Battlestar Galactica

Past, Present, Future

Chapter 24

Opening Moves

"Here's to another glorious victory over the Cylons!" Yelled Commander Seleukos of the Scorpion Warstar Aniketos, raising his cup of Scorpion grog toward the assembled Warriors in the officers club aboard the Warstar Alewndrinia. It was Seleukos who had successfully completed the last attack on the Cylons, destroying a Baseship without it firing a single shot back in defense. The other Warriors in the room responded in kind, lifting their cups in salute. The mood was very festive in the large room, as it was after all the previous successful attacks of the past four sectars. In that time the ships of the combined Colonial and Scorpion fleet had made nineteen attacks on various Cylon forces, including twenty seven Baseships and six small Cylon outposts, all without a single loss! So the Warriors of the fleet were all in very high spirits.

But that was about to change.

At that moment the hatch slid open and in came a group of Warriors and civilians, all of which wore very somber expressions on their faces. None of them said a word as they made their way to the front of the room where they all gathered around the podium that stood on the dais at the head of the room. Many of the Warriors took immediate notice of the group and began speculating as to why they were there. The noise level dropped noticeably as one of the officers stepped up to the podium and began to speak. A man that looked anything but pleased.

"Can I have your attention please!" Commander Apollo said into the microphone at the podium.

The Warriors of the fleet quickly quieted down and moved toward the podium, their jubilant mood diminished somewhat by the dour expressions of the senior staff. All were wondering what had happened to bring the senior staff down to the Officers Club. It was several moments before everyone had quieted down, the last of which was Commander Seleukos. Once he had stopped talking, Commander Apollo began to speak.

"I am not at all pleased with the last mission!" he said. "Not pleased at all!"

A low grumble began thru the group and the smiles that had been on the faces of nearly everyone were now altogether gone.

"And why would that be …… Commander?" came the voice of Commander Seleukos, looking smugly at Apollo. "We destroyed the target without so much as a single shot being fired back at us! What could YOU possibility find wrong with that mission?"

Many of the Warriors in the room voiced their agreement with Seleukos statement.

Apollo leveled his gaze at the Scorpion officer. He and Seleukos had had run ins on several occasions in the past, mostly because Seleukos disagreed with the decision to place Apollo in overall command of the fleet instead of Commander Leonitus, the Lord King of Scorpius. Seleukos had held his tongue for a short time after Leonitus had a little "discussion" with the hot headed Scorpion Commander several sectars ago, but now Apollo feared Seleukos would start causing problems all over again. He did not relish the possibility of another round of confrontations with Seleukos.

Just as Apollo was about to respond, Commander Leonitus leaned over to Apollo and spoke to him. Apollo nodded and stepped aside as Leonitus stepped up to the podium and fixed his eyes on Seleukos.

"We would have discussed the particulars of the mission with you during the mission debrief Commander had you chosen to follow orders and report to the War Room as any responsible Scorpion Commander would have. But instead you decided to come here to celebrate the sloppy and unprofessional execution of a simple mission any first yahren cadet could have led." Leonitus chided Seleukos. "So, since you decided that doing your duty was not as important as getting drunk and bragging about how great you are, Commander Apollo and I have decided to carry out your mission debrief here! Now! In front of all your friends and colleagues, so they can see a perfect example of how NOT to perform their duties as a Commander of the Scorpion fleet!"

One could hear a pin drop in the room as every eye feel on Seleukos. The utter shock of the Lord King of Scorpius chastising Commander Seleukos for not following protocol was shocking enough, but doing so in front of every officer of rank in the fleet was unheard of!

Seleukos stood there dumbfounded; his mouth hanging open from the shock. His King's admonishment in the presence of the other officers of the fleet mortified him beyond thought. The first thought that came to his stunned mind was, "What ever could he have done to deserve such a vehement rebuff from the man he worshipped as a god?"

As if he was reading Seleukos's mind, Leonitus continued.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about do you Commander? Not a single clue as to what you did wrong!"

Seleukos found his voice again and responded to Leonitus's accusation.

"Lord King, I may have neglected reporting to the mission debriefing straight away to have a quick drink, but the mission was perfect my lord! We destroyed the Cylon Baseship without them so much as getting a single shot off at us. I do not see anything that we could have done better!"

