A year after the Fall of the Colonies, the remnants of humanity stumble across a habitable...
A Refuge from Sorrow (nBSG / Avatar: The Last Airbender)
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Chapter 1 - A Diamond in the Rough
A year after the Fall of the Colonies, the remnants of humanity stumble across a habitable planet. A paradise hidden deep within a nebula. The natives have seemingly supernatural powers, and even the land itself is bursting with magic. The refugee fleet might have found an end to their nightmare, but a series of events will force them to question how far they're willing to go to survive.
Chronologically, this story is set during the events of Lay Down Your Burdens in the Battlestar Galactica universe. It is set during Book Two of Avatar: The Last Airbender, after the events of 'The Swamp' but before 'The Blind Bandit.'
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The sun was just starting to make its way above the horizon. The air was still crisp, and to either side of the passing caravan, trees were blooming with the welcome arrival of spring. The stage had been set for a beautiful day. Unfortunately, fate seemed to have contrived to make everything about it horrific. Off in the distance, behind the caravan, it was still easy to make out the thick, black smoke that marked the destruction of their village. A young man rested a hand on his stomach, though it did nothing to quell its ravenous desire. Every step of the mighty beast underneath him only emphasized his hunger. It wouldn't be going away. He strengthened the grip on his reigns. The gray-skinned, horned creature below him sometimes rumbled in anger with hunger of its own. Behind him, an unshaven older man dressed in rags had somehow managed to fall asleep under the circumstances. His father had always been a heavy sleeper.
Their beast of burden carried a cart holding another half dozen, almost all children. The young always had priority seats in them. The men, for the most part, marched alongside on foot. Their caravan had grown to almost forty, and they'd probably be over fifty by the end of the day. Another day, another village occupied, looted, or simply burnt to cinders. There wasn't a soul among them that didn't look tired or starving. However, none of them had lost sight of hope. Their salvation, the only glimmer of hope they dared hold on to, was only a week's travel time away. Ba Sing Se, the crown jewel of the Earth Kingdom, with its walls that stretched as high as the stars, would give them rest. For a hundred years, the Fire Nation had failed to topple it. Surely, it would hold for another hundred more. It had to.
A deep, booming roar rocked the landscape, taking the refugees off guard. Half of them ducked for cover, while others remained shell shocked. Every pair of eyes darted around for the source of the noise, to no avail. The roar deepened, then deepened again. Finally, it started to soften. After a minute's time, it passed. The caravan continued onwards, none the wiser of the sleek, orange craft soaring imperceptibly high above them. Had they been looking at just the right spot, at just the right time, they might have been able to just make out the craft for the few seconds it took to fly across the sky above them. If they had been exceedingly lucky, they might have been able to make out the strange craft vanishing in a flash of light.
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From the narrow, gray room that passed as the center of Colonial government, a middle aged woman sat hunched over a badly worn brown desk. Stacks of papers, almost all demanding immediate attention, were scattered haphazardly across the surface. For a ship never meant to be anything more than a passenger liner, President Laura Roslin thought they'd managed to make her makeshift office look very official. The groggy woman rubbed her eyes, and raised the cracked, badly stained mug before her for an experimental sip. She'd finally managed to stop herself from gagging at the concoction every morning. Real coffee was a luxury their refugee fleet had long since run out of, forcing them to get creative. It at least got the color right, but the viscous liquid was only just barely palpable. A longer sip of the warm liquid, and Laura returned the mug. She took hold of the cornerless paper neatly centered in front of her, the one organized spot among all the chaos that was her desk, and resumed studying her notes.
A sudden bang at the door of the ship's hallway took Roslin off guard. Try as they might to hide it, at the end of the day, Colonial One was still a glorified passenger liner. "Good morning, Madam President." Came the familiar feminine voice. Laura looked up to see her assistant, binder in hand, already letting herself in. Tory Foster had taken over as Roslin's Presidential Aide a few weeks back, after the first man with the job had been killed in an attack aboard the Cloud Nine luxury liner. Roslin wondered how long the dark-haired woman had been awake for. "You're up early."
'Morning' was such a relative term on a spacecraft. However, even when floating in the dark, empty void of space, they had to keep a regular sleep cycle somehow. "Morning, Tory." Roslin replied before turning her eyes back towards her paper. Tory was effective, but a bit too ruthless for Roslin's taste. Though, it wasn't as if they'd had a lot of potential candidates to choose from. "I just woke up and decided to go over the agenda again. I've always had trouble sleeping before big days. I thought I might as well use the time."
"I ended up not even sleeping, myself." Tory said almost gleefully. "I've been drafting a statement for you to give to the captain of the Zephyr when you meet with him later today. I wanted to get your input." She set the single page on her desk. Roslin knew Tory had been meticulously planning out every move of her re-election campaign down to the letter. Laura appreciated her efforts, it did allow her to focus on the affairs of the Fleet itself, but her aid could get a little ahead of herself sometimes.
"I still have a little time before I have to get ready, I'll take a look right now." Roslin held the paper in front of her and straightened it out. She cleared her throat, and began reading it out loud. "From all of us on Colonial One, I wanted to make it absolutely clear this administration has not forgotten the role your ship plays in the affairs of this fleet." Roslin raised an eyebrow, feeling less than certain of the direction Tory's work was taking. "I find the lack of attention to the issues plaguing the daily life of your crew to be… to be...," Her voice trailed off. She lowered the sheet of paper from her eyes, and started rubbing her temple. The almost-but-not-quite coffee wasn't doing its job this morning. "Tory, this wouldn't have anything to do with Zephyr's air filtration system, would it?"
Her political aide gave an uncertain smile, suddenly looking much less perky. "The Zephyr's air filters have been acting faulty for months." She began. "The ship was due for drydock even before the attack. They were bound to give out sooner or later, and no other ship in the fleet uses filters compatible with the Zephyr." Laura rested her head on her fist as Tory spoke, doing her best to look like she was humoring her. "The refinery ship can provide the raw materials needed to repair them, and the machinery Pegasus uses to produce vipers can be retooled to make-"
"Tory.." Roslin began, cutting her partner off. "I really do appreciate the effort you put into this, but we already ran the numbers on this right after Pegasus rejoined the fleet." The color drained from Tory's face. She looked like a child whose project had just been casually dismissed by their parents. "Commander Lee has explained that the machinery on Pegasus is extremely complex. It would take weeks to install the new equipment, fabricate the parts we need, and set everything back again." Roslin slowly shook her head. "That's several weeks we're not building new vipers or spare parts. Admiral Adama would never go for it."
Tory's expression quickly changed from disappointment to frustration. " Zephyr is one of the largest civilian ships in the fleet! Over a thousand souls live onboard it. You're going to tell them poisoned air isn't a big enough of an issue for a few weeks of time?"
"We've taken samples of the Zephyr's air every month." Laura said, as if she'd rehearsed this very subject. "The filters are still getting rid of everything toxic. The filters are old and the smell is awful, but we still have time until the situation is life threatening. It isn't pleasant, but the ship is still perfectly livable."
"And how long until their filters degrade even further?" Tory retorted. "If Galactica's air filters malfunctioned, you can bet Adama would have them repaired within the week." Tory protested. "With everything going on lately, Your executive order outlawing abortion, the food shortages," Tory paused. "Frankly, the fleet is starting to wonder if you still have their best interests at heart. This would go a long way towards putting those concerns to rest."
"Their best interests." Roslin said mockingly as she stood up. She took a moment to stretch. "Tory, the resources to take care of everybody in this fleet simply don't exist, and unfortunately, military needs have to take priority." She paced to one of the oval shaped windows spaced intermittently on either side of the ship's fuselage. In the distance, dozens of long silhouettes floated among the field of stars. Some, the passenger liners, were a brilliant mix of blue and white. Others were simple rectangular boxes. Laura could even spot the Zephyr. The ship's long fuselage was surrounded by a massive, rotating structure, giving away the fact she was an older ship, built before artificial gravity had become so easy to mass produce in the Colonies. At the fleet's center, two great hulks of red and gray dominated the formation. Roslin's gaze settled on the comforting view of the Battlestars Galactica and Pegasus, the only two Colonial warships left in existence. Looking at them had come to feel just like looking at the stars at night used to feel, back when she lived on Caprica. Back when she had a planet to live on.
Tory's face turned contemplative. Roslin's campaign for re-election as President of the Twelve Colonies had been doing exceedingly well, all things considered. Her only real opponent, Doctor Gaius Baltar, had fairly limited support. Until recently, that is. The man had set himself up as a more rational alternative to Roslin's recent perceived authoritarian streak. Roslin still felt like she was a favorite, and Tory agreed. However, that didn't stop the President from getting jitters. "There must be something more we can do."
Roslin gave a small smile to her reflection while her gaze remained towards the fleet. "Fifty thousand people left in the entire human race, and we still have to worry about playing politics." She turned around to face Tory, her arm still leaning on the wall. "We'll tell the crew of the Zephyr we're not singling them out. We'll remind them how the crew on the refinery ship hasn't had a day off since the exodus, while they were lucky enough to escape on a luxury liner. We'll remind them how the climate control system on the Aurora has almost completely given out, and their decks need mold scrubbed off every week. And we'll make sure they understand how, in the grand scheme of things, the military's ability to get fighters in the air at a moment's notice takes precedence over a bad smell in the hallway." She crossed her arms with finality.
"I'll rewrite the statement." Tory conceded. "But we're still due on the Zephyr in three hours. You should start getting ready. We've got a lot of ground to cover before the debate tomorrow."
"Thank you." Laura replied gently. "You're brilliant at what you do, Tory. I couldn't have gotten this far without you." Tory's face remained unchanged as she stood up. Before she could dismiss herself, a distorted male voice beckoned for their attention.
" Madam President," came Colonial One's pilot over the communication system. "Admiral Adama is urgently requesting to speak with you over the wireless."
Roslin grinned. "Speaking of the admiral." She said as she reseated herself at her desk. "Go ahead and start getting ready. This should only take a minute." Tory nodded, and made her way out of the President's office. Once she was out of earshot, Laura took the receiver from its cradle and raised it to her. "What can I do for you, admiral?"
" I'm sorry to wake you, Madam President." Began the grizzly, slightly distorted voice. " I'm sure you have a busy day planned."
"Don't worry, you didn't wake me. And it's nothing I wouldn't mind missing." She replied. "Is everything alright?"
" Im afraid a matter has come up that requires your immediate attention." Adama replied simply. "I need to speak with you onboard Galactica as soon as you can possibly arrange."
The admiral's voice had a certain aura of authority in it. Roslin had gotten used to it, but this time, Adama's tone took even her off guard. "Bill, I have a lot going on today. I can't just drop everything. What's going on? Is everything alright?"
" I can't say anymore over the wireless." He said in that same piercing voice. A tinge of worry manifested in Roslin's chest. "Laura. Trust me. You need to drop everything for this. And This has to be in person. It's a matter of fleet security, and it's extremely urgent."
That tinge of worry began to grow. Laura gripped the phone just slightly more tight. "Alright, you win. I'll start making my way to Galactica now. Just give me a little time to get ready."
" Thank you. I'll be seeing you shortly, Laura." The admiral replied in a marginally more upbeat voice. "Adama out."
With that, Laura returned the receiver to its cradle and wasted no time making her way to the cabin. A nagging voice in her head refused to let the admiral's words go. Had they uncovered a Cylon agent? Was there a bomb hidden somewhere in the fleet? A thousand worries dashed across her mind, each more outlandish than the one before it. She tried to tuck the thought away. She put the finishing touches on herself, and informed a now very annoyed Tory of their detour.
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To Laura's surprise, Adama hadn't been there to greet her upon arriving aboard Galactica. At first, it had just been following formal protocol, to have the CO greet the President of the Colonies when she landed on ship. Neither of them had ever been much for the political ritual, but it gave a sense of normality that the fugitive fleet craved. Over time, it had slowly turned from a political formality, to a ritual between friends. This time, instead of the admiral's worn face, a marine, whose name Roslin was ashamed to say she'd forgotten, escorted her to the situation room. Adama hadn't even spared an officer.
After several minutes of droning through sets of identical looking triangular corridors, the marine opened the door to Galactica's situation room and promptly dismissed himself. The room was lined with the same dreary, gray, color that dominated most of the ship, with sets of monitors placed along either wall. At the room's center was a large table with a powerful set of lights illuminating it from above. A collection of photographs laid strewn across it. Roslin was immediately greeted by a set of friendly faces turning to greet her. Standing front and center beside the imposing table was Admiral William Adama himself, bright lights reflecting off one lens of the man's glasses. Beside him was his son, and commander of the Battlestar Pegasus, Lee Adama. Also overlooking the photographs was the officer Roslin knew as Karl Agathon, and going over a topographical map with a marker in hand was the Cylon defector, Sharon. The four quickly turned to face her as she entered the room. Adama was the first to speak.
"Thank you for coming, Madam President." He said flatly, shaking her hand. "You look lovely today."
Laura smiled as she returned the admirals' handshake. She wore a simple off-blue buttoned outfit that she saved only for important occasions. She'd had to barter a really good watch for it. It's not like there was a lot of fabric to go around in the fleet. "It's good to see you, Bill." She turned her head to acknowledge the rest of the room in turn. "Commander Lee. Lieutenant." Roslin gave a hesitant nod at Sharon, still more than a little wary of her less-than-human nature. "What has me over here in such a hurry?"
"To make a long story short," Lee started, as he pressed a series of buttons on the foremost monitor's touchscreen. "One of our raptors misjumped, and you're not going to believe what it stumbled on." With a final click, the image of a magnificent blue-green orb materialized on the display. Roslin immediately took it for a planet - but not just any odd planet. It had great oceans stretching from one end to the other, and a series of continents dominated by great fields of green, tan, and white. Pearly white clouds dotted the world. For a moment, Roslin froze in place. She turned to Captain Agathon as he began to speak.
"It's a habitable planet." Agathon commented with obvious excitement. "Smack in the middle of its stars habitable zone. Atmosphere is oxygen-nitrogen, temperature is very amicable to human life... Looks a lot like Caprica, doesn't it?" The officer finished with a grin on his face.
"Before or after the nuclear winter?" Roslin replied sharply. She immediately regretted her tone, shifting her hand to a fist, playing with her thumb as she contemplated the implications of what she was looking at.
"Forests, plains, deserts, ice caps..." Adama listed off. "Caprica's got nothing on it."
"And that's not even the best part." Lee continued as he turned to face Sharon. "You want to tell her?"
The woman took a step forward at her name. "The entire star system is hidden by a nebula that our telescopes have a hell of a time making out. Even knowing exactly where to look, astrometrics can't pick out the star system."
"Which makes it the perfect place to hide from the Cylons." Captain Lee finished.
Roslin studied the image with an unchanging expression, her arms remaining crossed. She lowered her fist. "This is wonderful. Fantastic. A place to catch our breath, stretch our legs, stock up on supplies..." Space was, for the most part, very dead. The overwhelming majority of planets were gas giants or balls of cratered, airless rock. Habitable worlds were vanishingly rare. The globe displayed before them was more than habitable. It looked like a paradise. "Finding this is nothing short of a miracle, but... it could have waited another five hours. The way you talked on the wireless made it sound like the fleet's safety was in jeopardy."
An uneasy silence took hold over the room. Laura looked from one head to the other expectantly. Seconds passed before the admiral broke it. "There's one more thing." he said stoically. "We found something on the planet. We're not quite sure what to make of it yet."
Roslin raised her eyebrow. Lee resumed manipulating the display as he took a breath. "There were some unusual lights on the planet's dark side we were trying to account for. Not very bright, but you could definitely make them out. At first we were worried it was severe storms, or a lot of volcanic activity, but when our birds went in for a closer look..."
The planet's image was replaced by a series of pictures clearly taken by high-flying reconnaissance raptors. They showed off stunning vistas that stretched for kilometers. Hundreds of oddly uniform shapes dominated one of the photographs. They were completely encircled by a series of tan, round lines. Roslin also noted they were unusually consistent. She studied the image with a contemplative gaze for a few moments before the pieces fell into place. The realization came like a hammer slamming into her skull. She clasped her hand back to her mouth, her normally perfect composure failing her in an instant. Those uniform shapes weren't rocks. "Oh my Gods." She finally got out as she lowered her hand from her mouth. "It's a city . "
"An inhabited city." Lee elaborated, putting emphasis on the second word. "These circular structures at the city's perimeter are a series of walls. Big walls, actually, judging by the pictures. We can make out roads leading out to smaller villages" He moved his finger across to another monitor. "See those huge stretches of land, those square shaped things? Fifty cubits those are farms. They go on for kilometers."
Roslin took a few steps towards the display, her eyes still fixed on their discovery. "There's only one other tribe of humans we know of in the entire galaxy." She recalled. "Did we just stumble across Earth?"
"That was our first thought, too." Lee replied, seeming to predict her first thought. "We cross checked the constellations we found on Kobol with those in view of the planet. They aren't anywhere near a match. It's not Earth."
"Then..." The president started, still gathering her thoughts. "Then what the hell are we looking at?"
"They could be an offshoot of the thirteenth tribe." Admiral Adama suggested. "Or they could be something else. There's no point in speculating right now. The more pressing matter is, they significantly complicate our operations on the planet."
Roslin snapped her head to face the older man. "I disagree, admiral." She said derisively. "Figuring out where these people came from could go a long way to finding Earth." She turned back to Lee and Agathon. "Do we know anything about them? Anything at all?"
"We've sent a handful of reconnaissance birds, but they've all been high altitude." Lee started, dismissing the image from the monitor. "We haven't detected any trace of artificial radio waves, radiological signatures, anything that would be indicative of a technological civilization."
"The view from above is spectacular." Agathon piped up. "More pristine than anything back on the Colonies. Forests that stretched as far as the eye can make out, even from our altitude."
"Speaking of forests..." Lee continued, glaring at the officer. "Carbon dioxide levels are relatively low compared to what you would have found back on the Colonies. It's still pretty early to say, but I'd guess we're almost definitely dealing with something pre-industrial."
The president tilted her head. "They aren't space faring." She stated in a curious tone. "So how did they get here in the first place?" The question was almost rhetorical. She added it to the rapidly growing pile gathering in her mind. "How many people know about this planet?"
"The five of us, Colonel Tigh, and a handful of raptor teams." Adama offered up. "We've been trying to keep it need to know until we have a better handle on the situation, but I guarantee news is going to spread like wildfire, orders be damned."
"That's good." Roslin said with a touch of relief. "The moment word of this planet reaches the fleet, they'll be clamoring for a chance to get down there. And when people find out the planet is already inhabited…" She shook her head. "I can't imagine how the fleet is going to react. We need to figure out exactly what we're dealing with."
"I couldn't agree more." The admiral replied. "We need more information before this becomes public knowledge." Adama shifted his pose, turning to face his son. "If I'm not mistaken, all of the raptor teams thus far have come from Pegasus."
The younger commander smiled. Pegasus, the larger and more powerful of the two battlestars, had been under Lee's command for about a month now. "Have something in mind, sir?"
"I'm thinking of killing two problems at once." The admiral said. "We still have a lot of ground to cover on the planet. Checking the air for pathogens, making sure the water is potable..." He paused momentarily. "And scouting out the natives. If we're going to be sticking around on the planet for a while, we need to find out if they'll be friendly or otherwise."
"And if we're trying to keep this under wraps, it might be best for everybody who knows about the planet to stay outside the fleet." Lee concluded
A nod from the admiral confirmed the two were on the same page. "Everyone outside of this room who knows about the planet is already onboard Pegasus. I want you to jump your ship into orbit, run a few recon missions, while Galactica stays to guard the fleet. Adama turned to Roslin. "As far as the fleet is concerned, Pegasus is scouting a nearby star system for resources. Technically, that's even the truth."
"Sounds almost like shore leave." Lee grinned. "We'll be underway the moment I'm back on board."
"It's sounding like you have this under control." Roslin felt relief wash over her, now that she knew the fleet didn't have an imminent Cylon threat to worry about after all. "So if you'll excuse me, I'm due on the Zephyr in about an hour. Please, update me the moment you find anything else." She took a final look at the photographs sprawled on the desk. "This planet could change everything for the fleet."
"Of course." The Admiral reached out to hold the door open for Laura. "By the way, You're going to kick Baltar's ass tomorrow. I'm a little jealous I don't get to see it in person."
"I appreciate the vote of confidence." Roslin replied with a sly smile. She turned to give the admiral a slight bow goodbye, and hastily made her way back to Galactica's flight pod. If they stepped up the pace, they could still get through everything by the end of the day.
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Compared to the rest of the refugee fleet, Cloud Nine was in relatively pristine condition. Before the attack, she had been a luxury liner only higher class citizens could have afforded a ticket on. Its interior was unusually spacious and well kept, and the ship possessed one feature no other craft in the fleet, short of the Botanical Liner, could boast. Attached to the ship's hull was a massive biodome coated with a specialized conductive substance that gave the illusion of an open blue sky. The dome was home to almost perfect recreation of a planetside environment. It held a small forest complete with small wildlife, air filtered by natural plants, and some of the last vestiges of what life once looked like before the exodus.
It was from a spacious suite on this ship's upper deck that Doctor Gaius Baltar examined a curious photograph. He stroked his chin contemplatively as he held the picture between his fingers. Actually, it looked more like a photograph of a photograph. The edges were blurry, as if whoever had taken the picture hadn't been able to get a clear shot. Baltar guessed that had less to do with the photographer's skill, and more to do with the photo being taken in great haste. Centered in the picture was a blue-green orb floating in the black of space. It was a planet. From the looks of it, a very hospitable planet. Baltar raised his eyes to meet the man seated in front of him. "And where did you say you got this?"
The somewhat wrinkled man carried a smirk on his face. Tom Zarek had become Baltar's running mate and political adviser shortly into his campaign. It had been a calculated move. Zarek was one of the most divisive character's in the fleet, but also among the most charismatic. "One of our contacts on Pegasus transmitted it to us about an hour ago." His voice was firm. It carried power while still conveying a sense of nurturing care. "Shortly before the ship jumped away... for a scouting mission. "
"The last time we found a habitable planet, the Cylons were waiting for us." Baltar began, working through the implications. "Roslin could be trying to make sure the planet is actually safe this time before going public."
Zarek had begun shaking his head before Baltar even finished his sentence. "If the Cylons were there, Pegasus wouldn't be. For whatever reason, Roslin's hiding this planet from the fleet."
"That wouldn't make sense." Baltar said as he straightened the photo in his hands. "The planet looks perfect. The fleet would be absolutely ecstatic if they knew about it. Why wouldn't she go public, when she needs a PR win? Or the admiral for that matter."
Zarek's voice remained smooth and methodical. "You know how Roslin rules. She needs a boogeyman. If it's not the Cylons, its scarcity, or fleet security. A habitable planet like this would mean food, water, rest..." The man chuckled to himself. "It would mean she'd have one less excuse to impose whatever new decree she wanted. So I think she's planning to keep this particular find under wraps for the time being."
"Roslin is not an idiot ." Baltar protested. "She would know she can't keep something like this away from view for long. There has to be something more to this."
"This is our trump card." Zarek pointed out, ignoring Baltar's statement. "This is what we bring to the debate tomorrow. We use it to prove to the fleet how Roslin doesn't have their best interests at heart, no matter what she says."
"Do we really want to do that?" Baltar asked skeptically. "Don't get me wrong, I can see the advantage, but I feel like Roslin wouldn't be hiding something like this without a good reason."
Baltar had gotten to know Zarek well enough that he could detect minute traces of annoyance in his voice. "Gaius, this planet could be our fleet's salvation. What gives Roslin the right to decide how and when we learn that? And despite her setbacks, Roslin still has widespread support across the fleet. She isn't going down anytime soon unless something big happens." He seized the picture from Baltar's hands. " This is something big. Don't let it slip away."
Baltar stayed silent for a number of seconds. He took the picture back from Zarek's hands. The doctor gave Zarek a nod. Whatever it was Roslin was hiding the planet for, it couldn't be that big, really. He eyed the picture with a smirk, the realization dawning on him that this planet could guarantee his ascendance to the presidency.
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Fresh, crisp, air. A real, honest-to-Gods sun beating down on him. No nuclear fallout, and no Cylons hiding over the next hill waiting to gun them down. It even felt like spring. Agathon took another deep breath of it into his lungs. They'd made planetfall an hour ago, but it would take a lot longer for the effect to wear off. The officer turned his gaze up. Leaves and branches swung gently in the breeze. Off in the distance, he could hear the sound of birds singing from the trees. Karl had almost given up hope of ever hearing that sound again. The sky was a deep, perfect blue that seemed to go on forever, as opposed to the chronically gray-green hue Caprica's horizon would take on for another thousand years. Karl ran his hand along the grass beneath him. It was soft, and alive. His group of three had brought their raptor down in a clearing hidden within a sizable forest. The area was remote enough that avoiding contact with the natives should be easy, while still giving them an ample location to carry out their mission.
Twenty steps ahead, Sharon laid on her knees in front of a great lake in the center of the clearing. She produced a dropper from a metal carrying case beside her. With great care, she dipped the tip into the water and squeezed. Helo crouched beside her as she deposited the liquid into a small tube, then added a single drop of an opaque fluid from a tiny plastic bottle. She shook the contents. The tube took on a familiar, light green tinge. "Six-point-five, again." She muttered as she slid the tube in her satchel alongside a number of others.
"Should I get the lemons and sugar?" Helo asked lightheartedly with a smirk taking up half his face.
Sharon allowed herself a small smile. "That's the third test from this lake. The Ph level is consistent, low salt levels... It's definitely fresh. But I still wouldn't drink it without a filter. Not until the toxicology report gets back." The water was clear enough for the pair to just barely make out the outline of fish swimming near the surface. Agathon wondered if any ship in the fleet happened to be carrying a few fishing rods before the attack.
"We'll get the final word after we get these samples back to Pegasus." Karl's tone was upbeat, optimistic. "I'm going to go check on Nelson." With a pat on her back, Helo stood up and started making his way towards a man crouched before a set of bushes. Beside him were a set of neatly wrapped bags he seemed to be collecting. Within them were a random mishmash of items. Twigs, leaves, and very attractive looking fruits picked from nearby trees. Those reports couldn't get back from Pegasus soon enough.
"Hey, we should start wrapping this up." Helo said to the tan-skinned man still digging through the foliage. Nelson straightened his back and rested his arms on his knees. Upon closer inspection, he had a curious blue stain below his lips. Karl raised his eyebrow.
The man looked like his parents had just caught him sneaking dessert before dinner. After a pause, the marine held out a fist full of berries. Helo's face tensed. "They taste harmless. You should try them, sir. It's a hundred times better than that slop they've been growing on the fleet."
Without a moment's delay, Helo slapped Nelson's hand down. The berries fell to the ground. Nelson yelled out an explicative as he pulled his arm away from his superior officer. "Are you a frakking idiot?" Karl yelled out.
"Gods damn, calm down!" Nelson cried out. "I only had a couple."
"We don't know what's in them!" Helo boomed. "What if these are poison? You want to be taken back to Pegasus on a stretcher?" He grabbed the berries below him and threw them over his shoulder. Honestly, he couldn't blame the marine. After eating what passed for food in the fleet for ten months, they did look pretty appetizing. Karl shook his head as he stood up. "Grab your stuff and start heading back to the raptor. We're going home in ten. And for the sake of the Gods, don't-" Helo paused mid sentence. Off in the forest, he could have sworn he heard a branch break. The noise came again a moment later.
"Sir?" Nelson asked with confusion.
"Shut up a second." Helo snapped. The noise came yet again. The sound of something shuffling in the treeline. "You hear that?"
Nelson turned his head towards the trees. The snapping of branches and breaking of leaves seemed closer together. "I bet it's a wild animal." He said excitedly. "Do you have any idea how long it's been since we've had meat that came from a real animal?"
"Awful lot of noise for one animal." Helo replied, his voice tinted with concern. "Sidearms out. Let's get Sharon and-"
Karl's sentence was abruptly halted by a blast of heat shooting past his head. An instant later, the grass in front of him was on fire. The disciplined officer froze in place, remaining fixated on the flame with a mix of confusion and disbelief. He blinked hard, forcing himself back into his senses. He turned his head to see a set of figures sprinting out of the tree line in their direction. This time, he didn't waste precious time. "Forget the samples. Back to the raptor. Now."
The two officers barely made three paces before they're eyes caught a second set of figures approaching from the opposite side of the clearing. Helo gritted his teeth. He turned back to find the first set of natives already splitting to surround them. They were clad in dark red and deep black. Gods, how did they move that fast? Their raptor was a good hundred feet away. The path was still clear, but that would be changing in a few seconds. They could still make it... Sharon, where is she?
The woman had evidently made a dead sprint for the spacecraft the moment the natives made themselves known, and was seconds from getting to the raptor herself. Helo starred awestruck again as a red blast swung through the air and landed at her feet. Sharon nearly tripped herself skidding to a stop, the grass below her burned intensely. Helo's eyes darted in the direction of the fireball.
"The frak was that?" Nelson asked in horror, sharing Helo's disbelief. That few seconds gap closed as the two groups joined to surround them. He could clearly make them out now. They were men. The red and black they wore had to be metal armor, and they wore dark spiked helmets that left no room to doubt the intentions of the strangers before them. Helo grabbed the butt of his sidearm, pulling it from its holster, but taking great care to keep it pointed down. He could see Sharon drawing her own sidearm and raising it into the air.
" Don't shoot!" Karl yelled out even as Nelson drew his own pistol. "Don't frakking shoot!" There were more than a dozen of them, probably closer to twenty. Far too many than Helo felt comfortable taking on with just three of them. "They're not armed." He observed, sounding less than certain of himself. For all he knew, they'd just landed in their backyard. Maybe there was still room diplomacy.
One of the men, a large, stout looking fellow with half his face hidden in a beard let out a laugh. "That's what you think." He raised his arm, and as if on command his hand set itself ablaze. A great flame hovered over his outstretched hand, once again making Helo question his own senses. "We've been watching you since you approached our territory. Naturally we're very eager to make your acquaintance. Why don't you come back to our camp, and we can have an introduction?"
"Hey, we're not here to start a fight." Helo said, in a conciliatory tone. He stretched his palm open in front of him. "We didn't know this was your territory, we're sorry for intruding. We were actually just leaving."
"That's fire." Nelson's voice was shaking, like he almost didn't believe himself. "Helo - that's fire. In his hand. Do you see that?"
"I'm afraid we can't allow that." The man boomed out again. "Seize the-" A world-shattering boom ricocheted through the forest. Dark red gushed from the man's throat. Now the warrior's own eyes betrayed a sense of horror while he grabbed for his throat in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding. A follow-up shot hit him square in the chest, and his limp body fell to the ground in a mess of blood.
"Get to the raptor!" Sharon yelled while she took aim at a second soldier. Helo and Nelson wasted no time turning about and making a dead sprint for the spacecraft. A set of bangs rang out from Sharon's weapon. Helo pointed his gun behind him and fired blindly. At the very least, the noise alone might disorient them if they'd never seen firearms.
Unfortunately, the soldiers were quick to get over their initial shock. A blast of flame cut Helo and Nelson off from their craft. Another separated the two of them. Agathon turned to his aggressors in desperation, taking aim at them over the flames. He pulled the trigger. Then again. One of them collapsed to the ground. Two more took his place, firing a blast that struck Helo in the shoulder. Searing heat began cutting through the fabric of his flight suit. They were built to be flame retardant to an extent, but it would only buy a few seconds. He started hitting the flame with the arm of his uniform, when another blast hit the ground inches in front of him. The shock wave sent him to the ground. He raised his gun in the direction of the figures, but squeezing the trigger was met with only a click.
Sharon crouched behind the raptor, clicking out her cartridge and replacing it with her only spare. Blast after blast of fire screamed past her. It seemed to be doing a decent job of providing suppressive fire. Literally, she supposed. Figuring out what the hell was going on could wait until they were back in the fleet. If they got back to the fleet. Acting on instinct, the woman dove into the raptor's open hatch. She grabbed hold of the wireless transceiver in front of the cockpit tight enough that she would have been worried it might break, if it weren't for the adrenaline. "Pegasus! Krypter! Krypter! We've been-"
A pair of men ran into the hatch, their arms pulled back and hands clenched into a fist. They pushed forward. Sharon's reflexes proved better. Only a small flame was produced by the first man's hands before a set of shots knocked him to the ground. She didn't have time to take aim at the second before her eyes were blinded by a white heat, and her hands were doused in searing flame. Her gun fell from her hands. She dropped to the cockpit floor, screaming in pain.
"Sharon!" Karl yelled out just as a boot pressed down on his throat. He tried yelling again, but no sound came out. The sound of Nelson's pistol had ceased. The fires around him put themselves out. He fought with every ounce of strength he had left while the surviving men turned him over and began binding his wrists and legs.
"You've caused us quite a bit of trouble." One of the figures muttered as he removed his helmet. A set of scars that looked like an animal had tried to rip his throat open ran down his neck. "I am so very curious about who you are, and where you came from. I'm especially curious what this item is." The man held up Nelson's sidearm, carefully dangling it by the grip. "Take them back to the camp, maybe they'll be more cooperative after they've had a few hours to tire themselves out." Helo never ceased struggling against his bindings in vain as his captors began carrying him and his comrades away.
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Pegasus had been a top of the line ship at the time of the attack. It's hallways and bunks were spacious by Colonial Fleet standards, and the Commander's personal quarters were no exception. Compared to what normally qualified as living space in the fleet, it was downright luxurious. Lee Adama had spent most of the first half of the day going over the initial reconnaissance reports and personally helping organize the first of the landing parties. Ordinarily, the commander of a battlestar would have no part in that type of micromanagement, but the ex-CAG inside Lee refused to die out. The first of the landing parties were starting to trickle back into the great ship. He was going over the first of their debriefings when a soft ring indicated somebody was beckoning for his attention.
"Come in." He called out, setting the pages down on his desk. He wasn't surprised to see a tan-skinned woman step into the room. "Something I can do for you, Dualla?" Lee asked with a grin.
"Nice to see you too, commander." Anastasia Dualla said as she returned the smile. A few months ago she was Galactica's communications officer. Now, she served as Pegasus's XO. The battlestar's command staff had experienced a distressing string of deaths after the ship reunited with the fleet, and Galactica had been forced to dig deep just to crew her. The woman carried a thermos in one hand and a large envelope in the other. She set them both down on Lee's desk. "Have any cups?"
Lee raised an eyebrow. "Of course." He reached below his desk and produced a pair of metal-gray containers. "I thought you'd lost your taste for coffee."
Dualla's smile turned to a grin of her own. "It's not coffee. Just trust me." She opened the thermos and poured an odd, purple colored liquid into each of the cups. She reached for one. "Go on. Try it."
"You didn't lace this, did you? Eying another promotion?" He sniffed the cup. It was sweet, familiar. Lee's curiosity grew as he took an experimental sip. The flavor zapped him like an electric shock. The drink sent memories flooding back to him. It tasted like home. " It's tea. Real raspberry tea. How the hell did you get your hands on this?"
Dualla's smirk remained glued to her face. "My parents sent a box of it in a care package a couple of weeks before the attack. I've been saving my last couple of bags for a special occasion." She unsealed the manilla envelope and opened it to reveal a set of high-quality photographs packaged within. "I thought we could share them while going over the latest batch of reconnaissance pictures."
The commander took another whiff of the hot beverage before setting the cup down. "Sounds like my cup of tea." He joked. "When did these come in?"
"Our birds have been transmitting them as soon as they take them. Gods, look at this landscape." She set the first of the photographs on the table. Lee examined it. Trees and tiny bodies of water stretched for dozens of miles, if the scale on the bottom of the image was to be believed. Even from the raptor's altitude, the view was breathtaking. At its center was a mass of green that seemed to stretch into the sky. From their angle, it looked like a single, impossibly large tree.
"Looks like mush." Lee observed. "I almost want to say like a swamp. Terrain's probably too unstable to try landing a bird in that mess."
Dualla paused at the next image. Her eyes gave away a sense of confusion. "This one was taken near the planet's northern ice cap." She said as she laid the image down between them. "This next one's a zoomed in shot of the same area. Look at this." She placed a third image down. It showed off the same frozen ice sheets, only this time bordering the ocean. A huge chunk of the ice right on the shoreline stuck out. It looked artificial, as if somebody had carved out a huge chunk of terrain. However, it was the collection of barely visible, rectangular objects floating in the water itself that grabbed Lee's attention.
"Those are ships!" Lee exclaimed as his hand rushed to point them out. "Sailing ships. And that's another major city. How far north did you say this was taken?"
"About as far north as you can get." Dualla replied in wonder. "that's the edge of the northern ice cap." She turned the image for a better look. "That entire city looks like it was carved out of ice."
"An entire city?" Lee said incredulously. "If that's true, those are some damned determined people down there. How is that even possible?"
Dualla shook her head. "Well, it just is, apparently." She turned away from the collection of images to face Lee. "I still can't get over how there are actual humans down there. People who probably grow food, build houses, start families..." She smiled, but her eyes lowered. "People who've never heard of the Cylons. This planet seems a little too good to be true."
Lee took another sip of his tea, savoring the flavor as long as possible. The commander frowned. "Careful about jumping the gun too early. We haven't even figured out if the water's safe to drink. We've got a long way to go."
Dualla gave a half laugh, half exasperated sigh. "Can you blame me?" She let out. "These pictures could mean the end of this nightmare we've been living for the last year. The idea of Waking up to a sunrise instead of a bulkhead is a pretty welcoming thought."
The young commander grasped his XO's hand. "Everybody on this ship is thinking the same thing. If there's any chance this planet is what we think it might be..." He smiled at her. "Let's finish off those pictures before the tea gets cold."
Dualla's smile returned to her face, albeit not as strong as before. She took the next one from the pile. It's annotations indicated it was taken above one of the continents on the southern hemisphere. It's contents took them both off guard. This one also portrayed a massive city, but one obscured by a haze of gray and black. Great clouds of smog obscured the raptor's view. A nearby river was stained with brown. Dualla raised an eyebrow. "So much for pre-industrial." She set it down with the others. "What do you think they're like? The natives. Do you think they'll be friendly?"
Lee opened his mouth to answer, but was abruptly cut off by the ship's comm system demanding his attention. He grabbed a phone off his wall. "Adama."
" Commander, we need you down in CIC immediately." Came the voice of Lee's communications officer, Louis Hoshi. "It's one of the recon teams. Something's happened to them."
"What do you mean something?" Lee replied, his voice instantly turning to frustration.
" We think they've been attacked." The officer blurted, without further explanation.
"Attacked?" Lee's eyes darted back to Dualla. "How-" He stopped himself. "Thank you, I'm on my way." The commander finished as he slammed the phone back into its cradle. "Something's happened to one of the recon teams. We're going to CIC." The commander was out the door before he finished his sentence, with a worried looking Dualla trailing close behind.
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" Reporter James McManus here, live on Colonial One, where we're just minutes away from the first of three presidential debates between sitting president Laura Roslin and challenger Gauis Baltar. I'm sitting with about two dozen others. Space is at a premium, but nobody seems to be complaining too much. I'm recognizing the faces of every political activist in the fleet. Reporters, ship captains... We just completed a very candid interview with the captain of the Hitei-Kan a few minutes ago, and will be playing it back later today for those who missed it."
The journalist shuffled in his seat with microphone in hand, blissfully unaware of the growing collection of people giving him a sour look. His words were being transmitted over the wireless to the rest of the fleet in real time. Every ship would be tuning in for the occasion, even if the end result seemed a forgone conclusion.
" President Roslin has just entered the room. She's standing at her podium now. President Roslin is, of course, still the favorite to win by a wide margin, making this a kill-or-be-killed moment for Doctor Baltar. Speaking of the good doctor, the challenger is making his way down the aisle between us now. He's shaking the moderator's hand... Now Roslin's. It's looking like we're about to get underway here."
At the front of the room, Laura Roslin grasped Baltar's hand, giving a beaming smile as she leaned into him. Smiling and giving appearances had become second nature to her over the last year. She'd be proud of herself, if she didn't find the entire charade so dehumanizing. "I'm going to wipe the floor with you." She said just low enough that the microphones wouldn't pick her up.
"We'll see." Baltar replied with an equally artificial expression. It was clear he'd had a great deal more practice with masking his emotions. The two parted for their respective podiums at opposite sides of the room. The moderator, a dark-haired woman who Roslin recognized from her passenger liner back on the first day of the attack, gave a short introduction before declaring the official start of the debate.
The first topics were important, but they'd been a rehash of the same things that had been talked about over and over again. Food shortages, air filtration, ship maintenance... Baltar maintained Roslin's administration had neglected many of the fleet's basic needs in favor of giving every spare resource they had to the military. Roslin countered by citing numerous instances of the military sacrificing for the civilian fleet. Keeping their vipers flying and bullets stocked had to be top priority, the president repeated. Baltar insisted she could be doing more.
The conversation rapidly jumped from topic to topic. One minute they were discussing the degradation of medical equipment in the civilian fleet, the next they'd moved to individual rights. Baltar brought up Roslin's executive order banning abortion through the fleet. She knew he would. It was the only topic where he'd managed to gain any traction.
"Roslin never called for a vote." Baltar declared. She never asked the people if they thought giving up one of their sacred rights was worth the price. Roslin decided she was entitled to make that decision for us."
" Nobody believes more strongly in a woman's right to choose than I do." Roslin said through gritted teeth. However, as I've said, time and again, the ban on abortion was a neccesary step to ensure the long term survival of this fleet, and our species." Roslin countered. Her voice dripped with agitation. "And a decision that, by the way, I enacted on the personal recommendation of Doctor Baltar while he still worked under my administration."
Baltar violently shook his head. "The only thing I told you was the outlook of the fleet. There were a hundred things we could have done to raise birthrates. Incentives, ration vouchers... You decided on your own to go through with the ban." Baltar raised his voice. "The entire way she handled that fiasco was just more proof of how disconnected Roslin's administration has become to the will of the people."
"Ration vouchers? Really? With what extra rations?" Roslin snapped back. "This administration has bent over backwards trying to at least acknowledge every issue every ship in this fleet has, even if we don't have the resources to solve them all." Laura noticed her voice rising, and dialed it back down.
"What, so you can bring a list to Papa Admiral on Galactica, so he can rebuff you without giving it a thought?" Baltar said mockingly. "Hasn't it become obvious who rules the roost in that relationship? It's the government's job to tell the military what it can and can't do, not the other way around. Do the people really want a president that capitulates so easily?"
"A few more repairs won't mean a damned thing if Galactica's vipers blow up in the launch tubes next time the Cylons get the jump on us." She steadied herself, making another effort to lower her voice. She couldn't let herself get too heated. It would look bad on sound bites.
"Repairs aren't the only thing you've been withholding from the fleet." Baltar said accusingly. He straightened his gaze towards the audience. "I'm going to prove, once and for all, how far Roslin is willing to go to lie to this fleet in the name of security ." He gestured towards a man seated in the back of the room. A projector screen unfolded behind the podiums. Roslin looked visibly concerned.
The display clicked on. An image came to life. Roslin's eyes widened in shock. It was the same image she walked in to the other day. The one of that blue orb floating amongst the stars. How the hell did Baltar get his hands on that? How did he...
"This image." Baltar began, his voice harsh and aggressive. "Was taken by a raptor some time ago. How long ago? We don't know, because Roslin has made every effort to hide this nugget of information from the fleet." Every person in the audience looked visibly shaken. Shocked murmurs ran through the room. "The planet is very obviously habitable. The Cylons can't be there, because Pegasus is orbiting the damned thing right now. So the question is, why is Roslin hiding a possible refuge from the Cylons from this fleet?"
The moderator struggled to keep control of the room. A dozen microphones launched forward. People were demanding answers. Where is the planet in relation to the fleet? How long has your administration known about the planet? Is the planet truly habitable?" Roslin remained frozen. She bit her lip. That Gods damned idiot! She had to say something. Do something. This wouldn't go away. Roslin drew a breath. The room turned dead silent, waiting for her to make some sort of comment. After many moments of silence, the reporters got their sound bite.
"Yes there is a planet, yes it's habitable." Roslin began, the silence still overwhelming. "We've known about it for about a day, actually I just learned it this morning. I fully intended to share this information, unlike what Doctor Baltar here is insinuating. There's just been…" Roslin paused and took a breath. "There's a complication."
"What kind of complication?" A reporter yelled out to affirmations from the audience. Roslin stared daggers at Baltar before returning her gaze to the audience.
"The planet is inhabited." Roslin said flatly. The whole room seemed taken off guard. Audible shock ran through the audience once again. Roslin raised her voice, intentionally this time, to get over the noise. "We wanted to wait until we had a better picture of what this planet has in store before bringing it into the public eye." She turned to face Gaius. "But seeing as Doctor Baltar has so graciously brought it to your attention early..."
"Madam President..." Came McManus. The reporter stood up, microphone held out. "You said inhabited? As in..."
"As in humans, just like us, are living on the planet's surface." Roslin maintained her emotionless voice. As far as the debate was concerned, every other topic was off the table. The planet was about to make every issue in the fleet small by comparison. "They're less advanced than us, as far as we can tell. Probably closer to a feudal society than an industrial one."
"How much do we know about these inhabitants?" Another reporter questioned.
"Next to nothing." Roslin answered simply. "Like I said, we've only known about the planet for a day. We know they raise crops and livestock, build cities, villages, and roads, that they have ships and farms, but other than those broad strokes, your guess is as good as mine."
"Is this the thirteenth tribe spoken of in the ancient scrolls?" A dark-skinned woman in the crowd asked. She wore a brilliant necklace. From the look of her face, she was Gemenese. "Is this Earth?"
"Probably not." Laura said flatly.
"Do we know if the natives might be friendly?"
"We. Don't. Know." Roslin said, stretching her words. "We don't know anything. That's the reason I didn't bring this to the fleet's attention sooner."
Question after question came. Now Baltar could barely get a word in. On Galactica, Admiral Adama slammed his desk and cursed Baltar. That damned fool had no idea what he was doing. And how did he get his hands on that intel in the first place? The implications didn't please him in the slightest. All across the fleet, every soul was fixated on Colonial One and the dialogue taking place on board. In the space of a few minutes, life in the fleet had been changed, permanently and irrevocably. Adama could only hope it was for the better.
Chronologically, this story is set during the events of Lay Down Your Burdens in the Battlestar Galactica universe. It is set during Book Two of Avatar: The Last Airbender, after the events of 'The Swamp' but before 'The Blind Bandit.'
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The sun was just starting to make its way above the horizon. The air was still crisp, and to either side of the passing caravan, trees were blooming with the welcome arrival of spring. The stage had been set for a beautiful day. Unfortunately, fate seemed to have contrived to make everything about it horrific. Off in the distance, behind the caravan, it was still easy to make out the thick, black smoke that marked the destruction of their village. A young man rested a hand on his stomach, though it did nothing to quell its ravenous desire. Every step of the mighty beast underneath him only emphasized his hunger. It wouldn't be going away. He strengthened the grip on his reigns. The gray-skinned, horned creature below him sometimes rumbled in anger with hunger of its own. Behind him, an unshaven older man dressed in rags had somehow managed to fall asleep under the circumstances. His father had always been a heavy sleeper.
Their beast of burden carried a cart holding another half dozen, almost all children. The young always had priority seats in them. The men, for the most part, marched alongside on foot. Their caravan had grown to almost forty, and they'd probably be over fifty by the end of the day. Another day, another village occupied, looted, or simply burnt to cinders. There wasn't a soul among them that didn't look tired or starving. However, none of them had lost sight of hope. Their salvation, the only glimmer of hope they dared hold on to, was only a week's travel time away. Ba Sing Se, the crown jewel of the Earth Kingdom, with its walls that stretched as high as the stars, would give them rest. For a hundred years, the Fire Nation had failed to topple it. Surely, it would hold for another hundred more. It had to.
A deep, booming roar rocked the landscape, taking the refugees off guard. Half of them ducked for cover, while others remained shell shocked. Every pair of eyes darted around for the source of the noise, to no avail. The roar deepened, then deepened again. Finally, it started to soften. After a minute's time, it passed. The caravan continued onwards, none the wiser of the sleek, orange craft soaring imperceptibly high above them. Had they been looking at just the right spot, at just the right time, they might have been able to just make out the craft for the few seconds it took to fly across the sky above them. If they had been exceedingly lucky, they might have been able to make out the strange craft vanishing in a flash of light.
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From the narrow, gray room that passed as the center of Colonial government, a middle aged woman sat hunched over a badly worn brown desk. Stacks of papers, almost all demanding immediate attention, were scattered haphazardly across the surface. For a ship never meant to be anything more than a passenger liner, President Laura Roslin thought they'd managed to make her makeshift office look very official. The groggy woman rubbed her eyes, and raised the cracked, badly stained mug before her for an experimental sip. She'd finally managed to stop herself from gagging at the concoction every morning. Real coffee was a luxury their refugee fleet had long since run out of, forcing them to get creative. It at least got the color right, but the viscous liquid was only just barely palpable. A longer sip of the warm liquid, and Laura returned the mug. She took hold of the cornerless paper neatly centered in front of her, the one organized spot among all the chaos that was her desk, and resumed studying her notes.
A sudden bang at the door of the ship's hallway took Roslin off guard. Try as they might to hide it, at the end of the day, Colonial One was still a glorified passenger liner. "Good morning, Madam President." Came the familiar feminine voice. Laura looked up to see her assistant, binder in hand, already letting herself in. Tory Foster had taken over as Roslin's Presidential Aide a few weeks back, after the first man with the job had been killed in an attack aboard the Cloud Nine luxury liner. Roslin wondered how long the dark-haired woman had been awake for. "You're up early."
'Morning' was such a relative term on a spacecraft. However, even when floating in the dark, empty void of space, they had to keep a regular sleep cycle somehow. "Morning, Tory." Roslin replied before turning her eyes back towards her paper. Tory was effective, but a bit too ruthless for Roslin's taste. Though, it wasn't as if they'd had a lot of potential candidates to choose from. "I just woke up and decided to go over the agenda again. I've always had trouble sleeping before big days. I thought I might as well use the time."
"I ended up not even sleeping, myself." Tory said almost gleefully. "I've been drafting a statement for you to give to the captain of the Zephyr when you meet with him later today. I wanted to get your input." She set the single page on her desk. Roslin knew Tory had been meticulously planning out every move of her re-election campaign down to the letter. Laura appreciated her efforts, it did allow her to focus on the affairs of the Fleet itself, but her aid could get a little ahead of herself sometimes.
"I still have a little time before I have to get ready, I'll take a look right now." Roslin held the paper in front of her and straightened it out. She cleared her throat, and began reading it out loud. "From all of us on Colonial One, I wanted to make it absolutely clear this administration has not forgotten the role your ship plays in the affairs of this fleet." Roslin raised an eyebrow, feeling less than certain of the direction Tory's work was taking. "I find the lack of attention to the issues plaguing the daily life of your crew to be… to be...," Her voice trailed off. She lowered the sheet of paper from her eyes, and started rubbing her temple. The almost-but-not-quite coffee wasn't doing its job this morning. "Tory, this wouldn't have anything to do with Zephyr's air filtration system, would it?"
Her political aide gave an uncertain smile, suddenly looking much less perky. "The Zephyr's air filters have been acting faulty for months." She began. "The ship was due for drydock even before the attack. They were bound to give out sooner or later, and no other ship in the fleet uses filters compatible with the Zephyr." Laura rested her head on her fist as Tory spoke, doing her best to look like she was humoring her. "The refinery ship can provide the raw materials needed to repair them, and the machinery Pegasus uses to produce vipers can be retooled to make-"
"Tory.." Roslin began, cutting her partner off. "I really do appreciate the effort you put into this, but we already ran the numbers on this right after Pegasus rejoined the fleet." The color drained from Tory's face. She looked like a child whose project had just been casually dismissed by their parents. "Commander Lee has explained that the machinery on Pegasus is extremely complex. It would take weeks to install the new equipment, fabricate the parts we need, and set everything back again." Roslin slowly shook her head. "That's several weeks we're not building new vipers or spare parts. Admiral Adama would never go for it."
Tory's expression quickly changed from disappointment to frustration. " Zephyr is one of the largest civilian ships in the fleet! Over a thousand souls live onboard it. You're going to tell them poisoned air isn't a big enough of an issue for a few weeks of time?"
"We've taken samples of the Zephyr's air every month." Laura said, as if she'd rehearsed this very subject. "The filters are still getting rid of everything toxic. The filters are old and the smell is awful, but we still have time until the situation is life threatening. It isn't pleasant, but the ship is still perfectly livable."
"And how long until their filters degrade even further?" Tory retorted. "If Galactica's air filters malfunctioned, you can bet Adama would have them repaired within the week." Tory protested. "With everything going on lately, Your executive order outlawing abortion, the food shortages," Tory paused. "Frankly, the fleet is starting to wonder if you still have their best interests at heart. This would go a long way towards putting those concerns to rest."
"Their best interests." Roslin said mockingly as she stood up. She took a moment to stretch. "Tory, the resources to take care of everybody in this fleet simply don't exist, and unfortunately, military needs have to take priority." She paced to one of the oval shaped windows spaced intermittently on either side of the ship's fuselage. In the distance, dozens of long silhouettes floated among the field of stars. Some, the passenger liners, were a brilliant mix of blue and white. Others were simple rectangular boxes. Laura could even spot the Zephyr. The ship's long fuselage was surrounded by a massive, rotating structure, giving away the fact she was an older ship, built before artificial gravity had become so easy to mass produce in the Colonies. At the fleet's center, two great hulks of red and gray dominated the formation. Roslin's gaze settled on the comforting view of the Battlestars Galactica and Pegasus, the only two Colonial warships left in existence. Looking at them had come to feel just like looking at the stars at night used to feel, back when she lived on Caprica. Back when she had a planet to live on.
Tory's face turned contemplative. Roslin's campaign for re-election as President of the Twelve Colonies had been doing exceedingly well, all things considered. Her only real opponent, Doctor Gaius Baltar, had fairly limited support. Until recently, that is. The man had set himself up as a more rational alternative to Roslin's recent perceived authoritarian streak. Roslin still felt like she was a favorite, and Tory agreed. However, that didn't stop the President from getting jitters. "There must be something more we can do."
