Battlestar Galactica
Past, Present, Future
Chapter 19
Decisions
The night sky was brightly lit by the glow of fireworks as the people of Scorpius celebrated the arrival of the survivors from the Colonies. Everywhere one looked could be found people dancing and singing as they welcomed the people of the Galactican fleet. The mood was one of purest happiness and joy.
In the Great Hall of the Royal Palace, that mood was echoed as the cream of Scorpion society crowded about the officers and dignitaries of the Galactican fleet. In attendance that night were President Tigh and all the members of the Council of the Twelve, most of the senior Warrior staff of the fleet and numerous other members of the civilian government. Most were enjoying the festivities to their fullest, all that is but a small group that did not seem so jovial.
President Tigh, Apollo, Boomer, Sheba and Boxey seemed a bit more reserved then those around them in their celebrations. They had been shown to a table at the front of the room when they arrived, right next to the King's table, being told that King Leonitus and his staff would be along shortly and that they were to make themselves comfortable and enjoy the celebration. They took their seats and with the exception of Starbuck, who had with Cassiopeia joined the festivities, kept to themselves for the most part, aside from the occasional well wisher that would wander over to greet them or the serving staff that brought them refreshments, otherwise they spoke in hushed tones amongst themselves.
"Their putting on quite the party, wouldn't you say Apollo?" Tigh remarked as he carefully surveyed the crowd.
"Yes sir. They certainly are." Apollo remarked, as he caught a glimpse of Starbuck and Cassiopeia moving thru the crowd. He shook his head slightly watching his friend. "It looks as if our people are enjoying themselves as well!"
Tigh followed the direction of Apollo's stare and saw Starbuck as well.
"Starbuck always was one for parties." He said.
Apollo chuckled at this and continued to scan the room. Then he leaned over to Tigh and asked, "Have you made any decision on whether or not we should tell them how to get back to the Colonies sir?"
Tigh looked at Apollo with a sideways glance and sighed heavily.
"Not as yet Apollo. I find myself going around in circles over the issue." He began. "On one hand, I feel as if we'd be sending these people to their deaths if we were to tell them the way back to the Colonies, and yet, I also believe that they should have the right to make their own decision on the matter. I just don't know what the right answer is!"
Apollo nodded his head, knowing how his friend and mentor felt. He too was having the same dilemma as it would eventually be his decision to give them the information since the fleet was still technically under marshal law. He knew he could always claim that the information was of a sensitive and vital military nature, and therefore overturn any vote by the Council of the Twelve, but he was having the same problem as President Tigh.
Did he have the right to keep these people from attempting a return to the Colonies?
Apollo was pondering this when, at the far end of the room, an officer entered and announced that the King had just arrived. Hearing this, the Scorpion people all moved as one into several columns on either side of the room, leaving a walkway down the center of the room that led to the large table at the head of the room. The Galactican Warrior contingent fell into ranks similar to those of their Scorpion counterparts while the civilians from the fleet did there best to emulate the ranks of Warriors. Several members of the Council of the Twelve hurriedly made their way back to their seats at the table adjacent to that of the King and his retinue.
After only a few moments, the officer that had announced the Kings arrival reentered the room and in a strong and clear voice announced, "Warriors of Scorpius, Sires and Siresses of the Court, honored guests of the Galactican Fleet. I present to you, his royal majesty, King Leonitus of Scorpius!"
From where Apollo stood, he had a clear view of the huge doorway that stood open at the far end of the room. Just then, Leonitus came into view, dressed in what Apollo recognized as the full dress uniform of a Scorpion Warrior-King, looking every bit as impressive as one would expect. He was being escorted by what Apollo believed was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She was perhaps twenty five yahren old with long, black lustrous hair and eyes of such a deep, dark blue, they could have been mistaken for Virgonian Sky stones. Her skin was smooth and without a single imperfection. She wore a brilliantly designed red, black and gold gown that accentuated every curve of her form. She was as close to a goddess as Apollo could imagine.
The pair glided more then walked toward the front dais followed by several of the officers and officials they had meet earlier that day, each escorted by a woman of most uncommon beauty and grace. As they passed down the center walkway, those standing to either side bowed deeply. Apollo was happy to see that when the King and his lady passed his Warriors, they too bowed, led by none other then Starbuck. He made a mental note to thank his friend for seeing to their Warriors.
As the King approached the dais, the members of the Council of the Twelve bowed, thou not as grandiose as the others. Apollo frowned at this. As Leonitus and his lady made their way to the head of their table, he cast a glance at Apollo and smiled. Apollo was still bowed and did not see this. Then Leonitus turned to the assembled crowd and motioned for them to take their seats. Once everyone was seated, Leonitus spoke.
"I bid you greetings on this most auspicious occasion for we are here this night to welcome these, our brothers of Kobol from the twelve colonies of man."
A thunderous applauds began and lasted nearly a centon before Leonitus quieted the people down. Then he continued.
"For nearly four hundred yahren our people have been stranded here on this planet, on our own in this once very hostile expanse of space, with no friends or allies, no one to turn to for help and no hope of ever returning to our homeworlds."
There was a low murmur amongst the crowd as they heard this statement.
"Our ancestors tried numerous times to find the way back to the Colonies, but were unsuccessful, costing them dozens of ships and thousands of lives."
Many in the crowd nodded their heads at this, knowing the failures of the past to find the way back to the Colonies.
"Many of our people thought that the Lords of Kobol had forsaken us! That we had fallen from grace and were being punished, and only when we had been properly humbled could we return to the homeworlds of our forefathers. And so our ancestors made the decision to make this world their home and built here the foundation of what we now have, the planet Scorpius!"
The crowd came to their feet and cheered this. Leonitus raised his hands to try and quiet his people. When they had quieted down and retaken their seats he continued.
"Over the past centuries, our people have made a good life here in this region of space. We've found new friends and allies, discovered new technologies, explored a multitude of solar systems and have established ourselves as the primary peace keepers of this region of the galaxy."
Once again the crowd applauded. Leonitus continued.
"But always … always did our ancestors pray that someday, they would be able to return to the home planets. That they would find some clue to lead them back to where they came. Always did they hope to return to Scorpia. But always, it seemed that the Lords of Kobol refused to show us the way, denying us the one clue we needed until we had truly been humbled and repentant of our arrogance. If this be the case, then our time of repentance it seems has come to an end for on this day, for the sons of Kobol have been reunited, and never again shall we be separated."
Again the hall erupted in applauds and cheers, this time lasting over a centon. Then Leonitus continued.
"On this night, we give thanks to the Lords of Kobol for guiding our brothers here to us in spite of the tremendous tragedies that have befallen them and the homeworlds. We also give thanks to our brothers from the Colonies for returning to us those sacred items of our "Chains of Life" that we believed were lost to us forever so many yahren ago."
A third round of applauds followed this statement. Leonitus continued.
"And so my friends, I say to you, go forth and greet our brothers and make them welcome. To those of the Galactican fleet, I say this, what is ours, is yours. You need but ask. That being said, I bid you all to enjoy the festivities."
With that the crowd roared its approval with cheers of joy as all there began the celebration anew. Leonitus turned to the young woman seated at his left and said something, then he walked over to where Apollo and the others sat. As he approached, they all rose from their seats and bowed.
"Please, please, sit, sit." Leonitus said, waving for them all to retake their seats. "I have come to personally thank you for coming here this night. It is a great honor for us to have you here."
"The honor Lord King is ours!" Tigh said with a bow of the head. "That was a nice speech you gave."
Leonitus chuckled a bit and said, "My people may disagree with you President Tigh. Unlike my father who was a great orator, I am not such a grand speaker."
"Making speeches is something I too have some difficulty with." Tigh told him. "I spent most of my life as a Warrior, not a bureautition, so I have little tongue for speech making."
Leonitus nodded his head, understanding exactly what Tigh was speaking of.
"So why did you give it up?" Leonitus asked, "Being a Warrior I mean? Are not your Warriors allowed to be members of your ruling council?"
Tigh and Apollo exchanged glances before he answered.
"As a matter of fact, Warriors areallowed on the Council of the Twelve, but each member of the council is elected to their post by a ballot of their tribe's members. In most cases, Warriors do not take the time to campaign for a seat on the council."
"Ah, I see! But what of you?" Leonitus asked. "Why did you give up being a Warrior? Certainly you could have retained your Warriors commission and be President of your council?"
"I suppose I could have, but that was not the wish of the man who gave me the Presidency." Tigh told him.
"Someone gave you the Presidency? Leonitus asked, somewhat confused. "But you just said the members of your council were elected?"
"Yes Lord King, they are, but ….." Tigh began to explain, but was interrupted by Leonitus.
"Please, call me Leonitus! At least while we are here, speaking not as a King and a President, but as ordinary men and Warriors. Let us dispense with all the fancy titles."
Tigh and Apollo exchanged looks again and both men nodded in agreement.
"As you wish …… Leonitus." Tigh said.
"Good, now please continue. You were telling me about how you became President of your council."
