Kobol, an hour before Elosha's arrival at the downed Raptor, 0000 hours.
Tessa had just woken up from her exhaustion fuelled sleep; finding herself on the floor, she slowly got up and found herself shrouded in darkness. It was something she preferred as she sat up on the floor; she was afraid that the blood demons would see the cabin lights if they had been turned on, and would come to investigate.
And then they would find her before breaking through the glass, and coming inside the ship to get her.
Tessa didn't want that to happen, she wanted to survive. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness around her, Tessa gave a small smile when she saw the console for the Electronic Countermeasures console in front of her. She stood up and then turned to walk towards the cockpit. The ship was mostly intact as she sat o the pilots seat and then reached toward, all the while praying to God that there was at least some power to send a locator beacon signal from the crashed ship for a few seconds every hour. Tessa was sure that Cylon vessels would eventually return to the planet and search for some sort of beacon to find them, and then rescue them. Tessa knew that she would also be comfortable if it were Colonials who found her and took her prisoner, anything was better than staying on this world where blood demons could come after her at any time.
Tessa pressed some buttons, and smiled as some lit up while she looked out the canopy for any movement outside. Not seeing anything, she looked down and pressed another button that activated the beacon. She heard a few beeps before she pressed the button again after ten seconds, turning off the beacon to conserve power. Sighing, Tessa then got off the pilot's seat and went to the rear of the ship so that she could start checking on the other systems, especially weapons. She knew that if the blood demons did manage to find her despite her trick with the Cylon lubricant, Tessa needed a way to fight.
She needed the Raptor's on-board weapons to be active.
She had been checking systems for the past hour in the dark while occasionally looking out of the canopy for any movement before going back to her search. She found that the ship still had twenty percent power in reserve, but the engines and weapon systems were all gone. The flight systems were destroyed in the crash and it was a small miracle that the beacon was working. Tessa did have to pry off a panel on the floor that contained a first aid kit, as well as a small handgun with military grade ammo for emergency purposes. When Tessa found the gun, she loaded the ammo and then place it in her trousers at the small of her back.
But she knew it wouldn't help against the blood demons, it was more for her so that she could kill herself if she was ever surrounded… she didn't want to die like an animal. She would rather die on her own terms, even if that meant killing herself.
She was examining other systems; taking her time to make sure that she used the remaining power wisely when she heard a knock on the hatch. Tessa turned around with her eyes wide open as she leaned on the console, her hands shaking as the knock on the hatch came again. Tessa could feel her heart beating wildly as she wondered what could be out there.
"Help me," said a woman's voice as Tessa grabbed the gun in the small of her back and held it out at the hatch while she reached for the button to the left, "my… my name is Elosha, I… I am a colonial Priestess and please help me. If there's any Colonial aboard.. please… please help me."
'Colonial?' thought Tessa to herself as she recalled the party that crashed onto the planet months ago, 'they left someone behind?'
"In the name of the gods, please help me… these… these blood demons… I am afraid. Please help me," cried Elosha who was pretending to be the panicked woman, "I've managed to avoid them but… but they could get me anytime so please, help me!"
Tessa just stood facing the hatch transfixed; she didn't know if she should open the door and let the person in, or just stay hidden behind the console where the shadows were the darkest. The rapping on the door increased with the increase in pitch of the voice of the woman who was now being hysterical. But Tessa still stood transfixed eyeing the hatch in front of her while she tried to wonder how it is that a lone human managed to survive all alone with all the blood demons prowling the area.
"How… how many of you are there?" asked Tessa, her voice was shaking as she spoke out while standing from where she was in front of the Electronic Counter-Measures console in the rear of the small vessel.
"It is only I, please let me in!" cried the voice as Tessa's eyes went wide open. She knew it was impossible for anyone to survive this long with the blood demons out there. Tessa knew that the only reason she serviced was because of the lubricant that was smeared onto her face and arms.
So Tessa took a step back while shaking her head.
Tessa knew that as a Cylon, she was stronger than a regular human being, however, she wasn't sure how much stronger she was than a blood demon.
And she didn't want to test out her strength; she was afraid to die.
So all she did was just stand as the rapping on the hatch increased until Tessa yelped and leaned back against the console behind her when the rapping turning to pounding. And then she heard the voice of the woman grow louder, and deeper.
"Open the door, you Cylon," growled the woman as Tessa's heart beat faster, the sound of her blood pumping behind her ear overtaking her senses as she stared at the hatch, "open the hatch… let me in, you sinful creature. The gods made me what I am to feed on you, to feed on your kind. I tasted the blood of your people... it was just a taste. And it was delicious."