Roslin gave a small smile to her reflection while her gaze remained towards the fleet. "Fifty thousand people left in the entire human race, and we still have to worry about playing politics." She turned around to face Tory, her arm still leaning on the wall. "We'll tell the crew of the Zephyr we're not singling them out. We'll remind them how the crew on the refinery ship hasn't had a day off since the exodus, while they were lucky enough to escape on a luxury liner. We'll remind them how the climate control system on the Aurora has almost completely given out, and their decks need mold scrubbed off every week. And we'll make sure they understand how, in the grand scheme of things, the military's ability to get fighters in the air at a moment's notice takes precedence over a bad smell in the hallway." She crossed her arms with finality.
"I'll rewrite the statement." Tory conceded. "But we're still due on the Zephyr in three hours. You should start getting ready. We've got a lot of ground to cover before the debate tomorrow."
"Thank you." Laura replied gently. "You're brilliant at what you do, Tory. I couldn't have gotten this far without you." Tory's face remained unchanged as she stood up. Before she could dismiss herself, a distorted male voice beckoned for their attention.
" Madam President," came Colonial One's pilot over the communication system. "Admiral Adama is urgently requesting to speak with you over the wireless."
Roslin grinned. "Speaking of the admiral." She said as she reseated herself at her desk. "Go ahead and start getting ready. This should only take a minute." Tory nodded, and made her way out of the President's office. Once she was out of earshot, Laura took the receiver from its cradle and raised it to her. "What can I do for you, admiral?"
" I'm sorry to wake you, Madam President." Began the grizzly, slightly distorted voice. " I'm sure you have a busy day planned."
"Don't worry, you didn't wake me. And it's nothing I wouldn't mind missing." She replied. "Is everything alright?"
" Im afraid a matter has come up that requires your immediate attention." Adama replied simply. "I need to speak with you onboard Galactica as soon as you can possibly arrange."
The admiral's voice had a certain aura of authority in it. Roslin had gotten used to it, but this time, Adama's tone took even her off guard. "Bill, I have a lot going on today. I can't just drop everything. What's going on? Is everything alright?"
" I can't say anymore over the wireless." He said in that same piercing voice. A tinge of worry manifested in Roslin's chest. "Laura. Trust me. You need to drop everything for this. And This has to be in person. It's a matter of fleet security, and it's extremely urgent."
That tinge of worry began to grow. Laura gripped the phone just slightly more tight. "Alright, you win. I'll start making my way to Galactica now. Just give me a little time to get ready."
" Thank you. I'll be seeing you shortly, Laura." The admiral replied in a marginally more upbeat voice. "Adama out."
With that, Laura returned the receiver to its cradle and wasted no time making her way to the cabin. A nagging voice in her head refused to let the admiral's words go. Had they uncovered a Cylon agent? Was there a bomb hidden somewhere in the fleet? A thousand worries dashed across her mind, each more outlandish than the one before it. She tried to tuck the thought away. She put the finishing touches on herself, and informed a now very annoyed Tory of their detour.
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To Laura's surprise, Adama hadn't been there to greet her upon arriving aboard Galactica. At first, it had just been following formal protocol, to have the CO greet the President of the Colonies when she landed on ship. Neither of them had ever been much for the political ritual, but it gave a sense of normality that the fugitive fleet craved. Over time, it had slowly turned from a political formality, to a ritual between friends. This time, instead of the admiral's worn face, a marine, whose name Roslin was ashamed to say she'd forgotten, escorted her to the situation room. Adama hadn't even spared an officer.
After several minutes of droning through sets of identical looking triangular corridors, the marine opened the door to Galactica's situation room and promptly dismissed himself. The room was lined with the same dreary, gray, color that dominated most of the ship, with sets of monitors placed along either wall. At the room's center was a large table with a powerful set of lights illuminating it from above. A collection of photographs laid strewn across it. Roslin was immediately greeted by a set of friendly faces turning to greet her. Standing front and center beside the imposing table was Admiral William Adama himself, bright lights reflecting off one lens of the man's glasses. Beside him was his son, and commander of the Battlestar Pegasus, Lee Adama. Also overlooking the photographs was the officer Roslin knew as Karl Agathon, and going over a topographical map with a marker in hand was the Cylon defector, Sharon. The four quickly turned to face her as she entered the room. Adama was the first to speak.
"Thank you for coming, Madam President." He said flatly, shaking her hand. "You look lovely today."
Laura smiled as she returned the admirals' handshake. She wore a simple off-blue buttoned outfit that she saved only for important occasions. She'd had to barter a really good watch for it. It's not like there was a lot of fabric to go around in the fleet. "It's good to see you, Bill." She turned her head to acknowledge the rest of the room in turn. "Commander Lee. Lieutenant." Roslin gave a hesitant nod at Sharon, still more than a little wary of her less-than-human nature. "What has me over here in such a hurry?"
"To make a long story short," Lee started, as he pressed a series of buttons on the foremost monitor's touchscreen. "One of our raptors misjumped, and you're not going to believe what it stumbled on." With a final click, the image of a magnificent blue-green orb materialized on the display. Roslin immediately took it for a planet - but not just any odd planet. It had great oceans stretching from one end to the other, and a series of continents dominated by great fields of green, tan, and white. Pearly white clouds dotted the world. For a moment, Roslin froze in place. She turned to Captain Agathon as he began to speak.
"It's a habitable planet." Agathon commented with obvious excitement. "Smack in the middle of its stars habitable zone. Atmosphere is oxygen-nitrogen, temperature is very amicable to human life... Looks a lot like Caprica, doesn't it?" The officer finished with a grin on his face.
"Before or after the nuclear winter?" Roslin replied sharply. She immediately regretted her tone, shifting her hand to a fist, playing with her thumb as she contemplated the implications of what she was looking at.
"Forests, plains, deserts, ice caps..." Adama listed off. "Caprica's got nothing on it."
"And that's not even the best part." Lee continued as he turned to face Sharon. "You want to tell her?"
The woman took a step forward at her name. "The entire star system is hidden by a nebula that our telescopes have a hell of a time making out. Even knowing exactly where to look, astrometrics can't pick out the star system."
"Which makes it the perfect place to hide from the Cylons." Captain Lee finished.
Roslin studied the image with an unchanging expression, her arms remaining crossed. She lowered her fist. "This is wonderful. Fantastic. A place to catch our breath, stretch our legs, stock up on supplies..." Space was, for the most part, very dead. The overwhelming majority of planets were gas giants or balls of cratered, airless rock. Habitable worlds were vanishingly rare. The globe displayed before them was more than habitable. It looked like a paradise. "Finding this is nothing short of a miracle, but... it could have waited another five hours. The way you talked on the wireless made it sound like the fleet's safety was in jeopardy."
An uneasy silence took hold over the room. Laura looked from one head to the other expectantly. Seconds passed before the admiral broke it. "There's one more thing." he said stoically. "We found something on the planet. We're not quite sure what to make of it yet."
Roslin raised her eyebrow. Lee resumed manipulating the display as he took a breath. "There were some unusual lights on the planet's dark side we were trying to account for. Not very bright, but you could definitely make them out. At first we were worried it was severe storms, or a lot of volcanic activity, but when our birds went in for a closer look..."
The planet's image was replaced by a series of pictures clearly taken by high-flying reconnaissance raptors. They showed off stunning vistas that stretched for kilometers. Hundreds of oddly uniform shapes dominated one of the photographs. They were completely encircled by a series of tan, round lines. Roslin also noted they were unusually consistent. She studied the image with a contemplative gaze for a few moments before the pieces fell into place. The realization came like a hammer slamming into her skull. She clasped her hand back to her mouth, her normally perfect composure failing her in an instant. Those uniform shapes weren't rocks. "Oh my Gods." She finally got out as she lowered her hand from her mouth. "It's a city . "
"An inhabited city." Lee elaborated, putting emphasis on the second word. "These circular structures at the city's perimeter are a series of walls. Big walls, actually, judging by the pictures. We can make out roads leading out to smaller villages" He moved his finger across to another monitor. "See those huge stretches of land, those square shaped things? Fifty cubits those are farms. They go on for kilometers."
Roslin took a few steps towards the display, her eyes still fixed on their discovery. "There's only one other tribe of humans we know of in the entire galaxy." She recalled. "Did we just stumble across Earth?"
"That was our first thought, too." Lee replied, seeming to predict her first thought. "We cross checked the constellations we found on Kobol with those in view of the planet. They aren't anywhere near a match. It's not Earth."
"Then..." The president started, still gathering her thoughts. "Then what the hell are we looking at?"
"They could be an offshoot of the thirteenth tribe." Admiral Adama suggested. "Or they could be something else. There's no point in speculating right now. The more pressing matter is, they significantly complicate our operations on the planet."
Roslin snapped her head to face the older man. "I disagree, admiral." She said derisively. "Figuring out where these people came from could go a long way to finding Earth." She turned back to Lee and Agathon. "Do we know anything about them? Anything at all?"
"We've sent a handful of reconnaissance birds, but they've all been high altitude." Lee started, dismissing the image from the monitor. "We haven't detected any trace of artificial radio waves, radiological signatures, anything that would be indicative of a technological civilization."
"The view from above is spectacular." Agathon piped up. "More pristine than anything back on the Colonies. Forests that stretched as far as the eye can make out, even from our altitude."
"Speaking of forests..." Lee continued, glaring at the officer. "Carbon dioxide levels are relatively low compared to what you would have found back on the Colonies. It's still pretty early to say, but I'd guess we're almost definitely dealing with something pre-industrial."
The president tilted her head. "They aren't space faring." She stated in a curious tone. "So how did they get here in the first place?" The question was almost rhetorical. She added it to the rapidly growing pile gathering in her mind. "How many people know about this planet?"
"The five of us, Colonel Tigh, and a handful of raptor teams." Adama offered up. "We've been trying to keep it need to know until we have a better handle on the situation, but I guarantee news is going to spread like wildfire, orders be damned."
"That's good." Roslin said with a touch of relief. "The moment word of this planet reaches the fleet, they'll be clamoring for a chance to get down there. And when people find out the planet is already inhabited…" She shook her head. "I can't imagine how the fleet is going to react. We need to figure out exactly what we're dealing with."
"I couldn't agree more." The admiral replied. "We need more information before this becomes public knowledge." Adama shifted his pose, turning to face his son. "If I'm not mistaken, all of the raptor teams thus far have come from Pegasus."
The younger commander smiled. Pegasus, the larger and more powerful of the two battlestars, had been under Lee's command for about a month now. "Have something in mind, sir?"
"I'm thinking of killing two problems at once." The admiral said. "We still have a lot of ground to cover on the planet. Checking the air for pathogens, making sure the water is potable..." He paused momentarily. "And scouting out the natives. If we're going to be sticking around on the planet for a while, we need to find out if they'll be friendly or otherwise."
"And if we're trying to keep this under wraps, it might be best for everybody who knows about the planet to stay outside the fleet." Lee concluded
A nod from the admiral confirmed the two were on the same page. "Everyone outside of this room who knows about the planet is already onboard Pegasus. I want you to jump your ship into orbit, run a few recon missions, while Galactica stays to guard the fleet. Adama turned to Roslin. "As far as the fleet is concerned, Pegasus is scouting a nearby star system for resources. Technically, that's even the truth."
"Sounds almost like shore leave." Lee grinned. "We'll be underway the moment I'm back on board."
"It's sounding like you have this under control." Roslin felt relief wash over her, now that she knew the fleet didn't have an imminent Cylon threat to worry about after all. "So if you'll excuse me, I'm due on the Zephyr in about an hour. Please, update me the moment you find anything else." She took a final look at the photographs sprawled on the desk. "This planet could change everything for the fleet."
"Of course." The Admiral reached out to hold the door open for Laura. "By the way, You're going to kick Baltar's ass tomorrow. I'm a little jealous I don't get to see it in person."
"I appreciate the vote of confidence." Roslin replied with a sly smile. She turned to give the admiral a slight bow goodbye, and hastily made her way back to Galactica's flight pod. If they stepped up the pace, they could still get through everything by the end of the day.
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Compared to the rest of the refugee fleet, Cloud Nine was in relatively pristine condition. Before the attack, she had been a luxury liner only higher class citizens could have afforded a ticket on. Its interior was unusually spacious and well kept, and the ship possessed one feature no other craft in the fleet, short of the Botanical Liner, could boast. Attached to the ship's hull was a massive biodome coated with a specialized conductive substance that gave the illusion of an open blue sky. The dome was home to almost perfect recreation of a planetside environment. It held a small forest complete with small wildlife, air filtered by natural plants, and some of the last vestiges of what life once looked like before the exodus.
It was from a spacious suite on this ship's upper deck that Doctor Gaius Baltar examined a curious photograph. He stroked his chin contemplatively as he held the picture between his fingers. Actually, it looked more like a photograph of a photograph. The edges were blurry, as if whoever had taken the picture hadn't been able to get a clear shot. Baltar guessed that had less to do with the photographer's skill, and more to do with the photo being taken in great haste. Centered in the picture was a blue-green orb floating in the black of space. It was a planet. From the looks of it, a very hospitable planet. Baltar raised his eyes to meet the man seated in front of him. "And where did you say you got this?"
The somewhat wrinkled man carried a smirk on his face. Tom Zarek had become Baltar's running mate and political adviser shortly into his campaign. It had been a calculated move. Zarek was one of the most divisive character's in the fleet, but also among the most charismatic. "One of our contacts on Pegasus transmitted it to us about an hour ago." His voice was firm. It carried power while still conveying a sense of nurturing care. "Shortly before the ship jumped away... for a scouting mission. "
"The last time we found a habitable planet, the Cylons were waiting for us." Baltar began, working through the implications. "Roslin could be trying to make sure the planet is actually safe this time before going public."
Zarek had begun shaking his head before Baltar even finished his sentence. "If the Cylons were there, Pegasus wouldn't be. For whatever reason, Roslin's hiding this planet from the fleet."
"That wouldn't make sense." Baltar said as he straightened the photo in his hands. "The planet looks perfect. The fleet would be absolutely ecstatic if they knew about it. Why wouldn't she go public, when she needs a PR win? Or the admiral for that matter."
Zarek's voice remained smooth and methodical. "You know how Roslin rules. She needs a boogeyman. If it's not the Cylons, its scarcity, or fleet security. A habitable planet like this would mean food, water, rest..." The man chuckled to himself. "It would mean she'd have one less excuse to impose whatever new decree she wanted. So I think she's planning to keep this particular find under wraps for the time being."
"Roslin is not an idiot ." Baltar protested. "She would know she can't keep something like this away from view for long. There has to be something more to this."
"This is our trump card." Zarek pointed out, ignoring Baltar's statement. "This is what we bring to the debate tomorrow. We use it to prove to the fleet how Roslin doesn't have their best interests at heart, no matter what she says."
"Do we really want to do that?" Baltar asked skeptically. "Don't get me wrong, I can see the advantage, but I feel like Roslin wouldn't be hiding something like this without a good reason."
Baltar had gotten to know Zarek well enough that he could detect minute traces of annoyance in his voice. "Gaius, this planet could be our fleet's salvation. What gives Roslin the right to decide how and when we learn that? And despite her setbacks, Roslin still has widespread support across the fleet. She isn't going down anytime soon unless something big happens." He seized the picture from Baltar's hands. " This is something big. Don't let it slip away."
Baltar stayed silent for a number of seconds. He took the picture back from Zarek's hands. The doctor gave Zarek a nod. Whatever it was Roslin was hiding the planet for, it couldn't be that big, really. He eyed the picture with a smirk, the realization dawning on him that this planet could guarantee his ascendance to the presidency.
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Fresh, crisp, air. A real, honest-to-Gods sun beating down on him. No nuclear fallout, and no Cylons hiding over the next hill waiting to gun them down. It even felt like spring. Agathon took another deep breath of it into his lungs. They'd made planetfall an hour ago, but it would take a lot longer for the effect to wear off. The officer turned his gaze up. Leaves and branches swung gently in the breeze. Off in the distance, he could hear the sound of birds singing from the trees. Karl had almost given up hope of ever hearing that sound again. The sky was a deep, perfect blue that seemed to go on forever, as opposed to the chronically gray-green hue Caprica's horizon would take on for another thousand years. Karl ran his hand along the grass beneath him. It was soft, and alive. His group of three had brought their raptor down in a clearing hidden within a sizable forest. The area was remote enough that avoiding contact with the natives should be easy, while still giving them an ample location to carry out their mission.
Twenty steps ahead, Sharon laid on her knees in front of a great lake in the center of the clearing. She produced a dropper from a metal carrying case beside her. With great care, she dipped the tip into the water and squeezed. Helo crouched beside her as she deposited the liquid into a small tube, then added a single drop of an opaque fluid from a tiny plastic bottle. She shook the contents. The tube took on a familiar, light green tinge. "Six-point-five, again." She muttered as she slid the tube in her satchel alongside a number of others.
"Should I get the lemons and sugar?" Helo asked lightheartedly with a smirk taking up half his face.
Sharon allowed herself a small smile. "That's the third test from this lake. The Ph level is consistent, low salt levels... It's definitely fresh. But I still wouldn't drink it without a filter. Not until the toxicology report gets back." The water was clear enough for the pair to just barely make out the outline of fish swimming near the surface. Agathon wondered if any ship in the fleet happened to be carrying a few fishing rods before the attack.
"We'll get the final word after we get these samples back to Pegasus." Karl's tone was upbeat, optimistic. "I'm going to go check on Nelson." With a pat on her back, Helo stood up and started making his way towards a man crouched before a set of bushes. Beside him were a set of neatly wrapped bags he seemed to be collecting. Within them were a random mishmash of items. Twigs, leaves, and very attractive looking fruits picked from nearby trees. Those reports couldn't get back from Pegasus soon enough.
"Hey, we should start wrapping this up." Helo said to the tan-skinned man still digging through the foliage. Nelson straightened his back and rested his arms on his knees. Upon closer inspection, he had a curious blue stain below his lips. Karl raised his eyebrow.
The man looked like his parents had just caught him sneaking dessert before dinner. After a pause, the marine held out a fist full of berries. Helo's face tensed. "They taste harmless. You should try them, sir. It's a hundred times better than that slop they've been growing on the fleet."
Without a moment's delay, Helo slapped Nelson's hand down. The berries fell to the ground. Nelson yelled out an explicative as he pulled his arm away from his superior officer. "Are you a frakking idiot?" Karl yelled out.
"Gods damn, calm down!" Nelson cried out. "I only had a couple."
"We don't know what's in them!" Helo boomed. "What if these are poison? You want to be taken back to Pegasus on a stretcher?" He grabbed the berries below him and threw them over his shoulder. Honestly, he couldn't blame the marine. After eating what passed for food in the fleet for ten months, they did look pretty appetizing. Karl shook his head as he stood up. "Grab your stuff and start heading back to the raptor. We're going home in ten. And for the sake of the Gods, don't-" Helo paused mid sentence. Off in the forest, he could have sworn he heard a branch break. The noise came again a moment later.
"Sir?" Nelson asked with confusion.
"Shut up a second." Helo snapped. The noise came yet again. The sound of something shuffling in the treeline. "You hear that?"
Nelson turned his head towards the trees. The snapping of branches and breaking of leaves seemed closer together. "I bet it's a wild animal." He said excitedly. "Do you have any idea how long it's been since we've had meat that came from a real animal?"
"Awful lot of noise for one animal." Helo replied, his voice tinted with concern. "Sidearms out. Let's get Sharon and-"
Karl's sentence was abruptly halted by a blast of heat shooting past his head. An instant later, the grass in front of him was on fire. The disciplined officer froze in place, remaining fixated on the flame with a mix of confusion and disbelief. He blinked hard, forcing himself back into his senses. He turned his head to see a set of figures sprinting out of the tree line in their direction. This time, he didn't waste precious time. "Forget the samples. Back to the raptor. Now."
The two officers barely made three paces before they're eyes caught a second set of figures approaching from the opposite side of the clearing. Helo gritted his teeth. He turned back to find the first set of natives already splitting to surround them. They were clad in dark red and deep black. Gods, how did they move that fast? Their raptor was a good hundred feet away. The path was still clear, but that would be changing in a few seconds. They could still make it... Sharon, where is she?
The woman had evidently made a dead sprint for the spacecraft the moment the natives made themselves known, and was seconds from getting to the raptor herself. Helo starred awestruck again as a red blast swung through the air and landed at her feet. Sharon nearly tripped herself skidding to a stop, the grass below her burned intensely. Helo's eyes darted in the direction of the fireball.
"The frak was that?" Nelson asked in horror, sharing Helo's disbelief. That few seconds gap closed as the two groups joined to surround them. He could clearly make them out now. They were men. The red and black they wore had to be metal armor, and they wore dark spiked helmets that left no room to doubt the intentions of the strangers before them. Helo grabbed the butt of his sidearm, pulling it from its holster, but taking great care to keep it pointed down. He could see Sharon drawing her own sidearm and raising it into the air.
" Don't shoot!" Karl yelled out even as Nelson drew his own pistol. "Don't frakking shoot!" There were more than a dozen of them, probably closer to twenty. Far too many than Helo felt comfortable taking on with just three of them. "They're not armed." He observed, sounding less than certain of himself. For all he knew, they'd just landed in their backyard. Maybe there was still room diplomacy.
One of the men, a large, stout looking fellow with half his face hidden in a beard let out a laugh. "That's what you think." He raised his arm, and as if on command his hand set itself ablaze. A great flame hovered over his outstretched hand, once again making Helo question his own senses. "We've been watching you since you approached our territory. Naturally we're very eager to make your acquaintance. Why don't you come back to our camp, and we can have an introduction?"
"Hey, we're not here to start a fight." Helo said, in a conciliatory tone. He stretched his palm open in front of him. "We didn't know this was your territory, we're sorry for intruding. We were actually just leaving."
"That's fire." Nelson's voice was shaking, like he almost didn't believe himself. "Helo - that's fire. In his hand. Do you see that?"
"I'm afraid we can't allow that." The man boomed out again. "Seize the-" A world-shattering boom ricocheted through the forest. Dark red gushed from the man's throat. Now the warrior's own eyes betrayed a sense of horror while he grabbed for his throat in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding. A follow-up shot hit him square in the chest, and his limp body fell to the ground in a mess of blood.
"Get to the raptor!" Sharon yelled while she took aim at a second soldier. Helo and Nelson wasted no time turning about and making a dead sprint for the spacecraft. A set of bangs rang out from Sharon's weapon. Helo pointed his gun behind him and fired blindly. At the very least, the noise alone might disorient them if they'd never seen firearms.
Unfortunately, the soldiers were quick to get over their initial shock. A blast of flame cut Helo and Nelson off from their craft. Another separated the two of them. Agathon turned to his aggressors in desperation, taking aim at them over the flames. He pulled the trigger. Then again. One of them collapsed to the ground. Two more took his place, firing a blast that struck Helo in the shoulder. Searing heat began cutting through the fabric of his flight suit. They were built to be flame retardant to an extent, but it would only buy a few seconds. He started hitting the flame with the arm of his uniform, when another blast hit the ground inches in front of him. The shock wave sent him to the ground. He raised his gun in the direction of the figures, but squeezing the trigger was met with only a click.
Sharon crouched behind the raptor, clicking out her cartridge and replacing it with her only spare. Blast after blast of fire screamed past her. It seemed to be doing a decent job of providing suppressive fire. Literally, she supposed. Figuring out what the hell was going on could wait until they were back in the fleet. If they got back to the fleet. Acting on instinct, the woman dove into the raptor's open hatch. She grabbed hold of the wireless transceiver in front of the cockpit tight enough that she would have been worried it might break, if it weren't for the adrenaline. "Pegasus! Krypter! Krypter! We've been-"
A pair of men ran into the hatch, their arms pulled back and hands clenched into a fist. They pushed forward. Sharon's reflexes proved better. Only a small flame was produced by the first man's hands before a set of shots knocked him to the ground. She didn't have time to take aim at the second before her eyes were blinded by a white heat, and her hands were doused in searing flame. Her gun fell from her hands. She dropped to the cockpit floor, screaming in pain.
"Sharon!" Karl yelled out just as a boot pressed down on his throat. He tried yelling again, but no sound came out. The sound of Nelson's pistol had ceased. The fires around him put themselves out. He fought with every ounce of strength he had left while the surviving men turned him over and began binding his wrists and legs.
"You've caused us quite a bit of trouble." One of the figures muttered as he removed his helmet. A set of scars that looked like an animal had tried to rip his throat open ran down his neck. "I am so very curious about who you are, and where you came from. I'm especially curious what this item is." The man held up Nelson's sidearm, carefully dangling it by the grip. "Take them back to the camp, maybe they'll be more cooperative after they've had a few hours to tire themselves out." Helo never ceased struggling against his bindings in vain as his captors began carrying him and his comrades away.
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Pegasus had been a top of the line ship at the time of the attack. It's hallways and bunks were spacious by Colonial Fleet standards, and the Commander's personal quarters were no exception. Compared to what normally qualified as living space in the fleet, it was downright luxurious. Lee Adama had spent most of the first half of the day going over the initial reconnaissance reports and personally helping organize the first of the landing parties. Ordinarily, the commander of a battlestar would have no part in that type of micromanagement, but the ex-CAG inside Lee refused to die out. The first of the landing parties were starting to trickle back into the great ship. He was going over the first of their debriefings when a soft ring indicated somebody was beckoning for his attention.
"Come in." He called out, setting the pages down on his desk. He wasn't surprised to see a tan-skinned woman step into the room. "Something I can do for you, Dualla?" Lee asked with a grin.
"Nice to see you too, commander." Anastasia Dualla said as she returned the smile. A few months ago she was Galactica's communications officer. Now, she served as Pegasus's XO. The battlestar's command staff had experienced a distressing string of deaths after the ship reunited with the fleet, and Galactica had been forced to dig deep just to crew her. The woman carried a thermos in one hand and a large envelope in the other. She set them both down on Lee's desk. "Have any cups?"
Lee raised an eyebrow. "Of course." He reached below his desk and produced a pair of metal-gray containers. "I thought you'd lost your taste for coffee."
Dualla's smile turned to a grin of her own. "It's not coffee. Just trust me." She opened the thermos and poured an odd, purple colored liquid into each of the cups. She reached for one. "Go on. Try it."
"You didn't lace this, did you? Eying another promotion?" He sniffed the cup. It was sweet, familiar. Lee's curiosity grew as he took an experimental sip. The flavor zapped him like an electric shock. The drink sent memories flooding back to him. It tasted like home. " It's tea. Real raspberry tea. How the hell did you get your hands on this?"
Dualla's smirk remained glued to her face. "My parents sent a box of it in a care package a couple of weeks before the attack. I've been saving my last couple of bags for a special occasion." She unsealed the manilla envelope and opened it to reveal a set of high-quality photographs packaged within. "I thought we could share them while going over the latest batch of reconnaissance pictures."
The commander took another whiff of the hot beverage before setting the cup down. "Sounds like my cup of tea." He joked. "When did these come in?"
"Our birds have been transmitting them as soon as they take them. Gods, look at this landscape." She set the first of the photographs on the table. Lee examined it. Trees and tiny bodies of water stretched for dozens of miles, if the scale on the bottom of the image was to be believed. Even from the raptor's altitude, the view was breathtaking. At its center was a mass of green that seemed to stretch into the sky. From their angle, it looked like a single, impossibly large tree.
"Looks like mush." Lee observed. "I almost want to say like a swamp. Terrain's probably too unstable to try landing a bird in that mess."
Dualla paused at the next image. Her eyes gave away a sense of confusion. "This one was taken near the planet's northern ice cap." She said as she laid the image down between them. "This next one's a zoomed in shot of the same area. Look at this." She placed a third image down. It showed off the same frozen ice sheets, only this time bordering the ocean. A huge chunk of the ice right on the shoreline stuck out. It looked artificial, as if somebody had carved out a huge chunk of terrain. However, it was the collection of barely visible, rectangular objects floating in the water itself that grabbed Lee's attention.
"Those are ships!" Lee exclaimed as his hand rushed to point them out. "Sailing ships. And that's another major city. How far north did you say this was taken?"
"About as far north as you can get." Dualla replied in wonder. "that's the edge of the northern ice cap." She turned the image for a better look. "That entire city looks like it was carved out of ice."
"An entire city?" Lee said incredulously. "If that's true, those are some damned determined people down there. How is that even possible?"
Dualla shook her head. "Well, it just is, apparently." She turned away from the collection of images to face Lee. "I still can't get over how there are actual humans down there. People who probably grow food, build houses, start families..." She smiled, but her eyes lowered. "People who've never heard of the Cylons. This planet seems a little too good to be true."
Lee took another sip of his tea, savoring the flavor as long as possible. The commander frowned. "Careful about jumping the gun too early. We haven't even figured out if the water's safe to drink. We've got a long way to go."
Dualla gave a half laugh, half exasperated sigh. "Can you blame me?" She let out. "These pictures could mean the end of this nightmare we've been living for the last year. The idea of Waking up to a sunrise instead of a bulkhead is a pretty welcoming thought."
The young commander grasped his XO's hand. "Everybody on this ship is thinking the same thing. If there's any chance this planet is what we think it might be..." He smiled at her. "Let's finish off those pictures before the tea gets cold."
Dualla's smile returned to her face, albeit not as strong as before. She took the next one from the pile. It's annotations indicated it was taken above one of the continents on the southern hemisphere. It's contents took them both off guard. This one also portrayed a massive city, but one obscured by a haze of gray and black. Great clouds of smog obscured the raptor's view. A nearby river was stained with brown. Dualla raised an eyebrow. "So much for pre-industrial." She set it down with the others. "What do you think they're like? The natives. Do you think they'll be friendly?"
Lee opened his mouth to answer, but was abruptly cut off by the ship's comm system demanding his attention. He grabbed a phone off his wall. "Adama."
" Commander, we need you down in CIC immediately." Came the voice of Lee's communications officer, Louis Hoshi. "It's one of the recon teams. Something's happened to them."
"What do you mean something?" Lee replied, his voice instantly turning to frustration.
" We think they've been attacked." The officer blurted, without further explanation.
"Attacked?" Lee's eyes darted back to Dualla. "How-" He stopped himself. "Thank you, I'm on my way." The commander finished as he slammed the phone back into its cradle. "Something's happened to one of the recon teams. We're going to CIC." The commander was out the door before he finished his sentence, with a worried looking Dualla trailing close behind.
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" Reporter James McManus here, live on Colonial One, where we're just minutes away from the first of three presidential debates between sitting president Laura Roslin and challenger Gauis Baltar. I'm sitting with about two dozen others. Space is at a premium, but nobody seems to be complaining too much. I'm recognizing the faces of every political activist in the fleet. Reporters, ship captains... We just completed a very candid interview with the captain of the Hitei-Kan a few minutes ago, and will be playing it back later today for those who missed it."
The journalist shuffled in his seat with microphone in hand, blissfully unaware of the growing collection of people giving him a sour look. His words were being transmitted over the wireless to the rest of the fleet in real time. Every ship would be tuning in for the occasion, even if the end result seemed a forgone conclusion.
" President Roslin has just entered the room. She's standing at her podium now. President Roslin is, of course, still the favorite to win by a wide margin, making this a kill-or-be-killed moment for Doctor Baltar. Speaking of the good doctor, the challenger is making his way down the aisle between us now. He's shaking the moderator's hand... Now Roslin's. It's looking like we're about to get underway here."
At the front of the room, Laura Roslin grasped Baltar's hand, giving a beaming smile as she leaned into him. Smiling and giving appearances had become second nature to her over the last year. She'd be proud of herself, if she didn't find the entire charade so dehumanizing. "I'm going to wipe the floor with you." She said just low enough that the microphones wouldn't pick her up.
"We'll see." Baltar replied with an equally artificial expression. It was clear he'd had a great deal more practice with masking his emotions. The two parted for their respective podiums at opposite sides of the room. The moderator, a dark-haired woman who Roslin recognized from her passenger liner back on the first day of the attack, gave a short introduction before declaring the official start of the debate.
The first topics were important, but they'd been a rehash of the same things that had been talked about over and over again. Food shortages, air filtration, ship maintenance... Baltar maintained Roslin's administration had neglected many of the fleet's basic needs in favor of giving every spare resource they had to the military. Roslin countered by citing numerous instances of the military sacrificing for the civilian fleet. Keeping their vipers flying and bullets stocked had to be top priority, the president repeated. Baltar insisted she could be doing more.
The conversation rapidly jumped from topic to topic. One minute they were discussing the degradation of medical equipment in the civilian fleet, the next they'd moved to individual rights. Baltar brought up Roslin's executive order banning abortion through the fleet. She knew he would. It was the only topic where he'd managed to gain any traction.
"Roslin never called for a vote." Baltar declared. She never asked the people if they thought giving up one of their sacred rights was worth the price. Roslin decided she was entitled to make that decision for us."
" Nobody believes more strongly in a woman's right to choose than I do." Roslin said through gritted teeth. However, as I've said, time and again, the ban on abortion was a neccesary step to ensure the long term survival of this fleet, and our species." Roslin countered. Her voice dripped with agitation. "And a decision that, by the way, I enacted on the personal recommendation of Doctor Baltar while he still worked under my administration."
Baltar violently shook his head. "The only thing I told you was the outlook of the fleet. There were a hundred things we could have done to raise birthrates. Incentives, ration vouchers... You decided on your own to go through with the ban." Baltar raised his voice. "The entire way she handled that fiasco was just more proof of how disconnected Roslin's administration has become to the will of the people."
"Ration vouchers? Really? With what extra rations?" Roslin snapped back. "This administration has bent over backwards trying to at least acknowledge every issue every ship in this fleet has, even if we don't have the resources to solve them all." Laura noticed her voice rising, and dialed it back down.
"What, so you can bring a list to Papa Admiral on Galactica, so he can rebuff you without giving it a thought?" Baltar said mockingly. "Hasn't it become obvious who rules the roost in that relationship? It's the government's job to tell the military what it can and can't do, not the other way around. Do the people really want a president that capitulates so easily?"
"A few more repairs won't mean a damned thing if Galactica's vipers blow up in the launch tubes next time the Cylons get the jump on us." She steadied herself, making another effort to lower her voice. She couldn't let herself get too heated. It would look bad on sound bites.
"Repairs aren't the only thing you've been withholding from the fleet." Baltar said accusingly. He straightened his gaze towards the audience. "I'm going to prove, once and for all, how far Roslin is willing to go to lie to this fleet in the name of security ." He gestured towards a man seated in the back of the room. A projector screen unfolded behind the podiums. Roslin looked visibly concerned.
The display clicked on. An image came to life. Roslin's eyes widened in shock. It was the same image she walked in to the other day. The one of that blue orb floating amongst the stars. How the hell did Baltar get his hands on that? How did he...
"This image." Baltar began, his voice harsh and aggressive. "Was taken by a raptor some time ago. How long ago? We don't know, because Roslin has made every effort to hide this nugget of information from the fleet." Every person in the audience looked visibly shaken. Shocked murmurs ran through the room. "The planet is very obviously habitable. The Cylons can't be there, because Pegasus is orbiting the damned thing right now. So the question is, why is Roslin hiding a possible refuge from the Cylons from this fleet?"
The moderator struggled to keep control of the room. A dozen microphones launched forward. People were demanding answers. Where is the planet in relation to the fleet? How long has your administration known about the planet? Is the planet truly habitable?" Roslin remained frozen. She bit her lip. That Gods damned idiot! She had to say something. Do something. This wouldn't go away. Roslin drew a breath. The room turned dead silent, waiting for her to make some sort of comment. After many moments of silence, the reporters got their sound bite.
"Yes there is a planet, yes it's habitable." Roslin began, the silence still overwhelming. "We've known about it for about a day, actually I just learned it this morning. I fully intended to share this information, unlike what Doctor Baltar here is insinuating. There's just been…" Roslin paused and took a breath. "There's a complication."
"What kind of complication?" A reporter yelled out to affirmations from the audience. Roslin stared daggers at Baltar before returning her gaze to the audience.
"The planet is inhabited." Roslin said flatly. The whole room seemed taken off guard. Audible shock ran through the audience once again. Roslin raised her voice, intentionally this time, to get over the noise. "We wanted to wait until we had a better picture of what this planet has in store before bringing it into the public eye." She turned to face Gaius. "But seeing as Doctor Baltar has so graciously brought it to your attention early..."
"Madam President..." Came McManus. The reporter stood up, microphone held out. "You said inhabited? As in..."
"As in humans, just like us, are living on the planet's surface." Roslin maintained her emotionless voice. As far as the debate was concerned, every other topic was off the table. The planet was about to make every issue in the fleet small by comparison. "They're less advanced than us, as far as we can tell. Probably closer to a feudal society than an industrial one."
"How much do we know about these inhabitants?" Another reporter questioned.
"Next to nothing." Roslin answered simply. "Like I said, we've only known about the planet for a day. We know they raise crops and livestock, build cities, villages, and roads, that they have ships and farms, but other than those broad strokes, your guess is as good as mine."
"Is this the thirteenth tribe spoken of in the ancient scrolls?" A dark-skinned woman in the crowd asked. She wore a brilliant necklace. From the look of her face, she was Gemenese. "Is this Earth?"
"Probably not." Laura said flatly.
"Do we know if the natives might be friendly?"
"We. Don't. Know." Roslin said, stretching her words. "We don't know anything. That's the reason I didn't bring this to the fleet's attention sooner."
Question after question came. Now Baltar could barely get a word in. On Galactica, Admiral Adama slammed his desk and cursed Baltar. That damned fool had no idea what he was doing. And how did he get his hands on that intel in the first place? The implications didn't please him in the slightest. All across the fleet, every soul was fixated on Colonial One and the dialogue taking place on board. In the space of a few minutes, life in the fleet had been changed, permanently and irrevocably. Adama could only hope it was for the better.
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Chapter 2 - Meet the Neighbors
Their captor's camp looked like a ramshackle arrangement of dark red tents. Each had a flame shaped, jet-black emblem etched into at least one side. At the camp's center, a great fire roared beneath a cauldron, containing some sort of yellow, frothy substance. If Helo hadn't been afraid for their lives, he would have thought it actually smelled pretty good. Karl was brought into one of the smaller tents by a pair of large, armored men, who proceeded to chain him to a heavy metal chair. In front of him was a simple, wooden table, but there was a little else in the dimly lit structure. He hadn't seen where Sharon and Nelson had been taken, but he could assume they were in the same camp. The Colonial officer didn't have to wait more than a few short minutes before someone new let themselves into the tent.
The fit, middle-aged man's facial hair was perfectly trimmed, and his hair was pulled up into a small bun. His armor, black and red like the other soldiers, featured an extra set of blades that jutted out from the shoulders. Helo could guess they may have implied rank, or status. The man sat down on the other side of the table, and eyed the Raptor crewman with utter fascination. He ran a hand across his chin, as if trying to figure out what to make of Helo.
"Captain Karl Agathon." The officer volunteered after a few moments. He could have given his serial number, that was protocol in the event of capture, but what would be the point? A few more moments passed. "Look, I think we have some kind of misunderstanding."
The man retracted his hand. "I have to agree with you." He replied to Helo's surprise. "So why don't we just talk, man to man, and see if we can't sort this out." He looked up to the man on Helo's right. "Guard, uncuff the prisoner. And get him something to drink, please." The man's eyes returned to Helo. "My name is Colonel Eiko. My deepest apologies for my men's attack on your people. They just get a little over eager, you know?" Helo squinted. The man sounded genuine, but he wasn't too eager to trust his captors. Not after hearing Sharon scream in pain.
"You make a habit out of attacking random travelers?" Helo sniped against his better judgement.
"Can you blame them?" The colonel replied with pride. "I'm sure you know, the Earth Kingdom was driven out of this land not even a week ago. We actually expected them to put up more of a fight. They still smell blood. They want to fight. I'm sorry they involved you."
Agathon's ear twitched at the word Earth. Just throw that question onto the pile with the rest. "Apology accepted." Karl feigned. "You don't mind if we head out now, do you?"
"I would love to let you go, I really would." Colonel Eiko said in a conciliatory tone. "But I'm sure you understand, we have no idea who you are. My men said they watched your airship fly down, into our territory, after a deafening boom roared across the sky. They also said it seemed to stop in midair before slowly descending to the ground. You can understand why we might want to know a bit about who you are."
Eiko smiled again. "Let's talk for a bit, get to know each other, then I promise you can be on your way."
Karl stretched out his free hand, still sore from the cuffs. A man set a small cup below him, heat simmering onto his face. It actually smelled like, like… "Tea?"
"We don't have the best out here, but I hope you'll find it to your liking."
Karl grabbed the beverage, bringing it to his nose, and inhaled. It had a faint, pleasant aroma. He hadn't had anything other than plain water or sludge coffee in months. Still, he didn't feel comfortable drinking it just yet. No telling if they put something in it. "Thank you." He said cooly. Regardless of whether Agathon trusted this man or not, his best chance of escape, at least for now, was cooperation. "Okay, let's talk. Where do you want to start?"
"How about who you are and where you're from?" Eiko asked, as if it was just a simple, straightforward question.
"That's, that's uh…" Helo started, trying to figure out where to even begin to answer. "That might take a bit of explaining, actually."
The man raised a palm. "Don't worry, I have time."
"Okay." Helo took a breath. Hopefully a half-truth would be believable enough, he had a feeling the full truth would be too hard to swallow. "Okay, my name is Captain Agathon. Me, the people I was with, we come from… from a land very, very far from here. We needed food, water, supplies. So we stopped to gather some."
"How far from here?" Eiko pushed.
Helo raised a hand, pointing up at the roof of the tent. "Our people are up there, that's where our airship came from. Our people are up there, and if you don't let us go, they're going to come looking for us."
Eiko looked increasingly incredulous. "Another airship? Where was it built? By who?"
Helo nodded. "Yeah, that airship you found us in, it's just a short range recon craft. We didn't want to fight you or anybody else." His face hunched closer to Eiko. "To be honest, we landed here because we thought nobody was around. We had no idea you were here."
"How could you not know?" Eiko accused. "I don't think you're being fully honest with me, Captain. Was your airship built by the Northern Air Temple?"
"It wasn't."
"So where, exactly, was it built?"
Karl shook his head. "I don't think you're going to understand."
"You're dodging the question." Eiko alleged, his voice losing much of its initial softness.
Karl Agathon licked his lips. He could try a higher dose of the truth, but Eiko might just take that as another lie. He couldn't stall for time, and he didn't know the first thing about this world to even pretend to make up a story. "The ship wasn't built on this world." He said slowly, praying to the Lords of Kobol this would work out in his favor. "It was built on another world, and we came a very long way to get here. Honestly, we did come here to gather supplies and nothing else."
There was an aching pause. Then, the colonel's incredulous look finally started to fade away. "Ah, finally, we're starting to get somewhere."
"Glad you see it that way."
"You carry impressive weapons for someone who didn't intend on fighting anyone." Eiko opened a satchel he'd brought in, and produced a familiar metal object. One of their firearms. Helo felt himself tense up. He considered making a break for the weapon, but in the end, he didn't like his chances enough to go through with it. Eiko toyed with the weapon in his hands, holding its grip and rubbing a finger across the barrel.
"Don't!" Karl pleaded. Eiko tensed up this time, pulling the weapon further away from Helo. "Just, be careful with that, please. Honestly I'd feel better if nobody was touching it at all."
Eiko smiled, and resumed examining the gun. "Would you like to know why I believe you?" he asked.
Karl feigned a smile in return. "Yeah, I do."
The colonel probed the front of the weapon's barrel, running his fingers across the opening. "If you were talking to an Earth Kingdom soldier, or a Water Tribe fisherman, they would think you were magic," he chuckled. "And of course they would, they have no other point of reference. We're a little more civilized than that."
Eiko delicately held the device in both hands, seeming to admire the craftsmanship. The grizzled man slowly ran a finger across the weapon's shaft. "This is metal. It feels refined. More finely than anything else I've ever seen" He said with authority. "My father was a blacksmith, and since I was barely old enough to walk, I was by his side. He taught me everything there is to know. There's nothing supernatural about this weapon. It was forged, just like our swords and ships." Eiko replaced the weapon in his satchel. "There are no people on this planet better at forging metal than the Fire Nation. So, it follows that you're not from this planet."
Helo nodded in agreement with the Colonel. These people might have been assholes to them, but they were smarter than their technology initially led him to believe. "You're right, we're not magic. We're just visitors. And if you let us go, you're not going to see us again."
The colonel gave a disappointed sigh. He grabbed his satchel, and looked to the guard. "Restrain him again, please." He said almost clinically.
Helo stood up in protest before being slammed down by the guard. "What happened to talking?" He snapped out while the guard grabbed his hands and resumed binding him to the chair.
"I really wish I could, but I'm afraid I can't let you. The general wants to know everything about that airship. How it works, what makes it tick. You're going to tell us everything there is to know about it."
"Hey, hey!" Helo cried out, still hoping to be able to reason with the colonel. "We do not need to be enemies. We can work this out."
"I have a dozen men waiting to be buried who would disagree with that." Eiko retorted. He grabbed his satchel, and made his way to the tent's entrance."Enjoy your tea, we'll talk again." Helo yelled out for the man to no avail, with the emotionless guard walking out behind him, taking his station at the small structure's entrance.
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"Attacked?" Lee Adama repeated to the command staff gathered around the dimly lit CIC of Pegasus. The ship's nerve center was smaller than Galactica's, despite the ship itself clocking in at nearly twice the size. The closer quarters only amplified Lee's voice. "How the hell was our recon team attacked? Attacked by who? Where?"
"Sharon called in a pretty hectic distress call over her wireless before she cut out. We haven't been able to reach the Raptor since." Louis Hoshi, Pegasus's communications officer, explained. "That was just a few minutes ago."
"I guess first contact with the locals didn't go very well." Lee said, stating the obvious. He examined a topographical map of the recon team's landing site, sprawled out over CIC' central command console. "I thought all recon teams were instructed to keep their distance from the natives?"
"They landed in a pretty heavily forested area. Decent chance if somebody was there, they could have missed them." Dualla hypothesized.
"And now we have three missing crewmen at their mercy."
Dee pulled up a series of high-altitude images transmitted by the Raptor on its first flyover. Lee examined them from over her shoulder as she spoke. "That's a big forest, if we don't find them soon, it's going to be next to impossible to cover all that ground."
Dualla was right, Lee thought. Time would be of the essence. "I want a squadron of Raptors loaded with marines on the launchpad in fifteen minutes." He demanded. Dualla uttered a quick acknowledgement before grabbing a phone to relay the order. "Hoshi, I want all recon teams off the surface immediately." The commander looked up at the DRADIS display mounted above the central command console. Its soft hum had become pleasant white noise, but even that small comfort felt perverted here. Normally, it would be giving a clear view for thousands of kilometers. In the electromagnetic muck of the nebula, they could barely make out their own orbit.
"So much for shore leave." Lee muttered to himself.
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"We have a problem." was Adama's blunt opening statement.
Roslin hadn't always seen eye to eye with the admiral, but she appreciated how forthright the man was. "Yes, we do." Laura agreed. "Baltar has caused quite the mess for us to deal with."
"Colonel Tigh was telling me over half the wireless traffic through the fleet is about that damned planet." Adama complained, pouring himself a cup of water and joining Roslin on the couch pushed up against the passenger cabin. "People are demanding to know when we're jumping the fleet into orbit."
"We don't even know for sure the Cylons are unaware of the planet." Roslin pointed out. "We could be walking right into their trap."
"We should make a statement, together." Adama suggested before taking a sip of his drink. "Tell them we'll jump the fleet into orbit when we're one hundred percent satisfied it's safe to do so, and not one moment sooner."
"I was going to suggest a joint statement myself." Roslin said, smiling. More and more often, the two seemed to be seeing things eye to eye. "I wanted to wait until we hear back from Pegasus, so we have more information to make public."
"Lee should be reporting back tomorrow morning." Adama disclosed. "And not a moment too soon. Speculation is running wild. If we don't get a handle on it soon, Baltar is going to find another way to take advantage of the situation."
"Let's plan for tomorrow afternoon then. Around, say, 1700." She stood up, and paced to that favorite window of hers, the one overlooking the fleet. She crossed her arms. "Bill, when do we start addressing the elephant in the room?"
Adama stayed seated. Laura guessed he was taking advantage of the chance to let his body rest. He didn't have to keep up appearances on Colonial One, not when her staff was gone and they had some privacy . Sometimes, she felt like the old man was finally starting to let his guard down around her. It made her feel honored, and a little touched. William let out a long sigh, and set his empty glass down on the stand beside him. "If you're talking about the possibility of permanent settlement, it's still way too early to be giving it serious thought."
"Yeah, tell that to the civilian fleet." Roslin said flippantly. "A beautiful, new world. Hidden from the Cylons. Is it an act of mercy from the Gods, or is there something here we're not seeing?" In the distance, something caught the President's attention. For a moment, something seemed to flicker just outside of her peripheral vision. Laura squinted her eyes, trying to find the source. It seemed to be coming from one of the civilian ships, the Botanical liner. She pressed her face almost against the window, as if the extra few inches would make the difference.
"I don't believe in divine intervention." Adama said, rebuking the suggestion. "We have a lot of ground to cover on this planet. I think that's a discussion worth having, but we need to take this one step at a time. Do you want me to bring Lee for our statement? He'll know more about the planet than either of us." Adama asked, trying to change the topic.
A few moments passed without reply. "Laura?" He turned to face her. Roslin was absolutely transfixed on that window. Her arms were practically glued to her chest. "Laura, what's wrong?"
"Bill, come here please." Roslin implored. She felt him come up behind her.
Way off in the distance, the two could make out the long, green shape of the Botanical cruiser. The ship was essentially a large cylinder with a dozen biomes plastered across her hull. The ship had been a long term cruise liner before the attack, serving rich vacationers. Since then, it'd been converted to grow most of the refugee fleet's food. Roslin always shuddered when she saw that ship up close. She'd given the order to leave behind an identical looking ship during the initial attack on the Colonies. If she hadn't made the call, all of them would have died back there. It didn't make the decision easier in retrospect.
One of the ship's biodomes had ruptured, and she was belching smoke off her main fuselage. A bright, orange explosion originating from the cylinder briefly illuminated the duo's window, sending the spaceship careening out of formation, its maneuvering thrusters fighting in vain to compensate for the explosion's inertia jerking them wildly off course. Another set of biodomes ruptured, igniting the air and sending water and soil flooding into the vacuum of space.
"Oh my Gods." Laura let out with disbelief.
"I need to go." Adama said flatly, as if it were any other sentence. He didn't bother with another word, or even shutting the door behind him. Laura took a moment to collect herself before grabbing her phone, and trying to reach Tory over the wireless.
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Karl Agathon ran through his options for the thousandth time. He'd given up on breaking free of his metal bindings. Maybe Sharon would have better luck, she was the strongest of the three. Another option was to wait until the guards transferred him, but even if he could overpower one or two, he had no idea how many more were in this encampment. He wasn't even sure he'd be able get far enough to find out. The officer couldn't pretend to understand how, but these people seemed able to summon fire at will. Helo kept running back the image of the man bringing an open flame above the palm of his hand, back at the Raptor. Or being cut off from Nelson when they tried to make a break for it. Or, worst of all, Sharon's horrific scream when the armored soldiers seared her sidearm out of her hands.
Finally, after some consideration, Karl had his escape plan. He would wait until he was uncuffed and taken out of the tent. He would get a headcount of how many there were. If he could, he'd try to get eyes on Nelson and Sharon. If they took him back to this tent, he'd be ready to make his escape the next time. If they tried to take him out of this camp, he'd claim he had something more to say to Eiko, and take a chance that-
Captain Agathon's strategizing was interrupted by a series of immensely loud, crashing thuds outside. There were a couple of blood-curdling screams mixed with intermittent, confused chatter. One of them, the voice of the man from back at the Raptor, sounded like he was trying to yell out a warning to his fellow men.
That man came crashing into his tent, propelled by a small boulder that looked like it'd been shot out of a cannonball and into his chest. The soldier slammed into the ground feet away from Agathon. He coughed out blood, weakly trying to pull himself up before collapsing.
Agathon blinked hard, staring dumbfounded at the crippled man
His eyes moved up to the broken entrance of the tent, then back the soldier. The boulder had left a sizable impression in his armor.
Though his brain hadn't quite registered it yet, the fighting outside had stopped. Another man, this one dressed totally different from anyone else Helo had met, stepped into the tent. He wore light tan armor, made of a heavy cloth instead of metal. Brilliant green stretched from his shoulder blades halfway down his arm. He wore a thin, round helmet twice the width of his head, complete with a tiny, silver centered on top. The stranger swiped his hands together with a look of smug satisfaction. "Thought you could use a hand."
Agathon tilted his head, his mouth hanging open ever so slightly.
"Let's get you out of here before more of them show up." He threw a fist down, and with one swift motion, threw it back up. A small chunk of the ground came up with it. The man squeezed his fist, and the chunk compressed into small, dense rock. The man threw his arm forward, sending the rock crashing square into the middle of Helo's cuffs, freeing him.
"Come on!" the newcomer yelled out, before turning and starting to run out of the tent. When Helo didn't immediately follow, he turned back around.
"What are you waiting for!" he yelled out in frustration.
Finally, Helo gathered himself and made a break for the door. Outside, Another dozen of the red-and-black soldiers laid dead or dying. The few of them who were still alive and kicking were being bound themselves by a pair of men in identical tan-green outfits.
"Captain!" Sharon called out. She and Nelson had also been freed by their saviors, to Helo's relief. She was crouched down, her hands in the process of being bandaged by one of their rescuers. Helo sprinted over to her.
"Hey, are you alright? Did they hurt you?"
"No, they hadn't even bothered talking to me yet." Sharon said to Helo's relief. "Actually, they seemed confused about what a woman was doing out fighting with a pair of men."
"My name is Sergeant Rokkon." Helo's rescuer, a grizzled man who looked to be in his late 30's, explained. His facial hair was a frazzled mess, and he had a thick bandage on his left arm, coated with dried blood. He didn't bother acknowledging Sharon. "Acting head of the 17th Battalion. What's left of it, anyway."
There weren't more than a couple dozen of the tan-green soldiers around the camp. Most of them look pretty beat up, too. "Thank you… Sergeant." Helo replied with a slight nod, hesitating on the last word.
"We saw that Fire Nation patrol taking you back to their encampment." Rokkon explained. "We've actually been trying to find where their patrols are based out of, so thank you. The least we could do was return the favor."
Rokkon knelt down in front one of the surviving Fire Nation soldiers. The defeated man had been forced onto his knees, his wrists bound just as Helo's had been not too long ago. "I had family in Boshan." The sergeant explained to the man. "A lot of my men did, Before you turned it to cinders." Rokkon spat in the man's face. He stood up, and turned to Helo. "This isn't the first time they've underestimated the Earth Kingdom, it won't be the last. I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?"