"Yes, well ….. it all started about nineteen yahren ago when the President of the council, Commander Adama was killed." Tigh started, casting a glance to judge Apollo's reaction to the retailing of the story of his fathers' death. Apollo's face was as emotionless as stone for a moment, then he simply nodded his accent for Tigh to continue.
"He was severely wounded when the planet we had colonized was attacked by the Cylons. Adama was on his death bed when he turned over control of the council to me, telling me that rebuilding our government was going to be a full time job unto itself." Tigh said with a sad tone. "He was not exaggerating. Trying to keep the surviving members of the council from starting a civil war and seeing to the needs of our people after having just gone thru yet another devastating attack on their homeworld, it was almost too much. It was then I decided I would have to resign my commission and dedicate myself to getting our government back on an even keel. It took a lot of hard work and sacrifice over the better part of two yahren, but we did it."
Leonitus shook his head slowly as he thought about what it must have been like during that time. Having to endure the horror of facing annihilation not once, but twice, then the uncertain future of having to move your entire civilization back onto ships and begin again to search for a tribe of man that may very well not even exist. Leonitus marveled at the resilience of these people.
"Tell me Tigh, if you could, would you try and settle your people again?" Leonitus asked.
Tigh glanced at Apollo for a moment, then turned to Leonitus.
"I suppose I would if we were able to find a planet that was far enough away from the Cylons, why?"
Leonitus smiled at him.
"How would you feel about staying here….. on Scorpius?" Leonitus offered. "It's certainly far enough away from the Cylons!"
Everyone at the table turned to Leonitus when they heard what he had said. Tigh and Apollo looked at each other with somewhat less then astonished expressions.
"You would allow our people to live here on your planet?" Tigh said. "That's most generous of you sir. I'm sure our people would love nothing better then to settle down here. But what would your people say? Wouldn't they be opposed to having all of these ….."outsiders" suddenly amongst them?"
"Not at all my friend." Leonitus assured him. "I assure you, my people would welcome your people with open arms."
"I see!" Tigh said as he looked at Apollo, who had remained silent while the two leaders talked.
"What do think Apollo? Do you think our people would like to settle down?"
Apollo's gaze went from Tigh to Leonitus and back.
"I believe they would jump at the opportunity to move off the ships of the fleet and onto solid ground again." Apollo started, then he looked Leonitus in the eye. "But tell me sir, what is it you want in exchange for allowing our people to settle here?"
This statement caught everyone at the table by surprise. All that is except for Tigh and Boomer.
"Apollo! What in the name of all the Lords would make you ask such a thing?" Sheba admonished Apollo.
Leonitus face became a mask of both anger and confusion. He looked from Apollo to Tigh and back as if expecting one of them to explain what Apollo had just said. Then the slightest hint of a smile began to show at the corner of his mouth. Apollo knew he had guessed right.
"You are shrewd Commander! Very shrewd indeed. I commend you." Leonitus said with a slight bow of his head.
Apollo returned the nod and said, "So Lord King, what is it that you would want from us? Or should I take a guess?"
Leonitus's smile grew slightly larger as he motioned to Apollo to continue.
Apollo too began to smile as he leaned forward.
"You want us to give you the navigational information back to the Colonies."
Leonitus smile came out in full bloom as he leaned back in his seat.
"You are a most brilliant man Apollo! I salute you! You would be correct Commander. But in truth, you are only half right in your assumption." Leonitus told him. "You are correct about our wanting the navigational information to the Colonies, but we would not hold you and your people hostage to get it. The offer to you and your people to live here on Scorpius has no price attached. Whether you give us the information or not, your people are welcome here."
Apollo nodded his head. He felt like such a "Pataka"!
"My apologize to you Lord King. I didn't mean to offend ……." Apollo began before being waved off by Leonitus.
"No apologize are necessary Commander. I like a man that is not afraid to speak his mind." Leonitus told him. "Now that we have that all out in the open, let me ask you, will you share with us the navigational information to the Colonies."
Tigh and Apollo exchanged looks again, then Tigh spoke.
"Before we answer that, I have to ask, what would you do with that information?"
"A fair question!" Leonitus said, nodding his head. "The fact of the matter is Tigh that I intend to take my people back to the Colonies!"
This brought a murmuring of voices from all those at the table. Tigh leaned forward and said to him, "You do realize that the Colonies are in Cylon hands!"
"Yes, I am aware of that fact." Leonitus said almost matter-a-factly. "But I plan on changing that!" he added with a sly grin.
"With all due respect sir ….." Apollo interjected. "it would take a fleet twice the size of the one you have here to retake the Colonies. Even if you could somehow force the Cylon's out, you couldn't hope to hold the Colonies for very long. The Cylons would simply bring in reinforcements from other parts of their empire and crush you."
"They would be more then welcome to try Commander, but they would regret the trying." Leonitus said with a sudden gleam in his eye. "And as far as the size of our fleet, what you've seen here in orbit of Scorpius is but a portion of our fleet. A good portion of our fleet is out on patrol while the rest are distributed throughout the system at our various bases. We have at the present over two thousand war ships in our fleet and trice that of support vessels!"
Tigh and Apollo exchanged surprised looks. They had not realized how large a fleet the Scorpions had!
"Those are impressive numbers Leonitus," Tigh said. "But the Cylons had more then that many ships when we left the Colonies twenty five yarhen ago, there's no telling how many they have now. I still think it would be a mistake to go back to the Colonies. I just can't see you being able to take back the Colonies!"
"You may well be right my friend." Leonitus said somberly. "But I tell you here and now …… that if we are able to retake the homeworlds of our ancestors, we will never give them up again. This I swear by all the Lords of Kobol!"
"Here, here my Lord King! Well said! Well said!" a loud, boisterous voice boomed from the floor near the dais. All eyes turn to the man who had approached the table unannounced. He was a young man, no more then thirty yahren of age, and yet he wore the uniform and insignia of a Scorpion Commander.
"Welcome home Commander Polinikes. You have been away far too long." Leonitus said to the newcomer.
"Agreed Lord King, it has been a long time, but one must always put duty ahead of personal wants. It has always been the way of our people, has it not?" Polinikes said before turning his attention to the others at the table. "And who do we have here my Lord?"
"These people are from the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, Polinikes. They have come here to escape the Cylons after the fall of the Colonies."
Polinikes looked at Leonitus with a bit of a shocked look on his face, then he looked at Apollo.
"The Colonies have fallen! How could this be?"
"Our fleet was ambushed while we were on our way to a peace conference." Apollo told him. "The Cylons wiped out our entire fleet except for the Battlestar Galactica and then they attacked and destroyed our homeworlds."
Polinikes shook his head in disgust and disbelief.
"A peace conference? With the Cylons? Tell me Commander, who was the idiot that fell for that piece of stupidity?"
Apollo was a little taken aback at the brash young Commanders statement, but he couldn't really argue with it. He too had believed that the "peace conference" was a ruse to lure the fleet into a trap, as did his father. But they had been overruled by the council.
"The President of the Council of the Twelve, President Adar ordered the fleet to meet with the Cylons." Apollo said.
Polinikes laughed loudly at this and turned to the growing crowd.
"Adar, that's an Aquarian name! Don't tell me that the leadership of the Colonies was left in the hands of an Aquarian? Aquarians are peace loving cowards! How could anyone have expected to win a war with one of them in command?"
Before any of the senior officers from the Galactica could respond, a massive young Warrior of obvious Aquarian heritage stepped from the crowd.
"Maybe those Aquarians you've had dealings with were, as you put it, "peace loving cowards", but I can assure you Commander, I am no peace lover or a coward!"
Polinikes turned slowly to face the large young Warrior that had spoken, the smug smile on his face never fading. He looked the man up and down, as if sizing him up for a possible confrontation, then laughed again.
"Perhaps you're not my young friend. You might even be considered courageous! But I still say that on a whole, the Aquarian people are a spineless, gutless, cowardly group of "snitrads", and should never be allowed to wear the uniform of a Warrior!"
The Young man took a step toward Polinikes, his massive hands balled up into fists when Leonitus stood up and angrily called a halt to the exchange.
"Enough! Polinikes, from this day forward you will keep your personal comments about our brother tribes to yourself. There is no place for that kind of felgercarb in this hall and it is beneath your station as a Commander to make such statements in public. Do you understand me Polinikes?"
Polinikes bowed deeply to Leonitus and said, "My apologize Lord King. I meant no harm."
As Polinikes straightened up, he cast an evil smile toward the young Aquarian. Then he asked to be excused so that he could "clean himself up and put on a proper uniform". Leonitus waved him away and sat back down with the Galactica's officers. Polinikes strutted slowly down the steps, walking very close to the Aquarian Warrior, his smile never fading and winked at him as he passed. This enraged the Aquarian even more, but he held himself in check, but only with the greatest effort. Polinikes kept walking, never looking back and threw back the comment, "It's just as I said, cowards!"
Starbuck, Jolly and Giles grabbed hold of the Aquarian before he could follow after the loud mouthed Scorpion Commander.