"Frack you!" screamed Tessa with tears in her eyes. She was terrified, and doing everything she could to not drop her weapon onto the floor of the ship.
The sound of the pounding on the hatch stopped all of a sudden, and now all Tessa could hear was her blood pumping and her panting breath. She took a step forward just when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head to the right, towards the cockpit area, Tessa screamed and jumped back with one hand over her mouth when she saw a woman in a tattered dress looking at her with glowing yellow eyes. She then saw the sharp fangs that reflected some of the moonlight, and the forehead ridges that Tessa had seen on the other Blood Demons that attacked her, and her people, and destroyed the majority of the Centurions that they had with them.
Tessa saw the blood demon that called itself Elosha snarl before jumping onto the stubby nose of the vessel, and glared at her through the glass canopy. The female Cylon yelped as Elosha slammed her fists down onto the glass of the canopy. Tessa cowered against the rear wall of the ship while looking at Elosha making cracks on the glass. Tessa then brought the gun in her hand to the side of her own head as the glass shattered after the blood demon punched it for the seventh time. Tessa was about to pull the trigger when she looked on surprised as the glass fell into the ship itself, but when Elosha attempted to jump into the ship, she seemed to just bounce off an invisible barrier. Tessa put the gun down slowly and then stood up on trembling legs. She watched Elosha snarl before she jumped onto the stubby nose of the ship, and then jumped towards the broken canopy. However, she bounced of the invisible barrier and fell back onto the grass.
Tessa didn't want to get closer to the cockpit due to her fear of the figure that was glaring at her while baring it's fang. All she could do was lean forward slight, and then use her Cylon enhanced eyes to ensure that there really was no more glass covering the cockpit; there was nothing to prevent Elosha from coming into the ship.
"You made this your home, little Cylon," said Elosha before she bared her fangs at Tessa, and then straightened up while her hands were stretched out, but the finger tips curved inwards, "let me in, child."
"No," Tessa said shaking her head, her body trembling in fear at the real-life monster in front of her.
"It is better to die now!" exclaimed Elosha after snarling at the humanoid Cylon, "I will just drink my fill, and then I will leave. You will be alive, and I will wait for your blood to replenish. Once it has, I will feed again. You will be my food source, Cylon."
"No!" yelled Tessa, tears in her eyes that she was trying to control.
"If you try to escape in the day," smiled Elosha, "you will not go far once it is night. The other blood demons may not see you as a humanoid Cylon because of your scent, but I will. I have your scent, child. And I will feed, it is just a matter of time. It is your choice if you wish to be my personal food source now, or die a horrible death when you leave the safety of this home."
"Go… go… frack yourself!" screamed Tessa as Elosha pulled her arms back by her side, bent forward and bared her fangs. She growled before she ran to the left of the ship.
And Tessa just collapsed onto the floor, and broke down.
She was going to die; it was only a matter of time.
'No one will save me,' thought Tessa to herself as she scrambled behind the console where she hid in shadow. She didn't finish everything that she wanted to get done, but believed that it would be better served if she continued tomorrow morning. Tessa knew that Elosha couldn't come into the ship, and supposed it was what the blood demon said about the ship being the Cylon's home.
'Maybe they can't come in to this place without permission,' thought Tessa to herself while shaking her head, and trying to remember if there was such a rule on 'The Protector', 'either way, I can wait. I can wait. There will be time tomorrow to continue checking the rest of the ship's systems. For now I can…'
Tessa's thoughts were interrupted by Elosha's laughter, followed by her banging her fists on the exterior of the ship.
"I will eat you, my little Cylon!" screamed Elosha as Tessa whined and covered her ears, "I will feed on your blood."
It would be like that for the rest of the night as Tessa tried to force herself to sleep; the sounds of the metal clanging from Elosha pounding the hull of the ship with her fists. It continued for hours, vanishing just before the first light of dawn appeared in the sky.
'Thank you, God,' thought Tessa to herself as she closed her eyes; and slept.
New Kobol, 0900 hours.
It was going to be an hour before the first two teams left through the Stargate to the buffer planet where they would meet the Cylon teams, and then from there, they would be heading on to Kobol. The SG teams had already been briefed on the Stargate in Kobol not having a DHD, at least one that they couldn't see. So the leaders of the two SG teams were given a case that contained a dialling computer, and a naquada generator to power the Stargate so that they could gate back to the buffer planet.
The SG teams, SG-34 and SG-39, led by Major Neely and Major Bing respectively, had a briefing with the Colonial delegation on the Stargate on Kobol. Roslin and the Commander, as well as various other members of the Colonial military and scientists who were heading out for the expedition were present as Major Neely told them what they knew so far in regards to the Stargate on Kobol.