Leonitus stood at the podium staring at Seleukos, his expression unreadable. He turned and glanced at Apollo, who gave him a slight nod, then turned to Commander Dieanicas who handed him a black folder. He laid the folder on the podium and slowly opened it. He then very deliberately flipped thru the pages contained inside the folder. After several microns of this he asked Seleukos a question, never raising his eyes to look at his subordinate.

"Commander, how many microns was it between the time you dropped out of trans-space and then returned back into trans-space?"

Seleukos expression went from one of confusion to one of trepidation.

"I am not sure Lord King." He responded.

Leonitus nodded his head slowly, not looking up from the folder.

"Do you know how far from the Baseship you were when you dropped out of trans-space?"

Seleukos searched his mind for the answer, but he could not remember.

"I … I do not recall exactly Lord King."

Leonitus looked up from the folder and fixed Seleukos with a stare that made the man feel as if he was standing in front of the engine exhaust of a Warstar.

"You don't seem to remember much about the mission Commander! Are you sure you were even there?"

Seleukos could not help but lower his eyes at the implication that had just been thrown at him. He was beside himself with embarrassment.

"Let me ask you this Commander, do you remember the details of the mission's profile briefing you were given before you departed?" Leonitus asked pointedly.

"Yes Lord King." came Seleukos's weak response.

"Fabulous!" Leonitus said with mock glee. "Then tell me what distance were you suppose to be at from the Cylon Baseship when you dropped out of trans-space and what was the time allotment for you to carry out your attack before you returned to trans-space?"

Seleukos looked up at Leonitus, trying desperately to regain some small part of his composure and responded.

"We were to drop out of trans-space at a distance of no more then two thousand metrons from the target. We were to launch a five missile spread at the target and return to trans-space within twenty five microns."

Leonitus stared at Seleukos and nodded slowly!

"Well at least we know you were awake during the pre mission briefing and that you did know and understand the parameters of the mission. You DID understand the parameters of the mission did you not Commander?"

"Yes Lord King! I understood them!" Seleukos replied with a bit of defensiveness in his voice.

Leonitus nodded his head slowly as he looked back at the folder on the podium. Then he asked Seleukos another question.

"So, if you knew and understood the parameters of the mission, and you were the officer in command of the mission, then perhaps you can tell us why the readings from your mission logs, which we had to get from your second-in command, show that you dropped out of trans-space at a distance of four thousand three hundred and seven metrons from your target. That you fired your missiles at a distance of two thousand two hundred metrons, and that you did not return to trans-space for seventy seven microns?"

Once again Seleukos jaw hung agape as he tried in vain to reason out what he had just heard. How could he have misjudged his transition from trans-space to normal space by such a great distance? And had he really taken so long to execute the mission? Certainly that could not be the case! There had to be a mistake, a computer error perhaps? He could not believe that he had misjudged the timing of the mission so badly.

"I know not how or why Lord King! I have no excuse!" Seleukos stated with some of his normal strength. He had no idea how he had miscalculated his trans-space jump and missile launch so badly, he did know however that there was nothing he could say or do to change what had happened during the mission, and even though the target had been destroyed, he had failed to follow the mission protocols and was now going to have to face the music.

"Very well then! That being the case, as a Commander of the Scorpion Fleet it is your right under Scorpion Military Law to choose how you wish to face the charges against you. You have the option of facing Command Tribuneral or Royal Judgment!" Leonitus told him.

"If you choose to go thru the Command Tribuneral, your fate will fall to a group of your peers and could very well end with your dismissal from the military ….. Or worse!" Leonitus told Seleukos. "If you so chose to take Royal Judgment, I and I alone will decide your fate, which could also prove very displeasing. I will give you some time to consider your options before you have to make your decision Commander."

"I need no time to make my decision Lord King!" Seleukos said firmly. "I have lived my entire life by military code and I will not change that now. And the first law of that code is that all faith and allegiance is to the Lord King of Scorpius, and his decisions will take precedence over all other laws. So as it is my right to chose, I chose to leave my fate in my Lord Kings hands!"

Leonitus stared at Seleukos for several moments as if sizing up the man. He had made judgments on officers before, officers that had done far worse then what Seleukos had done, officers that had committed all manner of crimes including the unlawful termination of another human's life. In those cases it was easy to sentence the guilty party to life imprisonment or even death. But this was different. The stakes were much higher this time. Seleukos incompetence could very well have compromised everything they had done up to that point and everything they had planned for the future.