"Cap-" Helo stopped himself. He decided it would be easier for all involved if he just omitted his rank. "Karl Agathon."
"Well, Mister Agathon, the Fire Nation asked at least one good question. Do you usually bring women along with you to the front lines?"
I really, really do not have time for this . Helo thought to himself. "We're not really from around here." he replied simply.
"I could have guessed." Rokkon admonished. "Your clothes, I've never seen anything like them. The markings on your shoulders, I'm not familiar with those either."
Helo touched the squadron patch on his flight suit. "We're from far away." He replied, vaguely. The officer had mixed feelings. On one hand, this was a golden opportunity to learn more about the natives. More importantly, it could be a chance to figure out what the actual frak happened back at the Raptor, and in the tent. People shooting fire. Then throwing boulders like they were thin air. What the hell was happening on this planet? On the other hand, bombarding this random person with questions may not have been the most advisable idea.
"Your men pulled a chunk of solid rock out of the ground and threw it fifty feet!" Sharon spat out, finally vocalizing the insanity Helo had been witnessed back in the tent and solving his conundrum for him. "How are you doing that?" she finished.
"Excuse me?" Rokkon asked incredulously. "How am I doing that?" he repeated. The sergeant turned to Helo, his eyes slowly running down his flight suit. "I'm sorry, where exactly did you say you're from?"
Helo was trying to figure out how to reply when a series of sudden, loud bursts screamed out from the skies above them. The Earth Kingdom men ducked down. One threw a literal wall of rock in front of them, giving themselves cover.
"Hypersonic booms." Helo noted, not even flinching at the noise. He locked eyes with Sharon " Pegasus is coming for us."
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A dozen miles above, a half-dozen Raptors screamed through the thickening atmosphere at a thousand miles an hour. Compressed, superheated air engulfed the squadron in an envelope of fire, until a combination of the planet's atmosphere and the ship's own propulsion systems arrested enough velocity. As the view cleared, their pilots finally got their first real, close-up look at the gem that, until just now, they'd only seen from the stratosphere up.
"Alright, you all have your coordinates." Crackled a feminine voice over the wireless. The pilot, callsign 'Racetrack,' was taking point on the search & rescue operations planetside. "Keep to your grid, don't go wandering off. Whoever finds our missing Raptor crew gets bragging rights for rescuing the Cylon girl, that's all the motivation you need."
They'd set up a simple grid over the forest, centered on the Raptor's last known position. Each bird was assigned its own grid. The small spacecraft had an astonishing amount of tech crammed into them, allowing them to look for their pilots with a dizzying array of sensors and instruments. And if their team so much as blinked at a wireless, they'd pick it up a thousand miles away.
"I've got eyes on our wayward Raptor. Tough Guy, take your bird down there and secure the site. See if you can find anything." Racetrack ordered. Her Raptor hovered fifty meters over the tree line. She peered out her windows, counting on the ECO in the ship's aft to do the heavy lifting of working every thermal and optical sensor their ship had. She just had to keep Raptor pointed straight, which was pretty easy to do when there wasn't an army of DRADIS-tracking surface-to-air missiles trying to swat her out of the sky.
Although, those sensors didn't do them quite as much good here. Mark-1 eyeball might actually have more luck finding their people.
Racetrack had only just finished surveying the first set of grid coordinates when one of her pilots hailed them over the wireless. "Racetrack, Thumper. I have something here. Some sort of small camp at my position. I'm going in for a closer look."
"Roger, Thumper." Racetrack replied. "Signal again if you find something. Try not to scare the locals too much, okay?"
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The Earth Kingdom soldiers had gathered into a tight formation as the thunderous sounds echoing around them multiplied. Helo was doing what he could to deescalate the situation, but the warriors seemed to be ignoring him.
"Fire Nation war machines." The sergeant declared. "A whole division of them, maybe more. We can't hope to outrun them. We'll make our stand here."
"Nobody is here to fight anybody!" Helo declared for the fifth time, yelling to make himself heard over the roars of the Raptor's engines echoing through the sky. "Listen, I know those people. They aren't- they aren't the Fire Nation."
Rokkon only glared at him.
Above the canopy, Helo finally got a visual on the small orange craft that was his ride home. It came to a stop near the middle of the encampment, hovering in place about a hundred feet up. The captain started flailing his arms in its general direction.
"What unholy-" Rokkon began. The soldier maintained his stance, fists clenched. "They have airships?"
The man braced himself, and threw an open palm down to the ground. Helo watched the sergeant clench his fist, and pull a massive, car-sized boulder out of the ground.
"No!" T he Colonial yelled out, sprinting over to the Earth Kingdom soldier. "No no no-"
Agathon remained unacknowledged by Rokkon who, in one swift motion, sent the boulder soaring towards the spaceship at breakneck speed.
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"Confirmed, Racetrack. I have eyes on Helo, Sharon, and our marine. I've also got two dozen other contacts, Probably the people who attacked them."
"Roger that, Thumper. Good work." Racetrack replied. "All Raptors, converge on-"
"What the Frak!" Thumper yelled out, cutting Racetrack off mid sentence. I just- they started throwing crap at us."
"Throwing crap at you? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah they missed. Just took my bird up another five hundred feet. Looked like a bunch of big-ass rocks. I don't know where the hell it came from. They- My ECO has optics on them. He's telling me they're just pulling things out of the frakking ground."
"What? Thumper, repeat your last?"
"I said they're pulling boulders out of the frakking ground!"
Racetrack looked back at her own ECO. He stared back at her, both trying to make sense of their comrade's statements.
"Frak it, we'll figure it out later. They took our people. I'm weapons free."
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Praying that one of those boulders wouldn't catch him, Helo charged in front of the Earth Kingdom soldier. He threw his arms up, yelling out at the Raptor as if they'd be able to hear him from an air-tight cockpit hundreds of feet in the air.
He turned back at the sergeant, their faces an inch apart. "Stop!" He cried out again. "Those are our people." He pleaded.
"What?" Rokkon spat out.
"Those are out people, and if you don't calm down you're going to end up in more pieces than those soldiers you just mowed down. Now listen to me and stop throwing shit at them."
"Your… people?" Rokkon repeated, incredulous. Finally, after a tense stare-off with Agathon, he grudgingly backed down. The man turned to his troops. "Cease fire!" He declared. Rokkon turned back to Helo. "I'm going to have to ask you one last time." Rokkon started, this time a tinge of fear mixed into his authoritative voice. "Where exactly are you from?"
Helo turned to the Raptor, motioning with his arm for the spacecraft to come down. He looked back at Rokkon. "Why don't we talk." was all he offered.
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The mood in the fleet had gone from excitement and jubilation, to somber in the space of a day.
Laura Roslin licked her finger, and flipped her notebook to a fresh page.
Galactica's multipurpose wardroom never seemed to be the place where good news came from. The plain, rectangular room currently consisted of a single, long table stretching almost wall to wall. A single lonely chair was at the front of the room's front, almost against the wall. The room was usually used in formal ship or fleet-wide business.
At this moment, attendance included Admiral Adama, with President Roslin and her aid Tory seated to his right. On his left sat Colonel Saul Tigh, Galactica's XO, and Feelix Gaeta, tactical officer and trusted confidant.
Front and center, commanding the raptured attention of all present from that lonely, isolated chair was Chief Galen Tyrol. His orange jumpsuit was stained with black and soot.
"We've put out the last of the fires." Tyrol continued, not meeting any of the solemn faces questioning him in the eye. "The captain expects to have his FTL drive up and running again by the end of tomorrow."
"Do we have any idea how extensive the damage is?" Adama asked, not looking up from his notes.
"DC teams from the Botanical cruiser and Galactica are still trying to get a full catalogue." The chief replied. "The fires and resulting explosion punched a pretty big hole in the rear of the ship. Five of her biodomes were destroyed, and another three have microfissures all over their glass. I've recommended the captain vent those domes until we can fabricate replacements."
"What kind of timeline are we looking at for repairs?" Roslin asked softly. "I'm sure you know, the Botanical ship is responsible for more than half of our food production."
The chief cleared his throat. "Most of the structural damage to the fuselage can be repaired with the stuff we already have on hand. The biodomes on the other hand…" He paused, and took a breath. "They're made of a special glass that the machinery we have on hand just doesn't do a good job of replicating. Now, we can make a pretty decent facsimile, but the new biodomes are going to end up a lot more fragile than the original."
"Good thing we never run into any trouble around here." Tigh said, trying to cut the tension.
"I can't give a solid timeline, maybe two months, maybe longer." The Chief reported. "There is one more pretty significant issue, though."
"Just one?" The President looked up from her notebook, asking for Galen's eyes.
Tyrol looked up from the ground, finally returning Laura's gaze. "We can fix the ship itself up, but the organic stuff she was carrying onboard - soil, some chemical compounds, we don't have a way of synthesizing them."
"Those domes will never grow food again, not until we can replace those supplies planetside." Gaeta deduced, following Tyrol's logic.
"Exactly."
"Two months with most of our food production gone." Roslin thought out loud, twirling her pen between her fingers. She decided to change the topic. "Do we have any idea what caused the explosion in the first place?"
"Specifically." Adama interjected. "Is there any evidence at all this was sabotage?"
"Well, we aren't ruling anything out yet." Tyrol started. "But, to be perfectly honest, we've been pushing that ship pretty hard for a long time now. It was never designed for agricultural work on this scale, and I wouldn't be surprised if something decided to just give out."
"I see." Laura knew they'd been pushing that ship to do more than they probably should have, but what was the alternative? There was only so much space suitable for growing food in the fleet. "So once the investigation is over, we either get to tell the fleet it was a Cylon agent, or that it was another case of our ships falling apart." She needed to move on. "Do we have a final casualty count yet?"
"We still have a few people in critical condition who were medevaced to Galactica's sickbay." The Chief began. "As of right now, the count is at seventy-five lost souls."
Roslin's expression remained unchanged. "Thank you, Chief." She said simply. "Those were all the questions I had."
"You're dismissed, chief petty officer." The admiral gave the slightest of nods as he finished jotting his notes.
The chief stood up and straightened his jumpsuit. "By the way, the captain of the Botanical cruiser wanted me to express his thanks for letting them borrow one of our DC teams."
"We're in this together, aren't we?" Tigh offered. "Go get some rack time while you can."
The Chief quietly left the room, and Adama closed the door behind him. He sat back down, eyeing Laura. They each seemed to be waiting for the other to speak first.
"This is a catastrophe." Roslin let out, finally breaking the silence. She immediately wished she'd chosen a better word, but catastrophe seemed to be the best descriptor. "We're already on strict rationing as it is."
"In the short term, the situation might actually be worse than we initially thought." Adama explained. "The Botanical cruiser was getting ready to make a shipment of food tomorrow. Most of it was lost in the accident."
"Gods, we can't seem to catch a break today, can we?" Tigh let out in disgust.
"How long can we expect our current supplies to hold out?" Felix piped up hesitantly.
"We've probably got two or three weeks before we start running into serious shortages." Tory revealed, her eyes locked on her notes. "If we crack down on rations even harder than we already are, maybe a bit longer. Some ships have more stockpiled than others, so it's hard to get very exact."
"Okay." Laura steeled herself. She needed to assume control of the situation. "Tory, I want you to contact each ship captain and get an inventory of their food supply. Let's see if we can't get a timeline more specific than a 'couple of weeks.' She looked to Adama. "Admiral, I'd like you and Commander Lee on board Colonial One the moment he jumps back. That planet may have just become our saving grace."
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The flock of Raptors would have almost looked graceful touching down one by one around the Fire Nation encampment, if it weren't for the still-deafening roar of their engines. One by one, they slowly spun down. The Raptor's hatch closest to Helo popped open first. Three marines came barrelling out, rifles drawn. Then another three, and another. They were in full body armor, with helmets obscuring most of their face. They started pointing weapons in the direction of the Earth Kingdom soldiers.
"Hey hey!" he yelled out, displaying his outstretched palms. "Stand down! It's okay, We're all friendlies here."
The marine on point, a thin woman with jet-black skin, didn't look convinced. To Helo's relief, though, she finally pointed her weapon towards the ground, and her men followed suit. Agathon helped Sharon up, and handed her off to one of the marines. He asked him to make sure she got some real antiseptic on her wounds.
"You mind telling us what the hell happened to you, captain?" Came Racetrack's half angry, half annoyed demand. She gave a nervous side eye at Rokkon, still standing beside Karl.
"Who are you people?" the sergeant asked, bewildered. "Are- are you Air Nomads?" His face snapped to Agathon. "Did she call you captain? Captain of what?"
Racetrack gave another nervous glance at the sergeant, then looked back at Helo.
"They rescued us." Helo blurted out, trying to diffuse the situation. "Our team was captured. This man is Sergeant Rokkon, and these are his men. They followed and got us out."
"Thumper said they were.." The pilot started, before stopping herself. "She said they were-"
"Throwing rocks at you guys?" Helo interrupted
Racetrack froze, then produced a quick nod. "Yeah."
"Are you telling me you've never seen an Earth bender before?" Rokkon asked, trying to insert himself into the conversation again.
"Rokkon," Helo began. "No, we've never seen an Earth Bender before."
Rokkon's bewildered expression shifted from Helo to Racetrack, then to the squadron of marines and Raptor crews slowly gathering behind them. Agathon noted how every single set of eyes was staring at Rokkon, or his few dozen soldiers scattered across the encampment. Everybody seemed to be trying to get their first real look at the natives.
Rokkon looked at the soil, and brought an outstretched palm just above the ground. He clenched his fist, and a chunk of dirt and rock came flying up out of the ground like magic. The sergeant brought his fist up, levitating the material above his hand as the dozen or so Colonials exchanged shocked looks and confused words.
Silently, Rokkon clenched his fist into a palm. The rock shattered into dust. He stretched out his other hand and held the thousands of fragments suspended in mid air between his palms. He brought his fists together, and the fragments reformed into a single, compact rock again.
He let it fall back into his palm.
" Heee-lo." Racetrack took a step back, nearly tripping over herself. "What the hell is going on? How are they doing that?"
"You've never seen a bender." The reality finally seemed to settle on him. He dropped the rock, leveling it back into the ground with one swift motion. "I've never seen anything like your airships. Not even the stories of the Air Nomads mentioned anything as fearsome as these." He took a step towards the raptor.
A marine started raising her weapon.
"No." Helo put a hand up. "It's okay, let him."
Rokkon slowly, deliberately, walked up to the spacecraft. He held a hand over its metal hull. Finally, he set it down and started running his fingers across the ship's body. He turned back to the Colonials. "You might as well ask me how I draw breath, or command my arm to move. It's a part of my being. It's an extension of myself. It's as natural as picking something up." Rokkon took his hand back. "Now, answer one of my questions. What are you people? What part of the world do you call home?"
"We're not quite from around here." Helo explained again.
Rokkon took his hand back, and resumed his normal, tight composure. "We saved your life, you owe us more of an explanation than that."
"Somewhere not from this world. Somewhere we can't go we can't go back to." Helo said, his voice somber. "We lost our home."
"You lost your home." Rokkon nodded in solidarity. "I can understand that. All of my men can." He kneeled in front of one of the slain soldiers. "So you know nothing of the Fire Nation, the hundred year war, the Avatar, anything?"
"We don't. But we want to learn, hopefully someday soon."
The sergeant stood up, and walked to within an inch of Agathon, staring him dead in the eye. " Captain Agathon, I need you to understand, as long as your people are here, these men, the Fire Nation, they will attack you. Again, and again, and again. They are butcherers, and they understand nothing but war and death. They burnt our village to the ground just days ago. They'll probably turn this forest to cinders just trying to find us."
"Thank you for the warning." Helo desperately wanted to stay longer. He wanted so much that it physically hurt. He wanted to just let Rokkon talk for a week. What were these people like? How did they live? What defined their culture, their way of life? And of course, everything there was to know about the seemingly magic, inexplicable, bending. This was a fact finding mission, and that last part seemed like a pretty damn important fact . "Right now, we need to go back to our people."
"And my men need to get to the next village." Rokkon said curtly. "Ever since the Fire Nation failed to conquer the Northern Water Tribe, they've become more brutal trying to make progress on this front."
"Thank you, again, for what you've done for us. Maybe we'll meet again someday."
"Maybe we will." Rokkon replied. "Goodbye, Captain Agathon."
The warrior turned around, and one by one, his men turned away from the Colonials and their machines. They gathered their prisoners, threw their arms behind them, and started moving the ground itself below them, sending them speeding off and leaving a thick cloud of dirt dust in their trail.
The Fire Nation encampment may have been void of life, but it had a bounty of artifacts just waiting to be taken back to the fleet. They found parchment with what looked like writing, but not in any language they recognized. The maps were the most exciting find by far, with clearly marked cities and villages. Though, what Helo was most excited to bring back to the fleet, was something he hid from the other crews. Tucked away in one of the tents, was a satchel filled with real, fresh, honest-to-God's bread. He hid the bag in the lower compartment of his Raptor before running his pre-flight checklist and breaking for orbit, wondering how exactly he was going to explain all of this at his debriefing.
Commander Lee was there to greet him and the others in Pegasus's starboard flight pod. Helo caught his CO walking up before he could even set foot onto the flight deck.
"You mind telling me what happened down there?" Lee demanded.
The Officer took his time replying, much to Lee's annoyance. Helo looked to Sharon, then behind him at the Raptor he'd just stepped out of. "We need to pull the gun camera."
The fit, middle-aged man's facial hair was perfectly trimmed, and his hair was pulled up into a small bun. His armor, black and red like the other soldiers, featured an extra set of blades that jutted out from the shoulders. Helo could guess they may have implied rank, or status. The man sat down on the other side of the table, and eyed the Raptor crewman with utter fascination. He ran a hand across his chin, as if trying to figure out what to make of Helo.
"Captain Karl Agathon." The officer volunteered after a few moments. He could have given his serial number, that was protocol in the event of capture, but what would be the point? A few more moments passed. "Look, I think we have some kind of misunderstanding."
The man retracted his hand. "I have to agree with you." He replied to Helo's surprise. "So why don't we just talk, man to man, and see if we can't sort this out." He looked up to the man on Helo's right. "Guard, uncuff the prisoner. And get him something to drink, please." The man's eyes returned to Helo. "My name is Colonel Eiko. My deepest apologies for my men's attack on your people. They just get a little over eager, you know?" Helo squinted. The man sounded genuine, but he wasn't too eager to trust his captors. Not after hearing Sharon scream in pain.
"You make a habit out of attacking random travelers?" Helo sniped against his better judgement.
"Can you blame them?" The colonel replied with pride. "I'm sure you know, the Earth Kingdom was driven out of this land not even a week ago. We actually expected them to put up more of a fight. They still smell blood. They want to fight. I'm sorry they involved you."
Agathon's ear twitched at the word Earth. Just throw that question onto the pile with the rest. "Apology accepted." Karl feigned. "You don't mind if we head out now, do you?"
"I would love to let you go, I really would." Colonel Eiko said in a conciliatory tone. "But I'm sure you understand, we have no idea who you are. My men said they watched your airship fly down, into our territory, after a deafening boom roared across the sky. They also said it seemed to stop in midair before slowly descending to the ground. You can understand why we might want to know a bit about who you are."
Eiko smiled again. "Let's talk for a bit, get to know each other, then I promise you can be on your way."
Karl stretched out his free hand, still sore from the cuffs. A man set a small cup below him, heat simmering onto his face. It actually smelled like, like… "Tea?"
"We don't have the best out here, but I hope you'll find it to your liking."
Karl grabbed the beverage, bringing it to his nose, and inhaled. It had a faint, pleasant aroma. He hadn't had anything other than plain water or sludge coffee in months. Still, he didn't feel comfortable drinking it just yet. No telling if they put something in it. "Thank you." He said cooly. Regardless of whether Agathon trusted this man or not, his best chance of escape, at least for now, was cooperation. "Okay, let's talk. Where do you want to start?"
"How about who you are and where you're from?" Eiko asked, as if it was just a simple, straightforward question.
"That's, that's uh…" Helo started, trying to figure out where to even begin to answer. "That might take a bit of explaining, actually."
The man raised a palm. "Don't worry, I have time."
"Okay." Helo took a breath. Hopefully a half-truth would be believable enough, he had a feeling the full truth would be too hard to swallow. "Okay, my name is Captain Agathon. Me, the people I was with, we come from… from a land very, very far from here. We needed food, water, supplies. So we stopped to gather some."
"How far from here?" Eiko pushed.
Helo raised a hand, pointing up at the roof of the tent. "Our people are up there, that's where our airship came from. Our people are up there, and if you don't let us go, they're going to come looking for us."
Eiko looked increasingly incredulous. "Another airship? Where was it built? By who?"
Helo nodded. "Yeah, that airship you found us in, it's just a short range recon craft. We didn't want to fight you or anybody else." His face hunched closer to Eiko. "To be honest, we landed here because we thought nobody was around. We had no idea you were here."
"How could you not know?" Eiko accused. "I don't think you're being fully honest with me, Captain. Was your airship built by the Northern Air Temple?"
"It wasn't."
"So where, exactly, was it built?"
Karl shook his head. "I don't think you're going to understand."
"You're dodging the question." Eiko alleged, his voice losing much of its initial softness.
Karl Agathon licked his lips. He could try a higher dose of the truth, but Eiko might just take that as another lie. He couldn't stall for time, and he didn't know the first thing about this world to even pretend to make up a story. "The ship wasn't built on this world." He said slowly, praying to the Lords of Kobol this would work out in his favor. "It was built on another world, and we came a very long way to get here. Honestly, we did come here to gather supplies and nothing else."
There was an aching pause. Then, the colonel's incredulous look finally started to fade away. "Ah, finally, we're starting to get somewhere."
"Glad you see it that way."
"You carry impressive weapons for someone who didn't intend on fighting anyone." Eiko opened a satchel he'd brought in, and produced a familiar metal object. One of their firearms. Helo felt himself tense up. He considered making a break for the weapon, but in the end, he didn't like his chances enough to go through with it. Eiko toyed with the weapon in his hands, holding its grip and rubbing a finger across the barrel.
"Don't!" Karl pleaded. Eiko tensed up this time, pulling the weapon further away from Helo. "Just, be careful with that, please. Honestly I'd feel better if nobody was touching it at all."
Eiko smiled, and resumed examining the gun. "Would you like to know why I believe you?" he asked.
Karl feigned a smile in return. "Yeah, I do."
The colonel probed the front of the weapon's barrel, running his fingers across the opening. "If you were talking to an Earth Kingdom soldier, or a Water Tribe fisherman, they would think you were magic," he chuckled. "And of course they would, they have no other point of reference. We're a little more civilized than that."
Eiko delicately held the device in both hands, seeming to admire the craftsmanship. The grizzled man slowly ran a finger across the weapon's shaft. "This is metal. It feels refined. More finely than anything else I've ever seen" He said with authority. "My father was a blacksmith, and since I was barely old enough to walk, I was by his side. He taught me everything there is to know. There's nothing supernatural about this weapon. It was forged, just like our swords and ships." Eiko replaced the weapon in his satchel. "There are no people on this planet better at forging metal than the Fire Nation. So, it follows that you're not from this planet."
Helo nodded in agreement with the Colonel. These people might have been assholes to them, but they were smarter than their technology initially led him to believe. "You're right, we're not magic. We're just visitors. And if you let us go, you're not going to see us again."
The colonel gave a disappointed sigh. He grabbed his satchel, and looked to the guard. "Restrain him again, please." He said almost clinically.
Helo stood up in protest before being slammed down by the guard. "What happened to talking?" He snapped out while the guard grabbed his hands and resumed binding him to the chair.
"I really wish I could, but I'm afraid I can't let you. The general wants to know everything about that airship. How it works, what makes it tick. You're going to tell us everything there is to know about it."
"Hey, hey!" Helo cried out, still hoping to be able to reason with the colonel. "We do not need to be enemies. We can work this out."
"I have a dozen men waiting to be buried who would disagree with that." Eiko retorted. He grabbed his satchel, and made his way to the tent's entrance."Enjoy your tea, we'll talk again." Helo yelled out for the man to no avail, with the emotionless guard walking out behind him, taking his station at the small structure's entrance.
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"Attacked?" Lee Adama repeated to the command staff gathered around the dimly lit CIC of Pegasus. The ship's nerve center was smaller than Galactica's, despite the ship itself clocking in at nearly twice the size. The closer quarters only amplified Lee's voice. "How the hell was our recon team attacked? Attacked by who? Where?"
"Sharon called in a pretty hectic distress call over her wireless before she cut out. We haven't been able to reach the Raptor since." Louis Hoshi, Pegasus's communications officer, explained. "That was just a few minutes ago."
"I guess first contact with the locals didn't go very well." Lee said, stating the obvious. He examined a topographical map of the recon team's landing site, sprawled out over CIC' central command console. "I thought all recon teams were instructed to keep their distance from the natives?"
"They landed in a pretty heavily forested area. Decent chance if somebody was there, they could have missed them." Dualla hypothesized.
"And now we have three missing crewmen at their mercy."
Dee pulled up a series of high-altitude images transmitted by the Raptor on its first flyover. Lee examined them from over her shoulder as she spoke. "That's a big forest, if we don't find them soon, it's going to be next to impossible to cover all that ground."
Dualla was right, Lee thought. Time would be of the essence. "I want a squadron of Raptors loaded with marines on the launchpad in fifteen minutes." He demanded. Dualla uttered a quick acknowledgement before grabbing a phone to relay the order. "Hoshi, I want all recon teams off the surface immediately." The commander looked up at the DRADIS display mounted above the central command console. Its soft hum had become pleasant white noise, but even that small comfort felt perverted here. Normally, it would be giving a clear view for thousands of kilometers. In the electromagnetic muck of the nebula, they could barely make out their own orbit.
"So much for shore leave." Lee muttered to himself.
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"We have a problem." was Adama's blunt opening statement.
Roslin hadn't always seen eye to eye with the admiral, but she appreciated how forthright the man was. "Yes, we do." Laura agreed. "Baltar has caused quite the mess for us to deal with."
"Colonel Tigh was telling me over half the wireless traffic through the fleet is about that damned planet." Adama complained, pouring himself a cup of water and joining Roslin on the couch pushed up against the passenger cabin. "People are demanding to know when we're jumping the fleet into orbit."
"We don't even know for sure the Cylons are unaware of the planet." Roslin pointed out. "We could be walking right into their trap."
"We should make a statement, together." Adama suggested before taking a sip of his drink. "Tell them we'll jump the fleet into orbit when we're one hundred percent satisfied it's safe to do so, and not one moment sooner."
"I was going to suggest a joint statement myself." Roslin said, smiling. More and more often, the two seemed to be seeing things eye to eye. "I wanted to wait until we hear back from Pegasus, so we have more information to make public."
"Lee should be reporting back tomorrow morning." Adama disclosed. "And not a moment too soon. Speculation is running wild. If we don't get a handle on it soon, Baltar is going to find another way to take advantage of the situation."
"Let's plan for tomorrow afternoon then. Around, say, 1700." She stood up, and paced to that favorite window of hers, the one overlooking the fleet. She crossed her arms. "Bill, when do we start addressing the elephant in the room?"
Adama stayed seated. Laura guessed he was taking advantage of the chance to let his body rest. He didn't have to keep up appearances on Colonial One, not when her staff was gone and they had some privacy . Sometimes, she felt like the old man was finally starting to let his guard down around her. It made her feel honored, and a little touched. William let out a long sigh, and set his empty glass down on the stand beside him. "If you're talking about the possibility of permanent settlement, it's still way too early to be giving it serious thought."
"Yeah, tell that to the civilian fleet." Roslin said flippantly. "A beautiful, new world. Hidden from the Cylons. Is it an act of mercy from the Gods, or is there something here we're not seeing?" In the distance, something caught the President's attention. For a moment, something seemed to flicker just outside of her peripheral vision. Laura squinted her eyes, trying to find the source. It seemed to be coming from one of the civilian ships, the Botanical liner. She pressed her face almost against the window, as if the extra few inches would make the difference.
"I don't believe in divine intervention." Adama said, rebuking the suggestion. "We have a lot of ground to cover on this planet. I think that's a discussion worth having, but we need to take this one step at a time. Do you want me to bring Lee for our statement? He'll know more about the planet than either of us." Adama asked, trying to change the topic.
A few moments passed without reply. "Laura?" He turned to face her. Roslin was absolutely transfixed on that window. Her arms were practically glued to her chest. "Laura, what's wrong?"
"Bill, come here please." Roslin implored. She felt him come up behind her.
Way off in the distance, the two could make out the long, green shape of the Botanical cruiser. The ship was essentially a large cylinder with a dozen biomes plastered across her hull. The ship had been a long term cruise liner before the attack, serving rich vacationers. Since then, it'd been converted to grow most of the refugee fleet's food. Roslin always shuddered when she saw that ship up close. She'd given the order to leave behind an identical looking ship during the initial attack on the Colonies. If she hadn't made the call, all of them would have died back there. It didn't make the decision easier in retrospect.
One of the ship's biodomes had ruptured, and she was belching smoke off her main fuselage. A bright, orange explosion originating from the cylinder briefly illuminated the duo's window, sending the spaceship careening out of formation, its maneuvering thrusters fighting in vain to compensate for the explosion's inertia jerking them wildly off course. Another set of biodomes ruptured, igniting the air and sending water and soil flooding into the vacuum of space.
"Oh my Gods." Laura let out with disbelief.
"I need to go." Adama said flatly, as if it were any other sentence. He didn't bother with another word, or even shutting the door behind him. Laura took a moment to collect herself before grabbing her phone, and trying to reach Tory over the wireless.
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Karl Agathon ran through his options for the thousandth time. He'd given up on breaking free of his metal bindings. Maybe Sharon would have better luck, she was the strongest of the three. Another option was to wait until the guards transferred him, but even if he could overpower one or two, he had no idea how many more were in this encampment. He wasn't even sure he'd be able get far enough to find out. The officer couldn't pretend to understand how, but these people seemed able to summon fire at will. Helo kept running back the image of the man bringing an open flame above the palm of his hand, back at the Raptor. Or being cut off from Nelson when they tried to make a break for it. Or, worst of all, Sharon's horrific scream when the armored soldiers seared her sidearm out of her hands.
Finally, after some consideration, Karl had his escape plan. He would wait until he was uncuffed and taken out of the tent. He would get a headcount of how many there were. If he could, he'd try to get eyes on Nelson and Sharon. If they took him back to this tent, he'd be ready to make his escape the next time. If they tried to take him out of this camp, he'd claim he had something more to say to Eiko, and take a chance that-
Captain Agathon's strategizing was interrupted by a series of immensely loud, crashing thuds outside. There were a couple of blood-curdling screams mixed with intermittent, confused chatter. One of them, the voice of the man from back at the Raptor, sounded like he was trying to yell out a warning to his fellow men.
That man came crashing into his tent, propelled by a small boulder that looked like it'd been shot out of a cannonball and into his chest. The soldier slammed into the ground feet away from Agathon. He coughed out blood, weakly trying to pull himself up before collapsing.
Agathon blinked hard, staring dumbfounded at the crippled man
His eyes moved up to the broken entrance of the tent, then back the soldier. The boulder had left a sizable impression in his armor.
Though his brain hadn't quite registered it yet, the fighting outside had stopped. Another man, this one dressed totally different from anyone else Helo had met, stepped into the tent. He wore light tan armor, made of a heavy cloth instead of metal. Brilliant green stretched from his shoulder blades halfway down his arm. He wore a thin, round helmet twice the width of his head, complete with a tiny, silver centered on top. The stranger swiped his hands together with a look of smug satisfaction. "Thought you could use a hand."
Agathon tilted his head, his mouth hanging open ever so slightly.
"Let's get you out of here before more of them show up." He threw a fist down, and with one swift motion, threw it back up. A small chunk of the ground came up with it. The man squeezed his fist, and the chunk compressed into small, dense rock. The man threw his arm forward, sending the rock crashing square into the middle of Helo's cuffs, freeing him.
"Come on!" the newcomer yelled out, before turning and starting to run out of the tent. When Helo didn't immediately follow, he turned back around.
"What are you waiting for!" he yelled out in frustration.
Finally, Helo gathered himself and made a break for the door. Outside, Another dozen of the red-and-black soldiers laid dead or dying. The few of them who were still alive and kicking were being bound themselves by a pair of men in identical tan-green outfits.
"Captain!" Sharon called out. She and Nelson had also been freed by their saviors, to Helo's relief. She was crouched down, her hands in the process of being bandaged by one of their rescuers. Helo sprinted over to her.
"Hey, are you alright? Did they hurt you?"
"No, they hadn't even bothered talking to me yet." Sharon said to Helo's relief. "Actually, they seemed confused about what a woman was doing out fighting with a pair of men."
"My name is Sergeant Rokkon." Helo's rescuer, a grizzled man who looked to be in his late 30's, explained. His facial hair was a frazzled mess, and he had a thick bandage on his left arm, coated with dried blood. He didn't bother acknowledging Sharon. "Acting head of the 17th Battalion. What's left of it, anyway."
There weren't more than a couple dozen of the tan-green soldiers around the camp. Most of them look pretty beat up, too. "Thank you… Sergeant." Helo replied with a slight nod, hesitating on the last word.
"We saw that Fire Nation patrol taking you back to their encampment." Rokkon explained. "We've actually been trying to find where their patrols are based out of, so thank you. The least we could do was return the favor."
Rokkon knelt down in front one of the surviving Fire Nation soldiers. The defeated man had been forced onto his knees, his wrists bound just as Helo's had been not too long ago. "I had family in Boshan." The sergeant explained to the man. "A lot of my men did, Before you turned it to cinders." Rokkon spat in the man's face. He stood up, and turned to Helo. "This isn't the first time they've underestimated the Earth Kingdom, it won't be the last. I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?"
"Cap-" Helo stopped himself. He decided it would be easier for all involved if he just omitted his rank. "Karl Agathon."
"Well, Mister Agathon, the Fire Nation asked at least one good question. Do you usually bring women along with you to the front lines?"
I really, really do not have time for this . Helo thought to himself. "We're not really from around here." he replied simply.
"I could have guessed." Rokkon admonished. "Your clothes, I've never seen anything like them. The markings on your shoulders, I'm not familiar with those either."
Helo touched the squadron patch on his flight suit. "We're from far away." He replied, vaguely. The officer had mixed feelings. On one hand, this was a golden opportunity to learn more about the natives. More importantly, it could be a chance to figure out what the actual frak happened back at the Raptor, and in the tent. People shooting fire. Then throwing boulders like they were thin air. What the hell was happening on this planet? On the other hand, bombarding this random person with questions may not have been the most advisable idea.
"Your men pulled a chunk of solid rock out of the ground and threw it fifty feet!" Sharon spat out, finally vocalizing the insanity Helo had been witnessed back in the tent and solving his conundrum for him. "How are you doing that?" she finished.
"Excuse me?" Rokkon asked incredulously. "How am I doing that?" he repeated. The sergeant turned to Helo, his eyes slowly running down his flight suit. "I'm sorry, where exactly did you say you're from?"
Helo was trying to figure out how to reply when a series of sudden, loud bursts screamed out from the skies above them. The Earth Kingdom men ducked down. One threw a literal wall of rock in front of them, giving themselves cover.
"Hypersonic booms." Helo noted, not even flinching at the noise. He locked eyes with Sharon " Pegasus is coming for us."
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A dozen miles above, a half-dozen Raptors screamed through the thickening atmosphere at a thousand miles an hour. Compressed, superheated air engulfed the squadron in an envelope of fire, until a combination of the planet's atmosphere and the ship's own propulsion systems arrested enough velocity. As the view cleared, their pilots finally got their first real, close-up look at the gem that, until just now, they'd only seen from the stratosphere up.
"Alright, you all have your coordinates." Crackled a feminine voice over the wireless. The pilot, callsign 'Racetrack,' was taking point on the search & rescue operations planetside. "Keep to your grid, don't go wandering off. Whoever finds our missing Raptor crew gets bragging rights for rescuing the Cylon girl, that's all the motivation you need."
They'd set up a simple grid over the forest, centered on the Raptor's last known position. Each bird was assigned its own grid. The small spacecraft had an astonishing amount of tech crammed into them, allowing them to look for their pilots with a dizzying array of sensors and instruments. And if their team so much as blinked at a wireless, they'd pick it up a thousand miles away.
"I've got eyes on our wayward Raptor. Tough Guy, take your bird down there and secure the site. See if you can find anything." Racetrack ordered. Her Raptor hovered fifty meters over the tree line. She peered out her windows, counting on the ECO in the ship's aft to do the heavy lifting of working every thermal and optical sensor their ship had. She just had to keep Raptor pointed straight, which was pretty easy to do when there wasn't an army of DRADIS-tracking surface-to-air missiles trying to swat her out of the sky.
Although, those sensors didn't do them quite as much good here. Mark-1 eyeball might actually have more luck finding their people.
Racetrack had only just finished surveying the first set of grid coordinates when one of her pilots hailed them over the wireless. "Racetrack, Thumper. I have something here. Some sort of small camp at my position. I'm going in for a closer look."
"Roger, Thumper." Racetrack replied. "Signal again if you find something. Try not to scare the locals too much, okay?"
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The Earth Kingdom soldiers had gathered into a tight formation as the thunderous sounds echoing around them multiplied. Helo was doing what he could to deescalate the situation, but the warriors seemed to be ignoring him.
"Fire Nation war machines." The sergeant declared. "A whole division of them, maybe more. We can't hope to outrun them. We'll make our stand here."
"Nobody is here to fight anybody!" Helo declared for the fifth time, yelling to make himself heard over the roars of the Raptor's engines echoing through the sky. "Listen, I know those people. They aren't- they aren't the Fire Nation."
Rokkon only glared at him.
Above the canopy, Helo finally got a visual on the small orange craft that was his ride home. It came to a stop near the middle of the encampment, hovering in place about a hundred feet up. The captain started flailing his arms in its general direction.
"What unholy-" Rokkon began. The soldier maintained his stance, fists clenched. "They have airships?"
The man braced himself, and threw an open palm down to the ground. Helo watched the sergeant clench his fist, and pull a massive, car-sized boulder out of the ground.
"No!" T he Colonial yelled out, sprinting over to the Earth Kingdom soldier. "No no no-"
Agathon remained unacknowledged by Rokkon who, in one swift motion, sent the boulder soaring towards the spaceship at breakneck speed.
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"Confirmed, Racetrack. I have eyes on Helo, Sharon, and our marine. I've also got two dozen other contacts, Probably the people who attacked them."
"Roger that, Thumper. Good work." Racetrack replied. "All Raptors, converge on-"
"What the Frak!" Thumper yelled out, cutting Racetrack off mid sentence. I just- they started throwing crap at us."
"Throwing crap at you? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah they missed. Just took my bird up another five hundred feet. Looked like a bunch of big-ass rocks. I don't know where the hell it came from. They- My ECO has optics on them. He's telling me they're just pulling things out of the frakking ground."
"What? Thumper, repeat your last?"
"I said they're pulling boulders out of the frakking ground!"
Racetrack looked back at her own ECO. He stared back at her, both trying to make sense of their comrade's statements.
"Frak it, we'll figure it out later. They took our people. I'm weapons free."
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Praying that one of those boulders wouldn't catch him, Helo charged in front of the Earth Kingdom soldier. He threw his arms up, yelling out at the Raptor as if they'd be able to hear him from an air-tight cockpit hundreds of feet in the air.
He turned back at the sergeant, their faces an inch apart. "Stop!" He cried out again. "Those are our people." He pleaded.
"What?" Rokkon spat out.
"Those are out people, and if you don't calm down you're going to end up in more pieces than those soldiers you just mowed down. Now listen to me and stop throwing shit at them."
"Your… people?" Rokkon repeated, incredulous. Finally, after a tense stare-off with Agathon, he grudgingly backed down. The man turned to his troops. "Cease fire!" He declared. Rokkon turned back to Helo. "I'm going to have to ask you one last time." Rokkon started, this time a tinge of fear mixed into his authoritative voice. "Where exactly are you from?"
Helo turned to the Raptor, motioning with his arm for the spacecraft to come down. He looked back at Rokkon. "Why don't we talk." was all he offered.
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The mood in the fleet had gone from excitement and jubilation, to somber in the space of a day.
Laura Roslin licked her finger, and flipped her notebook to a fresh page.
Galactica's multipurpose wardroom never seemed to be the place where good news came from. The plain, rectangular room currently consisted of a single, long table stretching almost wall to wall. A single lonely chair was at the front of the room's front, almost against the wall. The room was usually used in formal ship or fleet-wide business.
At this moment, attendance included Admiral Adama, with President Roslin and her aid Tory seated to his right. On his left sat Colonel Saul Tigh, Galactica's XO, and Feelix Gaeta, tactical officer and trusted confidant.
Front and center, commanding the raptured attention of all present from that lonely, isolated chair was Chief Galen Tyrol. His orange jumpsuit was stained with black and soot.
"We've put out the last of the fires." Tyrol continued, not meeting any of the solemn faces questioning him in the eye. "The captain expects to have his FTL drive up and running again by the end of tomorrow."
"Do we have any idea how extensive the damage is?" Adama asked, not looking up from his notes.
"DC teams from the Botanical cruiser and Galactica are still trying to get a full catalogue." The chief replied. "The fires and resulting explosion punched a pretty big hole in the rear of the ship. Five of her biodomes were destroyed, and another three have microfissures all over their glass. I've recommended the captain vent those domes until we can fabricate replacements."
"What kind of timeline are we looking at for repairs?" Roslin asked softly. "I'm sure you know, the Botanical ship is responsible for more than half of our food production."
The chief cleared his throat. "Most of the structural damage to the fuselage can be repaired with the stuff we already have on hand. The biodomes on the other hand…" He paused, and took a breath. "They're made of a special glass that the machinery we have on hand just doesn't do a good job of replicating. Now, we can make a pretty decent facsimile, but the new biodomes are going to end up a lot more fragile than the original."
"Good thing we never run into any trouble around here." Tigh said, trying to cut the tension.
"I can't give a solid timeline, maybe two months, maybe longer." The Chief reported. "There is one more pretty significant issue, though."
"Just one?" The President looked up from her notebook, asking for Galen's eyes.
Tyrol looked up from the ground, finally returning Laura's gaze. "We can fix the ship itself up, but the organic stuff she was carrying onboard - soil, some chemical compounds, we don't have a way of synthesizing them."
"Those domes will never grow food again, not until we can replace those supplies planetside." Gaeta deduced, following Tyrol's logic.
"Exactly."
"Two months with most of our food production gone." Roslin thought out loud, twirling her pen between her fingers. She decided to change the topic. "Do we have any idea what caused the explosion in the first place?"
"Specifically." Adama interjected. "Is there any evidence at all this was sabotage?"
"Well, we aren't ruling anything out yet." Tyrol started. "But, to be perfectly honest, we've been pushing that ship pretty hard for a long time now. It was never designed for agricultural work on this scale, and I wouldn't be surprised if something decided to just give out."
"I see." Laura knew they'd been pushing that ship to do more than they probably should have, but what was the alternative? There was only so much space suitable for growing food in the fleet. "So once the investigation is over, we either get to tell the fleet it was a Cylon agent, or that it was another case of our ships falling apart." She needed to move on. "Do we have a final casualty count yet?"
"We still have a few people in critical condition who were medevaced to Galactica's sickbay." The Chief began. "As of right now, the count is at seventy-five lost souls."
Roslin's expression remained unchanged. "Thank you, Chief." She said simply. "Those were all the questions I had."
"You're dismissed, chief petty officer." The admiral gave the slightest of nods as he finished jotting his notes.
The chief stood up and straightened his jumpsuit. "By the way, the captain of the Botanical cruiser wanted me to express his thanks for letting them borrow one of our DC teams."
"We're in this together, aren't we?" Tigh offered. "Go get some rack time while you can."
The Chief quietly left the room, and Adama closed the door behind him. He sat back down, eyeing Laura. They each seemed to be waiting for the other to speak first.
"This is a catastrophe." Roslin let out, finally breaking the silence. She immediately wished she'd chosen a better word, but catastrophe seemed to be the best descriptor. "We're already on strict rationing as it is."
"In the short term, the situation might actually be worse than we initially thought." Adama explained. "The Botanical cruiser was getting ready to make a shipment of food tomorrow. Most of it was lost in the accident."
"Gods, we can't seem to catch a break today, can we?" Tigh let out in disgust.
"How long can we expect our current supplies to hold out?" Felix piped up hesitantly.
"We've probably got two or three weeks before we start running into serious shortages." Tory revealed, her eyes locked on her notes. "If we crack down on rations even harder than we already are, maybe a bit longer. Some ships have more stockpiled than others, so it's hard to get very exact."
"Okay." Laura steeled herself. She needed to assume control of the situation. "Tory, I want you to contact each ship captain and get an inventory of their food supply. Let's see if we can't get a timeline more specific than a 'couple of weeks.' She looked to Adama. "Admiral, I'd like you and Commander Lee on board Colonial One the moment he jumps back. That planet may have just become our saving grace."
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The flock of Raptors would have almost looked graceful touching down one by one around the Fire Nation encampment, if it weren't for the still-deafening roar of their engines. One by one, they slowly spun down. The Raptor's hatch closest to Helo popped open first. Three marines came barrelling out, rifles drawn. Then another three, and another. They were in full body armor, with helmets obscuring most of their face. They started pointing weapons in the direction of the Earth Kingdom soldiers.
"Hey hey!" he yelled out, displaying his outstretched palms. "Stand down! It's okay, We're all friendlies here."
The marine on point, a thin woman with jet-black skin, didn't look convinced. To Helo's relief, though, she finally pointed her weapon towards the ground, and her men followed suit. Agathon helped Sharon up, and handed her off to one of the marines. He asked him to make sure she got some real antiseptic on her wounds.
"You mind telling us what the hell happened to you, captain?" Came Racetrack's half angry, half annoyed demand. She gave a nervous side eye at Rokkon, still standing beside Karl.
"Who are you people?" the sergeant asked, bewildered. "Are- are you Air Nomads?" His face snapped to Agathon. "Did she call you captain? Captain of what?"
Racetrack gave another nervous glance at the sergeant, then looked back at Helo.
"They rescued us." Helo blurted out, trying to diffuse the situation. "Our team was captured. This man is Sergeant Rokkon, and these are his men. They followed and got us out."
"Thumper said they were.." The pilot started, before stopping herself. "She said they were-"
"Throwing rocks at you guys?" Helo interrupted
Racetrack froze, then produced a quick nod. "Yeah."
"Are you telling me you've never seen an Earth bender before?" Rokkon asked, trying to insert himself into the conversation again.
"Rokkon," Helo began. "No, we've never seen an Earth Bender before."
Rokkon's bewildered expression shifted from Helo to Racetrack, then to the squadron of marines and Raptor crews slowly gathering behind them. Agathon noted how every single set of eyes was staring at Rokkon, or his few dozen soldiers scattered across the encampment. Everybody seemed to be trying to get their first real look at the natives.
Rokkon looked at the soil, and brought an outstretched palm just above the ground. He clenched his fist, and a chunk of dirt and rock came flying up out of the ground like magic. The sergeant brought his fist up, levitating the material above his hand as the dozen or so Colonials exchanged shocked looks and confused words.
Silently, Rokkon clenched his fist into a palm. The rock shattered into dust. He stretched out his other hand and held the thousands of fragments suspended in mid air between his palms. He brought his fists together, and the fragments reformed into a single, compact rock again.
He let it fall back into his palm.
" Heee-lo." Racetrack took a step back, nearly tripping over herself. "What the hell is going on? How are they doing that?"
"You've never seen a bender." The reality finally seemed to settle on him. He dropped the rock, leveling it back into the ground with one swift motion. "I've never seen anything like your airships. Not even the stories of the Air Nomads mentioned anything as fearsome as these." He took a step towards the raptor.
A marine started raising her weapon.
"No." Helo put a hand up. "It's okay, let him."
Rokkon slowly, deliberately, walked up to the spacecraft. He held a hand over its metal hull. Finally, he set it down and started running his fingers across the ship's body. He turned back to the Colonials. "You might as well ask me how I draw breath, or command my arm to move. It's a part of my being. It's an extension of myself. It's as natural as picking something up." Rokkon took his hand back. "Now, answer one of my questions. What are you people? What part of the world do you call home?"
"We're not quite from around here." Helo explained again.
Rokkon took his hand back, and resumed his normal, tight composure. "We saved your life, you owe us more of an explanation than that."
"Somewhere not from this world. Somewhere we can't go we can't go back to." Helo said, his voice somber. "We lost our home."
"You lost your home." Rokkon nodded in solidarity. "I can understand that. All of my men can." He kneeled in front of one of the slain soldiers. "So you know nothing of the Fire Nation, the hundred year war, the Avatar, anything?"
"We don't. But we want to learn, hopefully someday soon."
The sergeant stood up, and walked to within an inch of Agathon, staring him dead in the eye. " Captain Agathon, I need you to understand, as long as your people are here, these men, the Fire Nation, they will attack you. Again, and again, and again. They are butcherers, and they understand nothing but war and death. They burnt our village to the ground just days ago. They'll probably turn this forest to cinders just trying to find us."
"Thank you for the warning." Helo desperately wanted to stay longer. He wanted so much that it physically hurt. He wanted to just let Rokkon talk for a week. What were these people like? How did they live? What defined their culture, their way of life? And of course, everything there was to know about the seemingly magic, inexplicable, bending. This was a fact finding mission, and that last part seemed like a pretty damn important fact . "Right now, we need to go back to our people."
"And my men need to get to the next village." Rokkon said curtly. "Ever since the Fire Nation failed to conquer the Northern Water Tribe, they've become more brutal trying to make progress on this front."
"Thank you, again, for what you've done for us. Maybe we'll meet again someday."
"Maybe we will." Rokkon replied. "Goodbye, Captain Agathon."
The warrior turned around, and one by one, his men turned away from the Colonials and their machines. They gathered their prisoners, threw their arms behind them, and started moving the ground itself below them, sending them speeding off and leaving a thick cloud of dirt dust in their trail.
The Fire Nation encampment may have been void of life, but it had a bounty of artifacts just waiting to be taken back to the fleet. They found parchment with what looked like writing, but not in any language they recognized. The maps were the most exciting find by far, with clearly marked cities and villages. Though, what Helo was most excited to bring back to the fleet, was something he hid from the other crews. Tucked away in one of the tents, was a satchel filled with real, fresh, honest-to-God's bread. He hid the bag in the lower compartment of his Raptor before running his pre-flight checklist and breaking for orbit, wondering how exactly he was going to explain all of this at his debriefing.
Commander Lee was there to greet him and the others in Pegasus's starboard flight pod. Helo caught his CO walking up before he could even set foot onto the flight deck.
"You mind telling me what happened down there?" Lee demanded.
The Officer took his time replying, much to Lee's annoyance. Helo looked to Sharon, then behind him at the Raptor he'd just stepped out of. "We need to pull the gun camera."
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Chapter 3 - Omens and Portents
Laura had watched the footage four times now, but her brain still couldn't process what she was seeing. She asked Lee to run it a fifth time. With a click, the Raptor's gun camera footage projected on the wall yet again. There was that same hodge-podge of tents and barracks, and that same collection of tan figures. Lee had quoted some fancy number about how high-fidelity a Raptor's gun camera was, but she could still only just barely make out their pixelated forms from the craft's height. One of the figures made some sort of motion, which was followed by a chunk of ground being yanked out in front of them. A second later, that piece of ground was barreling towards the camera. Roslin heard a click.
"Right there." Helo declared, pointing at the black shape flying towards the Raptor. "That rock had to weigh at least half a ton, and they were flinging them around like a Pyramid ball."
Roslin gave Adama a nervous side eye, which the admiral returned. "They could have used a siege weapon."
"They must do a pretty job hiding the trebuchet."
"Captain, I don't know. You're the military expert, what do you think it was?"
"I told you exactly what it was."
She huffed. "And I told you what you're implying is absolutely ridiculous."
The captain tapped the shoulder of his uniform. "I've got a pretty burnt up flight suit back on Pegasus that says otherwise."
Laura shook her head, and took a seat at her desk. She'd only just finished updating the whiteboard beside her before Pegasus jumped back, and wanted it out of her sight. Forty-nine thousand, four-hundred and three. The ink on the last two numbers handed even finished drying. "Commander, what the hell is this?"
Lee took a step forward, his hands nervously clasped together in front of him. "I talked to every Raptor pilot and marine that was involved in Captain Agathon's rescue." He started. "They all said pretty much the same thing. One of the indigenous people that rescued him could… manipulate the ground and rock around him."
"You're not actually humoring this?" Roslin said, as if Lee were one of her old kindergarten students explaining how a dog ate their homework.
"I'm just saying, that's a lot of people to trick, or hallucinate, or drug, or whatever." The younger Adama explained, though doubt still lingered in his voice.
Laura let her head fall into her hands. It felt so heavy. She'd barely slept since the disaster on the Botanical cruiser, and when she was finally thinking she'd get some real hope from Commander Lee, she gets this? "Captain, you're asking me to believe in magic."
Agathon raised a finger. "I never said it was magic. I'm just telling you what I saw, I'm not pretending to have an explanation."
Roslin crossed her arms as she straightened herself up. "Admiral, I'd like to hear your thoughts."
Admiral Adama had stayed silent for most of the conversation, soaking in what everyone else had to say. "I do find it pretty hard to believe." He looked at Lee. "But, I also know my son. If he thought this was bull, we wouldn't be talking about it right now."
Laura rubbed her temple, trying to collect her thoughts. "I'm just finding this a little hard to believe."
"Yeah, join the club." Agathon quipped.
"Regardless of what it is or isn't, the facts on the ground are the same." Adama said with finality. "We're going to be out of food in three weeks, and that planet is our only chance of averting a disaster."
"Yes, I agree." Laura expressed, adjusting her glasses and neatening the stack of notes Commander Lee had brought aboard with him. "I want to talk about the possibility of simply trading with the indigenous population. Let them do the hard work for us, cut down on time. Now, you were saying there are at least three sovereign powers on the planet. Do we have any idea how extensive their infrastructure is?"
"We have a rough idea of how populated their cities are, and we think we can extrapolate what city belongs to who." Lee started. "They have some pretty major architectural differences, actually. Some cities seem to feature rock and gravel much more prominently. Judging by what we know about them, we're guessing, and I want to stress guessing, those are Earth Kingdom cities."