Leonitus was furious! He cast a quick glance at Commander Dieanicas, who only nodded and left the great hall with several other officers in tow. Leonitus watched them march thru the crowd until they disappeared thru the door at the far end of the hall, then he sat down at the table once more.
"I must apologize for Commander Polinikes. He is without a doubt the most obnoxious, arrogant, self centered, pathetic excuse for an officer in the entire Scorpion military." Leonitus told them. "If it weren't for the fact he is part of one of the most powerful families on Scorpius and one of the finest Warriors we have, I'd have thrown him out of the service yarhen ago."
"No apologize are necessary sir!" Tigh said. "Your Commander Polinikes has obviously not been around too many people outside of his Scorpion brethren. He'll need time to adjust to having members of the other eleven tribes around."
"Ah, if it were only that simply my friend!" Leonitus stated somewhat regretfully. "You see, we do have members from the other tribes here. Not so many as I'm sure you have in your fleet, but there is a sizeable number of them here on Scorpius as well as our other planets in this system. The simply fact of the matter is, Polinikes is a bigot! He believes that those of Scorpion blood are inherently better then all of the other tribes and that the Scorpion people should rule over the other tribes."
The others at the table shook their heads in disbelief. They couldn't believe that such outdated thoughts could still exist amongst human beings.
"Oh, that's not all." Leonitus continued. "Polinikes also believes that since he comes from one of our oldest and most powerful families, he is convinced that he will be the next king of the Scorpion people since I have no male heir to take my place once I die."
"The Galactican officers were flabbergasted! The arrogance of this Polinikes seemed to have no bounds. Apollo wondered how Leonitus could deal with such a man.
"Would he be your successor to the throne sir? Apollo asked.
"He very well could be!" Leonitus said sadly. "According to Scorpion law, a King must always sit upon the throne of Scorpia. We have taken that same law as our own here on Scorpius. Since I do not have a male heir, only a daughter, then the next male in the line of succession would be the eldest male of the next most powerful family."
"And that would be Polinikes?" Tigh said, completing the thought.
"That would be Polinikes!" Leonitus said, nodding his head.
"Is there some way to keep him from gaining the throne?" Starbuck asked, having joined the conversation not long ago.
"Oh yes, there are several ways. I could have a male child born of a pure blood Scorpion wife, but as I am not sealed at this time and have no plans of becoming so in the near future, that is not a likely prospect."
"What other ways are there?" Apollo asked.
"My daughter would have to marry." Leonitus said.
"Your daughter?" Starbuck asked.
"Yes Commander, my daughter Androkallosia." Leonitus said, indicating the beautiful young women he had entered with. "She is the only child my wife and I had. If only she were a man, she would be a great King!"
"But as a woman, she can not rule?" Tigh asked.
"Yes my friend, our laws prohibit a woman from ruling." Leonitus said. "Thou I know that she could rule as well as any man that has ever sat upon the throne of Scorpia. She is wise beyond her yahren and there are few that can match her prowess as a Warrior."
"She's a Warrior?" Boxey blurted out before he realized he had said it aloud.
"Of course Captain, all of our people are Warriors, even our women." Leonitus said incredulously to the junior officer.
"I didn't mean it like that sir!" Boxey tried to explain. "I only meant that she doesn't look like a Warrior dressed like that."
"That is one of the nicest compliments I've ever heard" a female voice said from behind them.
Everyone turned to see that the king's daughter, Androkallosia, was standing there listening to the conversation.
Boxey nearly leaped from his seat as the other men at the table rose from their seats and bowed as the beautiful young lady stepped up behind her father.
"Ah, so you finally decided to join your dear old father and greet our visitors!" Leonitus asked jokingly of his daughter.
"But of course father. Even if it was not required of me to greet our guests, I would love nothing better then to meet with our new found friends." Androkallosia jested, her eyes locking onto Boxy.
"My friends, may I present to you the greatest treasure on all Scorpius…… my daughter Androkallosia." Leonitus announced to the Galactican officers. Leonitus introduced each of them to his daughter and she greeted each with a very regal bow and curtsy. When she was introduced to Boxey, their eyes seemed to lock onto one another for an extended period before she moved on to the next person.
This exchange did not go unobserved by either Apollo or Sheba.
Once the introductions were finished, Leonitus and his daughter sat down and he began conversing with the Galactica officers again. Androkallosia however sat quietly, her attention focused on Boxey. Boxey noticed the beautiful young princess looking at him and smiled nervously at her.
"Anyway my friends, it would seem that Polinikes could very well succeed me as king." Leonitus went on. "What makes it even more likely is that he has his eyes set on sealing with Androkallosia!"
This statement broke the princess's fixation on Boxey and made her say, "I'd sooner be sealed to a daggit then that arrogant fo-tare'!"
"Andi!" Leonitus exclaimed sternly. "You know it is not proper for you to say such a thing about Polinikes or to use that sort of language!" Leonitus scolded her before adding, "Even if it is true."
This brought some confused looks from the Galactican officers and a few chuckles from the Scorpion officers seated at the table.
"Excuse me, but what was that word you used? I've never heard it before." Sheba asked.
"Fo-tare' is not a word that is used in ….. "polite" conversation Colonel." Leonitus explained. "It refers to a certain part of the male anatomy! In this context, it is a most unflattering descriptive term."
Sheba's face reddened somewhat as she realized what Leonitus was referring to. Then with as much composure as she could muster she replied, "I don't know your Commander Polinikes, but if what I just witnessed is any indication of what he is like, I'd say Princess Androkallosia was being quite subdued in her choice of words!"
This brought gales of laughter from the Scorpion officers and a rather embarrassed look from Apollo.
When he could speak without laughing, Leonitus said to Sheba, "You and my daughter are truly kindred spirits Colonel." Then to Apollo he said, "Commander, I both envy and pity you, being sealed to such a firebrand as this lovely lady must be quite an experience."
Apollo cast a quick glance at Sheba then playfully quipped, "You have no idea!"
This brought even more laughter from the ever growing group that sat or stood around Leonitus and the Galactica's people.
Sheba poked Apollo playfully in the ribs which brought another round of laughter.
After a few moments, Leonitus raised a hand to silence the people around them and asked that they excuse he and his staff along with President Tigh, Apollo and his staff. Those not invited to stay bowed and departed without saying another word leaving the two groups of leaders alone at the front of the great hall.
As Boxey got up to leave the table, Androkallosia took him by the arm and said, "Captain, please come and sit with me while they have their little "chat". I wish to know all there is of your fleet and the people from the Colonies."
The senior officers of both groups laughed as Boxey was led away by the beautiful young women. When the two young people disappeared into the crowd, Leonitus slid his chair closer to Tigh and Apollo and began speaking in a tone that only those few left at their table could hear.
"My friends, I know the Colonies are held by the Cylons, and I know that it is most likely that if we were to attempt to retake them, we will perish. But I must tell you, it has always been the dream of my people to return to the Colonies, to return to Scorpia and help defeat the dreaded Cylons. It is a dream that, until your arrival had become mostly smoke and mirrors to us. But now, the dream has become a reality! It has become more then a phantom hope to us. All we require now is the knowledge of how to get back to the Colonies and our lives will finally be truly fulfilled."
"You might think it madness to try and retake the Colonies. Perhaps you're right! But I tell you now, even if it means certain death, my people would rather die in battle against the enemy of our forefathers, amongst the stars of their birth, then to stay here on this alien world, safe and sound, where the worst we face is the occasional Gabodian pirate. Four generations of our people have been born and died here on Scorpius, never knowing the sweet site of the homeworlds except from old holo-images. With your help, we won't have to let this generation follow in those footsteps. This is why I ask you once again, give us the navigational information to the Colonies. Let us die as Warriors fighting the enemy of our forefathers!"
Tigh stared at Leonitus for a very long time, not saying a word, nor giving any indication of his thoughts. Then, after what seemed like a centar, Tigh turned to Apollo, who was sitting next to President Tigh with a look of anticipation and said, "Apollo, if you have no objections, I see no reason not to give King Leonitus copies of all the navigational data we have gathered over the past twenty five yahren. Also we should include all information regarding planets where they will find provisions and fuel, all alien cultures we've encountered and their protocols and any other information that he will need to lead his people back to the Colonies."
Apollo and Tigh locked eyes for a moment and thou not a word was uttered, each was able to convey their thoughts to the other. After only a couple of microns, Apollo slowly nodded his head and said, "I'll have the information brought to you first thing tomorrow morning sir!"
The expression that came to Leonitus's face was one of pure and total joy! He nearly leaped from his seat and clasped Tigh's arm in the traditional Warriors handshake.
"Thank you my friend, thank you! You can't even begin to imagine what you have just done for me and my people." Leonitus gushed. Then he grabbed Apollo's arm in the same Warriors handshake.
"What is going on here?" Came a voice from behind Tigh and Leonitus. The group turned to find several members of the Galactica's Council of the Twelve standing there looking somewhat confused.
Tigh stepped over to where the council members stood and said to them, "We've been discussing the matter of the Galactica's navigational data and we've decided to give King Leonitus all of our information on how to find the way back to the Colonies."