He also knew that Seleukos was a very good Warrior. One of the best in fact! He was courageous in battle and was a natural leader once the battle was joined. His skills and strength of character would be of great use in the future. And so Leonitus made his decision. He turned to Apollo and spoke to him for a moment. Seleukos noticed that Apollo's gaze moved to him and saw him nodding his head in agreement with whatever Leonitus was saying. Then Apollo spoke a few short sentences to Leonitus. After a few more moments of conversation between the two, Leonitus returned to the podium.

"Commander Seleukos, after considering all the facts concerning this event, you are hereby charged with the following offences, one, Failure to follow the orders of your superior officers. You were given orders to perform your mission and did not follow them as instructed. Two, Failure to follow standing orders. You did not report to the War Room upon completion of your mission to be debriefed. Three, Negligence in the performance of your duties. Your attack on the target was performed in a manner that does not reflect the level of competence expected of a Scorpion Commander. And lastly, Conduct unbecoming an officer of the Scorpion military. How do you plea Commander Seleukos?"

Seleukos cast a quick glance at Apollo, who stood with his hands folded in front of himself and an unreadable expression on his face. Then he returned his gaze to Leonitus.

"I plead guilty of all charges Lord King."

Leonitus stared at Seleukos for a moment, then nodded his head slightly.

"The accused has pleaded guilty to all charges. That being the case, I hereby sentence you to a reduction in rank to the rank of Major, with that the loss of your command, the Scorpion Warstar Aniketos. You will be transferred to another vessel where you will assume whatever duties the Commander of said vessel decides to assign you to. I also sentence you to one sectar in the brig."

Seleukos was shocked! He could not believe that he was receiving such a comparably light sentence. He was expecting at the very least to be dismissed from the service and sent to the brig for several yahren. To only get a sectar of brig time and a demotion to Major was almost a gift!

"Sentence is to begin this time tomorrow. You will have till then to get your personal effects together and spend some time with your wife and children." Leonitus continued.

"My most humble thanks to you Lord King."

"Don't thank me Seleukos, thank Commander Apollo. If he had not spoken favorably on your behalf, you would no longer be a member of the military and would be spending the next ten yahren in the brig."

Seleukos looked at Apollo who was whispering to Starbuck. When he caught Apollo's eye, he nodded a simple thank you to him and then turned to move to the back of the room with the other more junior officers. Starbuck leaned over to Apollo and said, "Looks like you made a friend out of Seleukos."

Apollo just smiled slightly and said, "I'll just settle for not having to deal with him and his attitude again."

Leonitus spoke to Apollo again and then turned back to the assembled officers.

"I will now turn this briefing back over to Commander Apollo."

Apollo and Leonitus changed places and Apollo began.

"Now that we have dispensed with that rather distasteful subject, we can show you why it is imperative that the parameters of each mission be followed exactly as they are given to you."

Apollo placed a small infodisk into a slot on the podium and an image appeared on the screen behind him. It was a picture of a Cylon Baseship.

"These are enhanced scans of the Cylon Baseship the Aniketos attacked. They were taken from a distance of twenty million kilometrons, well outside the distance of the Baseships scanners but well within our own. As you can see, the Baseship is moving slowly and is not at an alert posture. They have their landing bays closed and their mega pulsars are in the stowed position. This ship is totally unaware of our ships presence. Now watch as the Aniketos makes its attack and withdrawal."

Apollo pressed the viewer controls and the Baseship could be seen moving thru space as if nothing was wrong. Then without any sign of it coming, the Aniketos appears next to the Baseship. The Aniketos moves closer to the Baseship and after nearly forty microns, it begins firing missiles, five missile tracts can clearly be seen, and then twenty microns later, the Aniketos disappears back into trans-space.

The first of the missiles impacts the Baseship twelve microns after the Aniketos returned to trans-space. The second one hit its target five microns later.

Seleukos smiles as he see's his handy work play out on the screen. He feels somewhat vindicated as he and all the others watch as the huge Baseship is rocked by the two missile impacts. But then his smile fades as the replay continues.

The third missile only hits the edge of the Baseship as it appears to be picking up speed. This causes very little damage. But what is worse is that the other two missiles miss the target entirely! Seleukos shakes his head in disbelief. He can't believe that only two of his missiles hit the target where they would do any damage. It was another embarrassment he would have to bare.