"And what about the- what did you call them, the Fire..?"
"Fire Nation." Agathon finished.
"We believe they're the more industrialized of the powers." Lee continued. "From the captain's debriefing, it sounds like the soldiers who captured him made a big pretty big deal about smelting metal. They even mentioned iron ships."
"So this planet could be in the middle of an industrial revolution." Roslin wondered if the fleet happened to have an anthropologist or two around. "If their food production is industrialized, there's a good chance they might have a greater surplus of food to trade with."
"I really don't think that's a good idea." Agathon cut in. "From what the man I talked to down there said, the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom are in the middle of a century-long war, and he made the Fire Nation sound like they're pretty hell-bent on conquest. He said they torch entire cities."
Laura swiped her palm in front of her. "Captain, I know I wasn't the one down there, and I don't want to minimize what this Rokkon and his people have gone through, but try not to lose perspective. You're only getting one side of the story."
"Sir- Madam President, one side attacked us and the other side rescued us."
"The Earth Kingdom soldiers tried to attack our ships literally the moment they saw them." Roslin pointed out, her tone harshening. " Frankly, we're not in the position to be picky about our friends. I'm interested in who can help stop our people from starving, not getting into a foreign policy debate. You said you have a rapport with some of these Earth Kingdom soldiers, is that correct?"
"Rapport is a strong word." Helo corrected. "They know who we are."
"Good, we can use that. Take a Raptor down and try to talk with them again. See if they'd be willing to trade for food, and if they can't see if they can tell us who can." Laura ordered before addressing the admiral. "I'd like to put together a list of potential candidates. Cities that might have a surplus of food, in addition to places we might be able to forage for supplies ourselves."
"What do you want us to do?" Agathon derided. "Land a raptor, pop open the hatch and go introduce ourselves?"
"Yes." Laura replied simply. "That's exactly what I want you to do."
"Madam President," Lee began, his voice anxious. "I appreciate how time sensitive this is, but I think you're moving too quickly. We've met two groups of people, and both of them attacked us. I mean, for fraks sake, go listen to the wireless chatter from the SAR mission. We came this close to mowing those Earth Kingdom soldiers down. We're risking a major incident if we're not careful."
"I appreciate your input commander, I really do, but we don't have time to ease ourselves in. If we don't get the supplies we need...." Roslin eyed the board again. She was getting so sick of that number going down and down. "Admiral, please begin making preparations to jump the fleet into planetary orbit."
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That familiar, sick feeling in the pit of Adama's stomach left just as quick as it came. He'd long gotten used to the strange, out-of-body experience that came with an FTL jump. Galactica's CIC became a buzz of activity, crewmen all around called out confirmation reports and performed systems checks. Behind him, someone yelled an affirmation that all civilian ships were present and accounted for.
Saul Tigh shook his head at the static-filled DRADIS display mounted above CIC's central command console. "Can barely tell our head from our ass in the middle of all that crap."
"Have the civilian fleet maintain tight formation." Adama ordered, agreeing with his XO's colorful assessment. "Mister Gaeta, where's my lunch?"
Felix was already beside him, sprawling out a series of high-altitude maps on the Command-and-Control station. "It's been tricky, finding a place to forage for food that the indigenous population isn't already camping out. We have a couple of potential options,but most of them are river banks where we probably won't be able to do more than fish."
"If we have to feed this fleet one Gods damned bucket of fish at a time, that's what we're going to do." Tigh growled.
"There is one promising candidate, on the eastern half of the larger continent." Gaeta pulled one photograph up front. "This forest doesn't seem to have any roads leading to it. It's a little weird, actually. The forest is by the confluence of a couple major rivers, and the land looks pretty fertile. It's the perfect place for a city, but they seem to be giving it a wide berth."
"Well then, their loss is our gain." Tigh said slyly.
"Maybe." Adama looked at the photograph hesitantly, then up at Gaeta. "Give a copy of these maps to Captain Agathon, see if his new friends can't tell us anything about this place. In the meantime, I want Raptor's to begin scouting out the forest and bringing back samples."
Tigh leaned his hands against the central console."Not exactly the time to be looking a gift horse in the mouth."
"They could be avoiding it for a reason. If they are, I want to find out what it is before we start sending out people down there." The admiral shook his head before barking out his next order. "And please ask Doctor Baltar to make his way on board Galactica. Part of his background is in biology, and the President has asked him to help us test samples, Gods help us."
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It was with nervous apprehension Raptor 213's pilot made their final descent to the planet's surface. Pinpointing the town Rokkon spoke of in their final moments wasn't tricky. The mid-sized village was surrounded by a wall of solid rock thirty feet high. They'd guessed the city might have had a population in the low tens of thousands, but that wasn't more than a rough estimate. They put their bird down a few hundred feet from what looked like the main gate to the city. Hopefully far away enough they'd avoid immediately having rocks chucked at them, but more than close enough to be noticed.
Racetrack threw the Raptor's hatch open, allowing a pair of marines to barrel out and flank the entrance, their weapons pointed firmly at the ground. Helo came out last, his hands raised and sidearm left behind in the co-pilot's chair. The Raptor's engines maintained a soft roar. Racetrack kept them hot, in the event they went three for three Raptor landings attacked by the natives.
They weren't on the ground for more than a few minutes before Helo started making out dozens of men approaching on foot down the long, dirt they'd put down on. He made a few steps forward, waiting for the Earth Kingdom soldiers to close distance.
Finally, the soldiers were on top of them. Helo took note that most of them were armed with swords and spears, unlike most of the warrior's they'd run into. The troops wasted no time encircling their Raptor, but kept their distance. He glanced at the marines behind him, double checking they still looked as non-threatening as possible.
A trio of soldiers, these unarmed, were centered in front of them. One stepped forward. The man looked significantly cleaner than the last time Helo had seen him, his facial hair was no longer a ragged mess and his clothes no longer stained with blood.
"Sergeant Rokkon," Helo yelled out over the Raptor's engines. "We've come to talk."
Rokkon gave a slight bow. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon, captain Agathon." He yelled at his men to stand down, letting Helo finally let out the breath he'd been holding in. "Allow me to welcome you to the Earth Kingdom city of Shantau." He walked forward, reaching an arm out.
The captain lowered his arms and hesitantly reached one out in return. Rokkon clasped his forearm. "On behalf of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, it's an honor to be welcomed into your city."
"The Twelve Colonies?" Rokkon slowly repeated. "I have so many questions."
"We want to trade." Helo explained. "Our people need supplies and information. We were sent to make contact with you."
"It's easier to make introductions when you aren't in handcuffs, isn't it?" Rokkon joked. "Come with us, we'll take you to King Paio. I trust he will be extremely interested in meeting you."
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Normally, Roslin hated press conferences.
She really, really hated press conferences.
It seemed like every time she held one, a dozen reporters would lunge up from their chairs with every pause. Every fact was questioned, every concern was dialed up to eleven. Despite that, they needed to happen. She couldn't maintain the last vestiges of Colonial civilization while throwing out freedom of the press. If she turned her back on that, what was the point in even having a President?
This time, however, she'd gone a full five minutes without a single interruption. Beside her podium was a series of carefully displayed artifacts, retrieved from the camp site their Raptor team had been rescued from. Parchment, an iron-tipped spear, and most interestingly, a map with clearly labelled borders and cities. It was only a subsection of one continent, but it hinted at a very complex civilization. One with political machinations likely to be, at least superficially, similar to their own.
"...As of right now, we are aware of at least three sovereign political powers on the planet's surface, and at least some of them appear to be engaged in military conflict with each other." The President continued to her mesmerized audience. A camera flash went off in the back row. "They are the Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom, and the Water Tribe. Previously we believed they were mostly agricultural societies, but we've seen evidence that at least some parts of the planet are more industrialized."
A reporter, a woman with shoulder length, blond hair, stood up. "Is there any possibility we can trade with the indigenous people to solve the fleet's food crisis?"
"Well, first Beth, I wouldn't call it a crisis." Laura lied. "We're already in orbit of the solution to our food shortage, and we're exploring a number of options to meet the fleet's demands. One of which is trading with the native population, yes."
A man in the second row stood this time. "Madam President, what exactly are we considering trading with?"
"Well, that's a good question, James, and something else we're exploring. I've asked all ship captains to make an inventory of anything they might have on hand, but we're not considering anything we can't replace."
"Madam President," came the voice of a cautious woman in the far back of the room. "Will you comment on the rumor that some of the natives seem to be demonstrating, uh, peculiar abilities?"
Roslin looked visibly taken aback at the question. She looked at her notes, then back at the reporter. "Excuse me?"
"One source claimed that one of the natives threw a boulder a hundred feet, like it was thin air."
"Well, I.." She paused. To her surprise, nobody took the chance to get a word in. "I don't like to comment on the native population when we have so little information to go on."
"So you aren't denying-"
"I'm saying, let's give it more than one or two Raptor missions filled with over eager crewmen before we get the rumor mill going, please. To get back on topic, Admiral Adama has assured me we're already looking into several potential locations to forage for supplies ourselves in the coming days-"
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The city of Shantau looked like it had been transported out of a dream. The stone road he'd walked down was flanked by dozens of stone houses with slanted, green roofs. Bustling storefronts with hundreds of people clamoring to buy any number of items, great forums and fountains that wouldn't have looked out of place in an old painting of an ancient Saggitaran city. He'd been told the palace was fairly modest by the standards of larger Earth Kingdom cities. The dome-shaped structure was positioned right at the city center, between a set of impressive looking statues. Rokkon tried telling the story behind them, but Helo had a hard time listening. His eyes were still glued to the sight of people going about their lives, buying clothes and jewelry, even children playing near an open field. He hadn't seen people living a truly normal life for a very long time.
King Paio was a very old, very frail man. His thin, well kempt beard reached down to his upper chest, and his crown was a deep green edged with gold, complete with a set of horns jutting out from the top. The man had a deposition as soft as his figure, and seemed to spend a great deal of time deliberating every sentence, every statement.
Rokkon promised Paio the visitors had a very interesting story to share, and after a moment's thought, the king ordered food and drink brought in. Helo could count the number of times he'd eaten real meat since the Exodus on one hand. A rag-tag fleet of passenger liners and freighters didn't really have any livestock on hand. The king and his servants looked at the officer with amusement as he spent a great deal of time smelling his meal, and admiring the texture, before eating a single bite.
Then, Agathon began telling his story. He'd put a lot of thought into figuring out exactly where to start, which details to dumb down, and what to omit. He told them they came from a set of planets far, far away. That they travelled the stars in great ships, just like the Earth Kingdom would sail in ships across an ocean. Helo told them about how their home was destroyed by a race hell bent on destroying them, and that they'd been on the run for a long time. Agathon told them how worlds like this one were incredibly rare, incredibly precious gems. Even more precious, was the fact the strange properties surrounding this planet hid it from the great enemy they'd been fleeing from.
Finally, Helo told them about how their people desperately needed food, and were willing to trade items and knowledge the likes of which the Earth Kingdom had never seen for it. With every sentence, every addition to Helo's story, the King seemed to change from incredulous, to fascinated, to sympathetic, to excitement.
Helo demonstrated his wireless, using it to communicate with the Raptor parked outside the city walls, and told the king how the devices could communicate with anyone, anywhere on the planet. He pulled out his flashlight, showing how the small device could illuminate entire rooms.
"And you've never heard of bending?" Paio asked, lowering his arm and commanding a set of pearls arranged on a plate by his throne to levitate. He swirled them around the air above his hand.
"No, we haven't." Helo explained, finally having the chance to truly admire Earth bending now that the power wasn't directed at him or his friends. "We're pretty shocked by it, actually."
"How strange." The king allowed the pearls to fall into his hand. "Your power is tremendous, but what we really need, more than trinkets or magic tricks, is your help."
"Help with what?" Agathon asked.
Paio paused, and clasped his hands on his throne. "The Earth Kingdom is losing this war, Captain Agathon. The City of Omashu fell just a few weeks ago, leaving Ba-Seng-Se the last Earth Kingdom stronghold not under the thumb of the Fire Nation. Surely your people, with powers you wield would be able to turn the tide."
Helo frowned. Part of him had been worried the natives might be more interested in raw military power than any meager leftovers they were willing to part with, but hadn't known the Earth Kingdom's situation was so dire. It hadn't been brought up with Adama or the President, but Agathon was willing to put money down that military assistance wasn't on the table. "I don't think that's possible. There are so few of us left, I don't think we'd be much help."
The king returned Helo's frown. "How much food do your people need?"
Helo cleared his throat. "About…" He paused. "About five hundred tons, but we would take less."
Paio's eyes widened in shock, his calm demeanor giving way to disbelief. "Five- five hundred tons?" The man leaned forward, his calm voice quickly harshening. "Five hundred tons would feed our city for weeks, maybe months. There is no possible, conceivable way we could spare anything remotely close to that much!"
Agathon's stomach dropped. He'd actually low balled the amount they'd really need. They would need two months to fix the botanical ship, then they had to haul whole shiploads of arable soil up to it. Before that could happen, they'd have to extensively test the soil to make sure it would grow food the way they thought it would. They'd need to make sure they weren't carrying any new parasites or bacteria that could potentially harm the plants that were already up there. More tests. Then, and only then, would they be able to start producing food from those biodomes again.
They were looking at closer to three or four months before all that happened. The fleet didn't have enough food to last a quarter of that time.
"You must know someone who can help us." Helo pleaded. "Someone with more to spare, or where we can at least forage for supplies ourselves."
King Paio stroked his beard contemplatively. "I can introduce you to people in other cities, places I have connections in. You might be able to barter for more that way, but try to understand. Every day, the Fire Nation is burning our farms and our villages, while burdening us with more and more refugees of our own. We can barely take care of ourselves, can you see why it might be so difficult to take care of you, too?" He rested his hands back on the arms of his throne. "If I were you, I'd seriously think about helping us win this war. That would be worth more than any trinket or parlor trick you could give us."
Unfortunately, teaching these people abstract concepts like germ theory just didn't seem to go as far as offering to blow something up for them. "Anything you can do, we'd be grateful for. Anything at all." Helo pulled a map out of his satchel, along with a series of images. Paio's guards watched cautiously as the Colonial unfurled and placed them on the table. "Can you at least give us some information? we wanted to know-"
"What are these?" The king leaned in closer, studying the high-altitude images sprawled before him with near obsession. "This detail, look at it. Rokkon, look!"
Rokkon and the king ran a finger across the high-altitude imagery of their continent. "There, I can see Omashu, and the great roads leading from it." he traced a hand over the great city, black smoke blurring out some of the finer details of the city's northern half. "I didn't realize the occupation had taken such a toll." He looked up at Helo. "How long did it take you to make these?"
Helo thought back to the intricately crafted maps they'd stolen from the Fire Nation encampment. Every pen stroke, every painstakingly crafted symbol, was all hand made. Each one must have been a titanic effort. Now, here they were with these maps and images that put those to shame, and he'd just offhandedly printed them out this morning. "We have machines that can make maps just by flying over the terrain. We made these in just a couple of hours."
"Your powers truly are tremendous." The king straightened himself. "What were you wanting to know?"
"This forest, right here." Helo pointed out the site of interest, a few hundred miles from Shantau. "Do you know anything about it?"
Paio's face slowly turned from impressed, to grave. The room went utterly silent. Finally, Paio spoke, his voice just over a whisper. "The only thing you need to know about that place, Captain Agathon, is that you want to stay far away from it."
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"King Paio called it the Forest of the Dead." Felix Gaeta explained tentatively to the small crowd gathered at Galactica's Command and Control console. Agathon had reported in about an hour ago to give a progress report and his next moves. Roslin wanted her update in person, wary of anybody listening in over the wireless. Felix indicated the forest on their map for her before continuing. "According to Captain Agathon, the forest is known for its unparalleled beauty, but most people who enter it don't leave, and those who do are driven mad. They believe that-" The officer paused.
"They believe what, Lieutenant?" Admiral Adama asked expectantly.
"They believe angry spirits are protecting the forest." Felix finished dubiously.
"Angry spirits, huh?" Colonel Tigh repeated with a laugh. "Sounds like a bunch of superstitious garbage to me."
"I believe superstitions are sometimes rooted in some kind of fact, are they not?" Roslin said disdainfully. "And for future reference, I'd appreciate it if we didn't refer to the indigenous people's beliefs as garbage, Colonel."
"They think spirits are guarding this forest for some Gods forsaken reason, what else should I call them?"
"You and I believe in the Gods, do we not?" Roslin countered. "I don't think we'd like them calling the Lords of Kobol garbage."
"That's different." Tigh barked.
"Different how?"
"Our Gods are real."
Roslin rolled her eyes, and decided it was best to cut that line of conversation off. "Admiral, you said we've been running recon missions to the forest. What's your assessment?"
"We've run three Raptor missions so far, Madam President." Adama looked over his recon notes one last time. "Water is pure, the food is edible, and we've even caught a couple samples of the local wildlife. According to the Raptor crews, there's a whole damned orchard down there waiting for us. Honestly, the forest looks like it's exactly what we need."
"No angry spirits down there, either." Tigh quipped.
"Alright." Laura said with a nod. "I'll defer to your judgement admiral, if you think it's safe for us to begin foraging operations there, I think we should start right away."
"I've already started getting the logistics ready." Adama requested a list from Gaeta he'd ordered put together. "Some of our ships are better at planetary operations than others. I think we should consolidate our heavy equipment onto these three civilian ships, and have them land in a clearing we've found near one of the rivers. I'm recommending Chief Tyrol be put in charge of the foraging op."
Roslin took the list, and read over it. "I don't think these captains will have a problem playing the hero for a change." She said cheerfully. "I'll have Tory start coordinating with the ship captains, in the meantime we'll keep trying our luck with the natives."
"Helo didn't seem to be having much success with the Earth Kingdom." Felix reported. "We're still working on it, though. We've got another three settlements on our list we're going to try making contact with tomorrow. We think one of those is a Fire Nation city."
"Fire Nation? Well, from what Captain Agathon has told us, that should be interesting." Roslin said warily.
Adama smiled. "Lets just say, we're taking precautions."
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The Raptor squadron made two slow flyby's over the city just to make sure they had its attention.
After their last pass, four of the six raptors made their final descent onto an empty field near the metropolis. This city would be the largest of the few they'd attempted contact with. Thousands of red-trimmed roofs dotted the skyline, some of the brick structures as high as ten or fifteen stories. They ranged from simple houses to intricate, ornate buildings with layer upon layer of unique, triangular architecture.
The Raptors threw their hatches open, allowing a strike force of marines in full combat armor to charge out and establish a line facing the city entrance, their weapons drawn and ready to fire. Two raptors stayed flying above the landing party, so close to the ground their engines made the grass behind them sway.
One last woman started making her way off of the landed Raptors. She also dressed in full combat apparel, though she was unarmed. She walked out in front of the marines, hands raised above her head, as a detachment of iron-clad soldiers charged from the city to greet them, just as they'd hoped. Not exactly knocking on your neighbor's door with a plate of cookies, but hopefully it would do the job. Maybe it wasn't conventional, but none of her plans ever were. If they could make peaceful contact, everybody was happy. If they couldn't, their bullets would chew through that armor like it was cheap Gemenese knockoff, and they'd bug out.
The soldiers surrounded the woman, some of them armed with metal spears and swords. Others maintained a fighting posture, but appeared unarmed. The woman wondered if those stories about them being able to breath fire or whatever were actually true.
The two forces locked eyes, barely thirty feet apart from each other. Finally, after stepping forward a few final paces, the woman spoke up.
"My name is Kara Thrace." she yelled out. "We wanted to introduce ourselves, see if we could borrow a cup of sugar?" She slowly set her arms down. When the opposing force didn't reply, she raised her voice again. "We're not here to fight, we're just here to talk. So why don't we stop pointing weapons at each other, and go from there?"
After a tense few moments, one of the men yelled something out. The armed soldiers went at ease. Kara signaled behind her, and the marines lowered their weapons.
Sometimes, she thought, a little show of force went a long way.
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She didn't remember leaving Colonial One, and sure as hell didn't remember how she ended up wherever in Gods name she was now.
Laura Roslin cautiously made her way through the thick, mucky water that reached up to her kneecaps, soaking her outfit and making it incredibly difficult to walk faster than a crawl. She could hear the loud, constant buzz of a dozen different species of insect all around her. It was dark, she could barely make anything out more than a few feet in front of her. Laura grabbed onto a nearby tree, and started using it to try climbing up onto the roots and out of the swampy water. She looked up, but the tree canopy completely blocked out the sky. She had to get out of here, find some way to contact Galactica before she caught on a tree branch and died of sepsis. Or, alternatively, before something ate her.
She heard something call out. Something with an airy, almost alien voice she couldn't understand. It sounded vaguely feminine, and as if a hundred voices had been compressed together and made to speak ever so slightly out of sync with each other. She'd never heard anything remotely like it, and it seemed to be coming from all around her. Roslin ducked down beside the tree.
The voice came again, a little more clearly. Laura peeked her head over the tree branch, and froze in place. Off in the distance, lighting up the water and roots all around it, stood sort of glowing, half-translucent, thing. It looked vaguely like an elk, with greatly exaggerated antlers jutting all the way behind its body. The creature's eyes glowed with such intensity that Roslin felt like the entity would pierce her soul. Then, to Roslin's horror, It started moving ever so slowly towards her. As it moved, the roots around it writhed and parted out of the way, allowing the creature an unimpeded path. Roslin wanted to run, the command to sprint and find help was being screamed by every muscle in her body, but she couldn't will her body to move.
Finally, the creatures stopped. It tilted its strange, twisted head and stared at her with what she assumed was great curiosity. Was she being sized up as a meal?
The voice came a third time, even more clearly now. She could finally make out the creature's three words barring down on her from every direction, the alien voice resonating across her eardrums like a hundred shards of crystal thrown into a kaleidoscope.
"What are you?"
Roslin woke up in a cold sweat in her regular bed on Colonial One. She sat up, still catching her breath, feeling the knees of her pajamas just to make sure they were actually dry. She put on her glasses, and darted to her favorite window. This time, it wasn't just the comforting view of the fleet greeting her every morning. That planet, now the central focus of her every action and every thought, dominated the background.
It was just a dream she thought, feeling herself calming down. Her emotions were running rampant, no matter how hard she had tried to suppress them. The election, and what it would mean for their future. The service for those who died on the botanical ship, even while they didn't have bodies for most of the dead. The fleet's food shortage and the riots that would inevitably be happening soon if they didn't get it sorted. Then, the one lingering question that everybody seemed to be asking, but she felt great trepidation in discussing right this second. Would this be their new home? Forever?
Her gaze drifted away from the planet, and back to the door leading to her bedroom. She knew it was just a dream, so why did she feel like something, somewhere on that planet, was calling out to her?
"Right there." Helo declared, pointing at the black shape flying towards the Raptor. "That rock had to weigh at least half a ton, and they were flinging them around like a Pyramid ball."
Roslin gave Adama a nervous side eye, which the admiral returned. "They could have used a siege weapon."
"They must do a pretty job hiding the trebuchet."
"Captain, I don't know. You're the military expert, what do you think it was?"
"I told you exactly what it was."
She huffed. "And I told you what you're implying is absolutely ridiculous."
The captain tapped the shoulder of his uniform. "I've got a pretty burnt up flight suit back on Pegasus that says otherwise."
Laura shook her head, and took a seat at her desk. She'd only just finished updating the whiteboard beside her before Pegasus jumped back, and wanted it out of her sight. Forty-nine thousand, four-hundred and three. The ink on the last two numbers handed even finished drying. "Commander, what the hell is this?"
Lee took a step forward, his hands nervously clasped together in front of him. "I talked to every Raptor pilot and marine that was involved in Captain Agathon's rescue." He started. "They all said pretty much the same thing. One of the indigenous people that rescued him could… manipulate the ground and rock around him."
"You're not actually humoring this?" Roslin said, as if Lee were one of her old kindergarten students explaining how a dog ate their homework.
"I'm just saying, that's a lot of people to trick, or hallucinate, or drug, or whatever." The younger Adama explained, though doubt still lingered in his voice.
Laura let her head fall into her hands. It felt so heavy. She'd barely slept since the disaster on the Botanical cruiser, and when she was finally thinking she'd get some real hope from Commander Lee, she gets this? "Captain, you're asking me to believe in magic."
Agathon raised a finger. "I never said it was magic. I'm just telling you what I saw, I'm not pretending to have an explanation."
Roslin crossed her arms as she straightened herself up. "Admiral, I'd like to hear your thoughts."
Admiral Adama had stayed silent for most of the conversation, soaking in what everyone else had to say. "I do find it pretty hard to believe." He looked at Lee. "But, I also know my son. If he thought this was bull, we wouldn't be talking about it right now."
Laura rubbed her temple, trying to collect her thoughts. "I'm just finding this a little hard to believe."
"Yeah, join the club." Agathon quipped.
"Regardless of what it is or isn't, the facts on the ground are the same." Adama said with finality. "We're going to be out of food in three weeks, and that planet is our only chance of averting a disaster."
"Yes, I agree." Laura expressed, adjusting her glasses and neatening the stack of notes Commander Lee had brought aboard with him. "I want to talk about the possibility of simply trading with the indigenous population. Let them do the hard work for us, cut down on time. Now, you were saying there are at least three sovereign powers on the planet. Do we have any idea how extensive their infrastructure is?"
"We have a rough idea of how populated their cities are, and we think we can extrapolate what city belongs to who." Lee started. "They have some pretty major architectural differences, actually. Some cities seem to feature rock and gravel much more prominently. Judging by what we know about them, we're guessing, and I want to stress guessing, those are Earth Kingdom cities."
"And what about the- what did you call them, the Fire..?"
"Fire Nation." Agathon finished.
"We believe they're the more industrialized of the powers." Lee continued. "From the captain's debriefing, it sounds like the soldiers who captured him made a big pretty big deal about smelting metal. They even mentioned iron ships."
"So this planet could be in the middle of an industrial revolution." Roslin wondered if the fleet happened to have an anthropologist or two around. "If their food production is industrialized, there's a good chance they might have a greater surplus of food to trade with."
"I really don't think that's a good idea." Agathon cut in. "From what the man I talked to down there said, the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom are in the middle of a century-long war, and he made the Fire Nation sound like they're pretty hell-bent on conquest. He said they torch entire cities."
Laura swiped her palm in front of her. "Captain, I know I wasn't the one down there, and I don't want to minimize what this Rokkon and his people have gone through, but try not to lose perspective. You're only getting one side of the story."
"Sir- Madam President, one side attacked us and the other side rescued us."
"The Earth Kingdom soldiers tried to attack our ships literally the moment they saw them." Roslin pointed out, her tone harshening. " Frankly, we're not in the position to be picky about our friends. I'm interested in who can help stop our people from starving, not getting into a foreign policy debate. You said you have a rapport with some of these Earth Kingdom soldiers, is that correct?"
"Rapport is a strong word." Helo corrected. "They know who we are."
"Good, we can use that. Take a Raptor down and try to talk with them again. See if they'd be willing to trade for food, and if they can't see if they can tell us who can." Laura ordered before addressing the admiral. "I'd like to put together a list of potential candidates. Cities that might have a surplus of food, in addition to places we might be able to forage for supplies ourselves."
"What do you want us to do?" Agathon derided. "Land a raptor, pop open the hatch and go introduce ourselves?"
"Yes." Laura replied simply. "That's exactly what I want you to do."
"Madam President," Lee began, his voice anxious. "I appreciate how time sensitive this is, but I think you're moving too quickly. We've met two groups of people, and both of them attacked us. I mean, for fraks sake, go listen to the wireless chatter from the SAR mission. We came this close to mowing those Earth Kingdom soldiers down. We're risking a major incident if we're not careful."
"I appreciate your input commander, I really do, but we don't have time to ease ourselves in. If we don't get the supplies we need...." Roslin eyed the board again. She was getting so sick of that number going down and down. "Admiral, please begin making preparations to jump the fleet into planetary orbit."
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That familiar, sick feeling in the pit of Adama's stomach left just as quick as it came. He'd long gotten used to the strange, out-of-body experience that came with an FTL jump. Galactica's CIC became a buzz of activity, crewmen all around called out confirmation reports and performed systems checks. Behind him, someone yelled an affirmation that all civilian ships were present and accounted for.
Saul Tigh shook his head at the static-filled DRADIS display mounted above CIC's central command console. "Can barely tell our head from our ass in the middle of all that crap."
"Have the civilian fleet maintain tight formation." Adama ordered, agreeing with his XO's colorful assessment. "Mister Gaeta, where's my lunch?"
Felix was already beside him, sprawling out a series of high-altitude maps on the Command-and-Control station. "It's been tricky, finding a place to forage for food that the indigenous population isn't already camping out. We have a couple of potential options,but most of them are river banks where we probably won't be able to do more than fish."
"If we have to feed this fleet one Gods damned bucket of fish at a time, that's what we're going to do." Tigh growled.
"There is one promising candidate, on the eastern half of the larger continent." Gaeta pulled one photograph up front. "This forest doesn't seem to have any roads leading to it. It's a little weird, actually. The forest is by the confluence of a couple major rivers, and the land looks pretty fertile. It's the perfect place for a city, but they seem to be giving it a wide berth."
"Well then, their loss is our gain." Tigh said slyly.
"Maybe." Adama looked at the photograph hesitantly, then up at Gaeta. "Give a copy of these maps to Captain Agathon, see if his new friends can't tell us anything about this place. In the meantime, I want Raptor's to begin scouting out the forest and bringing back samples."
Tigh leaned his hands against the central console."Not exactly the time to be looking a gift horse in the mouth."
"They could be avoiding it for a reason. If they are, I want to find out what it is before we start sending out people down there." The admiral shook his head before barking out his next order. "And please ask Doctor Baltar to make his way on board Galactica. Part of his background is in biology, and the President has asked him to help us test samples, Gods help us."
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It was with nervous apprehension Raptor 213's pilot made their final descent to the planet's surface. Pinpointing the town Rokkon spoke of in their final moments wasn't tricky. The mid-sized village was surrounded by a wall of solid rock thirty feet high. They'd guessed the city might have had a population in the low tens of thousands, but that wasn't more than a rough estimate. They put their bird down a few hundred feet from what looked like the main gate to the city. Hopefully far away enough they'd avoid immediately having rocks chucked at them, but more than close enough to be noticed.
Racetrack threw the Raptor's hatch open, allowing a pair of marines to barrel out and flank the entrance, their weapons pointed firmly at the ground. Helo came out last, his hands raised and sidearm left behind in the co-pilot's chair. The Raptor's engines maintained a soft roar. Racetrack kept them hot, in the event they went three for three Raptor landings attacked by the natives.
They weren't on the ground for more than a few minutes before Helo started making out dozens of men approaching on foot down the long, dirt they'd put down on. He made a few steps forward, waiting for the Earth Kingdom soldiers to close distance.
Finally, the soldiers were on top of them. Helo took note that most of them were armed with swords and spears, unlike most of the warrior's they'd run into. The troops wasted no time encircling their Raptor, but kept their distance. He glanced at the marines behind him, double checking they still looked as non-threatening as possible.
A trio of soldiers, these unarmed, were centered in front of them. One stepped forward. The man looked significantly cleaner than the last time Helo had seen him, his facial hair was no longer a ragged mess and his clothes no longer stained with blood.
"Sergeant Rokkon," Helo yelled out over the Raptor's engines. "We've come to talk."
Rokkon gave a slight bow. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon, captain Agathon." He yelled at his men to stand down, letting Helo finally let out the breath he'd been holding in. "Allow me to welcome you to the Earth Kingdom city of Shantau." He walked forward, reaching an arm out.
The captain lowered his arms and hesitantly reached one out in return. Rokkon clasped his forearm. "On behalf of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, it's an honor to be welcomed into your city."
"The Twelve Colonies?" Rokkon slowly repeated. "I have so many questions."
"We want to trade." Helo explained. "Our people need supplies and information. We were sent to make contact with you."
"It's easier to make introductions when you aren't in handcuffs, isn't it?" Rokkon joked. "Come with us, we'll take you to King Paio. I trust he will be extremely interested in meeting you."
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Normally, Roslin hated press conferences.
She really, really hated press conferences.
It seemed like every time she held one, a dozen reporters would lunge up from their chairs with every pause. Every fact was questioned, every concern was dialed up to eleven. Despite that, they needed to happen. She couldn't maintain the last vestiges of Colonial civilization while throwing out freedom of the press. If she turned her back on that, what was the point in even having a President?
This time, however, she'd gone a full five minutes without a single interruption. Beside her podium was a series of carefully displayed artifacts, retrieved from the camp site their Raptor team had been rescued from. Parchment, an iron-tipped spear, and most interestingly, a map with clearly labelled borders and cities. It was only a subsection of one continent, but it hinted at a very complex civilization. One with political machinations likely to be, at least superficially, similar to their own.
"...As of right now, we are aware of at least three sovereign political powers on the planet's surface, and at least some of them appear to be engaged in military conflict with each other." The President continued to her mesmerized audience. A camera flash went off in the back row. "They are the Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom, and the Water Tribe. Previously we believed they were mostly agricultural societies, but we've seen evidence that at least some parts of the planet are more industrialized."
A reporter, a woman with shoulder length, blond hair, stood up. "Is there any possibility we can trade with the indigenous people to solve the fleet's food crisis?"
"Well, first Beth, I wouldn't call it a crisis." Laura lied. "We're already in orbit of the solution to our food shortage, and we're exploring a number of options to meet the fleet's demands. One of which is trading with the native population, yes."
A man in the second row stood this time. "Madam President, what exactly are we considering trading with?"
"Well, that's a good question, James, and something else we're exploring. I've asked all ship captains to make an inventory of anything they might have on hand, but we're not considering anything we can't replace."
"Madam President," came the voice of a cautious woman in the far back of the room. "Will you comment on the rumor that some of the natives seem to be demonstrating, uh, peculiar abilities?"
Roslin looked visibly taken aback at the question. She looked at her notes, then back at the reporter. "Excuse me?"
"One source claimed that one of the natives threw a boulder a hundred feet, like it was thin air."
"Well, I.." She paused. To her surprise, nobody took the chance to get a word in. "I don't like to comment on the native population when we have so little information to go on."
"So you aren't denying-"
"I'm saying, let's give it more than one or two Raptor missions filled with over eager crewmen before we get the rumor mill going, please. To get back on topic, Admiral Adama has assured me we're already looking into several potential locations to forage for supplies ourselves in the coming days-"
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The city of Shantau looked like it had been transported out of a dream. The stone road he'd walked down was flanked by dozens of stone houses with slanted, green roofs. Bustling storefronts with hundreds of people clamoring to buy any number of items, great forums and fountains that wouldn't have looked out of place in an old painting of an ancient Saggitaran city. He'd been told the palace was fairly modest by the standards of larger Earth Kingdom cities. The dome-shaped structure was positioned right at the city center, between a set of impressive looking statues. Rokkon tried telling the story behind them, but Helo had a hard time listening. His eyes were still glued to the sight of people going about their lives, buying clothes and jewelry, even children playing near an open field. He hadn't seen people living a truly normal life for a very long time.
King Paio was a very old, very frail man. His thin, well kempt beard reached down to his upper chest, and his crown was a deep green edged with gold, complete with a set of horns jutting out from the top. The man had a deposition as soft as his figure, and seemed to spend a great deal of time deliberating every sentence, every statement.
Rokkon promised Paio the visitors had a very interesting story to share, and after a moment's thought, the king ordered food and drink brought in. Helo could count the number of times he'd eaten real meat since the Exodus on one hand. A rag-tag fleet of passenger liners and freighters didn't really have any livestock on hand. The king and his servants looked at the officer with amusement as he spent a great deal of time smelling his meal, and admiring the texture, before eating a single bite.
Then, Agathon began telling his story. He'd put a lot of thought into figuring out exactly where to start, which details to dumb down, and what to omit. He told them they came from a set of planets far, far away. That they travelled the stars in great ships, just like the Earth Kingdom would sail in ships across an ocean. Helo told them about how their home was destroyed by a race hell bent on destroying them, and that they'd been on the run for a long time. Agathon told them how worlds like this one were incredibly rare, incredibly precious gems. Even more precious, was the fact the strange properties surrounding this planet hid it from the great enemy they'd been fleeing from.
Finally, Helo told them about how their people desperately needed food, and were willing to trade items and knowledge the likes of which the Earth Kingdom had never seen for it. With every sentence, every addition to Helo's story, the King seemed to change from incredulous, to fascinated, to sympathetic, to excitement.
Helo demonstrated his wireless, using it to communicate with the Raptor parked outside the city walls, and told the king how the devices could communicate with anyone, anywhere on the planet. He pulled out his flashlight, showing how the small device could illuminate entire rooms.
"And you've never heard of bending?" Paio asked, lowering his arm and commanding a set of pearls arranged on a plate by his throne to levitate. He swirled them around the air above his hand.
"No, we haven't." Helo explained, finally having the chance to truly admire Earth bending now that the power wasn't directed at him or his friends. "We're pretty shocked by it, actually."
"How strange." The king allowed the pearls to fall into his hand. "Your power is tremendous, but what we really need, more than trinkets or magic tricks, is your help."
"Help with what?" Agathon asked.
Paio paused, and clasped his hands on his throne. "The Earth Kingdom is losing this war, Captain Agathon. The City of Omashu fell just a few weeks ago, leaving Ba-Seng-Se the last Earth Kingdom stronghold not under the thumb of the Fire Nation. Surely your people, with powers you wield would be able to turn the tide."
Helo frowned. Part of him had been worried the natives might be more interested in raw military power than any meager leftovers they were willing to part with, but hadn't known the Earth Kingdom's situation was so dire. It hadn't been brought up with Adama or the President, but Agathon was willing to put money down that military assistance wasn't on the table. "I don't think that's possible. There are so few of us left, I don't think we'd be much help."
The king returned Helo's frown. "How much food do your people need?"
Helo cleared his throat. "About…" He paused. "About five hundred tons, but we would take less."
Paio's eyes widened in shock, his calm demeanor giving way to disbelief. "Five- five hundred tons?" The man leaned forward, his calm voice quickly harshening. "Five hundred tons would feed our city for weeks, maybe months. There is no possible, conceivable way we could spare anything remotely close to that much!"
Agathon's stomach dropped. He'd actually low balled the amount they'd really need. They would need two months to fix the botanical ship, then they had to haul whole shiploads of arable soil up to it. Before that could happen, they'd have to extensively test the soil to make sure it would grow food the way they thought it would. They'd need to make sure they weren't carrying any new parasites or bacteria that could potentially harm the plants that were already up there. More tests. Then, and only then, would they be able to start producing food from those biodomes again.
They were looking at closer to three or four months before all that happened. The fleet didn't have enough food to last a quarter of that time.
"You must know someone who can help us." Helo pleaded. "Someone with more to spare, or where we can at least forage for supplies ourselves."
King Paio stroked his beard contemplatively. "I can introduce you to people in other cities, places I have connections in. You might be able to barter for more that way, but try to understand. Every day, the Fire Nation is burning our farms and our villages, while burdening us with more and more refugees of our own. We can barely take care of ourselves, can you see why it might be so difficult to take care of you, too?" He rested his hands back on the arms of his throne. "If I were you, I'd seriously think about helping us win this war. That would be worth more than any trinket or parlor trick you could give us."
Unfortunately, teaching these people abstract concepts like germ theory just didn't seem to go as far as offering to blow something up for them. "Anything you can do, we'd be grateful for. Anything at all." Helo pulled a map out of his satchel, along with a series of images. Paio's guards watched cautiously as the Colonial unfurled and placed them on the table. "Can you at least give us some information? we wanted to know-"
"What are these?" The king leaned in closer, studying the high-altitude images sprawled before him with near obsession. "This detail, look at it. Rokkon, look!"
Rokkon and the king ran a finger across the high-altitude imagery of their continent. "There, I can see Omashu, and the great roads leading from it." he traced a hand over the great city, black smoke blurring out some of the finer details of the city's northern half. "I didn't realize the occupation had taken such a toll." He looked up at Helo. "How long did it take you to make these?"
Helo thought back to the intricately crafted maps they'd stolen from the Fire Nation encampment. Every pen stroke, every painstakingly crafted symbol, was all hand made. Each one must have been a titanic effort. Now, here they were with these maps and images that put those to shame, and he'd just offhandedly printed them out this morning. "We have machines that can make maps just by flying over the terrain. We made these in just a couple of hours."
"Your powers truly are tremendous." The king straightened himself. "What were you wanting to know?"
"This forest, right here." Helo pointed out the site of interest, a few hundred miles from Shantau. "Do you know anything about it?"
Paio's face slowly turned from impressed, to grave. The room went utterly silent. Finally, Paio spoke, his voice just over a whisper. "The only thing you need to know about that place, Captain Agathon, is that you want to stay far away from it."
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"King Paio called it the Forest of the Dead." Felix Gaeta explained tentatively to the small crowd gathered at Galactica's Command and Control console. Agathon had reported in about an hour ago to give a progress report and his next moves. Roslin wanted her update in person, wary of anybody listening in over the wireless. Felix indicated the forest on their map for her before continuing. "According to Captain Agathon, the forest is known for its unparalleled beauty, but most people who enter it don't leave, and those who do are driven mad. They believe that-" The officer paused.
"They believe what, Lieutenant?" Admiral Adama asked expectantly.
"They believe angry spirits are protecting the forest." Felix finished dubiously.
"Angry spirits, huh?" Colonel Tigh repeated with a laugh. "Sounds like a bunch of superstitious garbage to me."
"I believe superstitions are sometimes rooted in some kind of fact, are they not?" Roslin said disdainfully. "And for future reference, I'd appreciate it if we didn't refer to the indigenous people's beliefs as garbage, Colonel."
"They think spirits are guarding this forest for some Gods forsaken reason, what else should I call them?"
"You and I believe in the Gods, do we not?" Roslin countered. "I don't think we'd like them calling the Lords of Kobol garbage."
"That's different." Tigh barked.
"Different how?"
"Our Gods are real."
Roslin rolled her eyes, and decided it was best to cut that line of conversation off. "Admiral, you said we've been running recon missions to the forest. What's your assessment?"
"We've run three Raptor missions so far, Madam President." Adama looked over his recon notes one last time. "Water is pure, the food is edible, and we've even caught a couple samples of the local wildlife. According to the Raptor crews, there's a whole damned orchard down there waiting for us. Honestly, the forest looks like it's exactly what we need."
"No angry spirits down there, either." Tigh quipped.
"Alright." Laura said with a nod. "I'll defer to your judgement admiral, if you think it's safe for us to begin foraging operations there, I think we should start right away."
"I've already started getting the logistics ready." Adama requested a list from Gaeta he'd ordered put together. "Some of our ships are better at planetary operations than others. I think we should consolidate our heavy equipment onto these three civilian ships, and have them land in a clearing we've found near one of the rivers. I'm recommending Chief Tyrol be put in charge of the foraging op."
Roslin took the list, and read over it. "I don't think these captains will have a problem playing the hero for a change." She said cheerfully. "I'll have Tory start coordinating with the ship captains, in the meantime we'll keep trying our luck with the natives."
"Helo didn't seem to be having much success with the Earth Kingdom." Felix reported. "We're still working on it, though. We've got another three settlements on our list we're going to try making contact with tomorrow. We think one of those is a Fire Nation city."
"Fire Nation? Well, from what Captain Agathon has told us, that should be interesting." Roslin said warily.
Adama smiled. "Lets just say, we're taking precautions."
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The Raptor squadron made two slow flyby's over the city just to make sure they had its attention.
After their last pass, four of the six raptors made their final descent onto an empty field near the metropolis. This city would be the largest of the few they'd attempted contact with. Thousands of red-trimmed roofs dotted the skyline, some of the brick structures as high as ten or fifteen stories. They ranged from simple houses to intricate, ornate buildings with layer upon layer of unique, triangular architecture.
The Raptors threw their hatches open, allowing a strike force of marines in full combat armor to charge out and establish a line facing the city entrance, their weapons drawn and ready to fire. Two raptors stayed flying above the landing party, so close to the ground their engines made the grass behind them sway.
One last woman started making her way off of the landed Raptors. She also dressed in full combat apparel, though she was unarmed. She walked out in front of the marines, hands raised above her head, as a detachment of iron-clad soldiers charged from the city to greet them, just as they'd hoped. Not exactly knocking on your neighbor's door with a plate of cookies, but hopefully it would do the job. Maybe it wasn't conventional, but none of her plans ever were. If they could make peaceful contact, everybody was happy. If they couldn't, their bullets would chew through that armor like it was cheap Gemenese knockoff, and they'd bug out.
The soldiers surrounded the woman, some of them armed with metal spears and swords. Others maintained a fighting posture, but appeared unarmed. The woman wondered if those stories about them being able to breath fire or whatever were actually true.
The two forces locked eyes, barely thirty feet apart from each other. Finally, after stepping forward a few final paces, the woman spoke up.
"My name is Kara Thrace." she yelled out. "We wanted to introduce ourselves, see if we could borrow a cup of sugar?" She slowly set her arms down. When the opposing force didn't reply, she raised her voice again. "We're not here to fight, we're just here to talk. So why don't we stop pointing weapons at each other, and go from there?"
After a tense few moments, one of the men yelled something out. The armed soldiers went at ease. Kara signaled behind her, and the marines lowered their weapons.
Sometimes, she thought, a little show of force went a long way.
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She didn't remember leaving Colonial One, and sure as hell didn't remember how she ended up wherever in Gods name she was now.
Laura Roslin cautiously made her way through the thick, mucky water that reached up to her kneecaps, soaking her outfit and making it incredibly difficult to walk faster than a crawl. She could hear the loud, constant buzz of a dozen different species of insect all around her. It was dark, she could barely make anything out more than a few feet in front of her. Laura grabbed onto a nearby tree, and started using it to try climbing up onto the roots and out of the swampy water. She looked up, but the tree canopy completely blocked out the sky. She had to get out of here, find some way to contact Galactica before she caught on a tree branch and died of sepsis. Or, alternatively, before something ate her.
She heard something call out. Something with an airy, almost alien voice she couldn't understand. It sounded vaguely feminine, and as if a hundred voices had been compressed together and made to speak ever so slightly out of sync with each other. She'd never heard anything remotely like it, and it seemed to be coming from all around her. Roslin ducked down beside the tree.
The voice came again, a little more clearly. Laura peeked her head over the tree branch, and froze in place. Off in the distance, lighting up the water and roots all around it, stood sort of glowing, half-translucent, thing. It looked vaguely like an elk, with greatly exaggerated antlers jutting all the way behind its body. The creature's eyes glowed with such intensity that Roslin felt like the entity would pierce her soul. Then, to Roslin's horror, It started moving ever so slowly towards her. As it moved, the roots around it writhed and parted out of the way, allowing the creature an unimpeded path. Roslin wanted to run, the command to sprint and find help was being screamed by every muscle in her body, but she couldn't will her body to move.
Finally, the creatures stopped. It tilted its strange, twisted head and stared at her with what she assumed was great curiosity. Was she being sized up as a meal?
The voice came a third time, even more clearly now. She could finally make out the creature's three words barring down on her from every direction, the alien voice resonating across her eardrums like a hundred shards of crystal thrown into a kaleidoscope.
"What are you?"
Roslin woke up in a cold sweat in her regular bed on Colonial One. She sat up, still catching her breath, feeling the knees of her pajamas just to make sure they were actually dry. She put on her glasses, and darted to her favorite window. This time, it wasn't just the comforting view of the fleet greeting her every morning. That planet, now the central focus of her every action and every thought, dominated the background.
It was just a dream she thought, feeling herself calming down. Her emotions were running rampant, no matter how hard she had tried to suppress them. The election, and what it would mean for their future. The service for those who died on the botanical ship, even while they didn't have bodies for most of the dead. The fleet's food shortage and the riots that would inevitably be happening soon if they didn't get it sorted. Then, the one lingering question that everybody seemed to be asking, but she felt great trepidation in discussing right this second. Would this be their new home? Forever?
Her gaze drifted away from the planet, and back to the door leading to her bedroom. She knew it was just a dream, so why did she feel like something, somewhere on that planet, was calling out to her?
Chapter 4 - Desperate Measures
Hey! I'm so happy that people like this, and I'm so stoked to be updating this fic more regularly. A few quick notes:
I corrected a small BSG continuity error in previous chapters. Sharon, the Cylon defector, only earned the call sign 'Athena' around the time of the escape from New Caprica, which takes place further in the series than the events of this story. Previous chapters have been corrected to properly refer to her as 'Sharon,' not 'Athena.'
Chronologically, this story takes place during Book Two of Avatar, After 'The Swamp' but before 'The Blind Bandit.'
I think is also the single longest chapter of any Fanfiction I've ever posted, and I really hope you enjoy it!
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Aang launched himself off his sky bison's back with a single, melodramatic push of his staff. The adolescent shot a puff of air down at the last possible second, slowing his descent and bringing himself to a gentle landing just beside his massive, furry companion. The white, horned creature let out a loud, drawn-out yawn.
"I know you're tired, Appa." Aang comforted, patting the creature's side. "We'll rest here for the night. Where is here, anyway?"
Sokka pulled the trio's map out of his satchel, turning it around twice before settling on the correct orientation. "Looks like a city named Shauntau." He frowned. "We're still pretty close to the front lines, we shouldn't stay long."
"Front lines means more Earthbenders around." Aang replied with a wide smile. They'd spent weeks trying to track down an Earthbending teacher for the young avatar, but luck hadn't been on their side.
"An Earthbending teacher won't do us much good if the Fire Nation comes through the day after you start training, Aang." Katara lectured, climbing down the bison's back with the rest of their belongings. "Let's stay the night and fly out to the next village first thing tomorrow."
Aang rolled his eyes dismissively. "Fine, whatever."
"For now, let's find a place to crash and grab some dinner." Sokka folded up their map and returned it to his pouch.
Shauntau wasn't anywhere near the size of great metropolises like Omashu or the Northern Water Tribe, but the modest city still had plenty of shops and businesses to offer. Unfortunately, the sun was rapidly setting, and people were starting to disperse with the closing of storefronts. A distant yell sent Aang's eyes darting in every direction to find the source, but it found him first. The noise came from a young villager in ragged clothes, still grabbing his chest and struggling to catch his breath after running to catch the trio.
"The Avatar!" He yelled again, pointing up at the Aang's arrows, drawing more and more attention from the remaining crowd still out and about in the street. "He's here!"
"Yep, that's me!" Aang declared with a large grin, proudly pointing at himself. "You wouldn't happen to know where we could stay for the night, would you?"
"Are you the one who brought the great ship to our city, Avatar?" called an older woman from the crowd.
Aang knelt around the man in front of him, eyes scanning the crowd until he found that woman. "Great ship?"
"A great ship came to our city two days ago, soaring from the edge of the sky with the sound of thunder at its back." She relayed to an increasingly intrigued avatar. "The man who visited us could summon magical powers, he said his people came from the stars themselves!"
"The edge of the sky? Magical powers?" Aang turned to Katara. "Doesn't sound like anybody we know."
"They could've come from the Northern Air Temple." Katara suggested, recalling the settlement they'd visited a month back. The inventors calling it home had constructed impressive gliders and other miraculous flying machines.
"I don't think even Teo could have created something like that."
The woman made her way towards the avatar, regaling them with her story as she walked. "The visitor told us his people hold great power, greater than even the Fire Nation. Our king thinks they may hold the key to ending this war, once and for all."
"Where is this visitor now?" Katara asked hopefully.
"He left, just yesterday. You would never believe how high his ship soared, higher than any cloud!"
"Did he say where he was going?" Aang worried his excitement led his question to come out more like a demand than he intended.
The excitement in her face evaporated. "He wanted to trade with us, for food. Our king told him we don't have any to trade. He asked about a sacred forest, far from here, where we are forbidden to go. We tried warning him to stay away, but I don't think he understands."
Aang turned to Sokka, who'd forsaken the discussion in favor of trying to catch one of the stands still selling food before they closed for the night. "Sokka! Get over here, get the map."
Sokka looked up from counting his coins mid-purchase, but Aang had flown over and grabbed the parchment out of his bag before he could respond. The young Avatar shot himself back at the woman, consulting with her and Katara as she pointed out the strange visitor's likely location.
"We have to try and find them." Aang pleaded to his friend.
Katara looked from the map to her friend, then back to the map. "I don't know, Aang. That's in the opposite direction of where we're trying to go."
"You heard her, these people could have the power to defeat the Fire Nation, that makes this more important."
"They think these people have the power, Aang. He could have been a hoax for all you know." She reasoned, trying her hardest to talk him out of the idea.
Aang shook his head. "We've been trying to find a teacher for weeks, Katara. Maybe this is our next best chance."
Katara let out a long, defeated sigh. Sokka handed her some food, a stick skewering some sort of strange smelling meat. "Change of plans, Sokka."
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Well, the Earth Kingdom was certainly right about one thing, this was probably the most incredible sight Chief Tyrol had seen in his adult life. Great trees towered a hundred feet above him, their piny branches filtering the sunlight and giving the field crew a cool shade to conduct their work. A clean, earthy smell filled the air, bringing back happy memories of time spent hiking with his father back on Virgon. It definitely beat the scent of machine oil that seemed to be permanently seared into his nostrils. Tyrol looked up, running his hand across the rough, brown bark of a nearby tree. Hundreds of plump, green fruits were sprouting on every branch for dozens of feet. They were a little bigger than oranges, and if the survey crews could be believed, they tasted pretty good.
Off in the distance, past the clearing, ground crews were setting up canopies and pulling equipment out of storage. Among the rag-tag collection of ships making up the refugee fleet, were a handful of construction platforms and freighters that'd been raided for supplies. Power generators, Chainsaws, a freight truck, and even a small bulldozer were being offloaded and jerry-rigged into the most slapped together harvesting operation in the history of the Colonies.
"Okay, so we figure, about a hundred pounds a tree, maybe a hundred and fifty." Tyrol jotted the numbers on the notebook laying on the table in front of him, his hand-picked group of foremen leaning over and trying to make out the Chief's notes. "That means, if each crew works eight a day, we can send up a full ship every two days."
"That's a pretty tall order." Noted Tyrol's second in command, Cally Henderson. The mechanic had traded in her orange deckhand jumpsuit for a light, green jacket and work jeans.
