed the D'Anna looking at them closely, looking at each of them as if she was examining them with a watchful eye while thinking about something deep in the back of her mind.
"What?" asked Ellen as D'Anna looked at her..
"That woman.. Carter.. she said that they have another person on the surface with nanites in their blood" said D'Anna, "five of you… but… no… it's just stories. Legends that we're forbidden from ever searching for… something that we've been told never to ask. But sometimes I can't help but…"
"Speak up, Cylon" said Colonel Tigh as he glared at D'Anna after he got up and then sat next to his wife, "out with it."
"There are twelve models of humanoid Cylons" said D'Anna, "and yes, I admit that I'm a Cylon. So you know what? That thing they scanned me with detected my nanites… which means that they detected nanites in you four as well. And before you say anything, we've heard whispers, more like rumours really, that there were five more. That they're supposed to be unique.. the only models of their line. Long story short, I've never seen you four before. Maybe you four are part of…"
"Shut up" said Anders as he glared at the Cylon, "you know I killed so many of you on Caprica when I was with the resistance? I'll happily do it right now and…"
"Get in line" said Colonel Tigh as he looked at Anders, and then at D'Anna, "we'll be cleared. And when we are… ooooh boy, you are gonna be a security risk."
"We'll see" said D'Anna as she leaned back against the panelling behind her. The five of them then remained silent while waiting to see if there were anymore suspected Cylons who'd be brought in.
However, the Earth crew knew that they still had to check the entire ship which they believed would take another hour. While Vala and Faith were watching over the Cylons alongside some of the Galactica Marines; Willow, Colonel Carter and the other engineers were in one of the back offices looking at plans of the ship.. plans which impressed the Earth officers on her sheer size alone. Among tables full of plans that were spread out, Willow and the Colonel were leading their own teams… each taking a few areas to conduct experiments, checking if the systems could take the load from the Naquada reactors they had with them; of which one case was with the Colonel, and the other case was with the redhead.
Curious, it was Chief Laird and Cally, as well as Baltar who asked about the contents of the cases while Helo looked on at the mass of people all whispering with their Earth counterparts while the translators were helping keep the conversations going by making each party understand the other. While the Colonial officer was looking around, his thoughts returned to Sharon and their baby. He kicked himself at not having asked about how she was doing, or not even having asked anyone to see her.
Shaking his head and getting those thoughts to the back of his mind, Helo told himself that it would be better to get this done first before asking about Sharon. It was then that the radios on the Earth officers came online, and a voice in the strange language told them something that made the officers quieten down before they looked at each other in surprise, and then back at the Colonials. Helo looked at them confused while guessing that they must have been told something important.
"Captain" said Colonel Carter as she looked at Helo, who was the ranking Colonial officer in the room. The blonde was standing in a corner of the room with an Earth engineer and a translator who was translating her words which were asking him about the Memorial Hallway. It was that word, the same word that referred to a long hallway that contained thousands of pictures from the people in the fleet who've had people still missing, or believed dead. Helo couldn't hear any other voice as the Colonials themselves had quietened down while they too looked at Helo and the Colonel; the similarity among all the Colonials were the sadness that remained in their eyes. The Colonel looked around before telling him gently, while her words were being translated, that one of the teams scanning for Cylons came across the hallway.. that they had paid their respects to the fallen before going on their way, "and before we begin our tests… we'd like the opportunity to pay our respects as well. If that's acceptable of course."
"Umm.. yes" said Helo nodding his head in surprise, "of course."
"I'll have some of the junior engineers begin simulations with our computers" said the Colonel, "they'll go with your teams to the designated points. They'll begin, while myself and Major Rosenberg come with you, and then the others will check it out once we've replaced them if that's acceptable?"
"Yes" said Helo nodding his head.
The Colonel nodded her head before getting back to the plans while Helo notified the Commander of their plans, which he approved. He wanted the Earth officers to see the faces of the fallen in the Colonies so that they could better understand the hatred they had for the machines.