"As you all saw, only two missiles hit the Baseship in areas where they did any real damage. The third missile hit in and area that did little more then rock the ship a little. The last two missiles fired missed the target entirely and self destructed after they ran their course." Apollo told the Warriors as they watched the scene continue. "Now the damage to the Baseship is considerable and it will eventually cause its destruction, but this will not happen for nearly seven centons!"

A murmur of voices sweep thru the room as they watched the wounded Baseship begin to slow down as the fires and explosions spread through the vessel. After nearly four centons, the giant ship began slowly tumbling over and over. The explosions became more and more pronounced as the fires consumed more of the giant ship until finally, the Baseship disappeared in a blinding flash of white light. As the screen went black, Apollo addressed the room again.

"As you all saw, the Baseship survived for nearly seven centons after taking two well placed, direct hits." He said looking at Seleukos and nodding his approval. "So you see why it is crucial that you are within two thousand metrons of the target when you drop out of trans-space and make your attacks. Otherwise you give the Cylons time to get their main propulsion online and make an escape. This time they were only partially successful. They didn't get away, but they did survive long enough to do some severe damage to our plans!"

Again a murmur sweep across the room as everyone wondered what Apollo was referring to. He was about to show them. He pressed the control to the projection screen and a series of pictures appeared on the screen, pictures of a ship. A very familiar ship.

The Aniketos!

"These images were intercepted by the Carpathia, which is also the ship that captured the scans of the Baseships destruction." Apollo told them. "These images and a distress call were sent out by the Baseship before its communications were knocked out, approximately one hundred and forty microns after the second missiles impact."

The Warriors of the fleet looked at the pictures of the Aniketos and were amazed at how clearly they could see each and every detail of the mighty Warstar! Every laser turret and missile bay could be clearly seen and identified. The landing bays were visible as the Aniketos turned away from the Baseship and went into trans-space.

"If the Cylons break down these images, and I'm sure they will, then they will be able to discern the weapons capability of the Aniketos and possibly find a way to counter its firepower."

"Doubtful!" came a sarcastic reply from the back of the room.

Apollo looked in the direction of the comment, but could not tell who said it, so he continued.

"You might have your doubts, but I don't! I've seen what the Cylons can do with far less information then what they'll get from those images. I tell you all now, this short series of images that the Cylons captured of the Aniketos could very well cost us this war."

A murmur went thru the room as Apollo's statement rang home. Could what Apollo said really be true? Could they lose the war because of Seleukos? Several Warriors began turning disapproving eyes on the disgraced former Commander.

Apollo saw the looks thrown Seleukos's way and immediately chimed in.

"Whats done is done!" He said. "We can't change what has already happened. All we can do now is learn from our mistakes and move forward. As Commander Starbuck would say, "The stakes have just been raised, and we need a cap stone."

This got a few chuckles from the Scorpion Warriors as they had come to know about Starbucks affinity for playing pyramids and his uncanny luck at the game.

"So, we need to be extra careful on all future missions to insure that the mission profiles are carried out to the micron and the metron! Is that clear?"

A resounding "Yes Sir" came thundering back!

Apollo looked at the other members on his senior staff to see if they had anything to add, and upon seeing there where no further comments from the staff, he departed the Officers club with the others.

All except one.

"Well Seleukos! Looks like your big mouth and you're over inflated ego finally done you in!" thundered Colonel Taurisis, the XO of the Warstar Sharlianos. The Sharlianos was the only Warstar not commanded by a Scorpion Commander. Most of the crew of the Sharlianos was made up of Sagittarian Warriors, who for some unknown reason believed they were of superior skill and courage to their Scorpion allies! This had been a point of contention for centuries!

Seleukos turned to face his antagonizer.

"Why don't you crawl back to that rusted out refuse hauler you call a Warstar Taurisis!" Seleukos said dismissively! "This is a place for real Warriors, not over stuffed fools who got their rank through politics!"

The room erupted with howls of laughter as Taurisis's face reddened with anger.

"You watch your mouth "MAJOR" or I'll have you and the rest of these buffoons up on charges before your precious King!"

This silenced every Scorpion Warrior's laughter and brought forth the murderous side of all! Seleukos and several other Warriors advanced slowly toward the pompous Sagittarian, hands slowly slipping toward their blades when the one straggler from the senior staff stepped forward and spoke!