"Yeah, we're not going to have time to climb every damn tree in this forest." Tyrol looked through his inventory sheet one more time, making sure the idea in his head matched the reality of what they had to work with. "We're going to have the crews cut the frakking things down, pick them clean, and move on to the next."
A metal crash caught the small crew off guard. Tyrol shot his head back to find one of the bulldozer's treads starting to fall off the ramp, eliciting a yell from the deck chief to be more careful. Cally pulled Tyrol's notes towards her. "I don't know, chief. We've got a lot of ex-cons and civilians here, not lumberjacks. I'm worried about a tree falling on somebody's head."
"Yep, that's why you're here to help lead the charge, specialist." Tyrol replied matter-of-factly. "Sharon, why don't you work third shift, I'd like somebody who can stay awake making sure our equipment is switched off and stowed properly every night."
It had taken a bit of convincing for Roslin and Adama to give the go-ahead to allow the Cylon defector to participate in the foraging op. However, Tyrol had been adamant that having somebody around who didn't get tired or worn out like everybody else did had its bonuses on an operation with a surplus of manual labor. "Graveyard shift, you got it." She replied.
"Alright, we still have a good four, five hours of daylight." Tyrol said, flattening a hand above his eyes and looking up at the sky. "I want to finish setting up base camp, then mark territory for each crew so we don't step over each other. Let's get some grub."
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The Fire Nation city playing host to Kara Thrace for the last two days was an odd mish-mash of beautiful brick architecture, and smog-chugging factories. Its stone roads seemed to bustle with life every hour of the day, carrying hundreds of merchants atop their strange creatures that didn't really have an equivalent back on the Colonies. Some of them looked almost like a hybrid of a moose and a lizard, with a long brown snout and thin, stretched webbing around its ears. Others looked like giant boars, beasts of burden used to pull massive cartloads of ingots and wood to the factories. The city was nicer than Kara had expected, even if the air was choked with smog every sunrise. It'd also been pretty nice to sleep on a real mattress, in a private bedroom, instead of sharing a small space with three other cocky pilots.
The Colonial landing party had made quite a bit of progress in those two days. After their tense initial standoff with the local garrison, they'd met with a local magistrate who refused to believe his own men until he'd had a quick first-hand demonstration of their so-called airships. Less than an hour later, the city's mayor had apparently cancelled his entire day's schedule and kicked out the upper-class family he'd been hosting, just to make way for them. How touching, Kara had thought.
So, they got to the business of explaining who they were, and where they came from. She'd been instructed to leave out the little detail of their people being captured by Fire Nation troops a few days back. "This wasn't the time for grudges," the old man told her before she left Galactica. Establishing relations, dealing with their supply shortages, that was the priority right now.
The Colonials demonstrated their technology to the mayor, garnering his intense interest. He'd asked to see the small wireless handset, and curiously ran his hands over the device, eyes hungrily devouring every last detail. Starbuck was a little impressed when the man noted the metal alloy obviously used in its construction.
The mayor even asked how the device worked. One thing at a time, Kara had told him.
Their hosts managed to return the favor, astonishing the Raptor teams with that miraculous firebending Helo had talked Kara's ear off about before their mission. Kara found herself in awe as one of the mayor's guards effortlessly summoned a massive fireball in his hand, and willed it out of existence just as quickly. Another man even warmed her drink up with a flick of his wrist, generating a small flame that carressed the vessel until the green liquid inside started to bubble.
"The Fire Nation would be honored to work with your people as partners." The mayor said proudly, after offering them something to eat. Starbuck would never refuse a meal under these circumstances. "The Royal Family are who you want to talk to. I can have my fastest messenger fetch one of their representatives right away."
Kara sensed an opportunity, and with a sly smile told the mayor they could help get the word out faster than a messenger. She ordered one of her pilots, Kat, to work with the Fire Nation officials to Raptor that messenger directly to their destination. They could even bring the representative back, in a fraction of the time it would have taken. If they were going to be meeting the royal family, Kara thought, why not make sure they made a memorable first impression?
It'd taken a little longer than expected for Katarine to return. Starbuck found herself a little annoyed when her pilot checked in to let them know she'd be away for at least another day. Apparently, the royal family was planning to send a very specific person out to greet them. The Fire Nation didn't seem to appreciate how tight their timetable was.
She spent the time getting to know her hosts a little better. They seemed more than happy to show her around, giving her a tour of the city, the mayor's sizable private home, and even a school. These people seemed remarkably proud of themselves, though sometimes it stepped over the line into pretentiousness. They were a smug, self-assured people who seemed to view those not under a Fire Nation flag as inherently inferior. 'Autocratic' was another word that kept popping into Kara's mind. National emblems were etched, painted, and branded onto practically everything, and school children were instructed to recite an oath to their home nation every day. There was a sense of national unity that would make the proudest patriots back on the Colonies jealous.
And if Kara saw one more picture of that damned Fire Lord, she was going to lose it. Fire Lord Ozai, their head of state, had pictures and monuments to him in every public square, every building. There was a three-story tall statue of him near the center of town.
Still, pride didn't equal stupidity. The Fire Nation seemed to understand the Colonials were vastly technologically superior, though in retrospect Kara wished she had left out certain details to avoid making the fleet sound like the rag-tag group of desperate refugees they were. The magistrates she'd spoken with even sounded quite pleased with themselves to be chosen as the Colonials trading partners, over everybody else. She didn't tell them they were talking to everybody they could possibly get ahold of. It was probably for the best to let the Fire Nation believe whatever they needed to believe, if it got them what they wanted.
Finally, over a day later, as the sun was just starting to rise on the bustling village and the sound of factory machines whirring to life filled the air, Kat made it back. The hatch threw open, Kara and her landing party standing at attention to greet the new arrival. To her shock, though, the representative didn't look like a strongman or a prince. They weren't even a man at all.
The short, thin woman who stepped out was adorned with a fairly modest, dark-red outfit etched with gold. Her chocolate back hair was mostly tied up in a ponytail sticking straight up, with long bangs hanging down either side of her face. What really took Starbuck by surprise, though, was that this woman didn't look like any of those stuffy officials with a hard face etched by decades of experience. She looked young, practically a teenager.
"My name is Princess Azula." The woman declared in a confident voice that impressed even Kara Thrace. The princess gave a deep bow, and smiled. "On behalf of the Fire Nation, welcome to our empire. May our relationship be long and prosperous."
The two soon found themselves at the Mayor's residence, meeting over tea served in beautifully decorated cups. "It's a tragedy, what you're people have been through." Azula sympathized as she finished pouring her drink. "Nobody, especially people who have suffered so much, should be forced to watch their children starve on top of everything else."
"I'm glad you see it that way." Kara replied, blowing on her beverage.
"I can't imagine how your people are still so strong, after everything you've been through. How much food do you need, exactly?"
Kara tapped her cup, trying to size up the young woman. She was beautiful, and definitely charming. Look a little deeper though, and something about her felt weird. Azula was eager to help, a little too eager. Maybe it could simply be chalked up to her trying to impress the rest of the royal family by securing a deal with the strange new visitors who just rocked up to them in seemingly magical sky ships.
"Five hundred tons right now, but we might need more, later." Kara responded coolly.
"Five hundred tons…" Azula tapped her chin a few times. "There's a good chance we'd be able to arrange that, I'm sure we could come to some sort of mutually acceptable deal."
"Great, we can have somebody down to work out the details tonight." Kara said, happy to be making some sort of progress.
"I'm afraid you'll have to make the final detail with my father, Fire Lord Ozai, in the capital city." Azula gently set her cup down. "It shouldn't be too much of an issue at all, if you take me back to the capital, I should be able to arrange an audience in just a few short days."
A few short days. Great. They were cutting things close as it was.
"May I see that device your friend talked about, the one you use to talk over great distances?"
Kara nodded, and handed Azula her wireless set, which the princess examined with an intense interest that the pilot honestly found a little funny.
"I can't imagine how useful this would be. A Fire Nation village was lost in a flash flood, just a few weeks ago. The storm moved in so quickly, there was no way to warn them. If we'd had some of these…" She handed the electronic device back to Kara. "You can see why this exchange is just as important to us, as it is to you."
Kara returned the device to her belt, squinting at the princess. She was normally pretty good at reading people, but something about Azula just felt off. Was it really just political ambition?
"Something wrong?" Azula inquired.
"Actually, yeah, I am pretty curious about something." Kara crossed her legs, and leaned back in her chair, thinking back to Helo's mission report. "I've heard you people find it a little odd to have women in certain roles. You're a princess, a young princess apparently hand-chosen to come talk to us. What's the deal?"
Azula literally laughed at her. "A problem with women? Yes, some of our people still cling to the old ways. But, we're not the Earth Kingdom or the Water Tribe, Captain Thrace. Look around you, women are teachers, mayors, sometimes even soldiers." She pointed out the window, to a factory stoke looming above the city's quaint skyline. "We're at war, with people who want to see our way of life destroyed. A woman can work in a factory or write laws just as well as a man, our people understand that. My father understands that."
Starbuck smiled and nodded politely, but she still didn't feel fully comfortable with this woman. In the end, though it didn't matter if she was genuinely worried for their well being, or if she was a sociopath trying to fake her way to a promotion. Their fleet needed food, and the Fire Nation had food. That was all she was ordered to find out.
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Laura started her morning off by skimming over the latest batch of surface reports and checking the latest poll Tory had put together. Baltar's numbers were getting uncomfortably close. Her breakfast consisted of two packets of saltine crackers, a few grapes, and imitation coffee. Her station allowed her more substantial rations, but she tried to space them out. It always gave her little pangs of guilt, knowing that she would always have something while most of the civilian fleet was just scraping by.
Helo and Starbuck reported directly to Colonial One for their debriefing, at Admiral Adama's specific instruction. Agathon was chomping at the bit to go into great detail about what he'd seen. He wanted to recall the sight of every city street, every cultural quirk, and every person he'd met. Roslin was forced to reign the captain in, making him stick to specifics. "Generally, I'd describe the Earth Kingdom as friendly, at least the places I've visited." Agathon's face was still lit up with excitement. "Their empire's been around for a long time, and while I don't have a lot to compare it to, they seem pretty ethnically diverse."
"And you've had a chance to see this Earthbending up close?" Laura knew better than anyone that supplies were the topic of the day, just like it had been every day since the explosion, but now that word of the native's abilities seemed to be spreading across the fleet like wildfire, she wanted to understand exactly what they were dealing with.
"Yeah, a lot actually, some of them like to show off." Agathon stretched his fist out. "They can control the ground around them pretty effortlessly. Everything from a pebble to an entire slab of rock, they even make buildings and city walls with it."
"I saw plenty of firebenders." Thrace recounted, preferring to stand with her arms crossed. "Honestly, I thought Helo was screwing with us until I actually saw it for myself. They can light a cigar with a flick of a wrist, or send a jet of fire at your ass."
"There are also waterbenders, people who can manipulate liquids, but I haven't had a chance to meet one. They mostly stick to the Northern and Southern water tribes near the planet's poles." Helo pulled a piece of parchment out of his bag, and handed it to the president. "I traded some of our high altitude imagery for this, it's a more complete political map of the planet. Note the red over the eastern continent, almost all of that is former Earth Kingdom territory now occupied by the Fire Nation."
Laura laid the map out over her desk, running her fingers across it. Three bright, distinct colors dominated the parchment. Blue at the north and south, yellow on the east, and a dark red on the west. "That's incredible, I honestly don't know what else to say. Lords, I could never have imagined something like that would be real."
Commander Lee took the chance to pipe up. "I'd say we need to keep a lid on it, but the cat's already out of the bag. Bending is all the ground crews have been talking about since the SAR mission."
"Rumors are spreading through the entire fleet." Admiral Adama said flatly, though Roslin could detect the faint hints of concern in his voice. "Every time the story changes just a bit, you wouldn't believe what people are coming up with. We need to get a handle on it soon."
Laura nodded approvingly. "People have been acting crazy ever since the planet became public, it's the only thing people want to talk about. Now, we have to tell them magic apparently exists. I haven't the slightest idea how we're going to break the news."
"One step at a time." Lee said with a wave of his hand. "We still have a food crisis on our hands."
"Right, we should move on. Captain Agathon, has the Earth Kingdom been receptive to the possibility of trading with us?"
"Receptive, yes." Not the tone Laura was hoping for. "But, they've been on the losing end of this war for a long time now. They already have their own refugee problem, and the Fire Nation seems pretty fond of scorching anything that gets in their way. Whatever extra food they have, they're not thrilled to be trading away."
"Well surely there must be something." Laura implored. "You said you've visited three different cities, isn't there some kind of central government we can negotiate with?"
"They do, yeah. The Earth Kingdom is ruled by a series of kings and nobles who have control over their own cities or provinces, but the entire empire is ruled by an Earth King who lives in the capital city, Ba-Seng-Se." Helo had clearly been taking his job on the surface seriously. "The problem is, their bureaucracy is incredibly complex. Things take time."
"Well, we can certainly make it worth their while to speed things up." At least, she hoped they could. Getting an inventory of everything they had to trade was proving trickier than she'd initially thought. The Earth Kingdom would almost certainly be interested in radios, flashlights, or other technological goodies. The issue was, external power sources weren't easy to fabricate. They'd probably have to teach the Earth Kingdom how to generate their own electricity. They'd have to explain what electricity was. "Did anything of our technology in particular grab their attention?"
"Well, honestly…" Helo's voice trailed off. Laura watched him expectantly. "I'm not sure how much of a buffer they can give us. If we really want a decent amount of food from them… they are losing this war pretty badly."
Roslin looked taken aback. "Captain, you're not suggesting direct military assistance?"
William Adama's previously lax stance faded in an instant. "I'm extremely uncomfortable with that idea."
"I couldn't agree more." Roslin quickly concurred.
"They're being butchered." Helo countered, raising his voice above what he probably intended. "I mean, if you'd seen the refugees piling into the city my second day there, you'd-"
"Captain." Roslin raised a finger at the officer, demanding his silence. "You have been with them for all of two days. You cannot pretend to be a geopolitical expert, and we are not in the business of butting into wars we have nothing to do with."
"Okay, look." Helo's voice returned to its normal, calming demeanor. "We don't need to bomb the Fire Nation for them. One Raptor could give the exact location and a headcount of every enemy battalion in their territory. That might at least buy us enough food for some breathing room."
"Madam President, not to get too into the weeds," Lee started, setting a hand on the President's desk. "That would still technically qualify as an act of war against a sovereign nation, and crises or not, you can't do that without going through the Quorum of Twelve."
"I'm fully aware of my responsibilities, Commander." Laura rebuked. "And I'm sure you're aware, the Articles of Colonization allow me to take limited military action unilaterally."
"And who gets to decide what limited means?"
"I do." Laura replied stoically, somewhat annoyed at Lee's attempt to lawyer her on what her office could and could not do. "Ms. Thrace, what about the Fire Nation? What is your impression of this so-called war monger?"
"They're arrogant as hell, that's for sure." Kara started, clasping her palms together. "The Fire Nation values honor above all else. The way they see it, the rest of the planet is their birthright. They see every other nation as inferior, and they've got a whole damn propaganda machine making sure their people don't question that belief."
Helo stretched a palm at Kara. "See, that-"
"They also seem pretty open to women serving different roles in society." Starbuck resumed, not giving her friend a chance to cut in. "Helo mentioned the Earth Kingdom tends to keep women tethered to more traditional roles. The Fire Nation doesn't seem to mind female mayors or magistrates, and it's pretty common for women to work the same jobs as men."
"That doesn't change the fact they've committed genocide." Helo emphasised, his voice started to rise again. "Did you know there was a fourth power, the Air Nomads, before the Fire Nation wiped them out?"
"Of course the Earth Kingdom is going to make sure you see them as the victim." Kara pointed out. "You've been soaking up their propaganda for days."
"Propaganda? Is that what you call the starving people I saw coming into the walls yesterday? Children? Refugees? Like us?"
"Don't you pretend that-"
"People." Laura cried out, slamming a hand on her desk. "Lets focus, please. I honestly do not give a damn about who started what, or who has the moral high ground. I care about getting this fleet the supplies it needs, end of line. The historians can sort through everything else later. Starbuck, is the Fire Nation willing to trade with us or not?"
"Yeah, they're actually pretty eager to talk." Kara replied, visibly repressing the urge to get back into her feud with Helo. "The woman I spoke with is working on getting us an audience with their head of state, a man named Fire Lord Ozai. She doesn't expect us to be waiting long."
"Okay, that's good, that's very good." Roslin said approvingly. "When we get that audience, I'd like Commander Lee to take point on formal negotiations. Nothing against you Starbuck, Lee just has a much better handle on what we can and cannot offer."
"No offense taken."
"Admiral, I would like you to put together a plan to follow through on Agathon's idea, but hold off on going through with it just yet. I'd prefer not getting involved in their war if we can avoid it." Laura shook her head. "If we really are going to settle on this world, I'd like to avoid making enemies our first week here."
The admiral nodded a silent affirmation.
"Alright, please keep me updated, meet back here tomorrow morning."
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Tom Zarek tapped the lapel microphone hidden on his shirt's collar. The dark-haired woman in front of him, recorder in hand, gave a thumbs up. She leaned forward in her chair, and cleared her throat.
"Vice President Baltar made a statement the other day, regarding the planet. He promised that settlement efforts would be the single, overriding focus of his administration. Why do you think your colleague has been so forward about permanent settlement, while President Roslin hasn't directly commented?"
"Well, I think it's clear that Laura sees that planet as a threat to her grip on power. Laura is a fascist, and she needs a boogeyman. Once the Cylons are no longer in the picture, once we have enough food and supplies to go around, what fears will she have left to play on?"
"So you don't believe Roslin has any intention of settling on the planet?"
"Oh, I'm sure she does. She wouldn't have a choice, the fleet would revolt against her. Quite frankly though, I don't think either this civilization or the natives on that planet would be happy with a settlement effort led by Roslin's administration."
The reporter tilted her head. "I don't understand the natives? Could you elaborate on that?"
Zarek stretched a hand out. "Beth, can you guess how many treaties the other eleven Colonies made with Sagittaron, before the Articles of Colonization were ratified?"
Beth shook her head.
"Ninety-three, the answer is ninety-three. And you know what, they had a perfect record. They broke every single one of them." Zarek clasped his palm into a fist. "The other Colonies would trade for land, and never follow through on their side of the bargain. Lords forbid we decide not to sign the deal they wanted, they'd just take what they want and shoot anybody who didn't like it."
"Mr. Zarek, you are running for Vice President of the Colonies. Your job would be to represent our interest, not the natives on the planet, wouldn't it?"
"Beth, my ideals have always been, from the very beginning, a basic level of decency and freedom for all human beings. That's what I believed when I fought for my people's rights on Sagittaron, and it's what I believe today. A settlement effort led by the Roslin administration would turn into a slow-motion genocide, you can quote me on that. I don't think that's the story either of us want to tell our grandchildren." Zarek finished with a soft, welcoming smile.
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"Then what would settlement look like under Baltar's administration?"
"Well, I think the obvious first step would be to draw up-"
Galen Tyrol switched off the wireless set sitting on the table beside a worn-out Cally. Her uniform was covered in mud, and the woman's face laid buried in her arms. Tyrol patted her back. "Nobody wants to listen to that crap, Cally."
"Hey." She got out weakly, poking her head up to meet the Chief's gaze. "Some of us are trying to stay informed."
"Yeah, you could plug your ears and stay just as informed as you would listening to that asshole." Tyrol replied with a grin. "That was great work out there today, we made a lot of headway. We keep that pace, the first shipment could go up ahead of schedule."
Cally returned Tyrol's smile. "It was really, really nice out there. The air doesn't smell like oil, no Cylon centurions tailing us…"
"Yeah, just think, that could be every day." Tyrol took a seat next to his fellow deck hand. "There's this place I found, on one of the Raptor images, right by a river. Perfect place to build a cabin, set up a small farm, all the privacy you could ever want."
Cally let out a soft laugh. "They're going to need someone to make sure the lights all stay on in the city. There is going to be a city, right?"
"I'd put money on it." Tyrol rested his chin on his fist, losing himself in a reverie of what their future lives might look like. "Food that doesn't taste like garbage, an actual bedroom instead of a bunk with four other people. It honestly, really feels like we have something to look forward to again."
Cally reached a hand out, squeezing Tyrol's arm. "Chief, you wouldn't mind one extra person in that cabin, would you?"
Tyrol opened his mouth to speak, but a soft whirring sound outside the ship interrupted his train of thought.
"Oh, frak me." Cally slapped a hand against her forehead. "I think I forgot to shut one of the generators off."
"Cally!" Tyrol yelled playfully. "Cally, you know you can't leave those things on in all that underbrush. It's a forest fire waiting to happen."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, I'll go deal with it."
"Let me come with you." Tyrol offered. "I don't want you out there alone."
"I'm a big girl Chief." When Tyrol didn't break his gaze, she rolled her eyes in defeat.
The forest outside their ships was still abuzz with life. The constant, soft chirping and humming was actually pretty comforting. As the two stepped out, Galen found himself wishing he could hear the sounds of nature this well from inside the ship's metal hull. Cally directed her flashlight towards a set of trees and beckoned Galen to follow.
"Ya know, isn't Sharon supposed to be out here, too? Can't she deal with this?" Galen asked.
"She's probably on the other side of clearing." Cally deduced. "It's about another fifty feet."
After a minute, the generator's whirring overpowered the sounds of breaking of branches and incessant buzzing of insects. Another minute later, Cally knelt down, and switched the device off. The forest fell eerily quiet.
At some point, the buzzing of insects had stopped. In fact, just about every sound, every bird and bug, had gone silent.
"Cally." Chief said, shining his flashlight around the trees. The air abruptly felt a whole lot colder. The hairs on Tyrol's arms started to rise. "Let's get back to the sh-"
Something howled. Not the howl of a wolf or a bear, or any other wildlife Galen had ever heard in his life. A howl that froze his blood, and almost felt as if it would pierce his very soul. A soft, wispy howl that seemed to ricochet across every tree, every blade of grass. Tyrol flung himself around, and squeezed Cally's arm so hard he was worried he'd break it.
It's body was long and crooked, its skin a stark mix of black and whtie. The thing was vaguely transparent, and it sat perched on its four lanky limbs like it was getting ready to pounce. Six unnaturally pitch-black eyes stared Chief down, while its glowing, ghostly form gave a dim light to the forest around it.
Tyrol switched into fight-or-flight mode. He chose flight. "Go." He said firmly. "Go go go go!"
The two break out in a dead sprint towards their spacecraft. That otherworldly cry came again, and he could hear the thick crash of branches gaining on them.
Sharon and another armed guard appeared out of seemingly nowhere in front of them, weapons drawn. The Cylon yelled something, but Tyrol couldn't hear it. Gunfire screamed into Tyrol's eardrums, echoing across the trees. He covered his head.
Cally tripped. Galen skid to a halt and turned to grab her, only to be met by that thing staring him down a foot away. Sharon reloaded her clip. The beast turned to face her, and paused. Its six eyes blinked in her direction two at a time. It let out an even louder snarl - whatever the thing was, something about Sharon seemed to be freaking it out even more.
Cally wasn't moving, fear seeming to overwhelm her senses. Sharon resumed firing, but the creature didn't even seem to notice the bullets. It raised one of its massive limbs, wrapped in roots and leaves, and swung at Cally.
The next instant, Tyrol's friend vanished into the ground. The unnatural beast raised its limb back up, not even an inch from Tyrol's face. The creature didn't put out any body heat, if anything it somehow felt cold. It didn't smell like anything. There wasn't a trace of Cally anywhere. No crippled body or broken limbs, just empty ground in the hole the creature had left.
The creature opened its maw, and let out another cry. Chief felt something grab his shoulder, but couldn't process what it was.
"Lets go mister!" Sharon yelled. She pulled him hard enough he thought his arm would be pulled out of socket, and the world finally returned to him. He started screaming for Cally, figuring she must have gotten away somehow, at the last second. She was hiding somewhere.
The man Sharon had with him was still firing, when he heard the ground crash again behind him. The firing stopped.
The next few minutes of Tyrol's life were a blur. He desperately flung his head around looking for Cally, but she was nowhere to be seen. The ship's stairway lifted back up into its hull, and the light of the ship's engines briefly returned daylight to their small section of the forest.
Chief banged on the stairway, demanding it be opened. Cally was still out there, he cried out again and again. Sharon rubbed Tyrol's shoulder as he collapsed onto his knees, his bloodied hand still banging on the bulkhead. She pulled him into her arms, and didn't let go until their ship reentered formation with the fleet.
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Roslin felt the briny water splashing against her knees again, humid air filling her nostrils and making it increasingly difficult to breath. She coughed into her suit, trying to figure out how she'd ended up back in this horrible swamp. It was just as dark and dreary as the first time she'd found herself here, its dim light barely letting her make out the thick, veiny roots of nearby trees sticking out of the water.
Laura picked a direction and started walking. It was easy to tell herself this was another dream, but everything felt as real as she could have ever imagined. She thought back to that strange creature haunting her last visit here, and prayed she wouldn't find it again.
She heard a faint, high-pitched voice calling out to her. It at least sounded human, which was a nice improvement. Off in the distance, a small figure was glowing. It was hard to judge size and distance in the foggy mist of the swamp, but it looked smaller than Laura, and somehow familiar. Against her better judgement, she braced herself and quickened her pace towards the strange shape.
The silhouette grew brighter the closer she got, but it darted behind a nearby tree. Adding to Laura's confusion, the figure wasn't just human, it was a young girl no older than ten. Slowly, she stretched a hand out, asking the girl to come out. Laura told the girl she wasn't going to hurt her.
The young girl poked her head out, then ever so slowly, began approaching the President. Roslin still couldn't shake the feeling she'd seen her before.
"How did you get here?" Roslin softly asked the ethereal young girl. Laura knelt down to get a better look at her. Her heart stopped.
She had seen the girl before, almost a year ago. It was the second day of the Cylon attack, virtually all of the Colonial military had already been destroyed and every world was being nuked into oblivion. President Adar and most of his cabinet were dead, and she'd just been sworn in as President of the Colonies. She gave the order to start looking for surviving ships, hoping to shepherd them out of the combat zone. One of those ships was a botanical cruiser, a lot like the one in their fleet now. She shuttled over to meet with the captain, so she could make sure his needs were tended to. There was a young girl on that ship, with long blonde hair and a pretty doll she loved to play with. She talked about how excited she was to meet her mother at the spaceport on Caprica City.
Roslin shuttled back to Colonial One. Then, the Cylons found them.
Not all of their ships had FTL drives, and couldn't make a getaway like hers could. She wanted to start evacuating the slower ships, but Lee told her the Cylons would be on top of them any second now. She could stay and wait, hope for the best. But Laura had recently accepted the reality that the Twelve Colonies were lost, and they might be all that was left.
So, she gave the order to run. They jumped away, leaving all those people behind just as the Cylons returned. She'd never forget the horrified, enraged cries of those doomed people over the wireless, telling her how they hoped she would rot in hell for leaving them behind.
The blonde hair, the doll, and that face permanently etched into her memory were all the same. This was that girl.
"Oh my gods." Laura barely got out as she collapsed to her knees, letting the water soak her torso. "Oh my Gods, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I didn't have a choice, you know that? There wasn't another way out."
The girl didn't speak. Didn't move. Laura reached a hand out, only for the girl to dematerialize into a puff of fog, returning the space around her to utter darkness. Laura groped the air where the little girl had been, grabbing at nothing. She felt herself hyperventilating, tears running down her face and falling into the swamp water below.
The water around her started glowing a strange, bright orange. Roslin looked up to find the tree canopy above her gone, replaced by… Caprica? Her home planet filled the entire night sky, its surface intermittently brightened by the haunting sight of nuclear detonations.
Then, that strange, airy voice came again. Roslin turned to see the same half-translucent elk, with those dozen, elongated antlers stretching across the creature's entire body, staring into her. It craned its neck up to watch the dying world, studying the horrific sight. After a few moments, the creature looked to Laura, almost as if it was waiting for her to say something. It repeated itself in that strange, alien voice.
"I don't understand."
A sharp buzzing sound shot Laura into the waking world. The wireless set by her bed had woken her up. Still in a daze, Roslin forced herself to grab for the wireless set, groggily pulling it to her ear and acknowledging the caller.
"Madam President, I'm sorry to wake you, Admiral Adama has requested your presence on Galactica immediately."
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The marine closed the door behind Roslin as she entered Galactica's situation room. Immediately, she could tell something horrible must have happened. Adama had that look on his face, while Starbuck was hungrily devouring a map of the clearing they'd shown her a few days ago. Sharon was there, too, which immediately sent a shiver down her back. She was supposed to be down on the surface, helping forage for supplies. What was she doing here?
"What's happened?" She demanded to know, her eyes darting from person to person.
"Our harvesting operation was attacked." Was Adama's blunt sitrep "A security officer and one of my specialists are dead. The rest of them barely made it out."
"Attacked?" Roslin repeated, struggling to get out her next words. "By the natives? The Fire Nation again?"
"No." Sharon's voice was cold, almost distant. "It wasn't Fire Nation, it wasn't human. I don't know what that thing was, but it wasn't like any normal wildlife, any normal thing I've ever seen."
"And she's seen the inside of a Cylon baseship, just as a reminder." Starbuck jabbed, earning a nasty glare from Adama.
Roslin inhaled sharply, "Oh, Gods." She paced from one end of the room to another, stroking her chin for a few moments before anything else out of her mouth. "That forest was going to be the only thing keeping us from starving. We have to find another, put together another mission."
"All of the equipment we needed was left on the surface." Adama's voice was cold. Roslin guessed he'd probably known the specialist he spoke of. "We can't mount a different expedition to the surface. We need this forest."
Roslin stepped up to the table, eyeing their data.. "Angry spirits protect the forest." She fidgeted with her hand, thinking back to what Gaeta had told them all in CIC before Adama gave the green light. "The scriptures speak of demons, greater and lesser. What if that thing down there, what if it really is a spirit?"
"Well, that spirit just killed two of our people." Kara said, like she was ready to start a brawl. "I don't care what thing is, it needs to die."
"Is that a good idea?" Roslin questioned. "We don't know what it is, what it's capable of."
"It seems we're left with no alternative. That creature, whatever it is, represents a threat to our operations in the forest. That threat must be eliminated." Adama was right. The fleet had a little over two weeks left before they were out of food. They had to get down there. "Captain Thrace, please go over your plan again."
"Okay." This was where Kara thrived, she was in her element here. "So whatever it is, it lives in this forest, which means it knows the terrain better than we ever will. We can't just go down there and expect to shoot it dead."
Roslin set her hands on her hips. "So this is where that outside the box thinking of yours comes in, right captain?"
Kara smiled. "Firebombing. We end a ship down with a skeleton crew, using it as bait to lure the creature out. When it shows itself, a squadron of Raptors drop incendiary bombs on the son of a bitch."
"Firebombing?" Laura looked at the images Kara had prepared, displaying attack stages and possible landing sites. "We can't very well collect supplies from the ashes."
"We land the ship here, across the river from the harvesting op's landing site. The river will act as a natural fire break. At the same time we drop charges, we'll land Raptors just outside the forest's perimeter, while our birds still in the sky keep eyes on that river. That thing tries to cross water, missiles blast it to hell. If it tries to run out of the forest, marines gun it down. If it stays put, it burns."
Laura frowned. "This forest seemed to have cultural significance to the natives, I'd hate to damage it…" She waited for reactions, but the three didn't speak. None of them seemed terribly concerned about the forest's cultural meaning. With 50,000 people mere weeks away from a slow, agonizing death to worry about, it was hard for her to muster up much concern, either. "But, our supply needs take priority right now. Do it, Admiral."
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"We'll be ready to launch in a couple of hours." Starbuck reported to the admiral, his head buried in a copy of her operational brief as the two walked through one of Galactica's triangular grey corridors. "Knuckledraggers are loading the ordinance now, and my pilots are raring to go."
Adama handed the papers back to Kara, his lack of protest all the affirmation Kara needed. "We'll give the go to launch when-"
"Admiral!" called a voice from behind the two, beckoning for Adama's attention. Galen Tyrol ran out in front of them, nearly out of breath. "Admiral, I've been trying to find you, I wanted to ask about the rescue mission for Cally and the marine."
Starbuck's eyes shot down. Adama opened his mouth to speak, but the Chief started again before he could get a word out.
"I've been going over maps of the forest, if Cally made a break where we think she did, there's a few obvious places she'd be hiding out, we could search those out first."
"Chief…" Adama said somberly.
"Or, you figure if she's been running one or two hours on foot, she could have only gotten so far. If you'll look, I've marked a perimeter to-"
"Chief," the Admiral repeated, setting a firm hand on the mechanic's shoulder. "You saw what happened, you read Sharon's report. I'm sorry, Tyrol."
Galen's breath was heavy, rhythmatic. His eyes darted to Starbuck, hoping against hope she would back him up. She didn't. "We can't just give up on her, we can't…"
"All we can do is make sure she didn't die for nothing." Adama offered, squeezing the specialist's shoulder before letting go.
Galen's breathing slowed. His pleading, desperate face slowly transitioned into a scowl. He glared daggers at Starbuck. "You're leading this mission, aren't you captain? Do me a favor. Make sure that thing burns for a long, long time before it dies."
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Aang tightened the blanket around him, scooted closer to the fire, and leaned his head against Katara's shoulder. Sokka had rustled up a few extra branches and twigs, and was in the process of throwing them into the roaring fire he'd set up for them upon landing near the edge of the forest.
"I'm going to be at this all night if all I'm using are these tiny branches." Sokka complained, setting his hands on his kneecaps and leaning down at Aang and Katara. "I could walk into that forest, grab what I need in five minutes, and we'd be set for the rest of the night."
"I really don't think that's a good idea, Sokka." Aang cautioned. "Something about that forest doesn't feel right, and you heard what that woman told us. It's protected by spirits who don't want us in it, and we should respect that."
"Nothing about that forest seems magical to me." Sokka countered.
"Which of us is the bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds, again?" Aang asked mockingly.
"And which of us is actually doing all the work right now?"
"We're going to be fine for the night, just stop worrying about it Sokka." Katara pleaded, offering her brother a chance to sit by tapping the ground beside her.
"I can't believe we even wasted all this time coming out all this way! We could have found an Earthbending teacher by now."
Aang could understand Sokka's point of view, but it was hard not to let his own excitement overpower him. They'd been flying for three straight days, hardly stopping for anything on their way to the forest. Then, when they finally made it, the Avatar insisted on keeping their distance. They were right out in the open, a perfect target for bandits or anything else that might want to hurt them. Aang did feel a little bad, but elation easily overpowered any residual guilt. Visitors from the stars, with powers so great they could even best the Fire Nation, and supposedly even friendly? Finding them would be worth everything.
After some back and forth, Aang finally agreed to leave for the next Earth Kingdom city no later than tomorrow night, which seemed to calm Sokka down a little. The fire gradually died down over the next hour, and the young avatar allowed his eyes to close, resigning himself to resume the search in the morning instead of scanning the starry sky until sunrise.
Just before he lost consciousness, a deep roar crackled across the sky, forcing Aang to instinctively shoot himself into the sky, glider in hand. Sokka grabbed his boomerang, assuming a fighting position, while Katara shot her eyes in every direction for the source.
"There!" Katara cried out, throwing her finger up at the rapidly growing streak of orange descending from the sky.
"Well, those look like your new friends." Sokka declared, letting himself ease up just a little.
Aang used his airbending to fly himself onto Appa's back, beckoning his friends to join him. He grabbed hold of Appa's reins. "Let's go find them."
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"Raptor's two through five, get on my back and begin descent." Starbuck barked out, gently pushing down on her flightstick and pulling back on the throttle, commencing their squadron's steep fall into the planet's atmosphere. She hated piloting a Raptor. Compared to a Viper, they were slow, cumbersome, and they had way too much electronic crap to keep track of. But, this was her mission, which meant she had the privilege of taking point.
They'd volunteered a small civilian ship, the Clymene, to play bait. It'd been a glorified private yacht before the attack, barely breaking fifty meters when measured from bow to stern. Most of the crew had been evacuated, leaving just the pilot and a small command team.
The orange haze across her forward window faded away. Starbuck held down her push-to-talk button. "Clymene, you're clear for landing at the target location, we've got eyes on you. Keep your hand on the throttle the moment you touch down, and don't let it leave."
Her squadron assumed a circular patrol above the yacht. Kara double-checked her Dradis, and broke formation. Another squadron would be beginning it's descent in a minute, with marine strike teams in tow. Starbuck fully intended to join them.
Clymene signaled it'd finished landing. The small, sleek ship was easy to make out in the pitch-black forest. Suddenly, the sharp beep-beep-beep of Starbuck's DRADIS demanded her attention. She glanced at the console.
"Hey, I've got a new contact." Kara reported, double checking her read-out. "It's pretty weird. Bigger than a raptor, but slow as hell. Probably just more freaky wildlife, but keep an eye on it."
Just about every sensor in the squadron of frighteningly complex recon craft was aimed at the surface. After a few short minutes, their patience paid off.
"Starbuck, I've got eyes on something. Three o' clock relative to the Clymene, three klicks out, moving fast." Kat spat out.
Starbuck's eyes darted to Kat's coordinates. Sure enough, something was there. Big and glowing, just like Sharon had described, but it was hard to make out any more detail from this distance. Weirdly, her sensors weren't showing much of anything. She switched to thermals, which reported the area roughly where the creature should be was actually colder. She swore at the device.
"Okay, arm your charges, be ready to fire on my command. Remember to spread out your ordinance, people, we don't want this thing slipping through the fire."
Starbuck watched the beast dart through the forest, dodging through the trees like a fish through water. She was relieved she'd decided against sending marines in, guns blazing. She flicked up the protective guard over her 'launch' button, massaging it with the edge of her thumb.
She counted the seconds, judging the creature's speed. Then, when she felt like the distance was just right, she gave the command.
"Fire."
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Aang piloted Appa closer and closer to the strange, metal ship that'd touched down in the forest moments ago. A series of loud cracks across the sky startled him into pulling the flying beast up further. The trio shot their heads up, watching in awe as more and more of those orange streaks made their way across the sky.
Katara nervously gripped the edge of Appa's saddle. "How many of them are there? Why are they coming now?"
"And what is that???" Sokka cried out, drawing the gang's attention to a strange, glowing shape galloping across the forest. It was hard to make out much detail, but it was easy to see the creature was making a beeline for the metal ship.
Aang strained his eyes, then pulled hard on Appa's reigns, beckoning the creature to land. "It's a spirit!" Aang declared as his friends struggled to grab hold of anything they could stop themselves from being flung off Appa's saddle. "A forest spirit, just like Hei Bai. These people might not know it's here, we need to-"
Aang's plan was interrupted by dozens of bright, yellow streaks whizzing down from the sky faster than anything he'd seen in his life. They screamed towards the ground, and an instant later, the avatar felt like he was about to go blind. Even from this high up, he felt the ground rock. The streaks exploded into the forest, enveloping huge chunks of the treeline in deep, furious blankets of fire that seemed to grow larger every second.
Once again, the avatar tugged hard on the sky bison, compelling it to swing up and away from the rapidly rising smoke and flame.
"They're… bombing the forest?" Aang thought out loud in an effort to sort out his thoughts. "We have to stop them!"
"Stop them?" Sokka cried out as he held on for dear life. "I don't think we're really in the position to stop them!"
Aang ran through his options, trying to think of something, anything to stop the madness below him. He looked down to examine the spreading fire, and spied the river not far off. He craned his head to Katara. "I have an idea, but you're probably not going to like it."
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Barely a moment after those bombs exploded into the treeline, Starbuck let out a yell of ecstasy over her wireless. She wished she had more time to enjoy the fireworks, but there were more important things to deal with. The pilot flung her Raptor towards the forest's edge with a flick of her joystick, where a second squadron of birds were already touching down. She probably nailed the final descent a little quicker than she should have, crashing into the ground with a hard thud and throwing off her helmet. Tyrol could yell at her later. Kara threw open her bird's hatch, grabbed her rifle from the seat beside her, and joined the dozens of marines establishing the perimeter outside, hoping she'd be able to tell Tyrol that she'd seen the monster responsible for killing Cally brought down with her own eyes.
Starbuck caught Helo raising his arm, trying to grab her attention. Four marines zoomed behind him, kneeling down for cover beside a set of bushes and taking aim at the treeline.
Helo lowered his weapon. "Glad you make it in time for the fun, Starbuck." When they weren't arguing, the two were actually pretty good friends. They'd known eachother long before the Colonies were attacked, and it wasn't hard to stay in touch when every Colonial still alive could fit into a mid-sized town.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Starbuck replied while grabbing her wireless off her belt. "Kat, sitrep?"
"We've lost the frakker, we're scanning every inch of the forest now. That thing got caught almost dead center of the fire, it might be burning alive as we speak."
"Ah, we can only hope to get off that easy."
"Wait, wait, standby. Something's happening."
Kara gave a frustrated shake of her head. "Something isn't a description, Kat."
"The river, it's… the river is… It's lifting itself up??"
"I'm sorry, could you run that by me again?" Starbuck ended up not needing more explanation from Kat to understand. Above the treeline, no more than a couple kilometers away, a massive, flowing blob of black slowly rose higher and higher. Kara rubbed her eyes, trying to process what in the name of the Gods she was looking at.
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Katara had spent most of her life refining her waterbending talents, even training with some of the great masters at the Northern Water Tribe. Aang was the avatar himself, supremacy of the elements was part of the job description. But for all their power, even working together, the two struggled to lift the gargantuan sum of water out of its basin. Aang delicately controlled his hands , trying to balance the thousands upon thousands of gallons in just the right way so as to not topple over each other and drown them all.
Sokka watched from atop Appa's back. He didn't have any bending powers of his own, limiting his ability to help.
"Okay, together, on three." Katara commanded, seizing the initiative. "One, two… Three!"
The two threw their open palms outward, sending a tsunami barrelling towards the forest fire. Waves crashed into the flames, nearly throwing up enough steam and smoke to blot out the stars above. Aang shot a blast of air at the ground, flinging him into the air for a better look at the situation. The last of the fire was fizzling out. Charred, barren batches of forest were intertwined with green. Far off in the distance, just outside of the forest, sets of lights glowed around strange, metal craft. Craft that looked a lot like what that woman had described back in the Earth Kingdom city.
Aang shot himself back down. "We need to stop those people from ever doing this again."
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"Galactica, something just put out our fire." Kara reported into her wireless set. "The river appears to have just… lifted itself up and-"
A small figure shot up from the forest, then threw itself at the ground in their direction. Kara dropped her wireless to free a second hand for her rifle, raising it at the shape. Two more figures darted out from the treescape.
"Standby to fire on my command!" Kara yelled out. Helo crouched beside her, night-vision enabled binoculars in hand, trying to figure out what exactly they were dealing with.
Helo looked like he was about to talk, but hesitated. He looked through the binoculars again, drawing Starbuck's ire. "They're definitely people, but not dressed like anybody I've seen. And they're… You won't believe this Starbuck, they look young."
Starbuck shot an annoyed side eye at her friend. "Excuse me?"
"Look for yourself." Helo suggested, offering Kara the device.
Kara rolled her eyes as she grabbed the binoculars. She peered through them, and sure enough, the rapidly approaching figure, wearing some sort of red-yellow outfit, didn't exactly look like a grown adult. "What…?
The smaller boy came to a final stop fifty feet in front of them after one last astonishing leap into the air. He was holding a small glider of sorts, a staff with thin red wings jutting out on either end. The boy flung his staff against the ground, coaxing the wings back into their flat, wooden vessel.
Dozens of lights sheened off the small, light-skinned child. He was finally close enough for Starbuck to make out his completely bald head, adorned with a single bright blue arrow stretching across the top and pointing down towards his nose.
And oh boy, he looked pissed.
"Hold fire!" Kara ordered, only just barely lowering her own weapon.
"Why did you do that?" The boy yelled out, his voice high-pitched. "Why did you try to destroy the forest? Who are you people?"
Kara looked left to Helo, then right to one of the marines. Both of them were waiting for her direction.
Helo spoke up next. "We were defending ourselves!" He yelled at the boy, bringing his weapon down to his holster. He always did have the cooler head out of the two of them.
"Defending yourselves?" The boy yelled back. "Is that what you call what you did?"
Two more people joined the boy, flanking either side of him. A boy and a girl, both taller and a little older looking. They were dressed in deep blue garments, with white dressing wrapped up their arms. The boy was brandishing some kind of small, metal weapon. The girl motioned her hands up, and a stream of water flew out of a bottle attached to her belt, staying suspended in midair in front of her.
Helo tapped Kara's shoulder. "They told us about waterbenders, looks like we found one."
They weren't here to fight a group of random children, that was damn sure. Kara slowly, deliberately holstered her weapon, and threw an open hand at the strangers, taking a few steps towards them. "Hey, we're not here to fight you." She yelled out. "Something in the forest killed some of our people."
"That something was a forest spirit, and it was probably stopping you from destroying its home."
"Forest spirit?" Kara asked, too quietly for anybody to hear. The boy started pacing closer to her, his hand gripped tight around that wooden staff.
The girl yelled something out at him, and ran to catch her friend. Her hand shot up, it looked like she was reaching for the boy's shoulder.
Two deafening bangs sounded off barely ten feet from Starbuck's right ear. She ducked down, grabbing her helmet for cover. Someone let out a blood curdling shriek, and when Kara looked back up, the young girl had collapsed to the ground, red beginning to gush from her shoulder.
It took a moment for the horrifying realization to fully settle in. One of her marines had an itchy trigger finger, got nervous, and the girl's sudden movement was the only thing they needed to lose their cool. "Cease fire!"
Starbuck and Helo made a sprint for the girl, but Kara didn't get far before a great blast of air slammed into her chest like an airbag, knocking the air completely out of her and sending her crashing into the grass. She gasped for air, looking up just in time to see the younger boy staring daggers at her while the older one hovered over the crippled woman, desperately trying to figure out what to do.
"Wait!" Starbuck cried out through coughs, fighting to get air back into her lungs. "We have a medic, we can help her!"
"You hurt Katara." He spat out. Air began to swirl faster and faster around the boy's head, and his eyes slowly began to glow a strange, bright white that sent shivers down even Starbuck's spine.
The older boy gripped his shoulder. "Aang, please just let them." He pleaded. The boy's eyes began transitioning back to their normal color, much to Kara's relief.
"Go." Was all the bald boy with the strange, blue arrows said.
Helo made a mad dash for the girl, red medkit in hand. He kneeled down and flipped it open. "I need light!" The officer cried out.
Starbuck was over him as fast as she could manage, hand still gripping her throbbing sternum. She shined her light on the girl, giving Helo the chance to do his work. Her breathing was shallow, and she looked barely conscious.
"Frak me." Helo swore, grabbing dressing from the kit and pressing it into the woman's shoulder. "Two rounds hit her shoulder, probably tore her up pretty good. She keeps losing blood like this, she's going to go into shock"
"Then stop the bleeding." Starbuck demanded.
"Kara, you took basic battlefield medicine just like I did. You know we can't do much with a med kit. We have no idea what the bullets did to her, and even if we could patch her up, without antibiotics there's a pretty strong chance she dies of infection anyway."
Kara cursed under her breath. The smaller boy - the older one referred to him as Aang - was on his knees next to the girl, tightly holding her hand. Helo was right, she knew just as well as he did a field medic wasn't going to be able to do much for this girl's condition.
And she sure as hell wasn't going to have yet another dead kid on her conscience. Hesitantly, she reached for her wireless.
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"Galactica, Starbuck. Standby to receive critically wounded. Have a med team waiting for us in the hanger bay for immediate transfer to sickbay."
Galactica's CIC had been playing a live audio feed of the entire operation over the loudspeakers. The situation was already beyond all recognition, but Kara's last sentence forced William Adama and Colonel Tigh to lock eyes in shared shock and horror.
"Has she lost her mind?" Tigh yelled loud enough for all of CIC to hear.
Adama grabbed hold of one of the wireless phones mounted on the central command console. "Starbuck, those people just threw up an entire river of water like it was nothing. We have no idea what kind of threat they pose to this ship."
"Sir, with all due respect, I really don't give a damn. We shot her, we're responsible, we're taking her up."
"Starbuck-" Adama paused. Half the command crew had stopped what they were doing to eavesdrop on their conversation. She was right, their people had shot her. But, the last thing they found in that forest had killed two good men. Was he willing to risk losing a hundred times that many?
In the end, though, his opinion didn't matter all that much at this point. Starbuck had her mind made up, and he knew her well enough to know there wasn't a force in the galaxy that could change it at this point. Adama let out a defeated sigh. "I don't want them out of your sight for one second, keep a marine team with them from the moment they step on the damn flightpod."
Adama slammed the receiver into its cradle. "Clear the port hangerbay, and the entire deck around sickbay. I want marines by every causeway - and tell Doc Cottle to prep for incoming wounded."
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"Okay, get a stretcher, put her in one of the Raptors." Starbuck commanded, pulling tight on the tourniquet Helo had applied on the young girl. Both pilot's gloves were stained with blood. "We'll take her back here, if you stay-"
"She's my sister!" The older boy yelled. "I'm not just letting you take her, if she's going I'm going."
"I'm going, too." Aang said adamantly.
Starbuck looked to Aang, then the older boy. "Fine, Helo, you deal with those two. I'll make sure she gets onto a bird."
Helo looked up from the girl for the briefest of moments. He looked genuinely surprised. "Bring all three of them? The admiral is not going to like that."
"Oh, Lords. The old man might actually kill me this time." She empathized with the two. If it had been Zak or Anders on that stretcher, could anything have kept her away?
A hundred questions still raced through Starbuck's mind, and they hadn't even accomplished the mission they'd set out for in the first place. That thing, that apparent forest spirit, could still be out there for all they knew. Was there really something supernatural about this forest after all? Her faith in the Gods was beyond reproach, did their influence reach this world, too? She knew there were greater powers at work in the Galaxy - her experiences on Kobol had demonstrated that fact succinctly.
Besides, ever since she saw those first firebenders, anything seemed possible.
For now, they had a bleeding out girl to worry about. Those hundred questions would have to wait.
I corrected a small BSG continuity error in previous chapters. Sharon, the Cylon defector, only earned the call sign 'Athena' around the time of the escape from New Caprica, which takes place further in the series than the events of this story. Previous chapters have been corrected to properly refer to her as 'Sharon,' not 'Athena.'
Chronologically, this story takes place during Book Two of Avatar, After 'The Swamp' but before 'The Blind Bandit.'
I think is also the single longest chapter of any Fanfiction I've ever posted, and I really hope you enjoy it!
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Aang launched himself off his sky bison's back with a single, melodramatic push of his staff. The adolescent shot a puff of air down at the last possible second, slowing his descent and bringing himself to a gentle landing just beside his massive, furry companion. The white, horned creature let out a loud, drawn-out yawn.
"I know you're tired, Appa." Aang comforted, patting the creature's side. "We'll rest here for the night. Where is here, anyway?"
Sokka pulled the trio's map out of his satchel, turning it around twice before settling on the correct orientation. "Looks like a city named Shauntau." He frowned. "We're still pretty close to the front lines, we shouldn't stay long."
"Front lines means more Earthbenders around." Aang replied with a wide smile. They'd spent weeks trying to track down an Earthbending teacher for the young avatar, but luck hadn't been on their side.
"An Earthbending teacher won't do us much good if the Fire Nation comes through the day after you start training, Aang." Katara lectured, climbing down the bison's back with the rest of their belongings. "Let's stay the night and fly out to the next village first thing tomorrow."
Aang rolled his eyes dismissively. "Fine, whatever."
"For now, let's find a place to crash and grab some dinner." Sokka folded up their map and returned it to his pouch.
Shauntau wasn't anywhere near the size of great metropolises like Omashu or the Northern Water Tribe, but the modest city still had plenty of shops and businesses to offer. Unfortunately, the sun was rapidly setting, and people were starting to disperse with the closing of storefronts. A distant yell sent Aang's eyes darting in every direction to find the source, but it found him first. The noise came from a young villager in ragged clothes, still grabbing his chest and struggling to catch his breath after running to catch the trio.
"The Avatar!" He yelled again, pointing up at the Aang's arrows, drawing more and more attention from the remaining crowd still out and about in the street. "He's here!"
"Yep, that's me!" Aang declared with a large grin, proudly pointing at himself. "You wouldn't happen to know where we could stay for the night, would you?"
"Are you the one who brought the great ship to our city, Avatar?" called an older woman from the crowd.
Aang knelt around the man in front of him, eyes scanning the crowd until he found that woman. "Great ship?"
"A great ship came to our city two days ago, soaring from the edge of the sky with the sound of thunder at its back." She relayed to an increasingly intrigued avatar. "The man who visited us could summon magical powers, he said his people came from the stars themselves!"
"The edge of the sky? Magical powers?" Aang turned to Katara. "Doesn't sound like anybody we know."
"They could've come from the Northern Air Temple." Katara suggested, recalling the settlement they'd visited a month back. The inventors calling it home had constructed impressive gliders and other miraculous flying machines.
"I don't think even Teo could have created something like that."
The woman made her way towards the avatar, regaling them with her story as she walked. "The visitor told us his people hold great power, greater than even the Fire Nation. Our king thinks they may hold the key to ending this war, once and for all."
"Where is this visitor now?" Katara asked hopefully.
"He left, just yesterday. You would never believe how high his ship soared, higher than any cloud!"
"Did he say where he was going?" Aang worried his excitement led his question to come out more like a demand than he intended.
The excitement in her face evaporated. "He wanted to trade with us, for food. Our king told him we don't have any to trade. He asked about a sacred forest, far from here, where we are forbidden to go. We tried warning him to stay away, but I don't think he understands."
Aang turned to Sokka, who'd forsaken the discussion in favor of trying to catch one of the stands still selling food before they closed for the night. "Sokka! Get over here, get the map."
Sokka looked up from counting his coins mid-purchase, but Aang had flown over and grabbed the parchment out of his bag before he could respond. The young Avatar shot himself back at the woman, consulting with her and Katara as she pointed out the strange visitor's likely location.
"We have to try and find them." Aang pleaded to his friend.
Katara looked from the map to her friend, then back to the map. "I don't know, Aang. That's in the opposite direction of where we're trying to go."
"You heard her, these people could have the power to defeat the Fire Nation, that makes this more important."
"They think these people have the power, Aang. He could have been a hoax for all you know." She reasoned, trying her hardest to talk him out of the idea.