The council members all turned as pale as their robes at what Tigh had just told them. It took a few microns before one of them was able to regain his voice.
"Oh have you now!" Sire Reynard, the council representative from Taurus said haughtily. "Don't you think this should have been put before the council before you and these "Warriors" took it upon yourselves to hand over information that could put our people in eminent danger? You did tell them that the Colonies are now under Cylon control and that it would be suicide to return there, didn't you "Mr. President?""
"Sire Reynard, King Leonitus is fully aware of the current situation in the Colonies and is fully cognoscente of the possible ramifications of returning there!" Tigh said with a slightly angry tone. He did not appreciate being spoken to like a first yahren cadet by a two cubit bureautition. "I suppose we could withhold this information from King Leonitus under the guise of "military secrecy" or because it would be "in his people's best interest", or our best interest, or any number of other trumped up reasons, but the truth of the matter is that it is not within our rights to dictate to Leonitus or his people what they can or can't do."
"But if they return to the Colonies, they will all be killed!" Reynard protested. "Or worse, what if they are captured? They might tell the Cylons where we are! Then they would come here and destroy us!"
This statement brought forth a number of angry looks from the Scorpion officers that had been listening. Leonitus was about to say something to the overly pretentious council member when Tigh cut him off.
"Sire Reynard, It is quite possible that they could die upon returning to the Colonies! It is also possible that some of them could be captured! But I do not believe for a micron that any of these people would give away the location of our fleet or this star system, no matter what the Cylons did to them."
"And how can you be so sure they wouldn't?" Reynard said angrily, ignoring the venomous stares from the Scorpion Warriors around him.
"Quite simple Sire Reynard!" Tigh said in a tone that held a great deal of menace. "They're Scorpions!"
This sparked several of the Scorpion Warriors to applaud.
Then to all the members of the council he said, "Let me make this perfectly clear for all of you, it is not our place to decide what these people can or can not do! If King Leonitus wishes to return to the Colonies with his people, then that is his and their right. If King Leonitus requests the Galactica's navigational information we have for the Colonies, then we will make it available to him. The decision has already been made and that is the end of it! Do you understand?"
Reynard and the other council members were aghast at the tone of Tigh's voice and his harsh attitude toward them. Reynard and the other council members turned and began walking away, debating feverishly about their next course of action when Reynard spun back to face Tigh and the others, shouting for all to hear, "This is not the end of this matter Mister President! Oh no, this is only the beginning! I am calling for an emergency session of the council immediately and we will see if you give anything to these people!"
Saying that, Reynard turned and stormed out of the great hall with several other members of the council in tow. People all over the hall stared after him as he departed and then turned their gaze upon the leaders of the two groups. Leonitus stepped forward and placed a hand on Tigh's shoulder.
"This man, Reynard, does he have some reason why you should not share your information with us?"
"I don't know!" Tigh said. "Reynard has been a thorn in my side since he was elected to the council. He thinks everything the fleet does should be approved by the council and that everything in the fleet should fall under the council's control. Like most bureautition's, he has his own agenda and when something unexpected happens that could jeopardize his plans or takes away some measure of control from him, he starts making threats and accusations."
"This Reynard fellow, he will make trouble for you, won't he?" Leonitus asked.
Tigh turned to Leonitus with a half smile on his face and said, "He'll try, but he really doesn't have a leg to stand on. Besides he can't call for an emergency session of the council, only the President can. Irregardless of what Reynard says, you'll have all the information you need tomorrow."
Leonitus slapped Tigh on the shoulder and gave him a big smile.
"Well my friend, look at it this way, if this Reynard does find a way to keep you from helping us, I can always have him executed!"
Tigh looked at Leonitus with an expression of horror on his face. This made Leonitus howl with laughter.
"I was only joking my friend!" Leonitus said, thou Tigh thought it were only half so.
"Come, let us return to the festivities. There will be plenty of time for us to discuss all this tomorrow!
And with that, they all returned to their table and finally began enjoying the party.
When the festivities finally ended on the planet and the revelers began making their way home, the Galactica's senior staff along with President Tigh and a few other Warriors that had missed the last shuttle boarded the Commanders shuttle for the return flight to the Galactica. Leonitus had offered them all quarters on the planet in one of the finest hostelries in all Scorpius, but they declined the offer saying they had to get back to the Galactica and make sure all was in order, especially after Reynard's threats. Leonitus half jokingly offered to have him executed again but Tigh only laughed and said he would deal with Reynard in a slightly less violent fashion.
The flight back to the Galactica was quiet for the most part, everyone having enjoyed the time spent with their Scorpion hosts. Apollo sat with Tigh to his right and Sheba, sleeping on his left. He leaned over to Tigh and asked quietly, "Do you think Reynard will cause any trouble sir?"
Tigh gazed at Apollo tiredly and said, "Oh, I'm sure he'll try and stir up some trouble, but he really doesn't have much recourse. Giving Leonitus the navigational information does not fall under the council's control. As a matter a fact, it doesn't even fall under my control, this falls under your control Apollo. After all, you are the fleet commander and we are still technically under marshal law."
Apollo looked at Tigh who had a slight smile on his face and realized that he was right! They were still under marshal law and any decision to share the Galactica's navigational information was his!
Apollo pulled his arm free of Sheba, who shifted in her seat to get comfortable, and made his way to the cockpit. There, he asked the copilot, Ensign Andes to hand him a comm. unit. Apollo placed the set on his head and plugged in to the shuttles comm. system.
"Apollo to Galactica, come in please."
There was a short delay before a female voice responded. "Galactica reads you sir."
"Audrey, its Apollo, I need you to download a copy of all the navigation and planetary survey data we have as it pertains to our journey from the Colonies to Scorpius. I need it encoded with a Priority Red level clearance code. Can you do that?"
"Sure, not a problem Commander." Replied Major Audrey, the command duty officer aboard the Galactica. "What should I do with the infodisk once I finish?"
"Hang onto it until I arrive and take possession of it personally. And under no circumstances are you to discuss what you're downloading with anyone. This is top secret!"
"Understood sir! It will take some time to get it all done, after all, that covers the last twenty five plus yahren." She told him.
"That's fine, just so long as you get everything and nobody finds out what you're doing." Apollo said, then he asked. "Have any of the members of the council returned to the Galactica yet?"
"Yes sir, there was a council shuttle that landed in Beta landing bay about two centars ago." she replied.
"I see, alright Audrey, my shuttle will be landing in about ten centons. Whatever you do, don't let any of them or their "Black shirts" know what you're doing, okay?"
"Yes sir, not a problem!" Audrey said.
"Thank you Major, I'll see you soon!" Apollo said and then returned the comm. set to the copilot. When he returned to his seat, he said to President Tigh, "Well Reynard and his cronies came aboard two centars ago."
"That means they've probably had enough time to get most of the council together and start working on their scheme." Tigh said with a tinge of anger. "Maybe I should have taken Leonitus up on his offer."
The look Apollo gave him made him chuckle a bit. "Don't worry Apollo, I was only kidding!" he said lightly. "It's just so frustrating having to deal with such self important people as Reynard! I don't know how your father did it, putting up with people like Reynard or Gellar, or worst of all, Sire Uri!"
Apollo laugh a bit, saying "Sire Uri! My father's greatest regret he once told me was voting for him when he ran for the council. I think at the end, there on New Genesis, he truly despised that man."
Tigh nodded his head slowly, saying, "Didn't we all! It was because of him that Adama was forced to settle our people on that planet. It was either that or risk a full scale mutiny."
The two sat quietly as the shuttle made its approach to the Galactica's Alpha landing bay. The pilot guided the shuttle into the bay and landed with the slightest thud. Then the shuttle taxied to the debarkation area were Tigh, Apollo and the rest of the officers aboard were met by a group of council security guards.
"President Tigh, Commander Apollo, I've been ordered to escort you both to the council chambers as soon as you returned." said the leader of the "Black Shirts", Captain Reese.
"And by who's orders do you presume to "escort" us Captain?" Tigh asked pointedly as the Warriors coming off the shuttle saw what was happening and began to fan out behind Tigh and Apollo.
"These orders come from Sire Reynard, acting chairman of the emergency session of the council." Reese replied nervously as he watched the Warriors moving toward his men's flanks. "If you'll come with us sir."
Tigh and Apollo exchanged a glance then Tigh asked, "And if we were to refuse to accompany you?"
Reese swallowed hard as he saw the Warriors on both sides of his men slowly move their hands to the laser pistols each of them wore. He realized that he was out gunned and surrounded, but he had a duty to perform and he was bound to do that duty, regardless of the circumstances.
"With all due respect Mr. President, my orders are to bring you and Commander Apollo to the council chambers." Reese said with as much courage as he could muster, "I would prefer that you came willingly, but I am authorized to bring you there under arrest and under arms if necessary!"
That statement was the last straw! Every Warrior that had come off the shuttle drew their lasers and leveled them at the startled black shirts. Starbuck was the first to speak.
"The President and the Commander aren't going anywhere with you Black Shirt! And I wouldn't let my hands drift too close to those lasers if I were you either. This thing touches off kinda lightly if you know what I mean!"