"Colonel Taurisis, I would be willing to let you berate Seleukos for what he did. I'd even allow you to bring all these Warriors up on charges of disrespect to an officer of higher rank! But I will not allow you or any other man to speak thus as you did about the Lord King Leonitus!" said Commander Dieanicas. "You speak with suck disrespect and contempt of The Lord King again and it will be my blade that slits your stinking Sagittarian throat! Do I make myself clear ….. COLONEL!"

Taurisis was stunned into silence by the pure hatred and fury in the voice of the senior Scorpion officer! He could do nothing but nod his head in response.

"Now get yourself off my ship and back to your refuse scow!" Dieanicas said in a low and threatening tone.

Taurisis saluted Dieanicas, cast a dark scowl at Seleukos, and departed in great haste followed by several other Sagittarian officers that neglected to come to Taurisis's defense. A cheer went up in honor of Dieanicas from the Scorpion Warriors. Dieanicas walked over to Seleukos and placed a hand on the young officer's shoulder.

"You must learn to hold your tongue Seleukos, especially now that you no longer hold the rank to back it up! A centar ago, Taurisis would never have had the nerve to say such a thing to you, but now, he is emboldened by your demotion and will use it to rain all manner of insults upon you. This is the time for you to learn humility and accept whatever abuse will be thrown your way by those we all know are inferior. Hold your temper in check and do your duty. In time, you will return to a command position."

"Yes milord Dieanicas!" Seleukos said in a low and frustrated voice. "I will do my best!"

"I'm sure you will." Dieanicas said. "And no matter what Taurisis says or does, do not kill him! If you do, there is nothing anyone can do to save you! Not even Leonitus!

Seleukos nodded and asked to take his leave so that he could get his personal affairs in order before reporting to the brig. Dieanicas dismissed Seleukos and made his way out of the room.

Dieanicas arrived a short time later in the War Room of the Alewndrinia where he found Commander Apollo, King Leonitus, and several other members of the senior staff discussing the next mission. Leonitus saw his old friend walk in and knew he was troubled.

"I see you finally made it old friend!" Leonitus said with a smile. "Was your hunch correct about Taurisis?"

"It was" Dieanicas confirmed. "I knew that Sagittarian son of a daggit would start running his mouth, and sure as I'm standing here, he did! Had I not intervened, I dare say that Seleukos and several others would be facing charges of killing a superior officer"

Leonitus nodded his head and glanced at Apollo, whose expression was unreadable.

"What action did you take?" Leonitus asked.

"I sent Seleukos to his quarters to get his family affairs put in order. I will have him assigned to the Gunstar Medeia. The commander there, Commander Jared, said he could use a seasoned officer as his tactical officer. And he knows Seleukos from previous commands. I've already arranged to have Seleukos's family and personal effects transferred to the Medeia while he serves his brig time."

"Very good" Leonitus said. "I'm sure Seleukos will adjust to his new duties quite soon and will become the professional Warrior I know he was destined to be. Now that that is done with, let us get back to the planning of our next mission! You were saying Apollo!"

Apollo nodded and began where he had left off when Dieanicas had arrived. Even though Apollo was the overall fleet commander, he knew that Leonitus was still the King of his people and that there were internal matters that they had that he would have to let them handle amongst themselves. The Seleukos matter was one of those!

"As I was saying, I believe that we must accelerate our plans and bypass a number of these small outposts and patrolling Baseships and strike here," Apollo pointed at a section of the three dimensional star chart that was projected from the center of the table. The star chart immediately zoomed in on the referred to section, "Gamoray! The Cylon outer capitol! Thirty yahren ago, it was a thriving system of over twenty five billion living beings. The Cylons wiped them out and took over the planet and their colonies. The Galactica and the Pegasus attacked the capitol city of Gamoray about twenty eight yahren ago to gain fuel for our fleet and did considerable damage. Imagine what we can accomplish with a fleet of this size and firepower conducting an all out assault on the planet and its colonies."

All the members of the senior staff nodded in agreement with Apollo!

"With the trans-space tactics we've been perfecting and the use of our long range scanners, we will be able to place our forces in optimal positions to destroy the Cylon's defenses and communications. And once we knock out their defenses, it should be a relatively simple matter to clean up the pockets of surviving Cylons. And once we secure Gamoray, we'll have a base of operations with an ample fuel supply to get us through to the end of the war."