Aang shook his head. "We've been trying to find a teacher for weeks, Katara. Maybe this is our next best chance."
Katara let out a long, defeated sigh. Sokka handed her some food, a stick skewering some sort of strange smelling meat. "Change of plans, Sokka."
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Well, the Earth Kingdom was certainly right about one thing, this was probably the most incredible sight Chief Tyrol had seen in his adult life. Great trees towered a hundred feet above him, their piny branches filtering the sunlight and giving the field crew a cool shade to conduct their work. A clean, earthy smell filled the air, bringing back happy memories of time spent hiking with his father back on Virgon. It definitely beat the scent of machine oil that seemed to be permanently seared into his nostrils. Tyrol looked up, running his hand across the rough, brown bark of a nearby tree. Hundreds of plump, green fruits were sprouting on every branch for dozens of feet. They were a little bigger than oranges, and if the survey crews could be believed, they tasted pretty good.
Off in the distance, past the clearing, ground crews were setting up canopies and pulling equipment out of storage. Among the rag-tag collection of ships making up the refugee fleet, were a handful of construction platforms and freighters that'd been raided for supplies. Power generators, Chainsaws, a freight truck, and even a small bulldozer were being offloaded and jerry-rigged into the most slapped together harvesting operation in the history of the Colonies.
"Okay, so we figure, about a hundred pounds a tree, maybe a hundred and fifty." Tyrol jotted the numbers on the notebook laying on the table in front of him, his hand-picked group of foremen leaning over and trying to make out the Chief's notes. "That means, if each crew works eight a day, we can send up a full ship every two days."
"That's a pretty tall order." Noted Tyrol's second in command, Cally Henderson. The mechanic had traded in her orange deckhand jumpsuit for a light, green jacket and work jeans.
"Yeah, we're not going to have time to climb every damn tree in this forest." Tyrol looked through his inventory sheet one more time, making sure the idea in his head matched the reality of what they had to work with. "We're going to have the crews cut the frakking things down, pick them clean, and move on to the next."
A metal crash caught the small crew off guard. Tyrol shot his head back to find one of the bulldozer's treads starting to fall off the ramp, eliciting a yell from the deck chief to be more careful. Cally pulled Tyrol's notes towards her. "I don't know, chief. We've got a lot of ex-cons and civilians here, not lumberjacks. I'm worried about a tree falling on somebody's head."
"Yep, that's why you're here to help lead the charge, specialist." Tyrol replied matter-of-factly. "Sharon, why don't you work third shift, I'd like somebody who can stay awake making sure our equipment is switched off and stowed properly every night."
It had taken a bit of convincing for Roslin and Adama to give the go-ahead to allow the Cylon defector to participate in the foraging op. However, Tyrol had been adamant that having somebody around who didn't get tired or worn out like everybody else did had its bonuses on an operation with a surplus of manual labor. "Graveyard shift, you got it." She replied.
"Alright, we still have a good four, five hours of daylight." Tyrol said, flattening a hand above his eyes and looking up at the sky. "I want to finish setting up base camp, then mark territory for each crew so we don't step over each other. Let's get some grub."
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The Fire Nation city playing host to Kara Thrace for the last two days was an odd mish-mash of beautiful brick architecture, and smog-chugging factories. Its stone roads seemed to bustle with life every hour of the day, carrying hundreds of merchants atop their strange creatures that didn't really have an equivalent back on the Colonies. Some of them looked almost like a hybrid of a moose and a lizard, with a long brown snout and thin, stretched webbing around its ears. Others looked like giant boars, beasts of burden used to pull massive cartloads of ingots and wood to the factories. The city was nicer than Kara had expected, even if the air was choked with smog every sunrise. It'd also been pretty nice to sleep on a real mattress, in a private bedroom, instead of sharing a small space with three other cocky pilots.
The Colonial landing party had made quite a bit of progress in those two days. After their tense initial standoff with the local garrison, they'd met with a local magistrate who refused to believe his own men until he'd had a quick first-hand demonstration of their so-called airships. Less than an hour later, the city's mayor had apparently cancelled his entire day's schedule and kicked out the upper-class family he'd been hosting, just to make way for them. How touching, Kara had thought.
So, they got to the business of explaining who they were, and where they came from. She'd been instructed to leave out the little detail of their people being captured by Fire Nation troops a few days back. "This wasn't the time for grudges," the old man told her before she left Galactica. Establishing relations, dealing with their supply shortages, that was the priority right now.
The Colonials demonstrated their technology to the mayor, garnering his intense interest. He'd asked to see the small wireless handset, and curiously ran his hands over the device, eyes hungrily devouring every last detail. Starbuck was a little impressed when the man noted the metal alloy obviously used in its construction.
The mayor even asked how the device worked. One thing at a time, Kara had told him.
Their hosts managed to return the favor, astonishing the Raptor teams with that miraculous firebending Helo had talked Kara's ear off about before their mission. Kara found herself in awe as one of the mayor's guards effortlessly summoned a massive fireball in his hand, and willed it out of existence just as quickly. Another man even warmed her drink up with a flick of his wrist, generating a small flame that carressed the vessel until the green liquid inside started to bubble.
"The Fire Nation would be honored to work with your people as partners." The mayor said proudly, after offering them something to eat. Starbuck would never refuse a meal under these circumstances. "The Royal Family are who you want to talk to. I can have my fastest messenger fetch one of their representatives right away."
Kara sensed an opportunity, and with a sly smile told the mayor they could help get the word out faster than a messenger. She ordered one of her pilots, Kat, to work with the Fire Nation officials to Raptor that messenger directly to their destination. They could even bring the representative back, in a fraction of the time it would have taken. If they were going to be meeting the royal family, Kara thought, why not make sure they made a memorable first impression?
It'd taken a little longer than expected for Katarine to return. Starbuck found herself a little annoyed when her pilot checked in to let them know she'd be away for at least another day. Apparently, the royal family was planning to send a very specific person out to greet them. The Fire Nation didn't seem to appreciate how tight their timetable was.
She spent the time getting to know her hosts a little better. They seemed more than happy to show her around, giving her a tour of the city, the mayor's sizable private home, and even a school. These people seemed remarkably proud of themselves, though sometimes it stepped over the line into pretentiousness. They were a smug, self-assured people who seemed to view those not under a Fire Nation flag as inherently inferior. 'Autocratic' was another word that kept popping into Kara's mind. National emblems were etched, painted, and branded onto practically everything, and school children were instructed to recite an oath to their home nation every day. There was a sense of national unity that would make the proudest patriots back on the Colonies jealous.
And if Kara saw one more picture of that damned Fire Lord, she was going to lose it. Fire Lord Ozai, their head of state, had pictures and monuments to him in every public square, every building. There was a three-story tall statue of him near the center of town.
Still, pride didn't equal stupidity. The Fire Nation seemed to understand the Colonials were vastly technologically superior, though in retrospect Kara wished she had left out certain details to avoid making the fleet sound like the rag-tag group of desperate refugees they were. The magistrates she'd spoken with even sounded quite pleased with themselves to be chosen as the Colonials trading partners, over everybody else. She didn't tell them they were talking to everybody they could possibly get ahold of. It was probably for the best to let the Fire Nation believe whatever they needed to believe, if it got them what they wanted.
Finally, over a day later, as the sun was just starting to rise on the bustling village and the sound of factory machines whirring to life filled the air, Kat made it back. The hatch threw open, Kara and her landing party standing at attention to greet the new arrival. To her shock, though, the representative didn't look like a strongman or a prince. They weren't even a man at all.
The short, thin woman who stepped out was adorned with a fairly modest, dark-red outfit etched with gold. Her chocolate back hair was mostly tied up in a ponytail sticking straight up, with long bangs hanging down either side of her face. What really took Starbuck by surprise, though, was that this woman didn't look like any of those stuffy officials with a hard face etched by decades of experience. She looked young, practically a teenager.
"My name is Princess Azula." The woman declared in a confident voice that impressed even Kara Thrace. The princess gave a deep bow, and smiled. "On behalf of the Fire Nation, welcome to our empire. May our relationship be long and prosperous."
The two soon found themselves at the Mayor's residence, meeting over tea served in beautifully decorated cups. "It's a tragedy, what you're people have been through." Azula sympathized as she finished pouring her drink. "Nobody, especially people who have suffered so much, should be forced to watch their children starve on top of everything else."
"I'm glad you see it that way." Kara replied, blowing on her beverage.
"I can't imagine how your people are still so strong, after everything you've been through. How much food do you need, exactly?"
Kara tapped her cup, trying to size up the young woman. She was beautiful, and definitely charming. Look a little deeper though, and something about her felt weird. Azula was eager to help, a little too eager. Maybe it could simply be chalked up to her trying to impress the rest of the royal family by securing a deal with the strange new visitors who just rocked up to them in seemingly magical sky ships.
"Five hundred tons right now, but we might need more, later." Kara responded coolly.
"Five hundred tons…" Azula tapped her chin a few times. "There's a good chance we'd be able to arrange that, I'm sure we could come to some sort of mutually acceptable deal."
"Great, we can have somebody down to work out the details tonight." Kara said, happy to be making some sort of progress.
"I'm afraid you'll have to make the final detail with my father, Fire Lord Ozai, in the capital city." Azula gently set her cup down. "It shouldn't be too much of an issue at all, if you take me back to the capital, I should be able to arrange an audience in just a few short days."
A few short days. Great. They were cutting things close as it was.
"May I see that device your friend talked about, the one you use to talk over great distances?"
Kara nodded, and handed Azula her wireless set, which the princess examined with an intense interest that the pilot honestly found a little funny.
"I can't imagine how useful this would be. A Fire Nation village was lost in a flash flood, just a few weeks ago. The storm moved in so quickly, there was no way to warn them. If we'd had some of these…" She handed the electronic device back to Kara. "You can see why this exchange is just as important to us, as it is to you."
Kara returned the device to her belt, squinting at the princess. She was normally pretty good at reading people, but something about Azula just felt off. Was it really just political ambition?
"Something wrong?" Azula inquired.
"Actually, yeah, I am pretty curious about something." Kara crossed her legs, and leaned back in her chair, thinking back to Helo's mission report. "I've heard you people find it a little odd to have women in certain roles. You're a princess, a young princess apparently hand-chosen to come talk to us. What's the deal?"
Azula literally laughed at her. "A problem with women? Yes, some of our people still cling to the old ways. But, we're not the Earth Kingdom or the Water Tribe, Captain Thrace. Look around you, women are teachers, mayors, sometimes even soldiers." She pointed out the window, to a factory stoke looming above the city's quaint skyline. "We're at war, with people who want to see our way of life destroyed. A woman can work in a factory or write laws just as well as a man, our people understand that. My father understands that."
Starbuck smiled and nodded politely, but she still didn't feel fully comfortable with this woman. In the end, though it didn't matter if she was genuinely worried for their well being, or if she was a sociopath trying to fake her way to a promotion. Their fleet needed food, and the Fire Nation had food. That was all she was ordered to find out.
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Laura started her morning off by skimming over the latest batch of surface reports and checking the latest poll Tory had put together. Baltar's numbers were getting uncomfortably close. Her breakfast consisted of two packets of saltine crackers, a few grapes, and imitation coffee. Her station allowed her more substantial rations, but she tried to space them out. It always gave her little pangs of guilt, knowing that she would always have something while most of the civilian fleet was just scraping by.
Helo and Starbuck reported directly to Colonial One for their debriefing, at Admiral Adama's specific instruction. Agathon was chomping at the bit to go into great detail about what he'd seen. He wanted to recall the sight of every city street, every cultural quirk, and every person he'd met. Roslin was forced to reign the captain in, making him stick to specifics. "Generally, I'd describe the Earth Kingdom as friendly, at least the places I've visited." Agathon's face was still lit up with excitement. "Their empire's been around for a long time, and while I don't have a lot to compare it to, they seem pretty ethnically diverse."
"And you've had a chance to see this Earthbending up close?" Laura knew better than anyone that supplies were the topic of the day, just like it had been every day since the explosion, but now that word of the native's abilities seemed to be spreading across the fleet like wildfire, she wanted to understand exactly what they were dealing with.
"Yeah, a lot actually, some of them like to show off." Agathon stretched his fist out. "They can control the ground around them pretty effortlessly. Everything from a pebble to an entire slab of rock, they even make buildings and city walls with it."
"I saw plenty of firebenders." Thrace recounted, preferring to stand with her arms crossed. "Honestly, I thought Helo was screwing with us until I actually saw it for myself. They can light a cigar with a flick of a wrist, or send a jet of fire at your ass."
"There are also waterbenders, people who can manipulate liquids, but I haven't had a chance to meet one. They mostly stick to the Northern and Southern water tribes near the planet's poles." Helo pulled a piece of parchment out of his bag, and handed it to the president. "I traded some of our high altitude imagery for this, it's a more complete political map of the planet. Note the red over the eastern continent, almost all of that is former Earth Kingdom territory now occupied by the Fire Nation."
Laura laid the map out over her desk, running her fingers across it. Three bright, distinct colors dominated the parchment. Blue at the north and south, yellow on the east, and a dark red on the west. "That's incredible, I honestly don't know what else to say. Lords, I could never have imagined something like that would be real."
Commander Lee took the chance to pipe up. "I'd say we need to keep a lid on it, but the cat's already out of the bag. Bending is all the ground crews have been talking about since the SAR mission."
"Rumors are spreading through the entire fleet." Admiral Adama said flatly, though Roslin could detect the faint hints of concern in his voice. "Every time the story changes just a bit, you wouldn't believe what people are coming up with. We need to get a handle on it soon."
Laura nodded approvingly. "People have been acting crazy ever since the planet became public, it's the only thing people want to talk about. Now, we have to tell them magic apparently exists. I haven't the slightest idea how we're going to break the news."
"One step at a time." Lee said with a wave of his hand. "We still have a food crisis on our hands."
"Right, we should move on. Captain Agathon, has the Earth Kingdom been receptive to the possibility of trading with us?"
"Receptive, yes." Not the tone Laura was hoping for. "But, they've been on the losing end of this war for a long time now. They already have their own refugee problem, and the Fire Nation seems pretty fond of scorching anything that gets in their way. Whatever extra food they have, they're not thrilled to be trading away."
"Well surely there must be something." Laura implored. "You said you've visited three different cities, isn't there some kind of central government we can negotiate with?"
"They do, yeah. The Earth Kingdom is ruled by a series of kings and nobles who have control over their own cities or provinces, but the entire empire is ruled by an Earth King who lives in the capital city, Ba-Seng-Se." Helo had clearly been taking his job on the surface seriously. "The problem is, their bureaucracy is incredibly complex. Things take time."
"Well, we can certainly make it worth their while to speed things up." At least, she hoped they could. Getting an inventory of everything they had to trade was proving trickier than she'd initially thought. The Earth Kingdom would almost certainly be interested in radios, flashlights, or other technological goodies. The issue was, external power sources weren't easy to fabricate. They'd probably have to teach the Earth Kingdom how to generate their own electricity. They'd have to explain what electricity was. "Did anything of our technology in particular grab their attention?"
"Well, honestly…" Helo's voice trailed off. Laura watched him expectantly. "I'm not sure how much of a buffer they can give us. If we really want a decent amount of food from them… they are losing this war pretty badly."
Roslin looked taken aback. "Captain, you're not suggesting direct military assistance?"
William Adama's previously lax stance faded in an instant. "I'm extremely uncomfortable with that idea."
"I couldn't agree more." Roslin quickly concurred.
"They're being butchered." Helo countered, raising his voice above what he probably intended. "I mean, if you'd seen the refugees piling into the city my second day there, you'd-"
"Captain." Roslin raised a finger at the officer, demanding his silence. "You have been with them for all of two days. You cannot pretend to be a geopolitical expert, and we are not in the business of butting into wars we have nothing to do with."
"Okay, look." Helo's voice returned to its normal, calming demeanor. "We don't need to bomb the Fire Nation for them. One Raptor could give the exact location and a headcount of every enemy battalion in their territory. That might at least buy us enough food for some breathing room."
"Madam President, not to get too into the weeds," Lee started, setting a hand on the President's desk. "That would still technically qualify as an act of war against a sovereign nation, and crises or not, you can't do that without going through the Quorum of Twelve."
"I'm fully aware of my responsibilities, Commander." Laura rebuked. "And I'm sure you're aware, the Articles of Colonization allow me to take limited military action unilaterally."
"And who gets to decide what limited means?"
"I do." Laura replied stoically, somewhat annoyed at Lee's attempt to lawyer her on what her office could and could not do. "Ms. Thrace, what about the Fire Nation? What is your impression of this so-called war monger?"
"They're arrogant as hell, that's for sure." Kara started, clasping her palms together. "The Fire Nation values honor above all else. The way they see it, the rest of the planet is their birthright. They see every other nation as inferior, and they've got a whole damn propaganda machine making sure their people don't question that belief."
Helo stretched a palm at Kara. "See, that-"
"They also seem pretty open to women serving different roles in society." Starbuck resumed, not giving her friend a chance to cut in. "Helo mentioned the Earth Kingdom tends to keep women tethered to more traditional roles. The Fire Nation doesn't seem to mind female mayors or magistrates, and it's pretty common for women to work the same jobs as men."
"That doesn't change the fact they've committed genocide." Helo emphasised, his voice started to rise again. "Did you know there was a fourth power, the Air Nomads, before the Fire Nation wiped them out?"
"Of course the Earth Kingdom is going to make sure you see them as the victim." Kara pointed out. "You've been soaking up their propaganda for days."
"Propaganda? Is that what you call the starving people I saw coming into the walls yesterday? Children? Refugees? Like us?"
"Don't you pretend that-"
"People." Laura cried out, slamming a hand on her desk. "Lets focus, please. I honestly do not give a damn about who started what, or who has the moral high ground. I care about getting this fleet the supplies it needs, end of line. The historians can sort through everything else later. Starbuck, is the Fire Nation willing to trade with us or not?"
"Yeah, they're actually pretty eager to talk." Kara replied, visibly repressing the urge to get back into her feud with Helo. "The woman I spoke with is working on getting us an audience with their head of state, a man named Fire Lord Ozai. She doesn't expect us to be waiting long."
"Okay, that's good, that's very good." Roslin said approvingly. "When we get that audience, I'd like Commander Lee to take point on formal negotiations. Nothing against you Starbuck, Lee just has a much better handle on what we can and cannot offer."
"No offense taken."
"Admiral, I would like you to put together a plan to follow through on Agathon's idea, but hold off on going through with it just yet. I'd prefer not getting involved in their war if we can avoid it." Laura shook her head. "If we really are going to settle on this world, I'd like to avoid making enemies our first week here."
The admiral nodded a silent affirmation.
"Alright, please keep me updated, meet back here tomorrow morning."
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Tom Zarek tapped the lapel microphone hidden on his shirt's collar. The dark-haired woman in front of him, recorder in hand, gave a thumbs up. She leaned forward in her chair, and cleared her throat.
"Vice President Baltar made a statement the other day, regarding the planet. He promised that settlement efforts would be the single, overriding focus of his administration. Why do you think your colleague has been so forward about permanent settlement, while President Roslin hasn't directly commented?"
"Well, I think it's clear that Laura sees that planet as a threat to her grip on power. Laura is a fascist, and she needs a boogeyman. Once the Cylons are no longer in the picture, once we have enough food and supplies to go around, what fears will she have left to play on?"
"So you don't believe Roslin has any intention of settling on the planet?"
"Oh, I'm sure she does. She wouldn't have a choice, the fleet would revolt against her. Quite frankly though, I don't think either this civilization or the natives on that planet would be happy with a settlement effort led by Roslin's administration."
The reporter tilted her head. "I don't understand the natives? Could you elaborate on that?"
Zarek stretched a hand out. "Beth, can you guess how many treaties the other eleven Colonies made with Sagittaron, before the Articles of Colonization were ratified?"
Beth shook her head.
"Ninety-three, the answer is ninety-three. And you know what, they had a perfect record. They broke every single one of them." Zarek clasped his palm into a fist. "The other Colonies would trade for land, and never follow through on their side of the bargain. Lords forbid we decide not to sign the deal they wanted, they'd just take what they want and shoot anybody who didn't like it."
"Mr. Zarek, you are running for Vice President of the Colonies. Your job would be to represent our interest, not the natives on the planet, wouldn't it?"
"Beth, my ideals have always been, from the very beginning, a basic level of decency and freedom for all human beings. That's what I believed when I fought for my people's rights on Sagittaron, and it's what I believe today. A settlement effort led by the Roslin administration would turn into a slow-motion genocide, you can quote me on that. I don't think that's the story either of us want to tell our grandchildren." Zarek finished with a soft, welcoming smile.
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"Then what would settlement look like under Baltar's administration?"
"Well, I think the obvious first step would be to draw up-"
Galen Tyrol switched off the wireless set sitting on the table beside a worn-out Cally. Her uniform was covered in mud, and the woman's face laid buried in her arms. Tyrol patted her back. "Nobody wants to listen to that crap, Cally."
"Hey." She got out weakly, poking her head up to meet the Chief's gaze. "Some of us are trying to stay informed."
"Yeah, you could plug your ears and stay just as informed as you would listening to that asshole." Tyrol replied with a grin. "That was great work out there today, we made a lot of headway. We keep that pace, the first shipment could go up ahead of schedule."
Cally returned Tyrol's smile. "It was really, really nice out there. The air doesn't smell like oil, no Cylon centurions tailing us…"
"Yeah, just think, that could be every day." Tyrol took a seat next to his fellow deck hand. "There's this place I found, on one of the Raptor images, right by a river. Perfect place to build a cabin, set up a small farm, all the privacy you could ever want."
Cally let out a soft laugh. "They're going to need someone to make sure the lights all stay on in the city. There is going to be a city, right?"
"I'd put money on it." Tyrol rested his chin on his fist, losing himself in a reverie of what their future lives might look like. "Food that doesn't taste like garbage, an actual bedroom instead of a bunk with four other people. It honestly, really feels like we have something to look forward to again."
Cally reached a hand out, squeezing Tyrol's arm. "Chief, you wouldn't mind one extra person in that cabin, would you?"
Tyrol opened his mouth to speak, but a soft whirring sound outside the ship interrupted his train of thought.
"Oh, frak me." Cally slapped a hand against her forehead. "I think I forgot to shut one of the generators off."
"Cally!" Tyrol yelled playfully. "Cally, you know you can't leave those things on in all that underbrush. It's a forest fire waiting to happen."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, I'll go deal with it."
"Let me come with you." Tyrol offered. "I don't want you out there alone."
"I'm a big girl Chief." When Tyrol didn't break his gaze, she rolled her eyes in defeat.
The forest outside their ships was still abuzz with life. The constant, soft chirping and humming was actually pretty comforting. As the two stepped out, Galen found himself wishing he could hear the sounds of nature this well from inside the ship's metal hull. Cally directed her flashlight towards a set of trees and beckoned Galen to follow.
"Ya know, isn't Sharon supposed to be out here, too? Can't she deal with this?" Galen asked.
"She's probably on the other side of clearing." Cally deduced. "It's about another fifty feet."
After a minute, the generator's whirring overpowered the sounds of breaking of branches and incessant buzzing of insects. Another minute later, Cally knelt down, and switched the device off. The forest fell eerily quiet.
At some point, the buzzing of insects had stopped. In fact, just about every sound, every bird and bug, had gone silent.
"Cally." Chief said, shining his flashlight around the trees. The air abruptly felt a whole lot colder. The hairs on Tyrol's arms started to rise. "Let's get back to the sh-"
Something howled. Not the howl of a wolf or a bear, or any other wildlife Galen had ever heard in his life. A howl that froze his blood, and almost felt as if it would pierce his very soul. A soft, wispy howl that seemed to ricochet across every tree, every blade of grass. Tyrol flung himself around, and squeezed Cally's arm so hard he was worried he'd break it.
It's body was long and crooked, its skin a stark mix of black and whtie. The thing was vaguely transparent, and it sat perched on its four lanky limbs like it was getting ready to pounce. Six unnaturally pitch-black eyes stared Chief down, while its glowing, ghostly form gave a dim light to the forest around it.
Tyrol switched into fight-or-flight mode. He chose flight. "Go." He said firmly. "Go go go go!"
The two break out in a dead sprint towards their spacecraft. That otherworldly cry came again, and he could hear the thick crash of branches gaining on them.
Sharon and another armed guard appeared out of seemingly nowhere in front of them, weapons drawn. The Cylon yelled something, but Tyrol couldn't hear it. Gunfire screamed into Tyrol's eardrums, echoing across the trees. He covered his head.
Cally tripped. Galen skid to a halt and turned to grab her, only to be met by that thing staring him down a foot away. Sharon reloaded her clip. The beast turned to face her, and paused. Its six eyes blinked in her direction two at a time. It let out an even louder snarl - whatever the thing was, something about Sharon seemed to be freaking it out even more.
Cally wasn't moving, fear seeming to overwhelm her senses. Sharon resumed firing, but the creature didn't even seem to notice the bullets. It raised one of its massive limbs, wrapped in roots and leaves, and swung at Cally.
The next instant, Tyrol's friend vanished into the ground. The unnatural beast raised its limb back up, not even an inch from Tyrol's face. The creature didn't put out any body heat, if anything it somehow felt cold. It didn't smell like anything. There wasn't a trace of Cally anywhere. No crippled body or broken limbs, just empty ground in the hole the creature had left.
The creature opened its maw, and let out another cry. Chief felt something grab his shoulder, but couldn't process what it was.
"Lets go mister!" Sharon yelled. She pulled him hard enough he thought his arm would be pulled out of socket, and the world finally returned to him. He started screaming for Cally, figuring she must have gotten away somehow, at the last second. She was hiding somewhere.
The man Sharon had with him was still firing, when he heard the ground crash again behind him. The firing stopped.
The next few minutes of Tyrol's life were a blur. He desperately flung his head around looking for Cally, but she was nowhere to be seen. The ship's stairway lifted back up into its hull, and the light of the ship's engines briefly returned daylight to their small section of the forest.
Chief banged on the stairway, demanding it be opened. Cally was still out there, he cried out again and again. Sharon rubbed Tyrol's shoulder as he collapsed onto his knees, his bloodied hand still banging on the bulkhead. She pulled him into her arms, and didn't let go until their ship reentered formation with the fleet.
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Roslin felt the briny water splashing against her knees again, humid air filling her nostrils and making it increasingly difficult to breath. She coughed into her suit, trying to figure out how she'd ended up back in this horrible swamp. It was just as dark and dreary as the first time she'd found herself here, its dim light barely letting her make out the thick, veiny roots of nearby trees sticking out of the water.
Laura picked a direction and started walking. It was easy to tell herself this was another dream, but everything felt as real as she could have ever imagined. She thought back to that strange creature haunting her last visit here, and prayed she wouldn't find it again.
She heard a faint, high-pitched voice calling out to her. It at least sounded human, which was a nice improvement. Off in the distance, a small figure was glowing. It was hard to judge size and distance in the foggy mist of the swamp, but it looked smaller than Laura, and somehow familiar. Against her better judgement, she braced herself and quickened her pace towards the strange shape.
The silhouette grew brighter the closer she got, but it darted behind a nearby tree. Adding to Laura's confusion, the figure wasn't just human, it was a young girl no older than ten. Slowly, she stretched a hand out, asking the girl to come out. Laura told the girl she wasn't going to hurt her.
The young girl poked her head out, then ever so slowly, began approaching the President. Roslin still couldn't shake the feeling she'd seen her before.
"How did you get here?" Roslin softly asked the ethereal young girl. Laura knelt down to get a better look at her. Her heart stopped.
She had seen the girl before, almost a year ago. It was the second day of the Cylon attack, virtually all of the Colonial military had already been destroyed and every world was being nuked into oblivion. President Adar and most of his cabinet were dead, and she'd just been sworn in as President of the Colonies. She gave the order to start looking for surviving ships, hoping to shepherd them out of the combat zone. One of those ships was a botanical cruiser, a lot like the one in their fleet now. She shuttled over to meet with the captain, so she could make sure his needs were tended to. There was a young girl on that ship, with long blonde hair and a pretty doll she loved to play with. She talked about how excited she was to meet her mother at the spaceport on Caprica City.
Roslin shuttled back to Colonial One. Then, the Cylons found them.
Not all of their ships had FTL drives, and couldn't make a getaway like hers could. She wanted to start evacuating the slower ships, but Lee told her the Cylons would be on top of them any second now. She could stay and wait, hope for the best. But Laura had recently accepted the reality that the Twelve Colonies were lost, and they might be all that was left.
So, she gave the order to run. They jumped away, leaving all those people behind just as the Cylons returned. She'd never forget the horrified, enraged cries of those doomed people over the wireless, telling her how they hoped she would rot in hell for leaving them behind.
The blonde hair, the doll, and that face permanently etched into her memory were all the same. This was that girl.
"Oh my gods." Laura barely got out as she collapsed to her knees, letting the water soak her torso. "Oh my Gods, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I didn't have a choice, you know that? There wasn't another way out."
The girl didn't speak. Didn't move. Laura reached a hand out, only for the girl to dematerialize into a puff of fog, returning the space around her to utter darkness. Laura groped the air where the little girl had been, grabbing at nothing. She felt herself hyperventilating, tears running down her face and falling into the swamp water below.
The water around her started glowing a strange, bright orange. Roslin looked up to find the tree canopy above her gone, replaced by… Caprica? Her home planet filled the entire night sky, its surface intermittently brightened by the haunting sight of nuclear detonations.
Then, that strange, airy voice came again. Roslin turned to see the same half-translucent elk, with those dozen, elongated antlers stretching across the creature's entire body, staring into her. It craned its neck up to watch the dying world, studying the horrific sight. After a few moments, the creature looked to Laura, almost as if it was waiting for her to say something. It repeated itself in that strange, alien voice.
"I don't understand."
A sharp buzzing sound shot Laura into the waking world. The wireless set by her bed had woken her up. Still in a daze, Roslin forced herself to grab for the wireless set, groggily pulling it to her ear and acknowledging the caller.
"Madam President, I'm sorry to wake you, Admiral Adama has requested your presence on Galactica immediately."
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The marine closed the door behind Roslin as she entered Galactica's situation room. Immediately, she could tell something horrible must have happened. Adama had that look on his face, while Starbuck was hungrily devouring a map of the clearing they'd shown her a few days ago. Sharon was there, too, which immediately sent a shiver down her back. She was supposed to be down on the surface, helping forage for supplies. What was she doing here?
"What's happened?" She demanded to know, her eyes darting from person to person.
"Our harvesting operation was attacked." Was Adama's blunt sitrep "A security officer and one of my specialists are dead. The rest of them barely made it out."
"Attacked?" Roslin repeated, struggling to get out her next words. "By the natives? The Fire Nation again?"
"No." Sharon's voice was cold, almost distant. "It wasn't Fire Nation, it wasn't human. I don't know what that thing was, but it wasn't like any normal wildlife, any normal thing I've ever seen."
"And she's seen the inside of a Cylon baseship, just as a reminder." Starbuck jabbed, earning a nasty glare from Adama.
Roslin inhaled sharply, "Oh, Gods." She paced from one end of the room to another, stroking her chin for a few moments before anything else out of her mouth. "That forest was going to be the only thing keeping us from starving. We have to find another, put together another mission."
"All of the equipment we needed was left on the surface." Adama's voice was cold. Roslin guessed he'd probably known the specialist he spoke of. "We can't mount a different expedition to the surface. We need this forest."
Roslin stepped up to the table, eyeing their data.. "Angry spirits protect the forest." She fidgeted with her hand, thinking back to what Gaeta had told them all in CIC before Adama gave the green light. "The scriptures speak of demons, greater and lesser. What if that thing down there, what if it really is a spirit?"
"Well, that spirit just killed two of our people." Kara said, like she was ready to start a brawl. "I don't care what thing is, it needs to die."
"Is that a good idea?" Roslin questioned. "We don't know what it is, what it's capable of."
"It seems we're left with no alternative. That creature, whatever it is, represents a threat to our operations in the forest. That threat must be eliminated." Adama was right. The fleet had a little over two weeks left before they were out of food. They had to get down there. "Captain Thrace, please go over your plan again."
"Okay." This was where Kara thrived, she was in her element here. "So whatever it is, it lives in this forest, which means it knows the terrain better than we ever will. We can't just go down there and expect to shoot it dead."
Roslin set her hands on her hips. "So this is where that outside the box thinking of yours comes in, right captain?"
Kara smiled. "Firebombing. We end a ship down with a skeleton crew, using it as bait to lure the creature out. When it shows itself, a squadron of Raptors drop incendiary bombs on the son of a bitch."
"Firebombing?" Laura looked at the images Kara had prepared, displaying attack stages and possible landing sites. "We can't very well collect supplies from the ashes."
"We land the ship here, across the river from the harvesting op's landing site. The river will act as a natural fire break. At the same time we drop charges, we'll land Raptors just outside the forest's perimeter, while our birds still in the sky keep eyes on that river. That thing tries to cross water, missiles blast it to hell. If it tries to run out of the forest, marines gun it down. If it stays put, it burns."
Laura frowned. "This forest seemed to have cultural significance to the natives, I'd hate to damage it…" She waited for reactions, but the three didn't speak. None of them seemed terribly concerned about the forest's cultural meaning. With 50,000 people mere weeks away from a slow, agonizing death to worry about, it was hard for her to muster up much concern, either. "But, our supply needs take priority right now. Do it, Admiral."
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"We'll be ready to launch in a couple of hours." Starbuck reported to the admiral, his head buried in a copy of her operational brief as the two walked through one of Galactica's triangular grey corridors. "Knuckledraggers are loading the ordinance now, and my pilots are raring to go."
Adama handed the papers back to Kara, his lack of protest all the affirmation Kara needed. "We'll give the go to launch when-"
"Admiral!" called a voice from behind the two, beckoning for Adama's attention. Galen Tyrol ran out in front of them, nearly out of breath. "Admiral, I've been trying to find you, I wanted to ask about the rescue mission for Cally and the marine."
Starbuck's eyes shot down. Adama opened his mouth to speak, but the Chief started again before he could get a word out.
"I've been going over maps of the forest, if Cally made a break where we think she did, there's a few obvious places she'd be hiding out, we could search those out first."
"Chief…" Adama said somberly.
"Or, you figure if she's been running one or two hours on foot, she could have only gotten so far. If you'll look, I've marked a perimeter to-"
"Chief," the Admiral repeated, setting a firm hand on the mechanic's shoulder. "You saw what happened, you read Sharon's report. I'm sorry, Tyrol."
Galen's breath was heavy, rhythmatic. His eyes darted to Starbuck, hoping against hope she would back him up. She didn't. "We can't just give up on her, we can't…"
"All we can do is make sure she didn't die for nothing." Adama offered, squeezing the specialist's shoulder before letting go.
Galen's breathing slowed. His pleading, desperate face slowly transitioned into a scowl. He glared daggers at Starbuck. "You're leading this mission, aren't you captain? Do me a favor. Make sure that thing burns for a long, long time before it dies."
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Aang tightened the blanket around him, scooted closer to the fire, and leaned his head against Katara's shoulder. Sokka had rustled up a few extra branches and twigs, and was in the process of throwing them into the roaring fire he'd set up for them upon landing near the edge of the forest.
"I'm going to be at this all night if all I'm using are these tiny branches." Sokka complained, setting his hands on his kneecaps and leaning down at Aang and Katara. "I could walk into that forest, grab what I need in five minutes, and we'd be set for the rest of the night."
"I really don't think that's a good idea, Sokka." Aang cautioned. "Something about that forest doesn't feel right, and you heard what that woman told us. It's protected by spirits who don't want us in it, and we should respect that."
"Nothing about that forest seems magical to me." Sokka countered.
"Which of us is the bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds, again?" Aang asked mockingly.
"And which of us is actually doing all the work right now?"
"We're going to be fine for the night, just stop worrying about it Sokka." Katara pleaded, offering her brother a chance to sit by tapping the ground beside her.
"I can't believe we even wasted all this time coming out all this way! We could have found an Earthbending teacher by now."
Aang could understand Sokka's point of view, but it was hard not to let his own excitement overpower him. They'd been flying for three straight days, hardly stopping for anything on their way to the forest. Then, when they finally made it, the Avatar insisted on keeping their distance. They were right out in the open, a perfect target for bandits or anything else that might want to hurt them. Aang did feel a little bad, but elation easily overpowered any residual guilt. Visitors from the stars, with powers so great they could even best the Fire Nation, and supposedly even friendly? Finding them would be worth everything.
After some back and forth, Aang finally agreed to leave for the next Earth Kingdom city no later than tomorrow night, which seemed to calm Sokka down a little. The fire gradually died down over the next hour, and the young avatar allowed his eyes to close, resigning himself to resume the search in the morning instead of scanning the starry sky until sunrise.
Just before he lost consciousness, a deep roar crackled across the sky, forcing Aang to instinctively shoot himself into the sky, glider in hand. Sokka grabbed his boomerang, assuming a fighting position, while Katara shot her eyes in every direction for the source.
"There!" Katara cried out, throwing her finger up at the rapidly growing streak of orange descending from the sky.
"Well, those look like your new friends." Sokka declared, letting himself ease up just a little.
Aang used his airbending to fly himself onto Appa's back, beckoning his friends to join him. He grabbed hold of Appa's reins. "Let's go find them."
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"Raptor's two through five, get on my back and begin descent." Starbuck barked out, gently pushing down on her flightstick and pulling back on the throttle, commencing their squadron's steep fall into the planet's atmosphere. She hated piloting a Raptor. Compared to a Viper, they were slow, cumbersome, and they had way too much electronic crap to keep track of. But, this was her mission, which meant she had the privilege of taking point.
They'd volunteered a small civilian ship, the Clymene, to play bait. It'd been a glorified private yacht before the attack, barely breaking fifty meters when measured from bow to stern. Most of the crew had been evacuated, leaving just the pilot and a small command team.
The orange haze across her forward window faded away. Starbuck held down her push-to-talk button. "Clymene, you're clear for landing at the target location, we've got eyes on you. Keep your hand on the throttle the moment you touch down, and don't let it leave."
Her squadron assumed a circular patrol above the yacht. Kara double-checked her Dradis, and broke formation. Another squadron would be beginning it's descent in a minute, with marine strike teams in tow. Starbuck fully intended to join them.
Clymene signaled it'd finished landing. The small, sleek ship was easy to make out in the pitch-black forest. Suddenly, the sharp beep-beep-beep of Starbuck's DRADIS demanded her attention. She glanced at the console.
"Hey, I've got a new contact." Kara reported, double checking her read-out. "It's pretty weird. Bigger than a raptor, but slow as hell. Probably just more freaky wildlife, but keep an eye on it."
Just about every sensor in the squadron of frighteningly complex recon craft was aimed at the surface. After a few short minutes, their patience paid off.
"Starbuck, I've got eyes on something. Three o' clock relative to the Clymene, three klicks out, moving fast." Kat spat out.
Starbuck's eyes darted to Kat's coordinates. Sure enough, something was there. Big and glowing, just like Sharon had described, but it was hard to make out any more detail from this distance. Weirdly, her sensors weren't showing much of anything. She switched to thermals, which reported the area roughly where the creature should be was actually colder. She swore at the device.
"Okay, arm your charges, be ready to fire on my command. Remember to spread out your ordinance, people, we don't want this thing slipping through the fire."
Starbuck watched the beast dart through the forest, dodging through the trees like a fish through water. She was relieved she'd decided against sending marines in, guns blazing. She flicked up the protective guard over her 'launch' button, massaging it with the edge of her thumb.
She counted the seconds, judging the creature's speed. Then, when she felt like the distance was just right, she gave the command.
"Fire."
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Aang piloted Appa closer and closer to the strange, metal ship that'd touched down in the forest moments ago. A series of loud cracks across the sky startled him into pulling the flying beast up further. The trio shot their heads up, watching in awe as more and more of those orange streaks made their way across the sky.
Katara nervously gripped the edge of Appa's saddle. "How many of them are there? Why are they coming now?"
"And what is that???" Sokka cried out, drawing the gang's attention to a strange, glowing shape galloping across the forest. It was hard to make out much detail, but it was easy to see the creature was making a beeline for the metal ship.
Aang strained his eyes, then pulled hard on Appa's reigns, beckoning the creature to land. "It's a spirit!" Aang declared as his friends struggled to grab hold of anything they could stop themselves from being flung off Appa's saddle. "A forest spirit, just like Hei Bai. These people might not know it's here, we need to-"
Aang's plan was interrupted by dozens of bright, yellow streaks whizzing down from the sky faster than anything he'd seen in his life. They screamed towards the ground, and an instant later, the avatar felt like he was about to go blind. Even from this high up, he felt the ground rock. The streaks exploded into the forest, enveloping huge chunks of the treeline in deep, furious blankets of fire that seemed to grow larger every second.
Once again, the avatar tugged hard on the sky bison, compelling it to swing up and away from the rapidly rising smoke and flame.
"They're… bombing the forest?" Aang thought out loud in an effort to sort out his thoughts. "We have to stop them!"
"Stop them?" Sokka cried out as he held on for dear life. "I don't think we're really in the position to stop them!"
Aang ran through his options, trying to think of something, anything to stop the madness below him. He looked down to examine the spreading fire, and spied the river not far off. He craned his head to Katara. "I have an idea, but you're probably not going to like it."
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Barely a moment after those bombs exploded into the treeline, Starbuck let out a yell of ecstasy over her wireless. She wished she had more time to enjoy the fireworks, but there were more important things to deal with. The pilot flung her Raptor towards the forest's edge with a flick of her joystick, where a second squadron of birds were already touching down. She probably nailed the final descent a little quicker than she should have, crashing into the ground with a hard thud and throwing off her helmet. Tyrol could yell at her later. Kara threw open her bird's hatch, grabbed her rifle from the seat beside her, and joined the dozens of marines establishing the perimeter outside, hoping she'd be able to tell Tyrol that she'd seen the monster responsible for killing Cally brought down with her own eyes.
Starbuck caught Helo raising his arm, trying to grab her attention. Four marines zoomed behind him, kneeling down for cover beside a set of bushes and taking aim at the treeline.
Helo lowered his weapon. "Glad you make it in time for the fun, Starbuck." When they weren't arguing, the two were actually pretty good friends. They'd known eachother long before the Colonies were attacked, and it wasn't hard to stay in touch when every Colonial still alive could fit into a mid-sized town.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Starbuck replied while grabbing her wireless off her belt. "Kat, sitrep?"
"We've lost the frakker, we're scanning every inch of the forest now. That thing got caught almost dead center of the fire, it might be burning alive as we speak."
"Ah, we can only hope to get off that easy."
"Wait, wait, standby. Something's happening."
Kara gave a frustrated shake of her head. "Something isn't a description, Kat."
"The river, it's… the river is… It's lifting itself up??"
"I'm sorry, could you run that by me again?" Starbuck ended up not needing more explanation from Kat to understand. Above the treeline, no more than a couple kilometers away, a massive, flowing blob of black slowly rose higher and higher. Kara rubbed her eyes, trying to process what in the name of the Gods she was looking at.
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Katara had spent most of her life refining her waterbending talents, even training with some of the great masters at the Northern Water Tribe. Aang was the avatar himself, supremacy of the elements was part of the job description. But for all their power, even working together, the two struggled to lift the gargantuan sum of water out of its basin. Aang delicately controlled his hands , trying to balance the thousands upon thousands of gallons in just the right way so as to not topple over each other and drown them all.
Sokka watched from atop Appa's back. He didn't have any bending powers of his own, limiting his ability to help.
"Okay, together, on three." Katara commanded, seizing the initiative. "One, two… Three!"
The two threw their open palms outward, sending a tsunami barrelling towards the forest fire. Waves crashed into the flames, nearly throwing up enough steam and smoke to blot out the stars above. Aang shot a blast of air at the ground, flinging him into the air for a better look at the situation. The last of the fire was fizzling out. Charred, barren batches of forest were intertwined with green. Far off in the distance, just outside of the forest, sets of lights glowed around strange, metal craft. Craft that looked a lot like what that woman had described back in the Earth Kingdom city.
Aang shot himself back down. "We need to stop those people from ever doing this again."
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"Galactica, something just put out our fire." Kara reported into her wireless set. "The river appears to have just… lifted itself up and-"
A small figure shot up from the forest, then threw itself at the ground in their direction. Kara dropped her wireless to free a second hand for her rifle, raising it at the shape. Two more figures darted out from the treescape.
"Standby to fire on my command!" Kara yelled out. Helo crouched beside her, night-vision enabled binoculars in hand, trying to figure out what exactly they were dealing with.
Helo looked like he was about to talk, but hesitated. He looked through the binoculars again, drawing Starbuck's ire. "They're definitely people, but not dressed like anybody I've seen. And they're… You won't believe this Starbuck, they look young."
Starbuck shot an annoyed side eye at her friend. "Excuse me?"
"Look for yourself." Helo suggested, offering Kara the device.
Kara rolled her eyes as she grabbed the binoculars. She peered through them, and sure enough, the rapidly approaching figure, wearing some sort of red-yellow outfit, didn't exactly look like a grown adult. "What…?
The smaller boy came to a final stop fifty feet in front of them after one last astonishing leap into the air. He was holding a small glider of sorts, a staff with thin red wings jutting out on either end. The boy flung his staff against the ground, coaxing the wings back into their flat, wooden vessel.
Dozens of lights sheened off the small, light-skinned child. He was finally close enough for Starbuck to make out his completely bald head, adorned with a single bright blue arrow stretching across the top and pointing down towards his nose.
And oh boy, he looked pissed.
"Hold fire!" Kara ordered, only just barely lowering her own weapon.
"Why did you do that?" The boy yelled out, his voice high-pitched. "Why did you try to destroy the forest? Who are you people?"
Kara looked left to Helo, then right to one of the marines. Both of them were waiting for her direction.
Helo spoke up next. "We were defending ourselves!" He yelled at the boy, bringing his weapon down to his holster. He always did have the cooler head out of the two of them.
"Defending yourselves?" The boy yelled back. "Is that what you call what you did?"
Two more people joined the boy, flanking either side of him. A boy and a girl, both taller and a little older looking. They were dressed in deep blue garments, with white dressing wrapped up their arms. The boy was brandishing some kind of small, metal weapon. The girl motioned her hands up, and a stream of water flew out of a bottle attached to her belt, staying suspended in midair in front of her.
Helo tapped Kara's shoulder. "They told us about waterbenders, looks like we found one."
They weren't here to fight a group of random children, that was damn sure. Kara slowly, deliberately holstered her weapon, and threw an open hand at the strangers, taking a few steps towards them. "Hey, we're not here to fight you." She yelled out. "Something in the forest killed some of our people."
"That something was a forest spirit, and it was probably stopping you from destroying its home."
"Forest spirit?" Kara asked, too quietly for anybody to hear. The boy started pacing closer to her, his hand gripped tight around that wooden staff.
The girl yelled something out at him, and ran to catch her friend. Her hand shot up, it looked like she was reaching for the boy's shoulder.
Two deafening bangs sounded off barely ten feet from Starbuck's right ear. She ducked down, grabbing her helmet for cover. Someone let out a blood curdling shriek, and when Kara looked back up, the young girl had collapsed to the ground, red beginning to gush from her shoulder.
It took a moment for the horrifying realization to fully settle in. One of her marines had an itchy trigger finger, got nervous, and the girl's sudden movement was the only thing they needed to lose their cool. "Cease fire!"
Starbuck and Helo made a sprint for the girl, but Kara didn't get far before a great blast of air slammed into her chest like an airbag, knocking the air completely out of her and sending her crashing into the grass. She gasped for air, looking up just in time to see the younger boy staring daggers at her while the older one hovered over the crippled woman, desperately trying to figure out what to do.
"Wait!" Starbuck cried out through coughs, fighting to get air back into her lungs. "We have a medic, we can help her!"
"You hurt Katara." He spat out. Air began to swirl faster and faster around the boy's head, and his eyes slowly began to glow a strange, bright white that sent shivers down even Starbuck's spine.
The older boy gripped his shoulder. "Aang, please just let them." He pleaded. The boy's eyes began transitioning back to their normal color, much to Kara's relief.
"Go." Was all the bald boy with the strange, blue arrows said.
Helo made a mad dash for the girl, red medkit in hand. He kneeled down and flipped it open. "I need light!" The officer cried out.
Starbuck was over him as fast as she could manage, hand still gripping her throbbing sternum. She shined her light on the girl, giving Helo the chance to do his work. Her breathing was shallow, and she looked barely conscious.
"Frak me." Helo swore, grabbing dressing from the kit and pressing it into the woman's shoulder. "Two rounds hit her shoulder, probably tore her up pretty good. She keeps losing blood like this, she's going to go into shock"
"Then stop the bleeding." Starbuck demanded.
"Kara, you took basic battlefield medicine just like I did. You know we can't do much with a med kit. We have no idea what the bullets did to her, and even if we could patch her up, without antibiotics there's a pretty strong chance she dies of infection anyway."
Kara cursed under her breath. The smaller boy - the older one referred to him as Aang - was on his knees next to the girl, tightly holding her hand. Helo was right, she knew just as well as he did a field medic wasn't going to be able to do much for this girl's condition.
And she sure as hell wasn't going to have yet another dead kid on her conscience. Hesitantly, she reached for her wireless.
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"Galactica, Starbuck. Standby to receive critically wounded. Have a med team waiting for us in the hanger bay for immediate transfer to sickbay."
Galactica's CIC had been playing a live audio feed of the entire operation over the loudspeakers. The situation was already beyond all recognition, but Kara's last sentence forced William Adama and Colonel Tigh to lock eyes in shared shock and horror.
"Has she lost her mind?" Tigh yelled loud enough for all of CIC to hear.
Adama grabbed hold of one of the wireless phones mounted on the central command console. "Starbuck, those people just threw up an entire river of water like it was nothing. We have no idea what kind of threat they pose to this ship."
"Sir, with all due respect, I really don't give a damn. We shot her, we're responsible, we're taking her up."
"Starbuck-" Adama paused. Half the command crew had stopped what they were doing to eavesdrop on their conversation. She was right, their people had shot her. But, the last thing they found in that forest had killed two good men. Was he willing to risk losing a hundred times that many?
In the end, though, his opinion didn't matter all that much at this point. Starbuck had her mind made up, and he knew her well enough to know there wasn't a force in the galaxy that could change it at this point. Adama let out a defeated sigh. "I don't want them out of your sight for one second, keep a marine team with them from the moment they step on the damn flightpod."
Adama slammed the receiver into its cradle. "Clear the port hangerbay, and the entire deck around sickbay. I want marines by every causeway - and tell Doc Cottle to prep for incoming wounded."
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"Okay, get a stretcher, put her in one of the Raptors." Starbuck commanded, pulling tight on the tourniquet Helo had applied on the young girl. Both pilot's gloves were stained with blood. "We'll take her back here, if you stay-"
"She's my sister!" The older boy yelled. "I'm not just letting you take her, if she's going I'm going."
"I'm going, too." Aang said adamantly.
Starbuck looked to Aang, then the older boy. "Fine, Helo, you deal with those two. I'll make sure she gets onto a bird."
Helo looked up from the girl for the briefest of moments. He looked genuinely surprised. "Bring all three of them? The admiral is not going to like that."
"Oh, Lords. The old man might actually kill me this time." She empathized with the two. If it had been Zak or Anders on that stretcher, could anything have kept her away?
A hundred questions still raced through Starbuck's mind, and they hadn't even accomplished the mission they'd set out for in the first place. That thing, that apparent forest spirit, could still be out there for all they knew. Was there really something supernatural about this forest after all? Her faith in the Gods was beyond reproach, did their influence reach this world, too? She knew there were greater powers at work in the Galaxy - her experiences on Kobol had demonstrated that fact succinctly.
Besides, ever since she saw those first firebenders, anything seemed possible.
For now, they had a bleeding out girl to worry about. Those hundred questions would have to wait.
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Chapter 5 - Through the Looking Glass
Hey, I'm so glad you like it! One of my goals was to try not having the Colonials be pure good guys, so I'm glad that made it through.
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"Galactica, Raptor One requesting priority clearance for landing, we have injured on board, please acknowledge."
Aang listened closely to the garbled dialogue emanating from a glowing console mounted at the front of the small airship he'd been huddled into a few short minutes ago. Its rear compartment was uncomfortably cramped, and the hard wall he was pressed up against did nothing to help the situation. Sokka inspected the set of odd glowing screens etched into the ship's hull. One had a swishing blue wave running across its length every few seconds, another displayed a simplistic green outline of the very airship they'd boarded. Two guards, armed with metal barrels the avatar could only assume were weapons, shared their compartment. Seated in front was the man who'd tended to Katara's wounds just outside the forest. The others referred to him as 'Helo.'
Helo turned his head around.. "Hey, she's on board, they're getting her help right now. Katara's in good hands, okay?"
Aang refused to reply. His eyes darted above the control panel to the inky blackness that enveloped their canopy. A set of small, grey lines had appeared in the distance a few minutes ago. They'd grown larger and larger, until finally he could start to make out their shapes. Dozens of metal-glass boxes were suspended in the void of space. Some were boxy, with multicolored rectangular crates plastered across their hull. Others looked like massive, grey rectangles floating among the stars. One of the largest was a thin cylinder with a giant, rotating torus surrounding it, connected by thin metal pylons. Some were slender, small things with fins bolted on the back, while one was covered with dozens of round domes, some intact and others broken and seared with burn marks.
Their small airship turned, and in spite of the knowledge that his best friend was fighting for her life, Aang's jaw dropped in awe. There it was - his planet. Just a corner of it, poking out the left side of their window. As the craft turned and revealed more of his world, he could make out great oceans of blue, alongside hints of a massive green continent partially obscured by cloud cover. That was him, the orb he'd spent his life on. The orb he'd spent a thousand previous lives on. The avatar felt a deep, spiritual connection to the planet and every living thing on it, and Aang felt a humbling sense of reverence at such a complete view.
"Raptor Three, you're cleared to land. Hands on approach, Checkers green, call the ball."
Helo tapped a button on his control panel. "I have the ball, hands on approach, speed one-seven-five."
One of the mighty grey-red ships grew larger and larger. It seemed to be one of the most massive by far, though it was impossible to make out scale without knowing how fast or how far apart all these strange ships were moving. It was a long, thick slab of grey, with two enormous pods sticking out either end of its hull. The airship appeared to slow, letting itself maneuver into one of those great pods. It followed a series of white strips to a gentle landing on the mothership's deck.