Meanwhile, while Colonel Carter was talking with some of the Colonial engineers, Baltar came up next to her and put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. Colonel Carter then stopped talking before looking at the smiling Baltar who offered his advice as an expert on the technology within the ship. Soon he was joined by Billy who rolled his eyes before telling Colonel Carter that she should get back to explaining what she wanted to do. The Colonel nodded her head before looking at the hand resting in her shoulder, and then at Baltar, and then at the hand again. Before anyone knew what was happening, a surprised Baltar lifted his hand from the Colonel's shoulder before slapping himself hard. The Colonel looked at him while maintaining a look of shock while at the same time talking to Willow mentally; the redhead, who was looking at the plans with her team and some of the other Colonials, told the Colonel that he was being a bit too hands on.
The Colonel mentally thanked Willow while pretending to be surprised as the Colonial scientist slapped himself hard with his other hand while Billy, and some of the Colonial Marines tried to stop him.
"Hey" said a surprised Colonel who was doing her best to hide the grin that threatened to form as Willow looked up at Baltar, as did the other Colonials, "you alright?"
"Get him out of here" said Helo pointing towards the exit as the Marines held both of Baltar's hands which were threatening to swing wildly and slap his own face again. They pulled him outside where Helo told him that he was to stay outside until this whole play for Colonel Carter's attention was over.
"Come back in when you're ready to at least act professional" said Helo before the heavy door was closed, with Baltar panting in the hanger while his Head Six was leaning on a Raptor that was being repaired and chuckling at him. He then turned around and looked at the lone Marine who was standing there with orders to let him in once he seemed to be sane, however… what happened next made the Marine chuckle as Baltar asked him for help as his hands lift involuntarily up to his chest, before his hands were closed into fists.
"Help" said the wide eyed , and fearful, Baltar when he doubled over and groaned in pain before falling onto the floor of the hanger in a foetal position after he punched his own genitals… hard.
Back inside the room, Colonel Carter and Willow were telling the Colonial engineers, Chief Laird and his team, along with Cally… who was his second-in-command so that the deckhands would know that he wanted to keep the spirit of their group as familiar as possible, about the naquada reactors.
Willow opened a case and took out the device before placing it on the table. The translator helped Willow explain what naquada was, and what it did… leaving everyone.. even Helo and Billy surprised. They were told that the devices with them were going to be used for testing should the computer simulations work out, that if the load was too much for the wiring, then there could be blackouts throughout the ship…. And even spark showers, followed by explosions due to the massive load.
Willow, Colonel Carter and the others listened to the whispers while the translators were telling them the more serious questions that the Colonials were asking. Colonel Carter told them that it was very risky what they were trying to do, and that if handled improperly… the naquada reactors could overload and take out the entire ship.
"But to do that requires a pass code" said the Colonel as she looked at everyone, "a code that will not be handed to anyone. The models that will be installed on this ship, should testing work out over the next few weeks, will automatically disable if anyone tries to tamper with it. I know that's not fair, but for your own safety that's what my superiors have ordered."
"Maybe once all this mess with the Ori and the Priors are settled, then things may change" said Willow, "but for now… Colonel Carter and I are saying that there will be some upgrades to protect the survivors on this ship during the upcoming battle that's coming."
"Any questions before we go our separate ways?" asked Colonel Carter.
Willow smiled as a flurry of questions came Colonel Carter's way; she watched the blonde officer answer them as best she could while looking around. She then noticed Baltar walking in with the Marine who was left outside with him; she noticed that he was limping slightly while Helo and Billy frowned at the man… the latter walking up to him before whispering something. Willow looked away with a smile on her face before Colonel Carter told their teams to take the computers and reactors before heading off to the sections that each of the two groups selected.
While the engineers headed for their sections, Willow and the Colonel.. alongside Helo, Billy, Baltar and two of the translators were heading towards the Memorial Wall. It was five minutes of walking and heading up a few decks later that they came to a hallway that contained thousands of pictures on the wall. The Earth officers looked at pictures of men, women, and children; along with hand written notes asking if anyone had seen a particular individual, or saying that they missed their father, mother, son, and so on. Billy and Helo were telling the Colonel and Willow that they started this wall soon after the Galactica and her fleet jumped out of the Colonial systems, that the pictures were from the men and women, and even children, of the fleet looking for those who were missing, and in remembrance of those who were dead.