This was greeted by several officers voicing their agreement.

"Tell me something Commander," said Minister Solon. "Why did you not conquer this Gamoray then when you had two Battlestars and make it your base of operations then?"

"Because at that time we did not have the strength to take Gamoray and hold it." Apollo told him. "Back then we were constantly under attack by the Cylons. We never had enough fuel or fighters to try and take the planets and start a counter offensive. My father knew the only way for us to survive was to keep moving and hopefully find the lost thirteenth tribe of Kobal!"

"I see." Solon said. "So it has nothing to do with your people having no stomach for war then."

A stone silence swept over the room as Apollo stood straight up and glared at the Scorpion Minister.

"Don't speak to me of courage Minister until you have displayed some yourself!" Apollo said with a great deal of anger. "I'm sure the reason you chose civilian service instead of the military was because you yourself lacked the courage to face your enemies in battle!"

Solon looked as if he had just been slapped across the face! He straightened up and stared at Apollo in stunned silence!

"Gentleman, let us stop this right now." Leonitus said loudly with all his royal presence! "Minister Solon, you are out of order with your accusations. If the events of the past few sectars have not convinced you that our Colonial brothers are as courageous and skilled in battle as any Scorpion Warrior, then you are as blind as a dead man!"

Leonitus rose from his seat and meet the eyes of everyone in the room, "If any of you have doubts about what we do here or who we are, then speak now! I will not go into battle with anyone whose heart and mind are not fully committed to attaining victory.

If you have doubts about our plans, say so! If you have doubts about those you fight along side, say so! If you have doubts about yourself, then by the Gods say so! Do not wait until the battle is joined before you address these! Now speak! Do any of you here have any doubts or thoughts that are along these lines?"

No one said a word, not even Solon. Seeing that none where going to speak up, Leonitus returned to his seat and bid Apollo to continue!

"When we were here before, we had only two Battlestars with severely depleted Viper squadrons. Between the Galactica and the Pegasus, we had just over one hundred Vipers. If we had managed to take Gamoray then, we would not have been able to hold it for more then a sectar or two because the Cylons would have sent dozens, if not hundreds of Baseships to destroy us."

"But now, with a fleet of several hundred warships and technology that the Cylons can't match, we can and will be able to take Gamoray and hold it. From here, we will be able to launch an offensive against the Cylons that hold the Colonies and push them all the way back to their own homeworld! They will have to surrender or be destroyed."

Everyone nodded in agreement!

"How long will it take for us to reach this Gamoray from here?" asked Commander Ptolemy.

"I figure that we would arrive at Gamoray in less the three sectars." Apollo answered. "And depending on what we encounter there, we should be able to launch our offensive against the Colonies within a secton of securing Gamoray."

"What sorts of defenses do you expect the Cylons to have at Gamoray Commander?" asked Commander Teris.

"That will depend on wither or not the Cylons have had any problems there!" Apollo answered with a wry smile. "Since we never did learn the fate of the Pegasus, Commander Cain may still be in that sector raising all kinds of Hades with the Cylons. If that's the case, they will have every weapons system in their inventory there."

"I do hope to meet this Commander Cain when we get to Gamoray!" said Leonitus. "He sounds like he has Scorpion blood in his veins!"

This made everyone chuckle.

"And if Cain is no longer there?" asked Teris.

"If they've had no problems in the recent past, they will most likely have only the standard planetary defenses and a Baseship assigned there."

This news brought a number of smiles to the staff officers.

"Something else to consider is that the Cylon's were turning Gamoray into an outer capital, so they may have a major spaceport there now! If that's the case, there could be hundreds of Baseships there. "

This erased the smiles from everyone.

I think the first thing we need to do is send a couple of our ships with the enhanced scanners out to do some long range reconnaissance of the system and see what we're facing. Then we plan our attack."

"That sounds like a grand idea!" Leonitus said. "We should dispatch the scanning ships immediately."

"I agree. Boomer, will you set that up? I want three ships with the enhanced scanners and one of the Warstars as backup!"

"I'll take care of it Apollo!' Boomer said and he left to do just that.

"So now we wait!" Leonitus said, leaning back in his seat! "With any luck, we could be walking the streets of Lacedaemon within a half a yahren!"

"Let us hope." whispered Apollo!