"Starbuck, that won't be necessary." Tigh said calmly, indicating with his hand that they should lower their weapons. "If Sire Reynard "requests" Apollo and me to attend his little daggit and equine show, then by all means, I think we should see what he has going on. Wouldn't you agree Apollo?"
Apollo looked Reese right in the eyes and said, "I wouldn't miss it for all the cubits in the fleet sir!" This made Reese even more nervous.
"Good, lead the way Captain!" Tigh said, indicating that he wanted Reese to go first. Reese nodded slightly and began walking toward the turbolift with his detachment of council security falling in around Tigh and Apollo, who were in turn surrounded closely by Starbuck, Boomer, Sheba, Bojay and Boxey with the remaining Warriors following a few metrons behind. When they reached the turbolifts, Reese seen that the Warriors had followed them. He turned and asked, "Where do you think you're going Starbuck?"
Starbuck walked up to Reese until he was almost nose to nose with Reese and said, "That's Commander Starbuck to you "Captain" and I and my friends here are going with the President and Commander Apollo."
"You can't do that Starb…. I mean Commander! Only council members and their designated assistants are allowed in the council chambers during an emergency session. That's the law!" Reese said defiantly.
"Ah, that may be so Reese, but you forget, the law also allows for the President and a Fleet Commander to be accompanied by their personal body guards." Starbuck said smugly. "And I believe that the President is allowed up to ten body guards while the Commander is allowed six! I am correct in this am I not?"
Reese took an exasperated breath and said, "Yes, you would be correct Commander."
"Yes and since it appears that we have just enough Warriors here to fulfill the required bodyguard for the President and the Commander, I think we might just tag along! What do you think sir?" Starbuck directed the last to Tigh. He and Apollo had been standing at the turbolift listening and laughing at the unfortunate council security Captain as Starbuck picked him apart, piece by piece. Tigh regained just enough composure to say, "Sure Commander."
Reese was furious, but there was nothing he could do to keep Starbuck and the rest of the Warriors from following them to the council chambers and he knew that as soon as they all walked in with all of them in tow, his career would most likely come to an end. Oh well, there was nothing he could do about it except complete his mission and hope for the best. He waved them all forward to join them in the turbolift and headed off to the council chambers.
Sire Reynard was sitting in the Presidents seat speaking with one of the other council members when President Tigh and the others arrived. He cast a casual glance toward the large group of Warriors entering the council chambers and came up out of his seat as if the chair had been electrified.
"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" Reynard yelled as the Warriors began to take positions around the room's perimeter. "What are all of these Warriors doing here? This chamber is off limits to all but the council and those people approved by the council to enter here!"
Tigh strode up to the front of the room with Apollo, Starbuck, Boomer and Sheba right behind him. He stopped in front of Reynard with a look on his face that could have frozen a sun.
"What is all this Tigh?" Reynard shouted at the President, showing none of the respect or courtesy the President should be accorded. "Why have you brought all these "Warriors" into this chamber? How can you so blatantly disregarded the rules regarding emergency sessions of the council like this? I'll have everyone one of you …."
"Oh shut up!" Tigh yelled at the enraged council member, causing Reynard to take a quick step backwards in fright, which in turn caused him to trip over the Presidents chair and go crashing to the floor. Tigh advanced on the prone bureautition and angrily continued.
"You have some nerve talking to me about "rules" when I enter the council chambers and find you sitting in the Presidential seat! You do realize that it is against the bylaws of the council for anyone but the President of the Council of the Twelve to sit there and that I could have you arrested!"
Reynard retreated from the fury of Tigh's tongue lashing, crawling backwards to get away, but Tigh was not about to let him get away. Tigh kicked Reynard's feet out from under him, causing Reynard to fall onto his back with a hard thud.
"And how dare you presume to lecture me about the rules regarding anything you sanctimonious snitrad! You who should know that an emergency session of the council has to have the approval of the President prior to it being called! And where do you get off sending council security to bring Commander Apollo and me here by force! That could very well be interrupted as an act of treason because it looks to me like you …" Tigh said and then looked at the other members of the council, who were cowering in one corner of the room. "and these others were planning some sort of coup!"
The eyes of the other council members began to bulge out in fear when they heard this. They began to wonder if it was such a good idea to have listened to Reynard.
"W…we weren't planning a coup Mr. President!" Sire Mallard, the Cancerian delegate stuttered. "We where just discussing wither it was in the best interest of our people to give these "Scorpion" people the Galactica's navigational information to the Colonies."
Tigh turned slowly to face the new speaker, giving Reynard a few moments respite to get away from Tigh's angry tirade and retreat to the relative safety of the far side of a table.
"And what makes any of you think you'd have a say in that decision anyway?" Tigh began. "Correct me if I'm wrong here, but are we not still under marshal law?"
The faces of the council members revealed to Tigh that they had totally forgotten that little detail. Tigh continued.
"And being that we are still under marshal law, the decision does not fall on this council, or even myself, but on Commander Apollo! He and he alone has the authority to decide this matter!"
The members of the council looked like a group of small children who had been caught stealing mushies. Even Reynard had fallen silent under the realization that there was nothing he could do to prevent the Scorpions from getting the information they wanted. He looked to where Apollo stood and asked weakly, "Will you give them what they want Commander?"
Apollo cast a glance at President Tigh then looked at the other council members.
"I've been giving this matter a great deal of thought, and I've consulted with President Tigh and my staff as to what course of action to take, and I've come to the conclusion that it would be in the best interest of the Scorpion people as well as our own to deny them access to those records. I believe that if they were to return to the Colonies, they would most assuredly be wiped out." Apollo said to all those present, causing Reynard to smile, secure in the thought that he had won. Then Apollo continued.
"But I also don't believe we have the right to deny them an opportunity to do what they have longed to do, and that is to return to the Colonies. Therefore, I will turn over to King Leonitus copies of all the Galactica's navigational and scanner logs as well as any and all information dealing with fuel locations, food and water locations and all the friendly and unfriendly cultures we've encountered during the past twenty five yahren."
This brought a few groans from some of the council members, but they said nothing, so Apollo went on.
"I am also going to include every bit of information we have on the Cylons, including the known locations of their bases, deployment of their fleet, battle tactics, communications codes, ship capabilities and weapons systems, everything! I'm sure some of what we have is well out of date, but we all know that the Cylons have very little individual initiative and innovation is not one of their strong suits, so it's quite possible that the Cylons haven't changed that much in twenty five yahren."
Apollo looked around at the members of the council and saw that they were pretty well resigned to what he was going to do. Then he looked at Tigh and saw a slight smile on his face.
"Are their any questions?" Apollo asked.
None of the council members said a word. They all knew there was nothing they could say or do, so they remained silent.
Apollo turned to Captain Reese, who had tried to stay inconspicuous off to the side during President Tigh's tirade.
"Reese, I want you to escort these "people" to their quarters and see to it that they stay there."
Reese nodded his head and responded with a simple, "yes Commander."
Then Apollo turned to the council members and said, "You people are restricted to your quarters until further notice. Your meals will be brought to you and you will conduct all your council business via vidcom, which will be monitored by Warrior security! You will not have any visitors unless authorized by myself or President Tigh, and then you will be under Warrior security escort at all times."
"Are you placing the entire council under arrest Commander?" Reynard asked somewhat defiantly, having regained some of his composure and courage.
"Not the whole council Sire Reynard," Apollo said in a voice with little respect for the council member. "only those of you that were conducting this illegal session of the council, and you are not under arrest … at least not yet. If any formal charges are to be brought against you, it will be done by President Tigh, and then, only after a full investigation has been conducted."
Reynard dropped his eyes to the floor, knowing that he had totally misjudged has actions and authority. Now the full weight of Colonial justice was going to come down on him and the others.
"Move them out Captain." Apollo ordered the council security officer. Reese and his men herded the council members out of the council chambers followed by a group of Warriors that Apollo motioned to to follow behind. Then he turned to the remaining Warriors and asked if they had any questions about what had just transpired.
"Will we be going with them Commander?" asked a voice from behind Apollo. He turned and saw Captain Xeo, one of the squadron leaders from the Octavia. Xeo, Apollo remembered was of Scorpion ancestry and had requested assignment to the Octavia because one of his ancestors had been aboard her when she disappeared.
"The Scorpion fleet that is sir, will we be going back to the Colonies with them?"
Apollo looked at President Tigh for a moment then said, "That is something that we haven't discussed as yet Captain. Why do you ask?"
Captain Xeo stepped forward and came to attention.
"Sir, if the Galactica and her fleet are going to remain here, at Scorpius, I would like to request an immediate transfer to one of the Scorpion ships."
Apollo was mildly shocked by the man's request.
"Why do you want to transfer to a Scorpion ship Captain?"
"If I may speak freely sir, I spent a lot of time with the Scorpion Warriors this night and for the first time in my life; I feel as if I'm where I belong, like I've come home!" Xeo said. "I feel like I belong amongst them, that I am one of them. I can't explain it any other way except that I believe I belong with them. Do you understand what I mean sir?"