Willow and the Colonel looked at the pictures, and then the candles and flowers that were laid against the walls. The both of them knew that this was just a small percentage of those who perished, but the impact was huge. As they looked through the pictures, they understood the hate that the Colonials had for the Cylons.
"There was a madman on Earth whose goal was to exterminate groups of people he believed was unworthy" said Willow while she looked at the pictures, her words being translated, while she brushed a finger against the picture of a girl who looked to be about five years old, "he murdered millions in a second major worldwide war on my planet, nothing compared to losing billions of lives… but still…"
"He targeted people of a particular faith before going for others who he… like Major Rosenberg said… he felt was unworthy of breathing the same air" said the Colonel as she stood by Willow and looked at the pictures while Helo and the others listened, "the ones who were fighting against him.. the Allies, won the war.. the madman killed himself… and…."
"You've remained enemies with his people?" asked Billy.
"They acknowledged what the man did was a crime against everything humanity stood for" said Willow, "that something like that can and must never happen again. Now that country's one of our greatest allies."
"But…." said Helo as he tried to say something about the Cylons when he was interupted.
"The people of my faith were the people who were mainly targeted" said Willow as she looked at Helo, and then at the pictures again, "millions died."
Everyone then remained silent as they walked through the hallway and looked at the images of the dead. All the while, Willow was wondering what she would have done had she been around on the planet in that period of human history. There was a period of ten years that Athena had spent on Destiny as an escape from the universe at large; during that time, she was alone in walking the halls of the ancient vessel as it flew through space while conducting its primary mission of collecting data… important data that she knew no one would ever gain access to.
But she still hoped things could change.
Athena closed her eyes and communicated with the Others, begging them for a boon.. that she change Destiny's programming so that once it collected the data it needed to collect, the ship will be instructed to turn around and return home while the seed ships continue seeding the universe with Stargates, and sending that information to the Destiny through the Stargates themselves.
Athena smiled when they approved. They told Athena that the ship would run for untold millions of years more, and that it would take millions of more years to return to Earth. And if any humans remained, it would be up to them to accept the Destiny, or to destroy it. Nodding her head, Athena walked calmly to the bridge where she sat on the command chair. The first of her kind to command the ship that her ancestors, the Alterra, launched into space millions of years ago. She input the new commands while looking out through the windows of the bridge and into the transparent blue hyperspace tunnel. Before long, she'd leave the ship and head to Atlantis where, with Hera, they would stand in the dark looking at the ocean that surrounded them. At times they would even go to Proculus and talk to the Ancient whose punishment was to stay on that planet as the protector of its people, an Ancient by the name of Chaya Sar.
Then they would jump from one galaxy to another, with the redhead stopping on Earth just to pay her respects to Sineya before leaving again. Even at Sineya's grave, Athena remembered the violence she witnessed, as well as the good.
As Athena, Willow had been to worlds at war.. even galaxies at war where untold billions died. She remembered appearing in a field of dead bodies on a planet in a galaxy ten billion light years from Earth. She walked among the bodies as she looked around for anyone who survived this small part of the larger galactic battle; a battle that she didn't even know why it began in the first place.
All she knew was that nearly twenty thousand lives were extinguished, the ground among the crumbled buildings a mixture of blue and purple from the blood of the combatants on both sides of the battle. Shaking her head, Athena then left the planet once again and went to the next planet, and then to the next.
Willow hid those memories from Faith, from the link she shared. As Athena, she had seen horrors that she never told anyone; she didn't want to discuss that with anyone.
"Willow?" asked the Colonel as Willow shook her head before looking at the blonde officer while talking mentally to Faith at the same time.
Faith: "Red, you alright?"
Willow: "Yea, I was just thinking about something."
Faith: "About what? You got me tearing up here and Vala's getting kinda worried. She thinks I'm sick or something… but I didn't tell her that I sensed that you were really upset through our link. You alright?"
Willow: "Yea… yeah, I'm alright, Faith."
Faith: "Ok."
Willow: "Faith, I know that we haven't had time to ourselves for some time and… and I just wanted to tell you that I love you."
Faith: "I love you too, Red."