"How have you come to know this information?" asked Roslin who was standing next to Dr. Burke on one side. They were all in a small tent so that Major Neely, who was wearing the translation device, would be able to talk to all of the participants at once.
"We've received this information from a source," Dr. Burke replied nodding at the President She remembered the briefing that General Landry gave her a few days ago when they were still planning this expedition. He told Dr. Burke about the dream Willow had of when she visited Kobol while she was Athena, and that there no DHD's and the Stargate was located inside a cave. Back in the present day, Dr. Burke told Roslin and the other Colonials that their source was very reliable. "But I'm afraid that we can't reveal this source, all we know is that she has been on Kobol fairly recently by accident. She told us everything that we've told you."
Roslin knew there was something else that she, and the other Colonials, were not being told. She turned to Commander Adama, Vice-President Hunt, and then to Dr. Burke once again before asking if they could speak in private.
"Certainly," replied Dr. Burke before giving them a smile. She then told Riley that she'll be right back, before leaving out of the tent with Roslin, Commander Adama, and the Vice-President. Once they were outside, the four of them walk towards one of the three Raptor's hat were parked in the nearby clearing.
"Dr. Burke," said Roslin in Colonial Standard once they had reached a Raptor. They were far away from the effects of the translation device, so their speech reverted to Colonial Standard to Dr. Burke's ears. They then looked around to make sure that they were alone before Roslin asked Dr. Burke how it was that this source knew that the planet she had been to was Kobol.
Dr. Burke knew that this question would have come up sooner or later, and it was something that she and the SGC had made contingency plans in case it was ever asked. Dr. Burke calmly told Roslin and the others that this source used her ship to scan the surface of the planet, and had sent the resultant pictures of ruins to the SGC. Dr. Burke told them that the archaeologists were planning to go to the planet in a few weeks' time, but at that time… they had no idea that they were looking at the surface of Kobol.
"When we sent copies of the pictures you took the last time you were on Kobol," said Dr. Burke looking at the President and Vice-President, "one of the archaeologists recognized the ruins. He compared it to the pictures that were sent by our source, and confirmed that the two images were a match. This source landed her ship to explore one of the sites, and stumbled on the Gate to the Stars in a cave on the side of a mountain. That's how we knew about the Gate to the Stars on Kobol."
"Where is she now?" asked Commander Adama as he watched the translator's body language.
"She's heading for another world," replied Dr. Burke, "she's a very private person, and only sends us information that she feels would be important, or f she believes that it would make us curious. And that would result in an exploratory mission."
"We would like to meet her one day," said the President as Dr. Burke nodded her head. Roslin still wasn't sure about the story that Dr. Burke had given them. She felt that there was something off, as if it was a practiced story that she was supposed to tell them if any questions were asked, 'or maybe I'm just being paranoid. These Earthers have been in contact with alien races for far longer than we have, and this source could very well be an alien that would like to remain private.'
Shaking her head and sighing, Roslin apologized for taking Dr. Burke away from the briefing.
"Oh, no," chuckled Dr. Burke waving her hands, "don't worry about it. Maybe we should head back? I'm sure there's more preparations that need to be made before leaving in an hour."
"After you, Dr. Burke," said Vice-President hunt as he motioned towards the tent. He and Dr. Burke then walked together towards the tent in the distance, while Roslin and Commander Adama were just a few steps behind them. Commander Adama looked at Roslin before leaning into her ear, while they were strolling at a leisurely pace towards the tent.
"She's hiding something, Laura," whispered the Commander while the Vide-President and Dr. Burke were talking to each other, "I can feel it."
"I suppose," replied Roslin in a whisper, "but the question is what? And if it poses a danger to the teams heading to Kobol."
"If it did, I don't believe they would be sending their own teams," whispered the Commander, "no, I have doubts, and there's something off about her body language, when she mentioned how she came about the information on Kobol."
"I've thought about that too," whispered Roslin, almost at the tent as the effects of the translation took over again, "but I feel that how she got the information does not pose a danger to our people. Do you agree, Bill?"
"I agree," replied the Commander in a whisper, "but we would need an answer some time, Laura."
"I agree on that," whispered the President as they walked back into the tent while the briefing was still on-going, "but we can wait on that question."
"Very well," said the Commander nodding his head. It was just then that he noticed a brown haired man rushing into the tent, looking at the people in the tent, and then jogged towards Riley, and whispered something in his ear. The Commander saw Riley's eyes open wide and then look at him, before Riley turned to look at the young man who brought him the message.
The young man nodded his head before jogging out of the tent.