Apollo nodded his head slowly. He did understand. He knew that, like many others among the fleet, certain tribes or sects within a tribe just naturally gravitated toward each other. He was aware that this was a possibility when they came here, but didn't expect it to happen so quickly.
"Captain Xeo, send your request to Commander Omega and if he approves it, I'll give you my endorsement as well."
Captain Xeo saluted and thanked Apollo.
Apollo nodded to him and then dismissed the remaining Warriors. When they had departed, only Apollo, Tigh, Starbuck, Boomer and Sheba remained.
Boomer stepped over to Apollo and said, "I've been hearing rumors all night that a number of our Warriors are considering transferring to the Scorpion fleet."
"I've been hearing the same thing." Starbuck added. "And not just from the Scorpion Warriors, I've heard it from Sagittarians, Capricans, Aries, I even heard a couple of Aquarians talking about transferring. It's like they would rather take a chance on winning back the Colonies then making a life here of Scorpius."
"I think we can expect a lot more of our Warriors to request transfers before too long Apollo." Tigh said. "The question is, do we grant them?"
"We can't let all our Warriors transfer to the Scorpion units." Sheba said. "We need them here to defend our fleet."
"True, but how can we deny them their requests?" Boomer asked, "If we do, they might just resign their commissions and join the Scorpion fleet anyway!"
"If too many of our Warriors transfer to the Scorpion fleet, we could have a serious personnel problem!" Sheba added.
Apollo nodded his head slowly. He knew this situation would come up, but he had hoped it would not happen for several sectars, not a few centars! Yet here it was, what to do about the possible defection of the fleets Warriors to the Scorpion forces.
"I don't have an answer to what we can do, I think we should call the entire senior staff together tomorrow so we can start planning for it." Apollo said wearily. "For now, I think it would be best if we all get some sleep and then attack this problem tomorrow with clear minds."
Everyone agreed and began heading to their respective quarters or back to their own ships for some much needed rest.
The next morning in the "War Room" on the Galactica, the senior officers from each of the warships of the fleet meet to discuss the potentially serious matter of Warrior transfers.
"I had over a six hundred transfer request on my desk this morning before I even woke up and I only have eleven Scorpion crewmen on board the Chimaera!" Commander Jolly said. "I'm telling ya skipper, if it keeps going like this, I won't have enough people to keep my ship operational!"
"It's the same for me on the Egidon." Said Colonel Deitra. "I have already had thirty members of my crew, all of Scorpion heritage; resign to join the Scorpion fleet, including my executive officer!"
Apollo sat leaning back in his seat and listened to each commander as they told the same story, how large numbers of their crews were either requesting transfers to the Scorpion fleet are resigning the commissions outright to join the Scorpions. Already, the total numbers had exceeded five thousand requests for transfer and half again as many resignations. Something had to be done stop this grand exodus, or the Galactica's fleet would be in serious trouble. But Apollo was also dealing with another problem of his own.
He wanted to return to the Colonies as well!
When the last of the reports was done, Apollo leaned forward in his chair and began to speak.
"It seems obvious that we are in the middle of a crisis here concerning a large number of our Warriors wanting to go with the Scorpion fleet when they leave for the Colonies. President Tigh and I are scheduled to meet with King Leonitus in about two centars and I plan on speaking with him about this matter. I want to see if his people are recruiting ours to their cause or if it's just a case of our people wanting to go back and finish a war that was lost by bureautitions and traitors!"
The last part of that statement had the sound of someone who wanted to do just that, finish a war that was lost because of the actions of others. This did not go unnoticed by the others.
"In the meantime, I want you all to try and talk your people out of transferring or resigning until we can find out what's going on and get a plan into place. Any questions?"
No questions were forthcoming so Apollo dismissed his officers and reflected a moment on his own thoughts and feelings. Starbuck and Boomer had stayed behind, curious as to their friend's thoughts.
"So Apollo, what was that little bit about "bureautitions and traitors" about?" Starbuck asked. "Are you thinking our people want to go back and fight the Cylons even if they don't stand a chance of surviving?"
Apollo looked at his friend for a moment before answering.
"Yes, that's exactly what I believe is going on, and what scares me the most about it is … I want to go with them too!
Boomer and Starbuck looked at each other in total surprise.
"Are you serious Apollo?" Boomer asked. "You want to go back with the Scorpions and fight the Cylons? After all we went thru the past twenty five yahren?"
Apollo leaned back in his chair and chuckled a bit.
"I know, it sounds crazy, doesn't it?" he said to them. "But I have this almost … overpowering urge to take the Galactica and join Leonitus's fleet!"
Boomer and Starbuck both sat down as they listened to their friend.
"When I first started thinking about what Leonitus was planning, I thought he was crazy! I thought that he and his people had been stuck on this planet too long, away from the realities of what the war with the Cylons was really like. But then, after we had the chance to meet him and his people, got to know who they were and what they were about, I found that I felt the same way about things as they do. The only difference was that they openly admit that they want to go back to the Colonies and reclaim them were I've only dreamed about it."
"And now?" Starbuck prodded slightly when Apollo appeared distracted by other thoughts.
"Now I think, with the size of the Scorpion fleet and their "trans-spaceial" drive joined with our fleet and the new "super scanners" we have, we could, with the right planning hit the Cylons before they even knew we were there and be gone before reinforcements could even be summoned."
Apollo leaned forward in his seat and told his friends in a voice that was so full of conviction, it was impossible to argue with.
"I believe we could very well not only force the Cylons out of the Colonies, but I believe we could take the fight to them and destroy them once and for all!"
Both Boomer and Starbuck looked at their friend with expressions that said they may be thinking of calling Doctor Salik to come look after Apollo until they gave him a shocker.
"Well, then I guess it wouldn't sound too far fetched if I told you that Boomer and I were thinking the same thing!" Starbuck said.
Now it was Apollo's turn to look surprised.
"You both want to go back to the Colonies with Leonitus!" he asked.
Both men nodded their heads. Apollo was dumbfounded! Here he was believing he was going crazy for wanting to join Leonitus on his "suicide mission", and his two best friends were thinking the same thing!
"We just didn't know how to approach you with it!" Starbuck said.
"And we're not the only ones, Jolly, Bojay, Gilles and even Athena has expressed a wish to go back and kick some Cylon ass! We just didn't know how you felt about it …at least till now we didn't!" Boomer added.
"Apollo looked at his two friends for a moment, then said to them, "Alright then, that being the case we need to find out who among us wishes to go with the Scorpion fleet and who wants to stay here on Scorpius. Then we need to talk this over with Leonitus and his people. For all we know, they might not want us going with them."
"Geez, I never even thought about that!" Starbuck said.
"Well, we'll get the chance to find out soon enough. We're meeting with Leonitus and his staff in less then two centars. I suggest we all talk to our families and tell them what we have in mind, then we'll meet in Alpha landing bay for the trip down to the planet."
The trip down to Scorpius was one of true enlightenment as each member of the senior staff made known their feelings and the feelings of their crews concerning whither or not to return to the Colonies with the Scorpions or not. To everyone's surprise, it was almost unanimous among the Warriors of the Galactican fleet that they wanted to return to the Colonies and take them back from the Cylons! Even President Tigh was ready to resign from the council and rejoin the Warrior service, his true Warrior blood having been stirred up as it was. The only exceptions seemed to be Omega and Barton, who decided they would rather stay on Scorpius with the majority of the Galactica's civilian population and those inhabitants of Scorpius' that were staying behind rather then leaving their comfortable homes. In all, eleven of the thirteen warships of the Galactica's fleet, as well as twelve tankers, five agro-ships, all four industrial ships and both of the mineral and livestock ships would be joining the Scorpion fleet.
That is, if Leonitus would allow it!
Leonitus was floored when he heard that the majority of the Galactica's fleet wanted to join his people in their quest to retake the Colonies. He was both thrilled and wary.
"So my friends, why is it you have decided to return to the Colonies with us? Before you were trying to convince us that this would be suicide, now you want to accompany us." Leonitus asked.
"It seems Lord King that you are a much more persuasive speaker then I am!" Tigh said in reply. "That and your people did a lot of "convincing" of their own." he added with a smile.
"My people?" Leonitus said with a bit of a confused look on his face.
"Yes my lord King, it seems many of our Warriors were doing some "impromptu" recruiting of the Galactica's personnel." Dieanicas told Leonitus.
Leonitus was shocked. He had no idea his Warriors had been doing this.
"I want you to send out an order immediately stating that there is to be no more of this "impromptu" recruiting. Any of our Warriors found attempting to coerce our Galactican brothers to our cause will be severely punished!"
"I will have the order posted immediately Lord King!" Dieanicas said and he left the conference room to carry out the order personally.
"That won't be necessary Lord King" Tigh said, "Most of our Warriors have already made it known that they want to go back with your fleet, the problem lies in how to integrate the two fleets!"
One of the Scorpion Commanders, Commander Teris, said, "What problem can there be? You are Warriors are you not? All you have to do is follow your orders and do your duty!"