Willow: "When we get back.. how about we tell Buffy that we'll see her tomorrow. You know, not do the whole barbeque thing tonight since I'm sure Xander's gonna be tired. I'd like to spend the night with you. Just holding on to each other… everything else just vanishing for one night?"
Faith: "Yeah. Just the two of us. The Memorial Wall must be real… I mean…"
Willow: "Yeah."
Faith: "Once we're done here, we get back to Earth. We'll call B then."
Willow mentally told Faith that she loved her again while telling Colonel Carter that she was alright. She told her that seeing all these pictures reminded her of all the people they lost during the war with the Wraith. Willow knew she was lying, that there were other wars she was thinking about… but she wanted to keep those to herself. She knew that the others didn't need to know the horrors she, Hera, and even Oma had seen throughout the galaxies they explored; horror that started for various reasons from religion, to greed, to beings who just wanted destruction for the sake of destruction.
Once they had walked through the hallway, Colonel Carter and Willow went their own separate ways, with Helo and a Marine going with the Colonel, while Baltar, Billy and another Marine walked alongside Willow to her section along with their respective translator.
It was an hour later that Colonel Mitchell notified Willow, and Colonel Carter that he and the others would be heading back to New Kobol with Commander Adama so that they could bring the Cylons to the surface for their tests. He told them that he was assigning Faith and Daniel to stay with Colonel Carter, and Vala to provide Willow with back-up until they managed to get more engineers through the Stargate, and up to the Galactica for the two weeks of careful testing and simulations.
"Give us an hour, folks" said Colonel Mitchell as Willow smiled while she and her team were examining the power distribution system in one of the selected sections on the aft part of the ship. With the redhead were Cally and a few of her engineers who were watching, and listening, to what Willow and the other Earth engineers were telling them while she typed on the keyboard. The redhead told them that the computer would simulate scenarios that could happen with the Naquada reactor at various power levels.
"Maybe we could begin the test at five percent?" asked Cally as she and one of the Colonial engineers stood side by side with Willow and one of the translators and Earth engineers. Willow nodded her head as she pressed a few buttons. Once the test was finally initiated, the computer ran the simulation before saying that it was a success. Willow then continued to raised the power levels from the naquada reactor until it was at fifty percent power when the laptop made a beeping noise before the word 'System Failure' flashed on the screen. Willow sighed before the translator told Cally and the other engineers that if they activated the reactors after connecting it with the ship, then they'd have a power surge on their hands that could possibly blow the circuits in the section they were in; leaving them in the dark.
"We need to find something that can handle more of the load, the power output need to be at least eighty percent for the shield to be effective" said Willow just as Colonel Carter, who was on the other end of the ship, told the redhead that she had the same problems, "yeah, this is gonna take some work."
While, Colonel Carter and Willow were talking to the Colonial and Earth Engineers on what they could do; the Colonial Raptor carrying the Cylons, Colonel Mitchell and Teal'c, and Commander Adama was being pushed up the elevator to the flight pod from where it was later launched. They felt the bumpy ride as the small ship entered New Kobol's atmosphere before it landed on the surface after a few minutes. Colonel Mitchell told the Commander that he was doing to dial the Stargate for more engineers to be sent to New Kobol, while Teal'c would accompany the Cylons for the secondary battery of tests. It was once everyone was out of the small ship that Starbuck, Roslin and Hunt walked up to them along with Dr. Burke. The Commander told the Colonial politicians what they found in the initial scan, while they listened in shock while Colonel Tigh was insisting there was nothing to the scans… that they were simply a mistake. Dr. Burke approached Colonel Mitchell and told him that they finally had the five that Triana had been talking about on Cylon Earth. She told the Colonel that it would be better to tell the Colonials the truth after the secondary scans were completed, that maybe they could take Triana to a neutral world where representatives from Eden, and the Colonials could meet with Earth as a mediator to prevent both sides from killing each other.
"Triana is the key, Colonel" said Dr. Burke while the Colonials were still talking to themselves as Teal'c stood off to one side observing the Cylons, "maybe her testimony can start some kind of healing process."