The Commander then saw Riley striding towards him, before telling the older man that he needed to talk to him, and Helo.
"It's important, sir," said Riley as the Commander nodded his head.
Beta Site, 0915 hours.
For the past few weeks, Triana had been doing her best to learn English with the help of Sharon and her teacher. Triana was lagging behind the humanoid Number Three, D'Anna, and the other Final Five Cylons who were being taught English by another teacher; the five of them had settled down into their new normal lives. Triana knew that they missed being with the Colonial's after all, they were the Final Five's people, the only ones they knew, at least until they get their memories back. In the case of Triana, it was vital that she learn as fast as possible since she hadn't even begun programming a way to lift the block that was preventing the Final Five from accessing their true memories. She did look at some of the programming code the Earthers would use on one of their computers, but it was gibberish to her.
In meantime, Triana had asked for the use of a Colonial computer system, a request that that was still being considered by the Colonial leadership on New Kobol. She had sent out multiple requests, but so far all they had been saying was that they would think about it. It wasn't until a few days ago that a spare computer from one of the ships was approved for being sent over to the Beta Site.
It would be sent in a few more days after the Colonials make sure that there is nothing on the device, except for the operating system. It was something that Triana expected, and accepted. It would be a few more days before the computer came trhough the Stargate, and Triana was in her quesrters looking at pictures in a book of building on earth. She was abel to read a few of the words, leading to her getting an idea of what was being said, with the picture of a large columned building.
'No stars,' though Triana to herself as she looked at the picture of the Parthenon during the day time, 'we can't figure out the location of this Earth from a cloudy day. The Earthers know that.'
Triana sighed as she closed the book and placed it on the table when there was a knock on her door.
"Come in," said Triana as an uniformed male officer walked into her room and nodded her head. One part of her was hoping that it would be one of the Final Five Cylons who had knocked on her door, they hadn't mixed much since arriving at the Beta Site. Triana knew that they were settling down slowly, but they didn't mix with her at least not all of them. She had met and talked to Chief Tyrol and Tori, who were curious about their pasts on Furling Earth. Sam Anders, Colonel TIgh, and Ellen however were not interested, and were still in denial… even with all the evidence presented to them. However, the Final Five did not wish to be around D'Anna, who was one of the faces of those who murdered billions of people on twelve worlds. On the other hand, Triana wanted to be with the Final Five, her people, but she mostly avoided D'Anna due to what she did on the Colonies. However, D'Anna spent a lot of time with Sharon, as did Triana herself, and she tried to get to know the Furling better; but even so, Triana's skin crawled whenever she was near D'Anna.
Shaking her head as she stood up from her seat, Triana saw that the officer was motioning for her to follow him. Triana saw him bring his arms and, and then place them one on top of the other before swinging them gently, as if he was cradling a baby.
Triana's eyes went wide once she figured out what the officer was trying to tell her. Nodding her head, she followed the officer out of the door before they jogged down a few hallways. Leaving the building a few seconds later, they ran to another building where the infirmary was located. Running in through a pair of double doors and into the building, the both of them ran through the hallways until Triana saw Colonel Tigh and the others, including D'Anna, standing outside a pair of closed doors.
"I don't know why we're here," said the Colonel in Colonial Standard, with the translator on his collar translating his speech to English, "this is…."
"Colonel," said Chief Tyrol after nodding at Triana, and then looking at the balding man before him, "you know they repeated the tests on us again, we're Cylons. I.. I mean I don't know how old we are and, I mean we may have originally been these Furling people; we don't know. Which is why we need to find out, I know its going to take time… but Tori and I've already accepted who and what we are."
"And one of our own is about to give birth," said an excited Tori.
"Saul," said Triana as the Colonel glared at her, making the Furling stop talking. The door's opened and a doctor who had her face covered with a mask handed one to Triana and told her to come in, that Sharon was asking for her. Triana nodded her head before rushing inside the room where, with the doors swinging closed behind her, Triana smiled while jogging over to Sharon who was lying on the bed. Triana held the young humanoid Cylon's hand, while wiping the sweat of her brow with her other hand.
"I'm here," said Triana, the range of the translation device still covering them, "you're going to be alright."
"You came," smiled Sharon looking at the Furling woman, "Helo? Is.. is Helo coming?"
"Doctor?" asked Triana as she turned to look at the doctor, "is the father of her baby on the way?"
"He and his escort should have left New Kobol for the buffer planet," said the Doctor as she put down a phone right next to the double doors, "I just spoke to Colonel Pierce, that's what he told me."
The phone then rang again, and the doctor hurried to pick it up. She then turned to look at Triana and Sharon before she put the phone back down on its cradle.