"Yes, we are Warriors!" Starbuck shoot back angrily, leaning forward with his hands planted on the table. "And we know how to follow orders! The question is, who will be giving the orders!"
The Scorpion officers reacted as if Starbuck had just reached across the table and slapped each and every one of them in the face. Their expressions were a mixture of shock, anger and disbelief. Commander Alexios was the first to speak.
"Who's orders? What sort of foolish question is that Commander? There is only one who gives orders here and that is the Lord King Leonitus!"
"Oh really! Well, no offense Lord King," Starbuck said with a slight bow of his head to which Leonitus acknowledged and motioned for Starbuck to continue with a rather amused expression on his face. "But I think it would be in everyone's best interest and in the best interest of the fleet to give command to Commander Apollo! After all, he has at least faced the Cylons and knows what to expect from them."
"The Lord of Scorpius is no common Scarab flying Warrior cadet to be ordered around by a mere Commander." Teris fired back, leaning on the table as Starbuck was so that they were nearly nose to nose with one another. "He is the ruler of the entire Scorpion nation and comes from a line of royalty that stretches back to a time before the Lords of Kobol ever journeyed to the Colonies. He takes orders from no one and we only take orders from him!"
"Gentleman!" Leonitus said loudly before the heated exchange could become physical, "The war is with the Cylons, not each other!"
This statement quieted down both antagonists's as he knew it would. He then looked around the room at the others. Both the Warriors of the Galactica's fleet and his own were looking at him, his Warriors waiting for him to tell these "Colonials" to mind there places and submit to their betters and the Galacticans, hoping he would see the logic of having one with experience in fighting the Cylons in command."
"This matter of who will command the fleet I think is quite simple!" Leonitus began, causing his officers to strand up straight and smile smugly at their "Colonial" counterparts. "We of Scorpion heritage and ancestry have from the beginnings of time been breed, trained and dedicated to but one thing … the art of war! It is ingrained into our being even before we are born and no matter what vocation we find ourselves in in life, we are always Warriors!"
This brought nods of confirmation from the Scorpion officers. Leonitus continued.
"And as Warriors, one of the first things we learn is to follow orders, because if a Warrior does not follow orders, people die!"
All those present nodded their heads in affirmation of this all too important fact.
"Commander Teris," Leonitus went on, looking at the officer that spoke out earlier. "You are correct in that I am the Lord King of the Scorpian people, and that I have been the supreme ruler of our people since my father's death. But above that my friends … I am a Warrior! And as a Warrior I learned many things. I learned how to take orders like every other Warrior and that my lineage was not as important as following the orders of my superior officers. I learned that regardless of ones heritage or ancestry, regardless of ones birth station or family status, the most important thing we learn as Warriors is that the Warrior in command must be the one that gives you the greatest chance of victory!"
The smiles began to fade from the faces of the Scorpion Warriors, replaced by looks of confusion.
"And that is why my friends, I say to you know that, Commander Apollo will lead our fleet into battle against the dreaded Cylons!"
The Warriors of Scorpius erupted in protest at their Kings decision, they could not fathom the reason why he would turn command over to this "Colonial"! Then one voice amongst the many stood out.
It was Polinikes.
"I know not what sort of foul treachery is afoot here, but I for one will never follow this, or any other non-Scorpion into battle!"
Polinikes pronouncement brought every other tongue to silence and every eye turned to the brash young Commander.
"Never in the history of our people has a Scorpion Warrior-King willingly surrendered command of his fleet, and I say to all of you that if Leonitus does this now, he should be removed from his throne!"
The face of every Warrior there, Scorpion and Galactican went pale at Polinikes's statement. Had he truly said that Leonitus should be overthrown?
"Treason!" screamed First Minister Solon. "Tis treason you speak of!"
"Is it old man?" Polinikes fired back hotly. "What is more treasonous then surrendering the fleet of Scorpius to these "Colonials"? How can any of you call yourselves Warriors of Scorpius when our "King" places the very future of the Scorpion people in the hands of these outsiders?"
"I'll tell you how you imputant little snitrad!" Leonitus roared with anger. "It is because Commander Apollo and his people have fought the Cylons all there lives, where as the closest any of our people have been to a Cylon is those broken down rust buckets we have in our museums! And unlike you, you sniveling son of a daggit, I am more concerned with the winning of the war then gaining personal glory for myself!"
Polinikes was furious! Never had anyone … ANYONE … ever dared to speak to him in such a manner. And to be spoken to in such a way in front of the entire Royal Staff and those "Colonials", it was too much for him to take.
"You stupid fools! Am I the only one whose Scorpion blood has not turned to water? So be it then, I denounce the whole of you. From this day forward, I no longer recognize you Leonitus as my king nor a Warrior of Scorpius!" Polinikes shouted as he began to leave. "And any who would follow you will also be as nothing to me. I will take any and all true Warriors of Scorpius with me aboard the Mahthildia and we will leave this warren of cowards and traitors to the deaths that are sure to be yours if you follow this piece of "skorat'e!", the last of his tirade was aimed at Apollo.
Leonitus had had enough of Polinikes's treasonous rantings and disrespect, he reached to his belt and in one fluid motion, he drew a large, double edged dagger from his belt and threw it backhanded at the loud-mouthed Warrior. The blade flew straight and true as it wedged itself in Polinikes's mouth up to the hilt, a hand span of blade protruding from the back of his skull! Polinikes's lifeless corpse fell to the polished stone floor with a hard, loud "thud" as a pool of blood and brain began to spread across the floor.
The members of the Galactica's contingent stood horrified at what they had just witnessed while the Scorpion Warriors, while mildly stunned by their Kings actions, seemed to accept it. Dieanicas walked over to Polinikes's body and placed his foot on the dead mans forehead and pulled the kings blade out of the mans mouth. He wiped the gore on the dead mans clothing and returned it to Leonitus. Leonitus resheathed the blade and looked upon his officers with a glare that could freeze the marrow in a mans bones.
"Are there any more objections to my turning over command of the fleet to Commander Apollo?" he asked with a voice that all the Scorpion officers knew would mean certain death at this point, so each of them remained silent. When no response was forthcoming, Leonitus turned to Apollo who's shocked expression made it obvious he did not approve of what had just transpired.
"My apologize to you all," he said, his voice still hard and menacing, but more civil then it was moments before. "it is most unfortunate that you had to witness such a display as that."
"Y-you just killed that man, killed him in cold blood!" Sheba blurted out, the shock of what she had just seen making her voice shake. "How could you do such a thing?"
Leonitus turned his icy gaze upon Sheba and she could hardly keep her bladder from releasing. And in a voice that was as cool and calm as a man having an ordinary conversation, Leonitus said, "Polinikes's treason was so blatant, so obvious that I felt that had I let him continue to spout his treason, it would begin to spread … like a disease, infecting our Warriors and turning them against myself and each other. I felt the only way to stop this from happening was to treat Polinikes like a surgeon would treat a life threatening disease, and that is to kill it … and so I killed him!"
"But he was a human being!" Sheba told him, the pain and horror evident in her voice. "How could you just kill a man like that without even a tribuneral?"
"There was no need for a tribuneral Colonel!" Leonitus said with a bit of an edge to his voice. He was unaccustomed to being questioned like this. "His treason was obvious to all here. His own words pronounced him guilty and the penalty for treason is death! There are many methods of execution used by our people and the blade is one of them, the means of which I provided with a simple flick of the wrist."
Sheba was nearly in tears at this point. Leonitus's anger at the Galactican officer softened just a bit as he continued.
"There are many facets of Scorpion culture and tradition that you don't understand Colonel. Perhaps it would be impossible for you to even fathom the reasoning behind many of our ways, but it is a culture that spans back to the days of Kobol and we hold those things sacred. Executing Polinikes was in accordance with Scorpion law and that is all that matters."
Sheba looked at Leonitus and said, "When we, as human beings start killing our own, we're just helping the Cylon's to exterminate our people, we become as bad as the Cylons! No, we become even worse then them!"
Sheba turned away from Leonitus and the rest of the Scorpion contingent and walked away from the table. She took a seat at a small table and refused to take part in anymore of the planning.
Leonitus turned to Apollo, who was watching Sheba, and said, "Commander, I'm sorry if my actions offended any of your people's sensibilities, but my actions were in keeping with the laws of my people!"
Apollo turned to Leonitus, his expression a mix of sorrow and sympathy for what his wife was feeling and shock from seeing Polinikes dispatched in such inhumane way.
"I'm sure they were sir, it's just that we had done away with all forms of execution in the Colonies over three hundred yahren ago. The suddenness of it caught us all off guard."
Leonitus nodded his head and said, "Perhaps it is not such a good idea to bring our people together on this after all!"
"I disagree sir," Apollo said. "This I'm sure is an isolated incident. We can't let one misunderstanding ruin something as important as our attempting to take back our homeworlds."
Leonitus thought about it for a moment, then nodded his agreement.
"As I said before Commander, you are a shrewd man. Now let us make our plans for sending the Cylons to Hades!"