"Yeah" said the Colonel as he looked at Dr. Burke, "they have a Hall of Memories up in the Galactica. Kinda like a Holocaust Museum of their own floating in space, the Colonials aren't ready to forgive yet… the wounds are still raw. But you're right that they need to know the truth."
Dr. Burke sighed before she closed her eyes and then turned around. The woman then suggested that the Commander let Teal'c take the Cylons for their secondary tests, and that they needed to have a little chat. Looking on confused, the Colonials nevertheless nodded their heads before Teal'c and a translator took the Cylons to the medical building. Dr. Burke then turned to Colonel Mitchell and asked him to talk to the SGC, since they'd know the results soon.
New Kobol, 1345 hours.
The Stargate on New Kobol activated as Riley and Colonel Mitchell received the ten engineers, and four Marines, who had come through the Stargate from the SGC. They walked down the stairs of the Stargate's pedestal before being led to Dr. Burke and Commander Adama who were talking to Roslin and the Vice-President, with Starbuck by their side. They were waiting for Apollo, Racetrack, and a few of the other Marines to return with the rebel fleet that agreed to settle on New Kobol… which would take the better part of a day and a half to jump to New Kobol.
When Dr. Burke noticed Riley and Colonel Mitchell returning with the engineers, the translators then took over.. telling the engineers the rules that Commander Adama laid down for the group that still remained in orbit, out of whom Willow, Faith, Vala, and Colonel Carter would be returning to New Kobol on the Raptor's return trip after the engineers were briefed by Colonel Carter and the redhead. In the meantime, the medical staff would help Dr. Cottle with any illnesses or injuries until they were due back in four hours… which would be about the time the new building for the medical team would be ready on the surface. With the engineers nodding their heads, they then got into the small craft accompanied by four Earth Marines who would be replacing the four on board the Galactica. The whole group watched as the Raptor took off before a nurse ran to Riley while holding a clipboard. The man looked at the parts that the nurse pointed out before he thanked her, and then looked at the politicians and the Colonial officers.
"Commander" said Riley while Dr. Burke translated, "I think we should all go to the building we've used to sequester Colonel Tigh and the others after collecting their blood."
"The tests are positive?" asked a surprised Starbuck; she didn't like the Galactica's executive office, in fact they were always at each other's throats and beneath any form of respect from her, but being a Cylon was the last thing she would have ever thought he could be.
"There are some things that we've kept hidden from you" said Dr. Burke before she turned to Riley and Colonel Mitchell, telling the Earth officers what she was telling the Colonials. Colonel Mitchell had already told her that he received the ok from the SGC to tell the Colonials about Triana once the tests come in positive; as they knew it would. Colonel Mitchell told the linguist and Riley earlier that the SGC would be using Orban as a neutral world.. that they'll be met by Merrin and a few other Orban. The Orbanian children still had some nanites in their systems to aid the adults during the Averium, but that practice was decreased considerably thanks to the SGC helping the adults teach the children who've had the nanites taken out of them, the Urrone, through the old ways. So far it had borne fruit with the children starting to learn like sponges, and within a few years they were able to function independently… with some even teaching the adults. The Orbanian society had already in a state of technological advancement, and one of the devices that they had on hand were translation devices.
Since the Tollan were reluctant to share their technology, the SGC had reached out to the Asgard.. who were still out of contact, the SGC even asked the Asgard stationed at the Zeta Site if they could create some translators for easier communication; all the grey aliens could say was they needed to secure permission from the High Council, that their duties were to use the beaming technology to create humanitarian aid packages which were still being sent to New Kobol, among others. Then the SGC reached out to the Orbanians, the same people who had shown Colonel Carter their version of a naquada reactor, and requested help in developing some kind of translation technology that would be able to easily facilitate communication between Earth and the Colonials.
It was an hour ago that the Orbanians contacted the SGC and told General Landry that four miniature translation devices were ready, and that they had already input recordings of Colonials speaking their language to the device, as well as voice samples from SGC personnel.. including General O'Neill who sent a message to Merrin, wishing her a belated birthday. When General Landry was talking to Colonel Mitchell when he contacted the SGC once he returned to New Kobol with the Cylons, he told the Colonel that the Orban were expecting them within the next two hours at a neutral planet.