Helo removed his helmet. More garbled lines of dialogue came out of the speaker, but whatever they were talking about, Aang didn't understand. Something about pressure.
He and Sokka were ushered outside just as the airship's hatch flung open. Another half dozen men and women, wearing the same black armor as the one who shot Katara, were there to greet them. They aimed the tip of those same metal weapons at them, the one that made a deafening sound just before Katara had been covered in her own blood.
"Where's Katara?" Aang demanded. He wouldn't allow these people to intimidate him.
"It's okay guys, weapons down." Helo implored. One by one, the soldiers slowly brought their weapons to the ground. "I'll take you both to Katara right now. Follow me."
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In the dreary, comfortless box that was charitably referred to as Galactica's sickbay, Kara watched Doctor Cottle mash his cigarette into the nearly full ashtray on his desk. The pilot helped a nurse transfer the bloodied woman from a gurnee onto the freshly prepared operating table. Her half-closed eyes blankly stared into nothing.
Helo charged into Sickbay, Aang and the older boy right behind him, escorted by practically a whole strike team worth of marines. The two younger guests were immediately horrified by their friend's condition. "Is she going to be okay?" Aang pleaded.
Cottle grabbed a pair of scissors and started undoing the hastily applied bandages above her wound to get a better look at how bad the damage was. "It's a damn good thing you got her here when you did. One or both of the bullets probably broke up inside her and nicked a major artery. I'm going to have to operate."
The doctor grabbed a facemask out of one of the cabinets, then shot an annoyed glare at the two guests. "I don't know who the hell you are, but that means clear the room."
"We aren't leaving her alone with you." The younger boy with the blue arrow tattoos asserted.
Cottle gave an expectant glance at Kara, but a slight shake of the head was her only response. The doctor finished applying his mask and rolled his eyes. "Fine, have it your way. Just make sure you vomit in the trash can over there."
"Starbuck! Front and center!" Demanded a thick, raspy voice from just outside sickbay. Starbuck smiled at Helo, and walked out to greet Admiral Adama. He was flanked by a pair of marines just outside the airtight bulkhead of sickbay. "She was injured by us, you brought her up, I get that. What I don't understand is why you felt the need to bring two other strangers onto this ship."
"Sir, one of them is her brother, the other-"
"I didn't ask how they knew her." Adama snarled. "Did those three people not throw an entire river at our operation? Do you have any idea what they are, who they are, what they're capable of? How do we know those people aren't able to rip this ship apart from the inside out? How many people have you put at risk? You don't know!"
Kara glanced back at sickbay. Helo was making his way over to them. "Admiral, if it'd been Lee on that Raptor, you wouldn't have been able to sit tight and wait either. I think we're more than capable of dealing with three children."
"Can you? That entire mission was a total failure. One bird stayed behind to run recon, somehow that thing in the forest is still alive. We still don't have access to our equipment."
Helo saluted the admiral. "Sir, something's off. On the surface, the younger boy, Aang, used airbending on Starbuck. Airbenders were supposed to have been wiped out a hundred years ago."
"Apparently, they weren't." Kara said.
The mystery didn't seem to have any appeal to Adama. "Captain Thrace, this is your mess, I want you to keep an eye on them. The moment that girl is in the condition to leave this ship, I want them off."
Kara saluted "Yes sir."
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Tom Zarek had spent most of his life on the impoverished colony of Sagittaron. It was hard for anyone to claim that his desolate, mountainous homeworld hadn't suffered the most hardship out of all the Twelve Colonies. Before the Articles of Colonization unified the worlds during the first Cylon War, Sagittaron had spent centuries under the boot of occupation, exploitation, and abuse at the hands of the eleven other worlds. Even after the war, racism and systemic discrimination against his people had been normalized all over the Colonies. All the Sagittarons could hope for out of life was to eke out a living as second class citizens.
Zarek pondered his childhood on that desolate world as he walked with Vice President Baltar down the stone-tiled road of the Earth Kingdom city the two had been scouting out for most of the day. Baltar might be the arch-nemesis of Roslin and Adama, but he was still the duly appointed Vice President of the Colonies, and the doctor fully intended to take advantage of that fact to insert himself into the negotiations with the natives of this world. Zarek himself was still a member of the Quorum of Twelve, as Sagittaron's lawfully elected representative. Try as Roslin and Adama might to shove them out of the process, they had every right to be involved, and the former freedom fighter had seen to it that they were.
Even Roslin herself seemed to admit she needed their help. Once it became clear that trading with the natives had become the only possible way the fleet was going to solve its food shortage in time, she'd ordered the creation of a committee to document all of the equipment and scientific knowledge they could use as barter. In a rare moment of lucidity, President Roslin had appointed Doctor Baltar to that committee. So, here they were, walking the streets of this great power that had, much like his homeworld, withstood generations of hardship and suffering. It was hard not to feel a sense of solidarity with this Earth Kingdom.
"I've been going over their farming techniques." Baltar said as the two continued down the city street. They'd just parted ways with the Earth Kingdom official the local king had assigned to work with them. "Using images from the Raptor as well as the information from the Earth Kingdom citizen's we've interviewed, I'd say we could probably show them how to double their food output, maybe more. A lot of basic things really, but they add up."
"These people don't need better tills or irrigation, doctor." Zarek replied. "Look around you, look at these streets! Refugees everywhere, people with third degree burns and nobody to treat them. What they need is our help."
Baltar took a disinterested look around the bustling street. Storefronts and businesses dotted the cityscape. Merchants loudly argued over prices, beggars and homeless were on their knees in tattered clothing, pleading for scraps. The same street performer had tailed them for a few blocks now with his flute-like instrument, evidently catching on to their importance. "Roslin was insistent on not involving ourselves in their war, for better or worse. Honestly, I'll be glad when we're out of this dump. The air smells like sewage, and the people somehow smell worse. It really is the greatest argument for some sort of cosmic irony that we need these people at all."
Zarek fought the urge to scowl at Baltar. "My source on Pegasus contacted me yesterday. The harvesting operation in the forest was attacked by something, some sort of creature. The plan was a total bust."
"Such a shame, Laura was really banking on that." Baltar said with feigned disappointment. "Has that nugget of information made it out to the press yet?"
"I dropped a tip to our usual reporter just before we left. I'd imagine the story will be dropping today, should buy us a few more points in the polls."
Baltar rubbed his hands together. "Good, good. Wish I was there to see Roslin's face when it does. By the way, have you listened to the wireless lately? People are still addicted to news about the planet, they've even started calling it a name. New Caprica."
"People were living on this planet long before we got here. I don't think we get naming rights." Zarek's eyes stayed glued on street life, humming with life. These people had suffered a hundred years of defeat, but you couldn't see it on their faces. Towards the end of the block, dozens of battered men in a loose formation marched into view. Many had burns all along their bodies, some across most of their face. A few barely managed a limping walk, while others had to be half-carried by their comrades. All of them wore the tan-green uniforms Zarek had learned to associate with the Earth Kingdom's military.
"Be that as it may, I wouldn't mind teaching these people how to build a proper sewer system. Free of charge, of course."
Zarek stopped listening to the Vice President. His eyes were still stuck on those Earth Kingdom soldiers. Dozens and dozens more flowed into their street, each soldier looking just as beaten and tired as the last. What kept them going back into their hopeless fight? "Doctor, I want you to go ahead to the Raptor. I'm going to get a look at some of the stores, just satisfying some personal curiosity."
Baltar rolled his eyes. "You go right ahead, I'll be in the air conditioned Raptor when you're ready."
Zarek kept an eye glued to Baltar as he blended into the crowd and faded out of sight. He started walking back up the street, eyes jumping from soldier to soldier. Finally, he settled on one man. A younger one, possibly not even a full adult. He was in better shape than most of his division, but half his arm was still bandaged and dark red with dried blood.
"Hey!" Tom said, placing a hand on the soldier's shoulder. "Hey, this is going to sound weird, but can I talk to you for a minute?"
The soldier stopped and faced Zarek. Now that he had a better look at his face, the man definitely looked on the younger side. His hair flowed down past his shoulders, and he wore a green bandana across his forehead. "Uh, sure." The soldier said in a softer voice than Zarek expected. The man's eyes looked him up and down. "I've never seen clothes like that."
"Oh, yeah. I'm not from around here." Tom offered, straightening his tie.
The man immediately grew more excited. "You're one of them, aren't you? The visitors from the stars I've heard stories about." They'd piqued the interest of a few nearby soldiers, forcing Tom to usher the two into a nearby alley.
"Guilty as charged. What's your name, son?" Zarek asked.
"Haru." The man responded. "Is it true what they say, do you have the power to defeat the Fire Nation?"
Tom chose not to acknowledge the man's question. "I wanted to ask you, why are you fighting? What's the point? Your people have lost, you've got to know that. Why don't you just surrender and get it over with?"
Haru looked taken back. He furrowed his brow, trying to process Zarek's question. "Why do we fight?" He started, almost confused. "We're a proud people. We'd rather die fighting for our freedom than live as slaves under the Fire nation. The life we would have under their thumb wouldn't be worth living."
Zarek gave a firm nod of approval. "I like that answer. Freedom, above all else, is worth fighting for, dying for. Even killing for."
Haru clenched his fists. "That's exactly it. I've seen what villages conquered by the Fire Nation are reduced to, the kind of lives the people who are carted off live. I can't let that happen to me or my family. I won't."
"Your people remind me a lot of mine. We were slaves for generations, killed over…" He paused. "It's too much to get into right now, but you deserve better than what you're getting from us. I want you to take something."
Zarek removed his backpack and kneeled down to search through the largest pocket. It was tricky, but he'd managed to sneak a small, short-range wireless set down. Hopefully its battery would last long enough for Tom to get done what he needed. "This is called a wireless, some of your people have seen it. What I need you to do for me, is take this device to your superior. Keep this switch here flipped to the same position at all times. In a day or so, you'll hear my voice come out of this part here. When that happens, you need to hold down that red button, and you can talk back to me. Simple as that."
Haru took the device, examining it with a look of bewilderment. "I don't understand, what are you doing?"
"The people I'm with don't understand what you're going through, they can't. Somebody needs to do something. Tell none of the other visitors about this, follow my instructions exactly, and maybe we can change that. Can you do this?"
Haru still looked a bit disoriented, but he ultimately agreed before running off to rejoin his comrades. Zarek took a quick look to make sure Baltar or their guards weren't in sight, and began making his way towards the landed raptor just outside the city.
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Katara felt the entire world spinning around her. Most of her body felt numb, and there was an aggravating high pitched pinging by her left ear. She faintly opened her eyes, and that numbing feeling gave way a thick throbbing all across her shoulder. The fourteen year-old waterbender tried turning her head, but she could barely crane her neck an inch. The walls were a light metal. Metal. She'd been somewhere like this before, a Fire Nation warship. No, it couldn't be, she couldn't have been-
"She's waking up!" Aang's soft, comforting voice was like a breath of fresh air. He appeared over her, then Sokka.
"How you feeling, sis?" Sokka asked with a sly smile.
"Like someone threw an icicle through my shoulder. What happened? Where are we?" Her voice was meek, but she forced the words out.
Aang and Sokka looked at each other nervously. "That's going to take a bit of explaining." Sokka said.
An older man appeared in front of her, dressed in white. A small, metal rod was wrapped in his fingers. A bright light shot out of the contraption. Katara was powerless to stop the man from holding her eyelids open and shining the machine into her pupils, forcing her to recoil away.
"Reactions are normal, that's a good sign." The man said. "This isn't the first time a marine with an itchy trigger finger has sent somebody to my sickbay. First time they've sent a kid, though. Bastards."
"Aang, Sokka." Katara started, finally managing to crane her neck around to see more of her surroundings. A set of tubes were hooked into her body, connected to a perplexing machine with a glowing screen. The same machine where that constant beeping was emanating from. She tried to get up, but Sokka stopped her from moving. "Where are we? What happened in the forest?"
"They hurt you, hit you with some kind of weapon." Sokka explained. "The woman we've been talking to said it was an accident, but I don't know. They took us here to save you."
"Where is here?"
"You're on a spaceship young lady, named Galactica." The older man said from his desk, sorting through a set of papers. "X-Rays are clear, and the bleeding has stopped. That means you're going to be fine."
"Spaceship?" Katara repeated. Her eyes pleaded for Aang and Sokka to tell her more.
Aang nodded. "They had an airship, it flew us up high, way higher than Appa ever has. We could see the whole planet."
Katara had trouble processing the information. The woman in the Earth Kingdom city did say the visitors came from the stars, but it was still hard to accept it was reality. She started reaching around her clothes, and was elated to find her satchel of water still attached to her waist. Katara turned her neck to get a good look at the bloodied bandage wrapped around her shoulder. "I think I can do a better job healing myself than these people."
She started tugging on her bandage, but the doctor caught her in the act. "Hey!" You want to be stuck in that bed even longer than you have to? Knock it off!"
Katara glared at the man, but decided to bide her time. She heard the door at the room's entrance jerk open, and the doctor stood up to investigate.
"Madam President, I wasn't expecting a visit from you." The Doctor said as he turned a corner out of view. Katara talked Aang and Sokka into buying her a few moments of privacy. Aang gave her a wink, and the two walked off to greet the new arrival.
Katara grabbed hold of the white bandage plastered onto her shoulder, bit her tongue, and pulled. It took every ounce of fortitude in her body to avoid screaming in agony as she forced the white material off her body. Blood oozed out of her freshly sealed wound and dribbled onto the bed sheets below her. With a flick of her wrist, she commanded the water from her satchel to surround itself on her wound. A moment later, the liquid began to glow. Within a few seconds, the bright glow faded, and she returned the water to its original canister. The round wounds had been replaced by freshly healed skin without the slightest hint of her injuries. Katara ran a satisfied hand over it.
She stood up, pulling herself free of the mechanical devices attached to her. Someone coughed from behind the purple curtain adjacent to her bed. Katara couldn't help herself from tugging it open to investigate.
Laying in another bed was an older woman with wrinkled, impossibly pale skin. The meek woman seemed to be fighting just to take her next breath in. The women coughed before she could even get another full lung of air. She opened her eyes and gazed curiously at Katara.
"Oh, hello." She said hoarsely. "You don't look familiar. That's a beautiful outfit you have on, what happened to it?"
Katara shot a glance at ripped fabric on her shoulder. "It's a long story. What happened to you?"
"Oh, I have time young lady." She joked. "I'm going to be here for awhile. Doctor says i've got mold growing in my lungs, I'm in here for the long haul. Lords know the air in my ship is toxic, but nobody will fix it."
"I'm so sorry to hear that." Katara offered, not exactly sure what else to say.
The woman gave a small smile. "It's okay, there's nothing you can do. They kept putting repairs off, and off, and it finally caught up to us. One of the passengers I was travelling with still visits me as often as he can, that gives me the strength to keep sucking up oxygen. What's your name?"
"Katara." The waterbender took a seat in the chair next to the woman. "I don't understand, they knew your air was poisoned?"
"Oh, they knew." The woman coughed again. "Nothing they can do, they say. No spare parts. They told me no medicine either, but I'm pretty sure they're lying. I guess I'm just not important enough to worry about."
"They have medicine to help you, but they're letting you suffer?" Katara inquired, feeling her blood rise. "What kind of horrible people would let you go through this?"
The woman didn't reply, her throaty cough stopped her from getting another word out. Katara willed her water out of its vessel, and with a thrust of her palm directed it at the woman's chest. It glowed again for a few brief moments, and the woman's breathing started to normalize. She returned the water as the woman grabbed her chest, smiling wildly.
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"Madam President, I wasn't expecting a visit from you."
Roslin smiled at Doctor Cottle, the man's gruff face was always a welcomed sight. Adama had given it his best to try to stop her from coming down here, he'd insisted it was a mistake. They knew nothing about these visitors they'd plucked from the surface, he'd said. They could've been helping that beast in the forest for all they knew. Laura couldn't be dissuaded, she had to meet them face to face. She was aghast to learn their people were the ones who opened fire first this time, on children of all people. She felt it was her duty to try atoning face to face, and hopefully use the opportunity to learn a little more about what they were dealing with. Besides, she was a school teacher, she'd made a career out of working with children. She was the most qualified person on this ship to try talking to them.
"I came to meet our new guests, how are they doing?" Roslin asked.
"The young girl is going to be fine, but it'll be awhile before she gets full use out of that arm. I want to keep her onboard at least until she finishes her course of antibiotics. Lords know I don't trust the people in this fleet to follow directions, I can't imagine these people are going to know any better."
"You can't begin to imagine how relieved I am to hear that, doctor."
Two boys cautiously poked their head out from around a corner. The smaller one was totally bald, dressed in that red and yellow outfit Helo had described. He had bright blue tattoos across both arms and over his head, shaped like arrows. The older boy was with him. Laura took a cautious step forward as Cottle moved out of the way. They looked just like any other normal teenagers Roslin had seen or taught back on the Colonies, strange tattoos aside.
"Hello." Roslin said with wave. "My name is Laura Roslin, President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. I represent our people." The two looked at her hesitantly. "I am so, so sorry that our people hurt your friend. I can't begin to tell you how horrible I felt when I heard what happened."
"Sorry?" The younger boy said, taking a step closer. Kara told her this one's name was Aang. "Sorry doesn't begin to cover it. What were you doing down there? Why were you destroying the forest?"
Laura stared blankly at the young boy. He was awfully assertive for someone that looked to be about twelve years old. "It's a long story, and I want to tell you every bit of it, but first I'd really like to check on your friend. See how she's doing."
"Why would she want to talk to you?" The older boy barked out. "You almost killed her!"
"I know we did." Roslin replied softly. "We're going to take care of her, do everything in our power to make sure she gets better, and then we're going to take you back to your home, wherever that is."
"And then what will you do? Hurt more people? Who are you, why did you come here?" Aang demanded. He huffed hard enough for Laura to feel the air rush across her body like a gust of wind. Did she just get her first in-person demonstration of bending?
"It's hard to explain. We lost our home, about a year ago. We stumbled across your world, and have been trying to learn more about it."
"Do you usually learn about something by destroying it?" Aang asked harshly.
"We were defending ourselves." Laura tried explaining. "Our people need food, desperately. We found that forest, saw it had food growing everywhere. When we tried gathering it, and our people were attacked."
"Of course you were!" Aang yelled. "You were invading its home. The forest spirit was defending itself from you."
"You know what that creature was, the one that lives in the forest?" Roslin wasn't sure how much useful information she could glean from an adolescent, but anything they could go on would help.
"Of course I know! I'm the Avatar, the bridge between our world and spirit world."
Roslin felt her forehead crinkle. "The Avatar? What does that mean, exactly?"
The boy paused. "You've never heard of the Avatar?"
Roslin shook her head. "No, we've never heard of the Avatar. Where we came from, there was no bending and no spirits. It's all completely new to us, and we don't really understand it."
Silence dominated the room for only a few seconds before Doctor Cottle, who'd just broken off to check on Katara a few moments, let out a cry. "What the hell?"
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Doctor Cottle laid out a series of X-Rays on the wall in front of him. Roslin knew she gave the poor man enough trouble as it was, but dealing with Gaius Baltar and Kara Thrace at the same time felt almost like a punishment. Cottle splayed the last of his images out on the wall, and pointed at the first. "This one here was taken of Mrs. Sewell two weeks ago. Notice these dark clumps on her lungs, that's all mold. She could barely breathe."
He pointed to the second image. "I took this one twenty minutes ago, then another just to be sure. There's nothing, absolutely nothing. She's totally clear, like the mold was never there. I can't even pretend to explain it."
"There must be some sort of explanation." Roslin said, grasping at straws. "Was her condition improving before now?"
"Not even a little, she was practically transferred to Galactica for hospice care."
"That's incredible." Roslin got out, examining the images. She turned to Baltar. He may have been her political rival, but the man was still a brilliant scientist. If anybody in this fleet could offer something resembling an explanation for what was happening on this planet, it was him. "Doctor Baltar, what do you make of these people's abilities?"
Baltar studied the images in silence, one hand slowly stroking his finely trimmed beard. "I've examined a sample of the girl's blood provided by Doctor Cottle. I've also carefully examined every readout produced by every piece of equipment she was hooked up to, and cross-referenced it with human norms."
"And?" Roslin asked intently.
Baltar shook his head. "There is absolutely nothing out of the normal, not a damned thing."
"Well, that's just not good enough, Doctor." Roslin declared, her arms crossed. "Surely there must be some sort of rational explanation, more tests you can run."
"There's always a rational explanation, Madam President." Baltar said in that condescending tone she was so familiar with. "As for finding it, I'm not sure it's within our capabilities. You're right, there are more tests I could run, but the equipment I would have needed to perform them was destroyed with the Colonies."
"So you have absolutely no idea how she healed herself or this woman? You're saying it might as well be magic?"
Baltar sneered at Laura. "Magic is a term people throw around when they don't have an explanation for something that very second. Our ancestors didn't know what made lightning strike, or what made fire burn. At one point, it was all magic to them, but we lifted the veil on those secrets of the universe, and one day we'll figure this secret out, too."
"Not even the girl can give me a solid explanation of what the hell she did, she gives me some nonsense explanation about chi and redirecting energy paths." Cottle offered. "That makes me damned nervous, she doesn't seem to understand exactly what it is she's doing, and I'm supposed to just discharge my patient?"
"The girl has a name." Roslin said flatly. "Well doctor, I couldn't tell you how a wireless works, or how the Raptor that took me here was built. That doesn't stop me from using them as tools."
"Oh come on, that's not the same thing." Was Cottle's firm rebuttal. "Just because you don't know how a wireless works doesn't mean somebody else doesn't. If I offered you an injection to treat a condition of yours, but couldn't tell you what I was giving you or what it did, would you feel comfortable with me pumping it into your veins?"
Roslin considered Doc's words. "That's a good point."
"I mean, it worked, didn't it?" Kara pointed out. "Katara is healed, the old lady is healed. Isn't that proof enough she knows what she's doing?"
Cottle let out a huff. "No it isn't, not for me."
Roslin craned her neck at the medical bed behind her. The trio of guests they'd brought up were refusing to even talk to her now. She approached them, deciding to give it one last try. All three looked away.
"I'm really glad you're feeling better." Laura said to the woman.
"You were letting her die." Katara spat out. "You knew you had medicine to help her, and you refused to let her have it. What kind of people could do that?"
Katara's words felt like daggers piercing Laura's heart. How could she even begin to explain everything to these people? "It's complicated, but I never want to see anybody suffer." Seemed like a good starting point.
"You don't belong here." The tattooed younger boy said brutally, stomping a foot on the ground. "You obviously don't understand how to live in harmony with our world, you bombed a forest, you almost killed my friend, and you were letting that woman die. You are evil people, and you should leave us alone."
For all Laura's experience, she stumbled over her next words. "There's a lot more to this, please, let me-"
"I don't want to hear it." Aang cut her off.
Roslin gave a lowly smile, but her heart felt like it had dropped past her stomach and onto the bulkhead. "Okay, I'll let you be."
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The Fire Nation Royal Palace was an architectural marvel unmatched anywhere on the planet. Its grand spire soared hundreds of feet into the air, topped by a massive yellow sculpture in the shape of the familiar flaming emblem proudly adorning most Fire Nation ships and war machines. The spire was the single most recognizable structure in the entire world-spanning empire, and remained visible through most of the capital city. Its image was even molded onto some coins. Jutting out of the spire was a set of three long, red villas, lined with marble pillars. They held everything from the most luxurious living arrangements that could be found, to galleries filled with only the most valuable and high-class works of art. They held trophies of war, too, cultural artifacts stolen from conquered territories and battered people.
Azula was intimately familiar with every room of the tremendous palace, having been raised there her entire life. She'd been so graciously returned to the Fire Nation capital the day before, and still couldn't get the unnatural feeling of soaring into the air out of her head. The way her craft effortlessly shot itself into the sky, how she'd been pushed into her seat by the craft's momentum. The 'Raptor,' as her pilot called it, made the new hot air balloons their War Minister had shown off with such pride last month look absolutely dinky. Their airships and tanks were, up until now, the pinnacle of human ingenuity, the technological spearhead that had driven the Fire Nation to victory time and again over the century long war. Soaring through the air even faster and higher than the dragons of myth was exciting, even exhilarating, but it was also a splash of cold water. The craft's pilot seemed almost bored on takeoff. This marvel of engineering would have been viewed as magic by the less civilized cultures they were conquering, but this method of travel was so routine to these Colonials.
They were a threat, plain and simple.
And when Princess Azula finished recounting her tale to her father, Fire Lord Ozai, he recognized that threat just the same. The War Minister was also present for her debriefing, just as Azula had wished.
"Ironic that, for all their technology, they need our help." Ozai said from atop his grand throne. Great cones of flame flanked the royal chamber, giving the room a warm, flickering light. His voice boomed across the long throne room.
"However impressive they may seem, they're still refugees." Azula explained, head tilted ever so slightly up to meet her father's gaze. One day, she would be the one sitting in that grand throne. She'd been groomed from her first day of life for the role, born for it. "We're in the unique position of being able to help them. That's an opportunity for us."
Ozai leaned forward, contemplatively stroking his long, braided beard. "Be honest with me daughter, how likely is it we can just seize these Colonials along with their technology?"
Azula hated disappointing her father, but the situation called for pragmatism. "Not likely at all. They mentioned they escaped with their civilization's last two surviving warships. They call them Battlestars, mile-long hulks of metal flying over us right now. If their warships are as powerful as their airships, no army we have could stop them."
The War Minister took the opportunity to chime in. "Even if we held their technology in our hands, I'm not sure how much we could learn. It would be like giving one of our ironclads to a Water Tribe villager and expecting them to build one themselves. Letting them teach us their secrets would go a long way towards replicating them ourselves."
"You said their worlds were utterly destroyed, reduced to inhospitable wastelands." Ozai rubbed his hands together. "With such raw power, there would never be another war, or another uprising. Nobody would dare stand against us. Fear of such weapons alone would keep our subjects in line."
"Luckily, we have something they want." Azula noted with a sly smile. "They want food, so we'll give them all the food they could ever possibly want. We'll offer to trade them land, and spin some story about how we're making sacrifices, but our hearts were just so touched by their story, that we'd do anything to help them get by. Make them feel like we want them as partners, allies, even friends."
Ozai's sly grin grew wider and wider as Azula laid out her plan. He nodded approvingly. "Then, one day, while they're living right on our doorstep, and their secrets are ours, we'll thrust the knife in."
Azula returned her father's smile. "One day, not even the world will be your limit, father."
Ozai ordered the Colonial representative to be invited to the Royal Palace immediately. The visitors had left the Raptor responsible for returning Azula right outside the capital, waiting for her to give the final word that her father would see them. The Colonials let her know to expect their diplomat within a few hours, and soared into the sky. When it returned later that day, the man who stepped off was dressed in a grey dress shirt, with a leather sash running across his shoulder. Small, golden buttons of various shapes adorned the sash - Did they represent rank? Status?
The representative himself was a handsome, tall man with pale skin and finely trimmed hair. He reached a hand out, but Azula rejected it in favor of giving the man a deep bow.
"My name is Princess Azula, let me be the first to welcome you to the Fire Nation."
"Lee Adama." The young man replied. "Commander of the Battlestar Pegasus, and formal representative of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. I'm looking forward to learning about your people, and hope our relationship will be long and prosperous."
"As do we." Azula said, inviting the man into the capital city. She was a patient woman - And she was willing to take all the time she needed to let her plan fall into place. No matter if it took fifty days, or fifty years.
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"Fifteen. Hundred. Tons."
Lee's declaration over the loudspeaker of Galactica's CIC sent cheers of jubilation across the entire room. Adama shot a hopeful smirk at Laura. Tigh yelled for the cheering officers to show some restraint, but it wasn't doing much good. Hunger was starting to overpower even Colonel Tigh's iron fist.
"We're still working out the details, but the Fire Nation is offering to trade fifteen hundred tons of food. They say it'll take some time to gather everything and get it ready for transport, but I think we can help them shave some time off."
"That's enough food to feed the entire fleet on full rations long enough to get the Botanical ship up and running." Tigh said haughtily. "Helo doesn't know what the hell he's talking about, these have been the most reasonable people we've met on this rock."
"Gods, we may never need the Botanical ship again. We talked about land, dad. They're open to trading good, arable land. Nothing concrete yet, but we might actually be able to make a home for ourselves here."
Laura was working through the fifteen pages worth of items and expertise the Fire Nation had shown a special interest in. The committee approved by her and the Quorum had spent a lot of sleepless nights pulling everything together. The exhaustive list included fifty short-range wireless sets, though 'short-range' to the Colonials was still empire-wide to the Fire Nation. The fleet would provide a handful of electrical generators to start them off, but they'd also agreed to send a team down to teach their new partners the principles behind how those power systems and wireless sets worked in the first place. The Fire Nation seemed to be an industrious people, just as curious about the science behind their technology, as the machines themselves. They would teach the Fire Nation how to smelt higher quality steel, the fundamentals of powered flight, help them improve their simplistic combustion engines, and even teach them how to get more output from their farms. It was a very long list, and it honestly made Roslin a little nervous. The Fire Nation gave Lee noble stories of how they'd be able to use better engines for transporting food, or the wireless sets to spur commerce, but it would be trivial for the superpower to use these new technologies in their war.
"As much as I want to trust our new allies, from a military standpoint, we're putting an awful lot of our cards on the table." Adama warned, as if he was reading her mind. "We're outnumbered a thousand to one here. Our technology is the only thing stopping somebody from seeing us as a tempting target."
"Just because we're teaching them how to make bi-planes doesn't mean they'll suddenly be tooling around in Vipers. We still have the ultimate advantage from orbit." Roslin rebutted.
"Maybe we do - but if the Fire Nation, or anybody for that matter, decided to send a million troops towards our settlement, I'm not confident we'd be able to stop every single one of them."
Roslin grinned. "Settlement? Where did this come from? I don't recall being a part of that discussion ."
Adama chuckloed. "The entire fleet already sees permanent settlement as a foregone conclusion. I'm just trying to think ahead."
Laura crossed her arms. "Honestly, I just don't think this is a good time to have that discussion. The election is two weeks away, and we're still dealing with a major crisis. We need to sit down - all of us - the Quorum, ship captains, you, and really hash out what settlement on this planet might look like."
"Yeah, give Baltar that memo." Adama replied with disdain.
"We should have the agreement finalized by tomorrow, I'll transmit everything as soon as I can. I can't wait for you to try their food, it beats the hell out the crap we've been eating for months."
"Damn good work, Lee. Galactica out." Adama signalled for an officer to terminate the comm link with their grounded Raptor. He gave Laura a curious look. "I can tell you've got something else on your mind?"
Roslin lowered her head, and sighed. "I can't get that conversation I had with those kids out of my head. Katara was right, we were letting that woman die."
"That's not fair, and you know it." Adama's content demeanor quickly gave way to his baseline, stoic self. "We have a very finite supply of medicine in this fleet, and once it's gone, it's gone. There are people with skills vital to our security - Mechanics, pilots, doctors, we can't afford to lose them.."
Roslin clasped a hand against her face to gently rub beside her eyes. "I know, we've had this conversation before. You're right, it's just… it doesn't get any easier over time."
"It's never going to get any easier."
Was that really as true as Adama feared? Vivid memories of those survey images exhibiting endless ocean and vast green continents filled Laura's head. Maybe it could get easier. Maybe this planet really did represent an end to the living hell their daily existence had become. Maybe it actually could be a refuge from the Cylons who had relentlessly pursued them over thousands of light years. Laura could feel the soil of this planet in her hands tomorrow. That was more than she could say about Earth.
"There's something else. The young boy, Aang, he's an airbender. Helo said airbenders were supposedly wiped out a hundred years ago, annihilated by the Fire Nation. He says Aang may be the last of his kind. I've tried to push it away, but I can't help feeling a little bit worried about who we're throwing our lot in with."
"Why don't you just ask this boy about the Fire Nation?" Adama asked like he'd just pointed out the obvious."
Roslin's voice grew softer. "They don't want anything to do with us. They think we're 'horrible people,' in their words. I can't blame them, they're young, and our situation is a little hard to explain. I wish there was a way to show him there's more to us than he thinks."
"At the risk of lecturing a school teacher about how to deal with children." Adama started as Roslin raised her head to meet his eyes once more. "You said this boy's entire civilization was wiped out. I think he might have a lot more in common with us than he realizes, maybe the first step is making him see that."
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Aang and his friends had been listening closely to the slightly distorted voices emitted from the peculiar metal box on the Doctor's desk. Kara, in one of the rare times she'd spoken to the trio, told them similar devices broadcasted sounds across the entire fleet of 70-odd ships. These Colonials really did possess strange powers Aang would almost call magic. One person, a man with a higher pitched, accented voice seemed to dominate the current conversation. He had quite an odd name - Gauis Baltar.
"You're right, you're absolutely right. It's just like I said at the first debate, that's the question we need to ask ourselves - Who is really in charge of our government? Not Laura Roslin, that's for sure. It's obvious to anybody paying attention that Admiral Adama is pulling her strings. We're a defacto military dictatorship, and Roslin knows only to humor the Quorum and the people's will so long as it doesn't conflict with Adama's agenda."
A woman's voice crackled through next. "Doctor Baltar, no administration can hope to govern this fleet without the military's support. President Roslin has widespread support throughout the military, how can you hope to be an effective leader without that kind of backing?"
"At the end of the day, if there's one thing we need to remember, it's that this is a government of the people. That's what democracy is. If we can only count on that to remain true so long as the civilian government has the military's blessing, then the Twelve Colonies really did perish when the Cylons attacked."
The doctor Aang had come to know as Doc Cottle flipped a dial on the machine, and the voices instantly ceased. "I don't know about you kids, but I've heard enough of Baltar for one day."
"Of the people." Aang thought out loud, playing back the conversation in his head. "I don't understand. Have you ever heard of something like that, Katara?"
Katara shook her head. "The Northern Water Tribe was led by a Chief with absolute power. He controlled the military along with everything else. The Southern Water Tribe where I grew up was led by a Council of Elders."
"The Earth Kingdom is the same way." Sokka noted. "You've got the Earth King, whose door by the way, we really should be knocking on sometime soon."
"So, here, the military is ruled by one person, and then there's somebody else who rules everything else?" Aang asked, trying to put the pieces together.
"And the guy in charge of the military is supposed to answer to someone else?" Sokka asked in disbelief. "How is a system like that supposed to work?"
"There's a little more to it than that." The blonde haired Kara quipped from her chair across the room to Aang's surprise. "The President is the Commander and Chief, the military answers to her. But the President has to answer to the Quorum, twelve representatives sent by the Twelve Colonies."
Katara leaned up in the bed Doc Cottle demanded she stay in just a little longer. "The Council of Elders elected the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe. But the Elders were respected for their wisdom and experience, so we knew they were smart enough to make those decisions. You people elect the entire Council?"
"We elect the council, the President, the whole nine yards." Kara answered.
"And it all just works out?" Sokka asked derisively. "How? The way that Baltar guy was talking about the military, I'd be getting pretty fed up with him. What's stopping the military from just charging in and taking power for themselves?"
"Oh no it doesn't just all work out, oh Lords no." Kara laughed. "Gods, no, it's been hard. When the XO took control of the military for a few days, he almost-" She stopped herself. "Long story, but it's every step of the way since the attack has been a fight. I honestly hated politics, I never voted. But it's who we are. It's all we have left."
"Elections, people fighting for votes..." Aang pondered. "If more people who saw how horrible this war is were able to vote for their leader, maybe it would have ended a long time ago."
Katara raised a finger at Kara. "Your president, that Roslin woman Baltar was talking about, she's a woman. When we were at the Northern Water Tribe, they refused to even teach me how to fight because I'm a woman. Here, she has control over the entire military?"
"Yeah, we don't worry about that kind of crap here." Kara replied matter-of-factly. "Trust me, we have no issue with women getting into a few fights here. You're looking at living proof of that."
Aang wanted to keep prying Kara for information as long as he could, but the heavy door at the front of sickbay clanged open before he could get another word in. The woman from earlier, Laura Roslin, turned the corner and knocked a hand on the grey wall to beckon for his friends attention.
The momentary truce was replaced by memories of Katara's crippled body. Aang scowled at Laura, but she still maintained that same soft inflection.
She initiated the conversation. "I know we haven't gotten off on the right foot. I know you have plenty of good reasons to hate us, and I honestly can't blame you. I'm pleading with you, give us one more chance. I want to take you somewhere, show you something that will hopefully help you understand us. It won't take long at all, and after we're done, if you never want to talk to any of us ever again, I'll respect that."
Aang grimaced. It was in his nature to forgive, it's what his people had taught him back in the air temples over a hundred years ago. There did seem to be more to these people than he'd assumed when they first boarded that airship, but he wasn't sure what they could possibly show him that would make up for almost killing his friend.
"Aang, you should go. See what she has to say." Katara pleaded. That was the final push the young boy needed.
"Okay. I'll go." Aang resolved. "Show me."
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Aang and the president had walked down one drab, triangular corridor after another for a good ten minutes. They all looked identical, making it hard to believe they were actually getting anywhere. Every person they'd passed either stopped dead in their tracks to get a good look at him, or gave a nervous side eye as they walked by. He was the avatar, he was used to that attention, but it was different here. Finally, Laura said they were getting close. She dismissed the pair of bodyguards tailing them, saying she wanted a little privacy.
"I come here pretty often actually." Roslin said. The hallway lights grew dimmer. Aang recognized the flicker of candle light in the shadow cast on the next junction. When they made that last turn, what Aang nearly made his heart jump out of his body.
The walls weren't the bleak grey they'd been for the entire trip. They were adorned with hundreds upon hundreds of faces, colored on small squares or printed on ripped paper. He walked up to the first section of the wall, straining his head up to find every inch of the bulkhead covered with picture upon picture. One was of a man with a pair of small children at his side, another of a middle aged woman with a heart scribbled beside her head. It was impossible to focus on any one picture for more than a split second before another grabbed his attention, and then another. Aang slowly walked forward, turning his head to find bulkhead after bulkhead plastered top to bottom with an endless stream of pictures. They were on every wall as far as the corridor went, until it terminated thirty feet away. Aang could feel it in his soul - this place was sacred to these people. He wanted to take in every inch of it. Where there weren't pictures, there was paper with writing scribbled on them he didn't understand. The meaning still made it through. There were drawings mixed in too, some looking like they'd been colored by small children, others just stick figures.
Aang had been so caught up by the sight, he almost bumped into the table placed in front of the next bulkhead. A pair of simple picture frames sat atop it, with a heart glued onto the corner of one. Something was written underneath the frames, which held pictures of gleaming cities with great towers of shining glass.
Laura pointed at the table. "It says, 'Remember Tauron.' That table back there, the heart just says 'Caprica.' That's where I was born. They were part of the Twelve Colonies, our home, before it was destroyed."
Aang looked up at the bulkheads at those scribbled notes. "What do the papers on the wall say?"
Roslin raised a finger at one of them. "That one says, 'My Love, Kristina.' Over there, that one says 'Always with my sons, Joe and Christopher.'" She ran a hand across the outer edge of the bulkhead, eyes drifting from image to image. "The Twelve Colonies were attacked by a race of machines called-" She paused, shooting a glance up for the briefest of moments before resuming. "By a people called the Cylons. We were at peace with them, then one day attacked us out of nowhere. Within a day or two the Cylons had destroyed our defenses, and slaughtered our civilization."
Aang flashed back to his memory of finding the decaying skeletons of Gyatso and the other monks at the Southern air Temple. The horror and pure anger he felt finding his people destroyed, coupled with the realization that Aang was the last of his kind. When he didn't talk, Laura continued with her story.
"This ship, Galactica, led the few dozen civilian ships who managed to escape the genocide. When we finally, finally had a moment to catch our breath, people from all over the fleet came here. They brought pictures of loved ones, praying, to find somebody, anybody they might have known. Family, lovers, friends…"
"Did anybody find who they were looking for?" Aang asked softly.
"No, almost nobody did. After a while, when reality set in, people started coming to remember instead of just look. If they didn't have pictures, they'd post drawings, or simple notes, or love poems, or anything. Anything to let others know these people existed."
Dim light flickering off half-melted candles danced on the pictures. Aang saw them with fresh eyes, now that he knew every single person on this wall was long dead. "Did you know anybody here?"
"A few, yes. In fact, he should be…" Laura ran her finger across the wall, pacing down the corridor. "Right here." She drew Aang's attention to a thin, pale man with dark, curly hair. He was beaming ear to ear, and dressed in dark, formal clothing. "His name was Billy. He was actually my assistant, he was travelling with me at the time of the attack. We both survived, but he died a few weeks ago while saving the life of a woman he loved."
Aang's eyes dropped from Laura. "I'm sorry."
"We've all had more than our share of loss." Laura said grimly. "A year ago, we were all living normal lives. One horrible day later, everything we knew, everything we loved, was gone. Our entire people were destroyed, and our home was lost forever. We've been on the run ever since. Can you imagine what that must feel like? The sheer scale of that loss?"
Aang turned away from her, one hand bunched into a fist. "Yes, I can."
Laura's voice turned hopeful. "Tell me more, please?"
He faced Roslin, her hands clasped together, waiting for him to go on. "One hundred years ago, my people sensed that war with the Fire Nation was coming. They told me I was the Avatar, but I was afraid, so I ran. I was caught in a storm, and froze myself in an iceberg to survive. Katara and Sokka found me a couple months ago."
"Frozen in ice." Laura sounded almost impressed.
"The Fire Nation destroyed my people. I found the skeletons of my old friends laying in the same temple I grew up in. I'm the last of the Air Nomads, the last airbender. Now, I have to stop the Fire Lord from conquering the whole world, and restore balance to the four elements."
Laura gently let out the breath she was holding "I can't imagine what that must feel like, finding them like that. Nobody should have to go through that."
"They're gone. They would never have dreamt of hurting anybody, and they were the first people to die. And I only survived because I ran away. I'm all that's left of them, and if I don't stop the Fire Lord before the comet arrives..."
Laura took a step closer. "We have to fight those thoughts, too. Knowing that we only survived because we left others behind. It's okay to feel the way you do, and the fact you're still here means your people live on in you."
Aang gave a faint smile. It was nice having somebody that could relate to him, even if only a little bit. "I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier, I was so angry about Katara, I was worried about what would happen to her."
"And I'm sorry about what happened to her. I want to know more about you, about this Avatar, and about the forest spirit you said attacked our people. Do you think you would be okay with that?"
Aang took a breath before giving a firm nod. Whoever these people were, there was more to them than fantastical technology and a disregard for nature. If his job really was to maintain balance on that world, he supposed that duty applied to these new arrivals as well.
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Laura didn't bother trying to hide her sense of wonder at the demonstration in front of her. Katara sapped the water out of the glass on the overbed table in front of her, and with the smallest of motions, let it coalesce into a ball suspended in midair. She was still lying down, though Laura couldn't find the slightest hint the woman had nearly died barely a day ago. The ball expanded, turning into a swirling torus before collapsing again and instantly turning to ice. Laura reached out to find the ice ball just as cold as she would have expected. With another motion, the water reverted to its liquid form and Katara returned it to its vessel.
Laura wondered if she should pinch herself, just to make extra sure she wasn't in another dream. "My Gods that's amazing." I've heard people describe bending, but seeing it in person is another thing entirely."
Katara wore a very obvious grin . "I'm glad you like it, do you want to see more?"
"I'd love to, yes. How did you learn to waterbend? Are you just born knowing how, or did somebody have to teach you?"
Katara seemed amused by the very question. "I trained with some of the masters at the Northern Water Tribe, when we visited to find Aang a few weeks ago. Before that, my mother taught me everything she could, but she wasn't a bender herself. The tribe where I grew up was small, she did a lot of the teaching."
Roslin sensed an in with the girl . "I have so much respect for your mother, that's not an easy job. I was a teacher, so I have an idea what that can be like."
"You were a teacher?" The older boy asked skeptically. Aang had introduced the girl's brother, Sokka to her. He seemed very protective of his younger sibling, and unlike either of his friends, had no bending abilities whatsoever. Roslin wondered if bending had a genetic component. "How exactly does a teacher become president?"
"Well, it's a lot like what happens if a king dies. His heir takes over, and if they die, then the next, and so on. I was the Secretary of Education when the Cylons attacked. After our president and everyone else in the line of succession above me were killed, I was sworn in."
Aang was seated on the bed next to Katara. He also seemed very protective of his friend. "How far down the line were you?"
"Forty-third." Roslin said simply, her face unchanged. An awkward silence filled the room, which Roslin resolved to break. "I'd love to know more about your mother, what is she like? Does she still teach children at the Southern Water Tribe?"
The silence only grew deeper. Katara leaned back into her pillows, the remnants of her grin vanishing in a heartbeat. Even Sokka, so eager to prove himself to Laura moments ago, seemed more reserved. It wouldn't have taken a teaching degree to know she'd made a mistake.
"My mother was killed by the Fire Nation when I was eight years old." Katara said solemnly. "They found out a waterbender was in our village, and waterbenders could resist them. So they threatened to kill all of us unless the waterbender gave themselves up. My mother sacrificed herself to save us."
"That's… horrible." Roslin muttered, internally cursing herself for her choice of topic. "I'm so sorry, she must have loved you very much."
"She did." Katara replied, a set of tears starting to fall down one eyelid.
Aang took the chance to piped up. "If the Fire Nation wins this war, they'll kill every Earth and waterbender in the world, just like they killed her mother and the Air Nomads. That's why it's so important for me to stop the Fire Lord before Sozin's comet arrives - A hundred years ago, it gave the Fire Nation enough power to destroy my people. This time, they'll use its power to end the war."
A comet powering up firebenders? That sounded a little fantastical, but Laura was sure the boy was exaggerating details from myth and legend. Then again, what was one more supernatural act in this miraculous world? She'd also assumed the stories of angry spirits were myths, and look what that got them.
Roslin used the conversation's turn to ask another burning question. Bringing a notebook was a good decision. "I'd like to know more about what the Avatar is, Aang."
Sickbay's door banging open stopped the boy from carrying on. The purple curtain separating them from the rest of the room thrust open, revealing a very annoyed looking Tory. "Madam President, can we have a few minutes?"
"Of course, Tory. Excuse me, please." Roslin said to the trio before stepping outside of sickbay with her assistant.
Tory gave an annoyed sigh. "The Quorum is in an uproar. They're demanding to know why you haven't brought the finalized trade agreement with the Fire Nation up for a vote, and I can't stall them much longer."
Roslin shot a glance towards the sickbay, double checking the adolescents hadn't followed her. "I just need a little more time, this might not be as good of an idea as we first thought."
"More time?" Tory nearly yelled out. Roslin urged her assistant to keep her voice down. "More time? Madam President, this fleet is five minutes away from clubbing their neighbor in broad daylight for an extra ration card, and you're here playing school teacher to a bunch of medieval-"
Roslin raised a finger to silence the woman. "Tory, you know I value your opinions, but right now I need you to shut the frak up and understand your place. I will decide when the trade agreement is brought to a vote, not the quorum, and not you. There's a lot more to the Fire Nation than we initially thought, and right now I just need you to please buy me a little more time."
Tory rubbed her forehead. At least she knew to give up the fight this time. "Okay, I'll see what I can do. I just need you to know, ever since it leaked out that the harvesting op was a bust, people have been getting desperate. I don't know how much longer they're going to take this."
"Where the hell does the press keep getting these tips? I swear, I'm going to have Adama- You know what, nevermind. We don't have time to deal with that right now, just stall them."
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"I was right, we're so close to making a horrible mistake."
Adama's gaze remained transfixed on the Dradis display mounted above CIC's central command console, his hands locked behind his back. He tried dodging the statement. "It doesn't look natural, does it? All that static from the goop out there. Like we're trying to see through a rainstorm that'll never go away."
Laura rolled her eyes. "Before today, I could tell myself that we didn't have all the facts. That we did horrible things in our past, and have no right to be passing judgement, but I can't keep doing that anymore. The Fire Nation is evil, Bill, and if we help them, if we go through with this trade deal-"
"If we go through with this trade deal, we'll practically be handing them the keys to the planet." Adama finished more succently than Laura could have hoped. His eyes finally left the Dradis display to meet hers.
"They've commited genocide once before, and they're a heartbeat away from doing it again. I will not, not allow our first diplomatic action on this planet to be making ourselves an accessory to that crime. I could never sign that agreement and look those kids down in sickbay in the eye again."
Adama emitted a weary groan. "I'm not saying I disagree with you, but this fleet is two weeks away from running out of food, best case. If we signed the agreement tomorrow, it would still take a few days of grunt work before we could start distributing supplies to civilians. That's a very thin margin to work with."
"Lords Adama, I know we're cutting it close, but there has to be some other way. You even said it yourself, we might be giving up too much with this deal."
If she could count on anybody to take her side right now, it was Adama. The man had a moral compass surpassed only by his son. "That was before we had to put down a riot on the Aurora this morning. And to be frank, the Fire Nation was well on its way to winning its war before we showed up. This trade deal isn't going to change the equation."
"Oh no." Roslin said firmly. "I am not going to let us rationalize our way out of this. You, of all people - I remember you told me, when you backed down from giving Starbuck the order to kill Admiral Cain, you told her it isn't enough to survive. That we have to be worthy of surviving. If we go through with this, can you honestly say we deserve to live on this planet?"
Adama looked across the room. Tigh was coordinating with Gaeta this very moment, going over what the supply runs would look like under the assumption they'd be going through with the deal. "If you're looking for an out Madam President, you better find it soon."
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"So you were trying to kill the Forest Spirit." Aang said with a harsh finger pointed at Starbucks chest. She bit down on her lower lip. "I mean, you can't, but that's not the point."
Kara seemed to take her sweet time taking a long, drawn out breath before letting her lip go. She'd been biting down hard enough to draw a small droplet of blood. "The forest spirit attacked us. Killed two of our people, unprovoked, in cold blood. I knew one of them, and she didn't deserve what happened to her."
How many times did he have to say it before it got through this thick woman's head? "You were destroying its home! You were warned it was there, and you just barged in anyway. Also, you're still missing the point, you tried to kill it. That's wrong."
"My friend left a new picture on that wall you saw the other day. I think the woman he pinned up there would disagree with you."
Aang let out of a huff. "I'm an Air Nomad. My people taught me that all life is sacred, all life. Those weapons you used, all they do is burn and destroy. You didn't care how much had to die, as long as you got what you wanted. Killing is wrong, no matter what the reason is."
Kara slapped her hands on her knees. "Always wrong, huh? You think so? Did you know the Admiral didn't even want your girlfriend over there on his ship? I had to practically force him into letting you on. You wanna know why I was so hell bent on doing that?"
Aang blushed, breaking his stare with Kara for the briefest of moments. "Why?"
"When we fled the Colonies, the Cylons kept finding us. Over, and over, and over. They'd show up right on our tail every half hour, like clockwork. For days."
Aang sneered at the woman. "The Fire Nation's been chasing us around ever since they found out I was still alive. That doesn't mean I start destroying people's homes."
Kara ignored him. "Well, we finally figured out why. The Cylons were tracking one of the civilian passenger liners. They sent it back one jump with a big ol' bomb inside, just for us. So, the admiral gave me and my friend an order. Destroy the civilian ship, killing over a thousand people onboard."
The avatar pursed his lips. "So what did you do? Some daring escape where-"
"I shot the damn ship down."
Aang felt himself freeze in place. He searched his brain for the vocabulary to reply, but couldn't find the words. "You shot it down?" Was all he could manage.
"Yeah, I did. And I've hated myself for it every day since then. It's why I would have held the marines down there at gunpoint if it meant getting Katara on that Raptor. I sure as hell won't be be responsible for another kid dying."
"I guess I should say thank you for saving her life." Aang said meekly. He wanted to add, even if you were the one who almost killed her, but decided against it.
"My point is, if I hadn't shot that ship down, all of us would be dead right now. The world isn't as neat and tidy as you seem to want it to be, Aang."
Laura thrust open the curtain beside them, inviting herself in. Aang couldn't have been more relieved for a change of topic. She sat down in the empty chair beside them.
"Aang, I wanted to talk to you about something very important." Roslin said in her usual amicable tone. Despite that, Aang could sense something was worrying her gravely. "By the way, Sokka, you said you were curious about the rest of the ship. I've arranged for one of our officers to give you a little tour, if you'd like."
"Yes!" Sokka said, delighted. "The doctor was showing me how X-rays work, and it was so cool. I even get to keep this picture of my arm!"
"What did you want to talk about?" Aang asked Laura.
"You told me you were the bridge between our world and the spirit world. Can you tell me what that means?"
Aang couldn't help but smile at one of these people finally asking the right questions. "The avatar is like… It's my job to make sure the two worlds live in harmony. When a different forest spirit named Hei Bai was destroying a village, I calmed it down so it left the villagers in peace."
"Aang, our people are in the middle of a crisis. Like I told you before, we only intruded in that spirit's forest because we needed food."
Aang flung a nervous glance at Kara. "I might have heard a thing or two about that."
"If we don't get that food, our people are going to start dying soon. Slow, agonizing deaths. I know you're probably still upset at us, but If you're the bridge between our two worlds, if there is anything you could do to-"
"I can help you get the food!" Aang declared as he flung himself in front of Roslin with enough force to almost knock over a nearby monitor. "It'll be easy, all we have to do is go down there, have you apologize to the spirit for attacking its home, and I'm sure it'll understand that this was all one big misunderstanding. Then we just ask for its permission to take food from the forest, and you'll be good to go."
Roslin blinked hard at the avatar. "Ask it? That's it? Just… ask?"
"Well, you'll need to ask really nicely, because it's probably pretty mad at you. But, I'm sure I can pull a few strings, being the avatar and all. I have a very close working relationship with the spirit world."
Laura clasped a hand around her heart, exhaling hard. "Just ask." She was starring past them now.
This might actually work out perfectly. Aang would get to make an ally out of these people after all, and they seemed like powerful allies to have. "So when do we leave?"
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"Madam President, I want you to sit down, take a deep breath, and listen to yourself." Adama chastised. Roslin had rejoined him and Colonel Tigh in CIC, and neither of them seemed terribly pleased with her latest plan to solve their crisis.
Laura stood her ground. "Admiral, you aren't going to talk me out of this. I'm going down to that planet with Aang, and I'm going to try to negotiate with this spirit for access to the forest."
"Oh, you've had your fair share of crazy ideas in that head of yours." Tigh growled. "Visions, calling yourself a dying leader, but this, this takes the cake!"