"He's here," said the doctor as smiles grew on the faces of Triana and Sharon who started to breathe hard, saying that the baby was on the way.
Since receiving the message from Commander Adama about Sharon going into labour, Helo wasn't able to think about anything else. All he did was ask for permission to leave New Kobol to be with Sharon when she gave birth to their daughter. There was no denying that request from the Commander, he had a son and he lost one in an accident years ago, and he had been away from his own family when they still lived in Caprica.
There were many things that the Commander regretted, most of all was that he didn't spend as much time with his own children as he should have.
"Go," was the only thing he said while Roslin and the Vice-President, and Dr. Burke, as well congratulated him before he went off running with Riley to the Stargate. The two men just ran silently towards the DHD, to which Riley then dialled the number of the buffer planet. He motioned towards Helo, after the wormhole activated, to hold on while he radioed the people on the other side. Once they were given clearance, Riley rushed through the wormhole with Helo, and then ran out the other side as the Stargate disengaged. As the both of them headed down the stairs of the Stargate pedestal, Riley ordered on of the officers to dial the Stargate to the Beta Site.
Helo was pacing impatiently while the DHD was being dialled. He put his hands over his head as he looked at the clear blue sky, and then the trees, and pillars of rising smoke from a village he could see in the distance. It was then that he caught a whiff of cooked meat wafting through the air just as the Stargate activated. He heard Riley speaking in the man's strange language, which he didn't understand since there were no translation devices present, and turned to face him. Helo saw Riley nodding his head before motioning to the Colonial officer that he needed to head through the Stargate. Helo motioned towards Riley, trying to ask through sign language if the Earther was going to the Beta Site with him.
Riley shook his head.
Riley knew that there was someone on the other side waiting to take Helo straight to the infirmary, and he didn't have a way to convey that information to Helo. The best he could do was gently hold on to the Colonial Officer's shoulder, and then motion towards the event horizon of the wormhole.
And then Riley smiled and nodded his head.
Helo then nodded his head, unsure about if there would be someone on the other side to help him, before he ran through the wormhole and found himself in a building. He saw an officer waving at him, and then motioning the Colonial officer to follow him. Nodding his head as the Stargate disengaged, Helo ran with the officer out of the Gateroom, and through a few hallways. Helo didn't see much of what was going on in the rooms he ran past, but it didn't matter to him.
Not now, at least.
He was going to be a father, and the mother of his child was waiting.
The Earthers stood to one side as Helo and the officer ran through the hallways, and then out into the open. They headed towards the infirmary, and then ran in through the double doors. A few more hallways later, Helo was standing in front of Colonel Tigh and the others.
"Colonel," said Helo nodding his head.
"Captain," replied the Colonel while a curt nod while Chief Tyrol slapped in hand on Helo's shoulder, and squeezed while offering his congratulations.
"Thanks, Chief," said Helo as the double doors swung open and the same doctor as earlier peeked her head out into the hallway, and then pointed at Helo.
"Are you Captain Karl Agathon?" asked the doctor as Helo nodded his head.
"Come with me," said the Doctor as she opened the door, and the Final Five, and D'Anna, flinched when they heard Sharon scream. Once Helo as at the door, the doctor handed the Colonial officer a mask, and told him to put in on. Helo did as he was told before entering the infirmary, and then running towards Sharon with the doors swinging closed behind him.
"Sharon," he whispered as he reached for and grabbed her hand. Sharon looked to her left with tear stained eyes before she gave out a hearty laugh, which soon gave way to a loud scream as she tightened her hold on both Triana and Helo's hands.
"You came," breathed Sharon after her scream while Triana handed some ice chips to Helo, and told him to place some in Sharon's mouth so that she doesn't get dehydrated. Helo nodded his head at Triana before taking the cup and releasing Sharon's hand. He put some of the chips in her mouth before putting the cup on a table, and then grabbing her hand again. Helo then leaned forward and said that he loved her before kissing Sharon's forehead.
"Thank you," whispered Helo at Triana, "all her messages to me said that you've been with her every step of the way."
"It was my pleasure," replied Triana nodding her head.
It would be an hour later that a panting Sharon lay on her bed with Helo holding tight to her hand. They both looked at the doctor, her nurse, and Triana working on a still body on a corner. Helo and Sharon looked at each other in worry, and then at the three people who were hovering over the baby. Sharon, a lump forming n her throat at not hearing the sound of the baby crying, was about to say something when the most beautiful sound erupted from the table.
A sound that made Helo and Sharon cry tears of joy while Triana looked back at the both of them with a toothy grin on her face.
Their baby was crying.
TBC.