During the next few days, the two groups planned, argued, laughed and sweated over the details of their impending mission. It was agreed that the Galacticans would provide all their navigational information as well as all other pertinent information that would be necessary for the fleet to return to the Colonies. They would also share their new scanner technology and updated Viper designs with the Scorpions. In turn, the Scorpions would outfit all of the Galactica's ships with trans-spaceial drives and their far more powerful weapons systems. Each group would train their counterparts in the use and tactics of the new equipment and make sure they were proficient in its operation before the fleet departed.
The entire Scorpion military industry was set to work rebuilding and refitting the ships of both fleets with the newly acquired technologies keeping the people of the Scorpion shipyards working around the chronometer. It was a daunting task they had undertaken, but the lives of their entire species was at stake! No detail would be overlooked.
Then, after nearly six sectars of continues work, all was in readiness for the trip back to the Colonies and destiny.
Most of the civilians from the Galactica's fleet, some one hundred twenty thousand, had decided to remain behind on Scorpius as did over two million members of the other tribes that had lived among the Scorpions since they arrived there. There were also about twenty eight thousand Warriors that decided to stay behind and defend those that were remaining. Commander Omega it was decided would be in command of the forces tasked with the defense of the Scorpius system with a Librian captain, newly promoted to colonel, Colonel Johnas as his second in command. Omega would retain command of the Battlestar Octavia and would command a fleet consisting of the Octavia, the Scorpion Battlestar Triantis under the command of Colonel Johnas, the Destroyer Charon under the command of Major Barton, the Destroyer Kratos under the command of Major Cree, who decided to stay on Scorpius as well, and an assortment of Scorpion patrol vessels that, thou somewhat small, possessed the speed and agility of a Viper and the firepower of a Battlecrusier. In all, Omega would command a fleet of fifty seven fighting ships and one hundred two support vessels, more then enough to protect Scorpius, her satellite planets and keep the peace in the region.
To nobody's surprise nearly every man woman and child of Scorpion ancestry was leaving the only world they had ever called home for the chance to set foot on the homeworld of Scorpia. Only a thousand Scorpions were staying behind, these were the losers in a lottery to insure that if the fleet was indeed wiped out, the Scorpion people would have a chance of surviving thru them.
Apollo was on the bridge of the Galactica going over the last centon reports from the fleet and planets before they departed on what was to be the greatest undertaking by man since the original tribes of Kobol left their dying world and founded the twelve Colonies so long ago. He couldn't help but feel the excitement of what they were about to do. The enormity of it was so overwhelming; he could hardly concentrate on his duties. He thanked the lords that he had Sheba there next to him handling the normal ship operations or he would never have been able to do this. Also by his side was President Tigh, who for the first time in over twenty yahren, walked the bridge of the Galactica in his dark blue command uniform. Apollo looked up from his reports and watched Tigh as he tried in vain to stretch his tunic into a more comfortable fit. Apollo glanced at Sheba and seen her smiling at the Tigh's predicament as well.
"Is everything alright sir?" Apollo asked with a slight smile on his face.
"Hmm, what, oh, I think the damn quartermaster shank my old uniform when he cleaned it. It seems to be a bit snug!"
Apollo and Sheba both chuckled a bit at his comment, causing Tigh to turn toward the two of them with a very stern look on his face.
"Did either of you have anything you wanted say?" he challenged.
Both officers continued to smile and answered in unison, "NO SIR!"
"I didn't think so!" Tigh replied in what amounted to a near growl.
This caused Apollo and Sheba to chuckle even more. The jovial attitude was interrupted by the communications officer.
"Commander, I have the Mahthildia on channel one sir."
"Thank you Ensign." Apollo replied as he laid the reports he was reading down and picked up his comm unit. The Mahthildia was now under the command of King Leonitus himself. After he had "executed" the former commanding officer, Commander Polinikes for making treasonous statements, he had the entire crew disbanded and reassigned to other ships of the fleet while he took command of the giant Warstar.
"Galactica to Mahthildia, go ahead."
"Commander, this is Leonitus, on your order, we will begin moving the Warstars into position to grapple the smaller vessels of the fleet."
"Understood sir. Standby!" Apollo replied as he looked over to Sheba who had been check the status of the other ships of the fleet. After a few moments, Sheba nodded her head and gave Apollo the thumbs up. All ships reported ready for grappling.
Apollo acknowledged Sheba's signal and called for Leonitus and the rest of the Warstar commanders to begin the grappling process.
With a precision that could not be duplicated by anyone but the Warriors of Scorpius, two hundred seventy seven Warstars moved into positions above numerous groups of smaller warships and support vessels, moving within mere metrons of the comparatively small ships and grabbing hold of them with hundreds of grappling lines. Some of the giant Warstars would be carrying hundreds of vessels tucked away under their bellies. The bridge crew of the Galactica watched in awe as the Warstars moved in above the precisely positioned ships and with hardly any effort grabbed hold of the support ships and moved off to the designated staging area to await the signal to begin the journey.
When the last of the Warstars had moved into the staging area, the Battlestars began to move in on their charges and just like the much larger Warstars; they began attaching grapples to groups of pre-positioned support vessels.
Apollo walked over to where his new helmsman, Lieutenant Siragosa expertly guided the Galactica into position. After several centons, the call came up from the "grapple master" assuring that all vessels were properly grappled, secured and that they were cleared to move to the staging area. Apollo was amazed at how easily the maneuver had gone. Then came a call from Leonitus.
"You did well my friends." he said to Apollo. "I've seen Scorpion pilots that took a dozen tries at grappling before they could get even one ship on their belly! You just picked up all twenty six ships on the first try!"
"That's because I have an outstanding helmsman at the controls" Apollo replied as he placed a reassuring hand on Lieutenant Siragosa's shoulder. "Your people did a great job of training my people sir."
"Perhaps Commander, but you have to have an exceptional Warrior to start with first, and your people are as fine as any I've seen."
"Thank you sir!" Apollo replied.
"And now that we have the mutual felgercarb out of the way, perhaps we should consider getting underway!" Leonitus said with a laugh. "After all, we have a long journey ahead of us and a galaxy full of Cylons to destroy!"
Apollo laughed and replied, "I couldn't agree more sir."
Apollo then turned to the communications officer.
"Pass the word Ensign, "To all ships of the fleet, stand by get underway!"
The word was sent out and in less then a centon, acknowledgements were received from all ships. Apollo then gave the order for all ships to move out on their designated courses and speeds, being sure to keep their intervals and mind their speed. Leonitus made it very clear that if a ship moving at trans-spaceial speed was to get even a few metrons too close to another ship, it could spell disaster for the entire fleet as the forces unleashed would disrupt the whole space-time continuum that the trans-spaceial drive worked within.
The ships of the fleet began moving out in what was one of the most amazing sites man had ever witnessed. Nearly six thousand ships began the long journey back to the colonies.
"Message coming in from the planet sir," the comms officer said. "it's Commander Omega."
Apollo grabbed his comm set and plugged in to the comm system.
"Go ahead Omega."
"I just wanted to say goodbye Commander and wish you and the entire fleet the best of luck."
"Thanks Omega, I sure wish you were coming with us thou. We could use you!"
"I did consider it sir, more then you'll ever know, but Rigel and I decided we would rather take a chance on a peaceful life here. Besides, someone has to look after King Leonitus's planet!"
Apollo laughed at his long time comrade. Then he said, "Well, whatever happens, just know that the blessings of the Lords of Kobol are with you and all those that serve you Commander."
"Thanks Apollo. We'll be waiting to hear from you." Scorpius command out."
Apollo smiled at the thought of Omega and Rigel living in peace on Scorpius. He at times wished he and Sheba had made the same decision, but they had both chosen to go back to the Colonies and that is exactly what they were doing. Sheba's voice brought him out of his revere.
"Were almost at the departure point Apollo, should we pass the word?"
Apollo glanced out at the stars as they moved along at the usual slow pace they had seen for so many yahren. He knew that the time to call this whole thing off had long past and that they were committed to the course of action they had set. It was time!
Apollo switched channels on his comm unit to the fleet wide channel and made the announcement.
"Attention all ships of the fleet. We are about to set right something that many yahren ago went asunder for the human race. For those of us that came from the Colonies, it is a chance to redeem ourselves and regain that which we lost so long ago. For those people who were not yet born when the Colonies fell, it is a chance to claim your birthright, a chance to walk the great halls that your forefathers built and lost. And for our brothers from Scorpius, the decedents of the Second Colonial Fleet, it is a chance to fulfill a dream that was your fathers and grandsires and great-grandsires before them. It's a chance for you to rejoin the battle that was lost and reclaim that which is yours … Scorpia!"
Apollo paused for a moment before he continued.
"To all ships of the fleet, standby to engage trans-spaceial drives! Stand by to retake the Colonies!"
Apollo turned to Sheba and she began the countdown.
"Engage Trans-spaceial drives in three … two … one … ENGAGE!"
And with that, the ships of the mightiest fleet ever assembled by mankind began to disappear from site as the moved out of normal space and into history!