As Colonel Mitchell was leading the group with Riley next to him, he thought about what the General had said… that he'd inform Dr. Gardner, who was at first surprised to learn about Triana but agreed that the other Cylons be kept in the dark about her for the moment, at Eden that she had to talk to the Cylons, and get their High Council to meet representatives of the Colonials at a neutral planet so that they could hear what Triana had to say. He looked at Riley before glancing over his shoulder at the worried looks of the group behind him before he looked forward again and found himself at the door to one of the refugee units.
The Colonel opened the door and walked in as Colonel Tigh and Ellen, who were sitting on one of the three beds together, stood up.. as did Anders, Chief Tyrol, Tory, and D'Anna.
All looking at each other, before looking at the person holding the clipboard; Riley, and the translator next to him.
"I know I'm a Cylon" said the D'Anna as she put her hand up and leaned against a wall, "I'll admit that."
The Colonials could only glare at her while Riley cleared his throat. Everyone then turned their attention to him, the Colonials hoping that what he was going to say was that they were negative for nanites. Chief Tyrol and Tory looked at each other, while Anders looked at Starbuck… silently mouthing that he was going to be alright and that she shouldn't be concerned about him, and finally Colonel Tigh looked at his wife before looking at Commander Adama and telling him that once they've been cleared… he needed to get a drink.
"I'll join you" said the Commander before turning to Riley, "Lt. Colonel?"
"I'm sorry" said Riley while Dr. Burke translated him saying that they detected nanites in their bloodstream as the five of them gasped. Everyone was now speaking at the same time before Colonel Mitchell put two fingers into his mouth and whistled, and almost immediately.. everyone became quiet, but still confused about the results.
Colonel Tigh was seething inside that everything was a mistake.. that the Earth doctors were mistaken.
"Bill" said the Colonel, "I'm not a Cylon… we've known each other for a long time and…"
While the Colonel was talking to the Commander, Chief Tyrol and Tory could only stumbled back in shock upon hearing the news before they sat on the cot.. they then looked at each other before a disgusted Chief got up and sat on another bed. As for Anders, he walked towards Starbuck who took a step back as she put her hand on the weapon on her waist.
"Easy" said Colonel Mitchell as he pointed at Starbuck when he noticed that her hand was resting on the butt of her gun.
"Commander Adama" said Dr. Burke as she ran and stood in the middle of the six Cylons, and theColonial officers and politicians – the Vice President, and Roslin were looking wide eyed in shock at the revelations that some of the powerful figures in the fleet, and Ellen Tigh, were Cylons. That still hadn't registered until Dr. Burke said something that stunned the Cylons, and the Colonials in the refugee unit.
"Listen to me, all of you" said Dr. Burke as she looked at Roslin and the Commander, before looking at the Tigh's and back to the Commander again, "I know this is going to be difficult to understand, but I need for you to trust me that we did the best we could not to tell you something that would probably confuse you. First of all, we've known for some time about Colonel Saul Tigh, Ellen Tigh, and Chief Galen Tyrol being possible Cylons."
"Excuse me?" asked Commander Adama who stayed rooted in the spot in shock, as did Roslin and the others while Starbuck approached Dr. Burke in a threatening manner, leading to Colonel Mitchell coming between the both of them while Riley stood between Dr. Burke and the other Cylons.
"You knew?" asked an outraged Starbuck while the others were still in shock about the news.
"It happened some time ago when Sharon Valerii, the pregnant Sharon Valerii had a dream… or it was data contained in some nanites she absorbed when she was handing a bone that was brought in to one of our outposts from the planet refered to as Cylon Earth" said Dr. Burke as D'Anna gasped, which made everyone look at her while she looked at the Five with eyes wide open.
"Oh Dear God" said D'Anna as she point at the Tighs, "you… you're from Earth?"
"What?" asked Starbuck as she turned to the Commander who was looking straight ahead at Colonel Tigh, his comrade and best friend, "Boss, I…"
The Commander then stumbled back as the other formerly stunned Colonials went into action with Roslin and Hunt preventing the man from falling while Colonel Mitchell ran to hi m and put his arm around his shoulder before taking him to a cot, the same cot that the Tigh's were standing in front of.
"Bill.. this isn't…"
"Stay away from him" hissed Starbuck as she pushed Colonel Tigh and Ellen away; and they did move away without a fuss… not because they knew they were Cylons… but because they were still stunned at the revelation. They looked on as Starbuck and Colonel Mitchell helped the old man sit down while Hunt shouted for some water while the Commander just gave in and put his head onto his hands and sobbed. Starbuck was the one who was sitting next to him while she put her hand on his other hand that was resting on his knee while he others could only look on… even D'Anna was feeling bad for the man.
"Commander" said Dr. Burke as she sat on his other side while Roslin and Vice-President Hunt stood next to Colonel Mitchell who was the only buffer now between the Cylons and the others since Riley had gone to get some water while the secondary translator stood to one side which translating what Dr. Burke told the Colonials, "I know this is a lot to take in. And I'm sorry about the deception, but there are some other things we've recently discovered that make it paramount that your people finally know what's going on. Miss Valerii seemed to have absorbed data in those nanites from bones that belonged to a scientist by the name of Alessa Depani. Those nanites were later destroyed since they were harmful to her, and the baby. But she told us that she saw a Dr. Saul and Ellen Tigh in a lab working on something. She also saw Galen Tyrol die in a nuclear explosion on Cylon Earth. All that information were in those nanites."
"Lady" said Colonel Tigh finally finding his voice, "I am not a Cylon. I am an officer of the Colonial Fleet and…"
"We have proof" said Dr. Burke, "proof what we're saying in true. But this is something that we need to tell your people, and the Cylon High Council together."
"No" said Roslin as Dr. Burke looked at the woman, "that is unacceptable and… and… Dr. Burke, we're grateful for this but this… this information… I mean we have to decide what to do with these… these things and…"
"Madam President" said Tory, "please.. I…."
"We cannot have a dialog with any Cylon and… and we'll come to a decision on what to do with…" said the President while she was ignoring Tory's tears, as well as Ellen's who was holding on to Colonel Tigh, before Dr. Burke interrupted her.
"President Roslin" said Dr. Burke, "we promised you that you'll be protected by Earth; the Cylon delegation will be unarmed, there will no Centurions present. I can assure you of that. Your people will be unarmed too and…"
"You're crazy" said Starbuck before she looked at the Commander who had both of his eyes shut tightly, "and…"
"We'll be armed" said Dr. Burke, "we'll prevent anyone from harming you… we'll be the mediators, and a race known as the Orban will be hosting this event on one of their Colony worlds. I can tell you that you will want to hear everything that's going to be revealed. I give you my guarantee that you will be safe."
"But…"
"Trust us" said Dr. Burke as Riley came in with some bottled water, "ordinarily we would have just left Colonel Tigh and the others to you based on what we agreed. But now, well… things have changed. Their fate in still in your hands.. the agreement is still the same. But I think that there's something else you need to know… and you'll be able to find out on the other planet."
"When?" asked the Vice-President, trying his best to hide the edge in his voice.
"Once Colonel Carter and SG-1 return" said Dr. Burke as she looked at Roslin, "they're briefing the engineers on the Galactica on what needs to be done.. and then they'll be coming down. We'll leave once they do; I'm asking for you to have some faith."
"We're taking a lot of things on faith" said Roslin as she rubbed her forehead in frustration before putting her hand on the Commander's left shoulder, "fine. But I want only Starbuck to carry a weapon… I want to be on the safe side. I will compromise on that… especially with… them."
The President glared at the Cylons before looking at Dr. Burke again while frowning.
"Then the Cylons may want to have a Centurion" said Dr. Burke as she stood up while calmly speaking, "this is just a meeting. The both of your peoples won't even be touching each other. We'll be there to…"
"Starbuck has a weapon" said Roslin as Dr. Burke sighed before nodding her head. She then told Riley to contact Eden and relay the message to Dr. Gardner. Once Riley ran off, Dr. Burke told the Colonials that things are going to change once again.
"And things will get a little more complicated" said Dr. Burke while looking at Roslin.
TBC.