"You think so, Colonel? Would you like me to tell me more about how that spirit is superstitious garbage now, or would you rather do it at the service tomorrow?"
Tigh grabbed hard on CIC's command console. "That is way out of line."
"Madam President, you are putting the fate of this entire fleet in the hands of a twelve year old boy. A boy who fantasizes about being this world's savior. You can't actually believe this Avatar story."
"Admiral, one week ago we learned that the people on this world can magically control the elements around them. Two days ago, an apparently intelligent being referred to as a forest spirit attacked us, shrugging off bullets and fire like it was nothing. Yesterday, a young woman comes aboard this ship and uses so-called mystical powers to heal herself and a dying woman. If this boy being the reincarnation of some Avatar, with a destiny to restore balance to their world, is the last supernatural thing I need to believe in order to save this fleet, then so be it."
"Okay, look." Adama began in a harsh voice. "Lets just say, for a second, that all of this is true. That this boy can help us communicate with this… spirit. That thing still butchered two of my men."
"And that's a tragedy." Laura countered. "But if we have a chance to get out of this crisis diplomatically, without abetting genocide, we have to take it."
Adama and Tigh gave each other long, resigned glance. Adama reached for a phone. "I'll send a marine team down with you, Mathias and a few other-"
"No, no weapons. Aang insisted."
Adama's frown deepened as his hand dropped from the phone. "Of course he did."
"Aright, fine, if the president wants to go down there on some fool's errand and get herself killed, that's her business." Tigh snapped. "Don't let us stop you."
In contrast, Adama's tone softened. "I know you're only doing what you think is right." He said. "For what it's worth, I hope I can say I was wrong. And you let that thing down there know, if any harm comes to you, or anymore of my men, I'll incinerate its precious forest."
That was about as close to Adama's approval as Roslin could hope to get. "When the sun sets on that part of the planet, we'll take a Raptor down. Wish me luck admiral, Lords know I'll need it."
Chapter 6- At the Cost of my Soul
Hey! Thank you so much for your detailed thoughts! Laura the Quorum are probably going to be at odds in the not so distant future, but she's had the benefit of actually interacting with people from the planet, unlike most of the Quorum sans Zarek. This story is officially past the halfway mark, so I'm pretty thrilled about that.
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Admiral Adama etched his signature onto the specialist's clipboard with one practiced motion. Supply requisitions, maintenance reports, they all started to blend together after a while. The specialist saluted when Adama handed her clipboard back.
"I still can't believe she's going through with this." Tigh grumbled. "The president knows if she croaks, Baltar won't be able to find a priest to swear him in fast enough, right?"
"Don't remind me," Adama replied hastily. The very thought of answering to Baltar disgusted him. "I'm rooting for her, but to be honest, these spirits scare the hell out of me. Bullets didn't hurt them, fire didn't hurt them. We haven't tried anything heavier, but if none of our weapons affect them, that's a problem."
"Luckily, we seem to have a bonafide spiritual expert on this ship." As if on queue, Felix walked into CIC with Aang and Sokka in tow. Saul couldn't have made his stare anymore obvious. "I'll be damned, that's them?"
"That's them."
"You actually let them in CIC? This is a Battlestar, not a school yard."
Adama watched Felix point out the various crewmen and consoles around CIC. His officer actually seemed to be enjoying himself. "If we're going to live on this planet, these people need to understand we're not magic. That we're every bit as human as they are. If this boy is really as important as the president says he is, I want him to get a good look at us."
Adama gestured for Felix to come over. The lieutenant pointed to the boys, Adama returned a thumbs up. Felix called the two curious children to follow him.
"Up here, you'll see what we call our DRADIS system. That stands for Direction, Range, and Distance. It sends out invisible waves that reflect off other objects in space and come back to us. Because those waves only travel so fast, we can find a ship's exact position and size by measuring how long they take to bounce back. Notice those green circles on the monitor, those are the other ships in our fleet."
Sokka seemed more impressed at the piece of equipment than his friend. "I can't imagine how useful it would be to have something like that on our ships. If we knew exactly where a Fire Nation armada was, we could outflank them before they ever knew what hit them."
Gaeta put a hand on Adama's back. "This is Admiral William Adama, highest ranking officer in the Colonial Fleet. He's the one who put me in charge of showing you around."
"Oh!" Aang cried out, raising a pointed finger at Adama. "I know you! You're the one that Baltar guy keeps calling a fascist."
Adama shared an amused glance with his XO. "Yeah, that'd be me. You can't believe everything you hear out of that frakkin-" Gaeta coughed. "Out of that man."
"You have such a cool ship!" Sokka cried out as he all around the bustling CIC. More than a few crewmen were watching the boys. "If the Fire Nation knew Galactica was defending the Water Tribe, they'd never send another ship to raid us again."
"Galactica's a fine ship, best in the fleet. She's got a lot of history behind her." Adama bragged. He could never pass up a chance to talk up the old girl. "I'm glad your sister is doing better. I wanted to personally apologize for what my men did to her."
Aang jumped in again. "It was an accident, all in the past now right?" The boy certainly looked unique, those tattoos made him instantly recognizable. "You know, there is one little favor you could do for us to make up for it, and the whole 'helping you get food' thing."
The admiral produced a reserved chuckle. "And what would that be?"
"Help me defeat the Fire Lord and restore balance to the world before Sozin's Comet arrives." Aang said like he'd just asked Adama to spot him ten cubits.
"Just that, huh?" Adama glared at Tigh when he started laughing the boy off. "The president agrees with you, when you say Fire Nation aren't the best friends to have. Once this crisis is over, maybe we should talk."
Aang grinned from ear to ear. "That's great, I'm glad you see it our way."
"Would you like to see how Galactica's engines work?" Gaeta asked in an effort to pry the boys away.
Sokka seemed enamored with that idea enough to talk Aang into leaving. Tigh leaned close to the admiral once the children were well out of hearing range. "You're not seriously thinking about getting us mixed up in their war?"
"I'm going to say whatever I need to say to get us out of this crisis." William explained in a husky whisper. "But, the president is worried about what the Fire Nation is doing. What that will or will not lead to isn't up to me."
"That'd be just what we need, finally catch a break from one war only to be caught up in another." Tigh worried. The XO had a point, their people swore an oath to defend the Colonies and the Articles, not a random kingdom on a world they'd never heard of a month ago. On the other hand, the Fire Nation's war crimes were abhorrent no matter the circumstances. Adama was glad this particular call wasn't his to make.
Tigh piped up one more time. "Wait, what's this about a comet?"
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Laura threw her head in every direction, desperately trying to find anything she could use as a reference point for where she was in this wretched swamp. She followed a set of long, black roots protruding out of the mucky water to an overly thick tree, pressing her back against it in an effort to hide out until this recurring nightmare was over. It's a dream, she thought to herself. You're not really in this dank, musky swamp. You don't really feel something in the water slithering against your legs. No matter how real it felt.
A cool breeze ran across one side of her body. A soft, masculine voice carried itself in the wind, just barely audible. Even as nothing more than an echo, she'd recognize that dopey inflection anywhere. "Billy?" She asked out loud.
A soft glow appeared in the distance and started approaching her. She considered running, but ultimately decided to stand her ground. This was her subconscious dammit, and she wasn't going to be cowed by it. As the glowing shape moved closer, she could tell it was definitely male. It was Billy, young with curly hair, dressed in the same formal wear as the day they'd met.
"You said we'd get through this, all of us, together." The apparition said pointedly as it stared blankly at Laura.
"What are you?" Roslin yelled at the figure. "Is my mind trying to tell me something?"
Another glowing figure appeared in the distance, then another, and another. They started to come by the dozen, then the hundred, creating a soft blue glow across the dark swamp. The apparitions gathered around Billy before surrounding her completely. Laura looked from side to side, then behind the tree, only to be met time and again by an ever increasing number of those haunting men and women.
One in particular, flanking Billy's left, was a face Laura could pick out anywhere. President Adar, his balding head a sight she was sure she'd never see again. Elosha, the very priest who swore her in during the attack was also the surreal crowd. She saw her colleagues from Adar's cabinet, old high school friends and former room mates. Others she only vaguely remembered from passing, and more still she couldn't pull a memory of at all. They seemed to stretch back for a mile, their glow practically bringing day to the night.
"What are you? What do you want?" Laura yelled out again to nobodyin particular.
The ghostly forms vanished, dissolving into the swamp water and taking their oddly comforting light with them. That same elk-esque creature from before started to rise out of the swamp water in front of her. Its own glow had vanished, and its translucent nature was greatly diminished. For the first time, Laura noticed the being had thick, brown fur she could only just make out through the darkness.
"So much pain, so much sorrow." The creature said in a sing-songy voice. "You've travelled further than I can fathom, and lost so much."
Roslin couldn't stop herself from letting out a nervous, bewildered laugh. Her hands dug into the tree bark behind her hard enough to cut her skin.
"I found a human like you once before. A boy who'd lost everything in his world. Your pain feels so much like his, but the texture is different. Your life is so alien to me, it's hard to see how the notes fit together. Like trying to hum a half-remembered song."
Laura tried to force herself awake, she pinched her arm and blinked hard. It clearly wasn't working.
The creature actually looked annoyed. "You know this boy, I can feel your energy intertwined."
"Aang?" Laura asked, deciding to give her escape attempt and let this bizarre nightmare play out.
The creature nodded. "You each carry the fate of your worlds on your shoulders. You have so much to learn from each other, just as I have so much to learn of you. You're too far right now, farther than any human I've ever touched. It's taking so much effort just to do this much, you should feel honored."
"I-" Roslin began. "I don't understand. What are you? What is this place?"
"My name isn't important, and I know you'll find your way to my swamp in time. I've come to deliver a warning. This spirit who inhabits the forest you are journeying to is very old, and very bitter. You must take great caution."
This was just a dream, right? Was the entity implying this place actually existed somewhere on the planet? "I still don't understand, what do you want from me? Why do I keep coming here? I've never been to a swamp in my life, but this place feels so real."
The creature's eyes narrowed. "I told you Laura, I want to know your kind. I know all the children of this world, but you are foreign. I haven't met something new in a long, long time. Fate will bring you to me one day, but for now I am growing weak. I don't use mortal tongue often, so I hope you appreciated this."
Laura could only describe the next sensation she felt as being turned sideways and slammed onto her bed. She shot her head around, relieved to find only her dry, dimly lit cabin on Colonial One. Her dream had felt so incredibly vivid, she could picture herself in that swamp as if it'd been a fond childhood memory. She leaned up in her bed, dredging up an image of the strange elk-ish creature that'd addressed her in such lowly terms.
Visions weren't a new concept to her, the Chamala extract she'd taken during her cancer treatments produced similar hallucinogenic effects. However, going from weird dreams to visions was a hell of a leap. She had been under unimaginable stress lately. Either way, she didn't have the time to explore the possibility right now. Today would be yet another day of unimaginable stress.
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Aang grinned at the sight of Sokka running his hands across one of the menacing, white-red craft the Water Tribe boy had been fawning over for the past hour. Felix told them the hanger deck would be their last stop before they departed for the planet, and to Sokka at least, it seemed to be the most interesting.
"These wings are so stubby!" Sokka remarked with glee, kneeling down to feel either side of one of the tiny airship's three fins. The vessel had a small one-person cockpit sitting on it's top, mounted just in front of a trio of odd black funnels jutting out of its back side. Gaeta told them those were engines, and that they were powerful enough to make him black out with one turn. Vipers, he'd called these ships.
"Those wings help our fighters operate in a planet's atmosphere, but we almost exclusively use them in space. They help give battlestars like Galactica cover." Felix explained.
"It's tiny. You could fit the entire ship into a Fire Nation factory's smokestack, and it can do all of that? Wow!" Sokka started poking his head into one of the fighter's engines, eliciting a nervous grimace from Feelix.
"Since when are you the Viper expert, Feelix?" Starbuck called out as she strutted down the hanger bay.
Starbuck's presence made Felix tense up just the slightest. "The President asked us to show them around a bit, help them see what we're like. I promise we won't get in your way." He finished with open palms.
Sokka started sticking a finger into one of the barrels mounted on the tip of the Viper's lower wings. Starbuck grabbed one of his shoulders and yanked him back hard. "Hey, wannabee flyboy, let's not start sticking our finger into every random hole we find, okay?"
Sokka pulled his hands back in a hurry. "Sorry, sorry! It's just so freaking cool. You fly these? What's it like? What do you do if one of the engines stops working, does it fly differently? How does-"
Kara shushed the Water Tribe boy with a finger shoved against his lip. "Yeah, I fly Vipers. You ask an awful lot of questions, does your sister ever tell you that?"
Katara pulled her brother back a step. "Sokka loves machines. You should have seen him at the Northern Air Temple a few weeks ago, he drooled over half their stuff."
"Hm." Kara said curtly, starring Sokka down. She looked up at the Viper, then back to Aang's friend. "Do you want to see what the cockpit looks like?"
"Do I!" Sokka cried out loud enough for one of the mechanics across the hanger deck to shoot them a concerned glance.
The slightest hint of a smile crept onto Kara's lip. "Come on, before I change my mind. Just promise me you won't touch anything."
Kara led the boy off, helping him onto a portable stairway stationed below the Viper's cockpit. Aang felt very pleased to have opened up to these people. He admired their spirit, still so strong after going through so much. He felt just a touch of jealousy, too. What he'd give for just one more Air Nomad in the world, let alone fifty thousand. Having others with them must've made coping with their loss just a little more bearable.
Aang caught Laura waving from across the hanger deck, and shot himself along the long, noisy tube to greet her. Welders and mechanics halted their work at the boy's motion, bringing the sounds of machinery to a screeching halt for a few brief seconds before their supervisor urged them to continue.
Laura gave a nervous smile. "Good morning, Aang. I'm very impressed by your airbending, but I think the deckhands would really appreciate it if you showed off away from their work."
Aang nervously looked around the room just as the sound of equipment resumed. "Oh, yeah. Totally."
"They're getting the Raptor prepped for us right now. Go ahead and finish up here, we'll be ready to take off in about twenty minutes."
Aang forced himself to hold back from airbending his way back to his friends. He walked back to Sokka and Katara, still hanging out with Felix and Kara. was seated in the Viper's cockpit while Kara stood over him, pointing to the devices inside. She pointed out fancy sounding tools like avionics, instruments, communication, all apparently at his fingertips. Sokka looked impressed. Aang couldn't wait to be standing on soil again.
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Laura could never make herself quite comfortable crammed into a Raptor's tiny seat. She supposed it made sense, military ships weren't built for comfort. At least the kids had an easier time finding space. Aang was talking her ear off about how much he wanted to show her some of the sights. The city of Omashu was at the top of the list, once the Earth Kingdom took it back. Was that supposed to be a hint?
Helo, their pilot, interrupted their conversation to let Roslin know Tory was trying to reach her. She grabbed the headset he handed back to her and put it on. "Hello, Tory?"
"Madam President, can anybody else hear us?" Tory said worriedly.
"Not at all." Laura replied airily, fully aware everybody else in the small ship could hear her end of the conversation.
"There was an incident on one of the civilian ships a few minutes ago. A routine food shipment docked, and people got panicky. A man fell under the crowd, he was trampled to death."
"Oh." Laura responded flatly while Aang watched on curiously. "I see. Well, I'll keep that in mind. Thank you for letting me know, Tory."
"Just remember how close people are getting to edge while you're down there. Good luck Madam President."
"I'm looking forward to seeing you too. Goodbye." Laura handed the headset back to Helo. "Tory is my assistant, she was letting me know the Quorum wishes us luck. I'm sure they'd love to meet you sometime, if you'd like."
"I'd love to." Aang said with delight. "Just stay behind me in the forest and follow my lead."
"Follow your lead." Roslin affirmed, doing what she could to mask the anxiety of letting an adolescent have so much sway over their mission. "By the way, this is a silly question, but I was wondering something. Have you ever been to a swamp?"
The avatar's eyes lit up. "A swamp? Uh, actually yeah, not too long ago. Why do you ask?"
Laura could feel her heart thumping in her chest. "I've never been to one, I've always wondered what it was like. Could you tell me about it?"
Katara jumped in before Aang could. "A storm forced Appa to land in it, but even before that Aang felt something about it calling to him. I saw a vision of my mother there." She finished lowly.
Katara's dead mother, Laura reminded herself. Just like the girl, Billy, and everybody else who'd appeared in her dreams. Aang picked up where his friend had left off. "The swamp had a lot of spiritual energy, I even saw visions of a girl I'm apparently supposed to meet someday."
"I saw my ex-girlfriend." Sokka added with a depressed sigh. "I lost her when she turned into the Moon back at the Northern Water Tribe"
Roslin gazed curiously at Sokka. "Is 'turning into the Moon' a term for…?"
"For turning into the Moon." Sokka repeated.
"Ah." The President afforded a slow, confused nod at the older boy. "Okay."
Helo beckoned for the passenger's attention. "Buckle up, we've been cleared for launch. Fair warning, atmospheric descent is liable to make you lose your lunch the first few times."
Aang gave a cheerful thumbs up. Katara grabbed hold onto one of Sokka's arms for support when the Raptor's engines whirred to life and started raising the ship off its landing deck. A dreadful prick of worry still gnawed at Laura - she was spending a good bit of their very limited time on what could very well be a young boy's fantasies.
There was also the nagging issue that the forest was never meant to be the complete solution to their food shortage, only a buffer until they could find a larger supply. Getting enough food out of the wild forest to feed the entire fleet for months could deplete most of it. Would the spirit be agreeable to that?
Though, the only other option - Working with the Fire Nation - so abhorrent, she had to hope for a miracle.
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Real, honest-to-Gods gravity from a world rotating on its axis felt just the slightest bit different from a ship's artificial grav field, and while hard to describe, Laura always felt it with her first few steps planetside. After being helped down by a gentlemanly Aang, Helo handed off the pilot's seat to Starbuck and stepped down to join them. Laura could tell the captain felt out of place without his sidearm, occasionally rubbing over the empty holster with his hand.
She took in another breath. A real breeze washed over her. She knelt down to run a hand over soft, damp grass. Even the stars dotting the night sky felt different without a glass pane obscuring her view.
"Feels nice, doesn't it?" Helo remarked.
"It does." Laura admitted. Aang was busy greeting a massive furry creature - a beast with a set of horns jutting out of its head and a long, wide tail. The avatar had told them about Appa, his pet sky bison, but the creature looked a great deal larger and more intimidating in person. Fortunately, the boy seemed to be doing a perfectly fine job of taming the creature. "Aang insisted on taking the lead, will you stay with him, captain?"
"Yes ma'am."
Helo and Aang were getting along better than Laura would have thought, considering the circumstances of their initial meeting. Agathon was always very amicable when he wasn't in the middle of one of his holier-than-thou rants. The captain even laughed at one of the boy's jokes, which she knew from experience always helped worm your way onto a child's good side.
"He really is a good friend." Katara confided to Laura while they followed behind with Sokka. "Me and Sokka are the only friends he has in the world. He's lost everything, and you can tell it gets to him. I honestly think having somebody he can relate to is going to be good for Aang."
"Aang's lucky to have you both." Laura replied, squeezing Katara's shoulder. "He appreciates you a lot, I can tell."
"Stop." Aang demanded, slamming his glider into the ground with an outstretched arm. The field they'd landed in had slowly been transitioning into denser and denser undergrowth, trees now surrounding them in every direction. She'd been faintly aware of the buzzing of insects and the distant cries of what she hoped were birds, but all that seemed to come to an abrupt halt.
Helo started backing off from Aang with the goal of putting himself closer to Laura, and reached for his wireless. "Galactica, we're in the forest. No sign of the spirit yet."
"Roger that, Helo. Actual is requesting you keep an open comm link." An officer's voice crackled in response. Laura knew Adama wouldn't want to miss a beat of her mission. If trouble came, he'd made clear not even a supernatural threat would make him back down.
A deep, booming cry echoed across the trees. The air around Laura grew colder. Helo instinctively grabbed her arm and knelt them down for cover.
It came galloping out of the tree line half obscured by the dark of night. The spirit looked totally alien compared to anything she'd seen before. Its long, slightly twisted head resembled a horse with six beady, pitch-black eyes. It had a pair of long, thin limbs on either side of its unnaturally long body. Its skin was a brilliant white and black, though the texture resembled bark more than anything else. A long, snow-white tail stood upright at the end of the creature's body.
The spirit growled at them again.
"My name's Aang!" The young boy Laura now suspected she'd placed far too much trust in yelled out to the creature. "I'm the avata-"
The creature swiped a limb at Aang, which he dodged at the last possible second with a quick blast of air at his feet. He shot himself down, and the creature knelt down on its forelimbs as if ready to pounce.
A set of roots burst out of the grass beneath Roslin and Helo, wrapping themselves around their limbs to pin them down before they could react. Katara and Sokka assumed a fighting position, Katara summoning her water, but they were quickly overtaken by the sentient roots.
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"Helo, report! Helo!" Admiral Adama yelled at CIC's command console.
"Roots, it's tree roots, they're-" The captain's voice muffled before ceasing completely. Only frantic yelling and sounds of a distant struggle came over the wireless.
"They're going to be eaten alive and there's not a damned thing we can do about it." Tigh cried out in frustration.
Adama took a tense few seconds to weigh his options, sounds of the struggle planetside only growing louder. Whatever was happening to Laura, Helo, and the kids, it would be over quickly. He knew something like this could happen, that it was even likely. Of course he had a contingency plan. "Mister Gaeta, can they still hear us down there?"
"Yes Sir!" Gaeta asserted. Adama grabbed one of the wired phones off its cradle.
"Open nuclear launch tubes one through six, and load a strike package targeted at the forest." The admiral brought the phone's receiver to his mouth before screaming into it. "To the spirit attacking our people: You have sixty seconds to cease hostilities, or I'll turn your forest into a smoldering crater."
Adama slammed the phone back into its cradle. "Colonel Tigh, please prepare your launch key."
"A threat only works if it knows we can make good on it, you think that spirit knows what the hell it's dealing with?" Tigh asked part-way through retrieving his launch key from its secured lock box in CIC.
Adama's voice was cold and clinical. "For its sake, I hope it does."
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Laura struggled hard against the veiny roots, but it was no use. She could barely crane her head enough to see Aang still trying to reason with the creature, but it didn't seem interested in talking.
Aang shot himself up and back with a thrust of his arm, and screamed out to the creature again. "Stop, please! I know you're upset, we've just come to talk to you. I'm the Avatar, I've talked to forest spirits like you before!"
The spirit finally paused, staring Aang down as it snarled at him. Aang seemed to have finally caught the thing's attention. The roots ensnaring most of the group disentangled themselves before sinking back into the ground.
Roslin heard Adama's voice crackle through the wireless set lying on the ground, ordering a weapons hold. She breathed a deep sigh of relief.
"The Avatar doesn't keep as good of company as he used to." The spirit growled at Aang, his voice deep and raspy. Those six eyes narrowed at Laura and Helo. "Do you have any idea what these humans have done? The damage they've wrought?"
Aang's voice softened. "I do know, I stopped them when they set fire to your forest. What's your name?"
"My name is Shinrin, guardian of this forest. I've stood watch over it for thousands of years."
Aang shot his staff at Laura. "This woman has something she'd like to say to you."
Laura fought her nerves and forced herself to take a few steps towards the creature towering over her. It's head was tilted down a good thirty degrees just to make eye contact. "My- My name is Laura Roslin, President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. I speak for our people."
"Hmmm." Shinrin mused. "You may speak, human."
Any amount of grovelling would be worth it. "I want to apologize, deeply, for intruding in your forest. For attacking and setting fire to it. Where we're from, there are no forest spirits like you. We had no idea what you were, and we didn't understand that you were defending your home. We truly believed we were acting in self defense, but should have known better than to enter at all."
The spirit circled around Laura, examining her with great fascination. "Ooooh, you are an interesting human. You've been touched by one of us before, I can sense it. But if you've never heard of my kind before now - where oh where have you been?"
Roslin gulped. "Our people come from a place very far from here. If something took an interest in us, that's probably why."
"You must come from far away, your energy has such an odd smell. So many subtle aromas are missing, I'd guess there isn't the slightest trace of bending in your kind. How peculiar." Shinrin's six eyes blinked simultaneously. "And that woman you brought down to my forest, she was different, wrong. I sensed nothing from her, nothing! What is that strange thing pretending to be alive?"
"Woman?" Laura tried to remember all the details of their operation. There was a peculiar woman on the surface with them. "You mean Sharon, the Cylon. She's a machine designed to perfectly mimic human form."
"And she's not pretending!" Helo yelled, causing Laura to turn and nearly carve Helo's head off with her eyes alone.
"A… machine?" Shinrin said incredulously. "As in created by mortals? That isn't possible."
"The Cylons were a race of machines we created decades ago. They rebelled against us, learned to take human form, and destroyed our civilization after we'd agreed to an armistice."
"A race of beings created by you? You humans really aren't from this world."
"We have much to learn from each other." Laura said hopefully. Aang told them these things supposedly value harmony - maybe Shinrin would appreciate the gesture as much as she hoped he would.
Shinrin's tone dashed that hope. "So if I hadn't been here, human, what would you have done to this forest? Cut the whole thing down until there was nothing left? Destroyed its life, butchered the creatures who call it home into extinction?"
Okay, not the turn Roslin hoped this conversation would take. "We come from a set of worlds far from here. We lost everything - Our home, our families. We've travelled across the stars in search of a new home ever since our old one was destroyed. There was an explosion on one of our ships responsible for producing food, and we were desperate. That's why we came here in such a hurry, to gather the food we needed and nothing more."
"They don't have a lot of time." Aang tried communicating to the spirit. "If they don't find food soon, their people are going to starve. You're their only hope."
The creature crossed its hind legs to rest in front of Laura. "Humans are expressly forbidden in my forest. Would you like to know why? Your kind brings nothing but destruction and rot. Humans used to live here, but they nearly brought an end to this place. I banished them. Even today, this war your kind is waging has ravaged a hundred places like my forest, and so long as I protect it, I won't allow the same to happen here. The exclusion is absolute."
"These people are different!" Aang called outin Laura's defense. "They hurt my friend by accident, but they tried to help her right away. They did something wrong, but they're trying to make up for it! You can even help teach them how to live in harmony with the Spirit World."
"Are they good?" The creature asked Aang. "They tried to destroy my home the moment I stopped them from getting what they wanted, and even now they make empty threats to turn my forest into a wasteland."
Empty threat? Oh no, Laura thought. Adama's warning was the farthest thing in the universe from an empty threat. "I know you don't trust us, I wouldn't either, but please try to see it from our point of view." She pleaded. "Our people are desperate. Thousands of us - children included - will start dying soon. It'll be a slow, agonizing death. Slow enough to watch the people we love wither away in front us. When we found this forest, it represented one of our only hopes. Maybe we went too far, but wouldn't you if it meant saving the people you love?"
Shinrin continued staring Laura down, but its eyes softened. "You're right, it's sad to watch those around us die. I've watched a thousand generations of my children live, grow and perish in this forest. However, it's the cycle of life. You may have to accept what is happening to you as a natural part of that cycle."
Roslin's face twisted in repulsed amazement. "A part of that cycle?"
"All mortals are fated to die, Laura Roslin. You can't let that drive you to destroy whatever life you need to in order to preserve yourself a little longer. If I let you take from my forest, how many of my children will need to die so you can live? You may have to accept that this is your fate."
"No." Laura spat out in defiance. "You don't get to sit here in your precious forest, and tell me that watching the people around me die a slow and painful death is alright, because it's natural. That's horrible, that's repugnant. You call us mortals - Do you actually know what that kind of loss is like? Does your kind even die? Have you ever had to watch the people you love waste away?"
Shrinin shot itself back on all fours, bringing his head within an inch of Laura's. Helo and Aang flanked her, ready to intervene in a heartbeat for all the good it would do. "Do not lecture me about loss, human. I've seen more of it than you can begin to comprehend."
"I think you're wrong about that." Laura said calmly. She forced her more conciliatory tone to return. "We're not going to agree on everything, but I'm begging you, please, allow us to take only what we need, and you have my word we will never return."
Shinrin seemed to consider Roslin's request, giving a long, meditative pause. "I'm sorry, President of the Twelve Colonies. What you would need would require too great a sacrifice from my children. But, because this misguided attempt at an apology is more than I expect from your kind, I will allow you to stay long enough to collect your junk from my forest. However - should you will ever return, you will not be given the chance to leave again."
Laura didn't get a chance to form a rebuttal before the spirit evaporated into a fine mist. She yelled out for Shinrin to wait, only to be met with no reply. Her hands trembled just enough to be noticeable to the group around her. Aang looked speechless, his usual bubbly disposition completely absent.
"I'm sorry, I did everything I could." The Avatar said weakly.
Laura struggled just to give the young boy a smile. "I know Aang, I know you did your very best."
"What are you going to do now?" Katara asked softly. "We know a lot of people from the Northern Water Tribe, maybe we could talk to them for you?"
"The Earth Kingdom!" Sokka cried out. "We can go to Ba Sing Se together."
"We've been talking to the Earth Kingdom, they can't give us close to what we need." Helo muttered to the three distraught adolescents. "The Water Tribe is even smaller."
"There has to be something!" Aang cried out. Laura was touched to hear that, even after their rocky start, the boy seemed so genuinely concerned with the fleet's wellbeing.
"We should get back to Galactica." Helo suggested. "You guys need to come with us, I don't want any of you in the forest alone."
Laura was perfectly happy to bring the kids back up to Galactica, and within a few minutes they'd broken for orbit. Word of her failure had in all likelihood already been disseminated to Adama's inner circle. Their rag-tag fleet's options were growing short, and so was their time.
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The mood in Galactica's wardroom was cold and bleak. The five - Adama, Lee, Tigh, Helo and Roslin herself, were gathered around the long central table, banging their heads against the wall to come up with something, anything to resolve their worsening situation. One by one, the few ideas they had were shot down for this reason or that.
Tigh clasped a fist in front of his chest. "I say we go back to the forest and threaten to turn it into a radioactive crater unless that spirit lets us get the food we need to feed this fleet."
"So, extortion?" Commander Lee retorted with disgust, the former CAG seated on the table itself. His father sat beside him, chin thoughtfully pressed against his mouth. "The natives won't give us what we want, so we take it at gunpoint. That's a surefire way to prove Zarek right about us."
"That thing attacked us, it started this mess." Tigh barked back. "Besides, we're talking about one spirit, and fifty thousand of us."
"It won't work." Laura said with finality. "Shinrin, the spirit, is bitter. Vindictive. It can't see anything beyond its precious little forest. I think it would see its home burn before allowing us so-called mortals to take from it. The forest is out of the question, period."
"Have you made any more progress with the Earth Kingdom, Captain?" Adama asked hopefully.
Laura expected Helo's disappointed reponse. "I can get us enough food to last a week, maybe two. That's with current rations."
"After which we'll be back where we started." Roslin thought out loud. She paced from one side of the room to the other, wracking her brain for some last hope they might've missed.
"Madam President, we're about out of time." Adama noted flatly. "If we can't promise the civilians something, things are going to get worse. Some might even start breaking off from the fleet, try finding food on the planet themselves."
If the fleet had any hope at all of surviving long term, they needed to stick together. Their population barely qualified as a city-state as it was. Laura thought of her dream the other night, all the faces she once relied on who couldn't be there to consul her. "You know, I visited Billy's picture with Aang the other day, before we left for the forest. Lords I miss seeing that wide-eyed face every day. Even when things seemed hopeless, he tried to bring out the best in all of us."
Every head in the room agreed, they'd all known Billy. Laura felt a cramp developing in her chest while her breathing grew shallow. "We've lost a lot of people who gave their lives so we could make it this far. I can't let their deaths be for nothing, I won't."
Laura started playing with her thumbs, fighting to make her body produce the words she swore she'd never say. "I'm calling an emergency meeting of the Quorum. We're going through with the Fire Nation trade agreement."
"What?" Helo howled. "You can't! You're betraying the Earth Kingdom, you're betraying Aang! They've done nothing but try to help us!"
"Captain Agathon, I'm under no illusions about what the Fire Nation is capable of, but Admiral Adama is right. We're out of time."
Helo stood his ground. "If we go through with that agreement, the Fire Nation is going to tear the Earth Kingdom apart."
"You're out of line, Captain." Admiral Adama bellowed at his officer. "This isn't a decision the president is making lightly. The Fire Nation is going to win this war with or without our involvement, there's no point in letting our people die too."
"So if some other race watched the Colonies burn, then helped the Cylons hunt us down, that'd be okay too, right? After all, we'd already lost the war."
Laura put a hand on the table, leaning closer to Helo. "Captain, I've been more than tolerant of you until now, but what I need you to do for me is take your self-righteous lecturing and shove it out an airlock. You're military, you'll always have food. It's easy to talk about sticking to your principles when you are the last person in this fleet who will have to suffer for it."
Adama appeared to have enough of his officer. "Captain, go take a walk."
Helo shot daggers at Laura, then Adama. Lee looked like he wanted to say something, but restrained himself. He'd probably come to hate the deal just as much as she did, even if the Fire Nation had apparently put on a pretty good show for him. Helo broke eye contact after a tense few moments and slammed the bulkhead as he left.
Laura spent the next few hours of preparation in a half-conscious stupor. Asking Tory to help call a last-minute meeting, gather all the paperwork regarding the trade, getting Lee ready to head back down to the surface and finalize everything with Fire Lord Ozai - The moments blurred together.
Her drink had been sitting on its table long enough for it to reach room temperature before she finally remembered to take a sip. Adama was with her on Colonial One, providing emotional as well as political support in these last few minutes before the Quorum came to order. Soft whirring of the ship's engines and the distant shuffling of chairs were the only sounds keeping them company in her small, private cabin.
"Helo's right, you know." Laura said softly, finally breaking the silence. "We're turning a blind eye to genocide in order to surive. We can justify it however we like, it still feels wrong."
Adama nodded in solemn agreement. "It isn't the first hard decision we've made. It won't be the last."
"It's coming in waves. The Earth Kingdom won't want anything to do with us. The Water Tribe probably won't either. We'll have no allies, and the kids, Lords Bill, the kids - I was finally getting through to them. When they hear about this…"
William set a hand on Laura's arm. "There's a lot of people in this fleet who will get to see their kids grow up because of what you're doing. Try to remember that."
"We could intervene." Laura shot out. "I keep thinking about it, over and over. We could bomb every Fire Nation war factory, wreck their ships, scatter their armies. Stop this genocide in it's tracks right now."
Adama took in a long, deep breath. The admiral took his time chewing over Roslin's words, as opposed to dismissing it out of hand like she expected. "You're talking about involving ourselves in a war we know almost nothing about in a very significant, irreversible way."
"Oh believe me, I've run this through my head a hundred times." Roslin countered firmly. "What if it works? The Fire Nation retreats, the Earth Kingdom starts retaking its territory. If the Earth Kingdom starts executing Fire Nation prisoners en masse, do we intervene again? What if they decide they're out for blood, start raping and pillaging their way through the Fire Nation? Will our involvement end with both sides hating us?"
The president stood up, relieved to finally be vocalizing all the thoughts and implications stewing in her head. "That's not even half of it. This war has gone on for a hundred years, there could be entire generations of Fire Nation families living in what the Earth Kingdom still considers its territory. Are we making ourselves mediators? We know nothing about these people, how the hell is that going to work?"
"Beyond politics, every bomb, every guided missile, is a precious asset. We can't replace them easily, and each one we use against the Fire Nation is one less we'd have to defend ourselves if it came to that."
"I'm not pretending to have all the answers." Roslin agreed. "But what I know for sure is that the Fire Nation is committing atrocities right now. No matter what happens, no matter what the price is, we can do something to stop them right now. If someone would've had the power to stop the destruction of the Colonies, you know we'd have gotten on our knees and begged for their help."
Adama rubbed his temples as he processed the weight of Roslin's words. The whirr of Colonial One's engines felt softer. "I'm not saying that's the wrong call, but there's another factor to consider. What you're suggesting is a military campaign against a sovereign nation. Lee was right, that means putting it to a vote in the Quorum of Twelve. Which means you need public support for this to have any chance of happening."
"Ah, back to fleet politics." Laura said with a roll of her eyes. "I could do it though, I could put it to a vote today. Just walk out that door and do it."
"Laura, this fleet is full of a lot of broken people. Most of them are still mourning the loss of everything they've ever known. Right now this planet is their first ray of hope, that maybe they'll have a life to look forward to beyond these bulkheads. If you try asking them to jump into another war, on behalf of a people they barely know, they won't accept that. You call that vote, you can kiss this election goodbye."
"So what do you want me to do, Bill?" Laura asked as if he'd have an answer for her. "Walk out that door and smile my way through that Quorum meeting, knowing what the Fire Nation is going to do with our technology? Because it's the most politically expedient thing for me to do?"
"Do you think Baltar is going to be better for these people? Eleven more days - Eleven more days, then you can follow your conscience. Besides the election, if the Fire Nation gets even the slightest hint we've had this conversation, the deal is off. We need to table this."
Laura sat in silence for another minute, thinking of that number on the whiteboard in her makeshift office. Subtract two more people who'd succumbed to their injuries from the Botanical ship's explosion. Two more for the deaths in the forest, and one for the man who'd been trampled to death earlier today. Forty-nine thousand four hundred ninety-eight. How far was she really willing to go to keep that number from going down even further?
"It's just been so hard, Bill. I've turned my back on so much of who I am to ensure the human race survives. Do you have any idea how much it hurt to sign that executive order banning abortion a few weeks ago? I started my political career fighting for a woman's right to choose, it's how I got noticed by the local Federalist party committee. When I signed that order, it felt like I was cutting out a piece of my soul. Now we know this fleet could poof out of existence tomorrow, and the human race would carry on just fine without us."
"We're ensuring the survival of Colonial civilization." Adama reminded her. "And besides that, the survival of all the people in this fleet. Finding the people on this planet didn't make that goal any less important."
Laura had to force the water starting to gather in her eyes to stop. If she let the first tear fall, they'd never stop. She had to stay composed if she was going to walk out that door and tell a room full of people to vote for this abomination of a deal. So many what-ifs were running through her head. What if the Botanical Cruiser incident had never happened? What if Shinrin hadn't so callously shrugged them off?
"I want you to start running low-altitude Raptor flights over Earth Kingdom territory, near their front lines. Tell your pilots we're running more survey missions or something. I want to know exactly what this war looks like by the time I'm inaugurated. And one last thing, Aang keeps talking about some comet, Sozin's Comet I think. Have astrometrics start looking for stellar objects matching its description."
Adama promised to use discretion while following the order. Laura wished there was more she could do right this second. It'd been so much easier to tell herself she would pay whatever price she needed to ensure the survival of her race when it was only their lives on the line.
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The long passenger cabin usually filling the role of President Roslin's office was nearly unrecognizable. Gone was her desk and furniture, a single long wooden table taking their place. Six formally dressed men and women sat on either side, binders and notebooks crowding every inch of surface. Gold colored plates, meticulously placed in front of each representative's meager allotment of table space, proudly bore the name of the world to elect them. One for Caprica, Leonis, Gemenon - Twelve in all.
The President herself stood at the front of the long, thin desk. Their setup certainly wasn't the grand chambers that once played host to Quorum sessions in Caprica City, but it did the job. Laura banged her gavel on its wooden sound block, and called their session to order.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice, I'll cut right to the point. You've all received a copy of the finalized trade agreement with the Fire Nation. In exchange for access to some of our technology and expertise, they're willing to trade enough food to keep this fleet fed until we can grow enough again ourselves. I would also remind you, this is the only realistic option to secure supplies for this fleet. I'm sure we've all had time to look over the details so in the interest of time, I'd like to motion for this trade agreement to a formal vote."
An older, dark-skinned woman towards the back of the room raised a hand. Laura knew the Gemenese woman too well. "My people believe that, not only did the Lords of Kobol shepherd us to this world for our own salvation, but to help these people find salvation themselves. We were clearly brought here to teach them the words of the Gods. This trade agreement not only serves to save us, but to build a relationship to further this goal. Gemenon seconds the motion."
Laura intentionally ignored the Gemenese woman's statement. Religious freedom was another can of worms she hadn't considered. Were missionaries from a future settlement going to be finding their way across the planet - potentially forcing their beliefs on the natives? Or would they choose to restrict their people's right to travel and preach, something Roslin wasn't even sure she could legally do. That was a debate for another day.
Tom Zarek of Sagittaron raised a hand to speak. Laura gave him the floor. "Before we go through with this train wreck, I think we really need to stop and think hard about what we're doing. I am the only person at this table to have actually visited an Earth Kingdom city. I've seen their dead and dying, I've seen starving children carried in the arms of refugee mothers. This Fire Nation we're so eagerly throwing our arms around was responsible for all of it."
Zarek pointed a harsh finger at Laura. "President Roslin is so intent on taking the easy way out, she's happy to brush their wickedness under the rug. By signing this agreement, she is making each and every one of us an accessory to a crime we will never be forgiven for. So I ask all of you, as survivors of our people's own genocide, to vote this deal down. I yield the floor."
She didn't know what was worse. Knowing Zarek and her were on the same page, or knowing they were on the same page but Laura was forced to keep herself in the wrong. "Thank you, Representative Zarek. If there are no other comments, the motion moves to a vote." A few seconds of silence. "All in support?"
Eleven hands shot up around the room. "All opposed?" Zarek raised a firm, defiant arm. "The ayes have it, the fleet will commence trading with the Fire Nation immediately. I understand the first shipments of food should be arriving within two days. This meeting is now adjourned."
The twelve representatives began grabbing their belongings and shuffling out of the cabin, some of their faces noticeably relieved. Zarek shot a death glare at her, but avoided conversation. Laura wanted more than anything to pull Zarek into the next room and tell her she absolutely agreed with him, and what's more, she'd be calling for direct action to be taken should she win the election. However, she knew any information Zarek had could be turned into a weapon against her, and she couldn't be sure how much of the former terrorist's speech was genuine concern for the planet's inhabitants, and how much was a calculated political stunt. If he hadn't been genuine, he'd tell Baltar, and the two of them would scream her intent to intervene in this war to the masses. She'd lose the election, and maybe even the food. She had to bite her tongue just a little longer.
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The guest quarters Aang and his friends had been provided on Galactica was hardly enough room for one person, let alone three. The accommodations were crude and rudimentary, and Aang resigned himself to sleeping with a set of thin sheets on a hard metal floor while Katara took the lone bed. The three were also given a small device Helo had called a tablet computer, another seemingly magical machine they'd been taught to operate. Its glowing screen showed astonishing images: glimmering cities of glass and sprawling ocean vistas, some still and others entire stories worth of moving images. Helo had told them they were a collection of pictures and 'video' of the Twelve Colonies, before the attack.
The last image loaded into their computer was a black and white photo of a man on his knees, looking out at a massive plume of dark smoke rising into the air as the buildings around him burned. The caption described the photo as being taken in the capital city of Aerilon on the day of the holocaust. It reminded Aang of seeing the crumbled air temples.
Katara stood up to answer a knock at the door while Aang and Sokka continued spitting ideas to help save the fleet back and forth. It was Laura who greeted them, wearing a faint smile and asking to come and sit with them.
Laura sat on the edge of their small bed. "I hope you like this better than sickbay, I'm sorry it isn't much."
"Still better than Appa's saddle." Sokka's joke earned a playful jab from Aang.
"So," Laura rubbed her fingers together as she started, something was definitely on her mind. "I wanted to tell you myself, we've found a supply of food for the fleet."
"That's amazing!" Aang cried out happily. "We've been thinking about it since we got back, how did you do it?"
Laura seemed far less enthusiastic about her lucky break than Aang would've guessed. Something big was bothering her. "Well, we considered a lot of options, but there was only one way we could get the food before we starved. Before I tell you, please, let me say everything I have to say."
Aang's ear-to-ear smile faded. "Yeah, of course."
"We're trading with the Fire Nation." Laura's voice was calm and level, but Aang could tell it hurt her to say the words. "I know how you must feel about that, and I want you to know it hurts me more than you can possibly imagine. This was the last choice I ever wanted to make."
The room went eerily silent. Laura looked like she was worried Aang was going to blow up at her, but all he could do was stand up and turn away from her. Sokka's fists clenched in anger, while Katara stared longingly at Laura, hoping the president would say anything to numb the feeling of betrayal.
"What are you giving them?" Aang asked simply.
"Some of our technology, some of our knowledge."
Sokka pushed harder. "Weapons?"
"No, absolutely not." Laura shot out.
"But things they'll learn to use as weapons." Katara said pointedly.
Laura stayed quiet. If anything, she seemed to pull away just a little bit when Aang turned to look at her. She seemed genuinely hurt, and Aang believed Roslin when she said this was the very last thing she wanted to do. That didn't do much to make him feel better.
"Aang, I want to help you, and I mean it. I wanted you to be the very first person after Admiral Adama to know something: The moment I'm re-elected ten days from now, I'm going to ask the Quorum to intervene in your war. We're going to put a stop to what the Fire Nation is doing."
"Ten days?" Sokka shot up and yelled. "There are people dying right now!"
"Even more will die, now that you're teaching the Fire Nation how to kill even faster." Katara added pointedly.
"I wish I could help right now, believe me I want to. It's just not that simple - I can't simply order the military to defend your people from the Fire Nation. The Quorum has to grant me certain powers, and that... " Laura stopped herself when she saw Aang's eyes narrow. "It's complicated, but the short version is, if I try to push for us to intervene right now, I'll probably lose the election, and my opponent doesn't care about helping your people at all."
"So you're waiting just because you'll lose?" Katara growled out. Her temper tended to be the worst of the three, Aang was actually a touch worried about what she might do.
It took all the strength Aang had, but he stepped in to defend Laura. "No Katara, she does want to help." He walked up to Roslin, standing just above eye level with her. "I know you're doing what you need to do, but that doesn't make it anymore right. You're putting yourselves over all of us."
Roslin's head gave the slightest, barely perceptible nod.
"I need to find an Earthbending teacher." Aang's topic change looked to have caught Roslin off guard. "We should leave. We've wasted a lot of time trying to help you."
"Ten days." Laura said again. "You have my word, I'll make this up to you. I'm having Helo come and teach you how to use a wireless set. I know how hard it must be to trust us right now, but having someone give the Quorum a first-hand account of what the Fire nation is capable of would go a long way towards convincing them to help."
Aang agreed they'd take the wireless set, and Laura promised to have someone take them back to the Earth Kingdom promptly. There was considerably more fury thrown around their room between the three friends after Laura left. Over and over, Aang kept returning to what he thought back in sickbay when he first met President Roslin: The Colonials should never have come to their world.
All he could do now was hope Laura would keep her word to help stop the Fire Nation, and that the Colonials wouldn't find a way to screw that up, too.
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Ten days later
Kara Thrace slipped a pair of fingers into her mouth, and whistled for silence in the crowded pilot's briefing room. Morale had shot through the roof over the last week and a half. Having three full meals a day tended to help, and the potential for time planetside gave her rowdy pilots plenty to talk about. She set her notes down on the raised lectern at the room's fore, and began the day's briefing.
"Good morning. Today will be the final supply run into Fire Nation territory, meaning it will be the last chance any of you will get to stretch your legs on real ground for some time. Up on the board you will find this run's ten lucky numbers. Those of you holding the winning tickets, please check in with Colonel Tigh and get yourself to one of the supply ships before 1100 hours. Hotdog, you're taking point in today's CAP. And as a final reminder, if you have not cast your ballot yet, make sure to do so before you get in your bird, because this election will officially be over and done with by the time you get back. Thank the Gods."
Every soul in the fleet had been clamoring for a chance to visit the planet's surface since they'd arrived. Adama decided to use the supply runs as an opportunity to boost morale and give some people their wish. They'd set up a lottery for pilots and other personnel to ride along on the supply ships, letting them experience a real sky for the first time in a year.
Kat let out an ecstatic yelp when she saw her number pop up on the board a few minutes ago. Hotdog had hoped a winning ticket would give him an excuse to get out of today's Combat Air Patrol, but luck wasn't on his side. Helo seemed entirely unmoved, but the look of surprise in his eyes when she'd started the projector gave his status away.
Kara spent a few more minutes going over her notes before dismissing the pilots, some of them exchanging hugs and looks of excitement. She was happy for them, they all deserved a little time off. She'd never say that outloud, though.
Helo walked up to her as she was gathering her things, his face noticeably less animated than his fellow pilots and ECO's. "Looks like I'm going down."
"There's a thousand people on this ship who would be happy to take that ticket off your hands." Starbuck suggested.
"No, I need to go. I can't stay here and hide in the fleet."
Starbuck gave her a friend a weak smile. "Aang, Katara, Sokka… they were good kids. A bit naive, but they were good. I'm sure they understood why we're doing what we're doing."
"No, I don't think so." Helo said with resignation. "I honestly think we've just blown our best chance at making a good name for ourselves on this planet."
"Let's be glad the hardest part is behind us. No more scrambling to get our crap together."
Helo shook his head silently, he didn't seem eager to keep the conversation going. "I have a raptor to get to."
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"Hang on, we're getting another set of numbers coming in right now. One moment… Okay, that's five thousand eight hundred forty-seven votes for Laura Roslin, three thousand one hundred twenty-three votes for Gaius Baltar. Roslin of course has enjoyed a rather significant boost in the polls after securing a new supply of food for the fleet, after a fairly close race in the weeks prior to the Botanical Cruiser incident. At this point Vice President Baltar has almost been mathematically eliminated from the race, we're going to double check the results but I'm not seeing how this ends with anything other than-"
Zarek watched Baltar flick off the Wireless, his running mate didn't need to hear anymore. "It's over." Baltar begrudgingly admitted. Zarek knew the doctor wasn't used to admitting defeat, that the man was used to getting what he wanted.
"No." Tom rebutted, fingers intertwined in front of him on the desk in Baltar's lab. "Roslin has crossed a line, this is nowhere near over."
"Zarek, it's done. Laura's won the election, it's time to start moving on."
Tom stood up and raised his voice. "Frak the election! This is bigger than us now, bigger than this fleet. Roslin is dooming us to repeat history on that planet, and we cannot let that happen."
"I want to be alone right now." Baltar said in an attempt to dismiss his now former running mate. "I assume you can find your way back to the Astral Queen?"
Tom glared Baltar down. The man was a useful ally for a time, but his demeanor was intolerable. "Yeah, I can find my way."
Baltar didn't understand. Laura didn't understand. None of them did, nobody but the very few people in Zarek's trusted inner circle could be relied on to do what really needed to be done. The Earth Kingdom was looking at generations of slavery and servitude for those lucky few who survived whatever the Fire Nation were going to do to them, and there was no way he'd sit idle while it happened.
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Every last person on the Monarch not piloting the mining ship itself was fighting for room around a single, tiny window. President Roslin would be sworn in to her first real term any minute now, but nobody in the convoy could be bothered to care. The Monarch was an ugly ship, inside and out. Its interior was grimy, but at least the last traces of tylium dust from the fleet's last mining operation got on everything. Monarch's long, spindly hull was essentially a long metal shaft with three saucers spaced every few segments. What the ship lacked in comfort, it made up for in sheer ability to store crap. Normally the ship helped gather precious tylium for fuel, or metal ore to turn into Vipers and spare parts. Today, those spacious compartments were being used to gather food by the metric ton.
Some gasped, others whistled in amazement as cloud cover gave way to great pastures and farmland. One passenger said the review reminded them of Aerilon's vast tracts of crop. Aerilon had been known as the Breadbasket of the Twelve Colonies, this place must've almost felt like home to her. Small villages were spaced across the roads and fields.
Every supply run had been conducted in roughly the same part of the planet's largest continent. The western half of the landmass was almost entirely under Fire Nation control, though from what Sokka had told them, all of this had been Earth Kingdom territory a few short years ago. They'd touched down shortly after sunset, giving them a special, red-yellow tinged view of the horizon as the last vestiges of night were wiped away.
The six-ship convoy couldn't have disembarked quickly enough. People rushed out to finally smell fresh air and run through real grass. Helo felt somebody tap his shoulder - Kat, Starbuck's least favorite pilot, was beaming at him.
"This is it, this is home." She said. "A chance for a fresh start."
"Yeah, hell of a fresh start we've had." Helo murmured halfheartedly.
Chief Tyrol's voice bellowed at the rapidly growing crowd, megaphone in hand. "Alright, you have fifteen minutes of R&R! Fire Nation will be here any minute now, and I want these ships loaded pronto!"
Helo didn't have a chance to start his fifteen minutes before the Chief flagged him down. "Where the hell is our greeting party?"
"Maybe they got caught in traffic." Kat sniped.
"No, they're very punctual. I'm going to double-check our LZ with Monarch's captain. Fire Nation maps aren't worth shit, we could've undershot our meeting place."
Kat commanded her friend's attention "Hey, guys? Are they the Fire Nation?" She pointed towards a set of rolling hills off in the distance. People were definitely coming straight for them - lots of people.
Helo squinted at the growing flock running at them. They definitely weren't organized, he could tell even from this distance. "No, I don't think so. Chief, start getting people back onto the ships. Kat, get the marines."
"Yes sir." Tyrol started yelling into the megaphone at the same time Helo and Kat pulled out their sidearms. Hopefully, they wouldn't be needed.
Hundreds upon hundreds of people coalesced around their convoy. They definitely weren't Fire Nation, wrong clothes and wrong disposition. Most of them actually looked pretty ragged, some with tattered outfits and others covered with dirt and muck.
Helo fired his pistol into the ground. Most of the crowd got the message, stopping in their tracks to the point of tripping over themselves. A second shot made sure everyone else understood.
"No closer!" Helo yelled out with as much intimidation as he could muster. The few guards they'd brought along formed a defensive line around him. Though if these people decided to rush them down, Helo doubted the Colonials stood much chance. "Who are you!"
A man collapsed onto his knees, crawling a few steps closer to the Colonials. "The Fire Nation took everything! Every scrap of food in our village! They take it to your ships, we're begging you to stop!"
Helo's pistol lowered just an inch. The officer could feel his heart nearly jump out of his chest. "You're… Earth Kingdom, aren't you?"
"We were, before the Fire Nation marched through our land." The man yelled out. His eyes were as desperate as the rest of the crowd. They really needed to get back to the ships. "They demanded every bit of this year's harvest, there's nothing left."
"My family is going to starve!" A woman yelled out. "Please, I have nothing left!" An old man cried out through tears.
"Oh… oh no." Helo's military discipline began to fail him. He stomped hard into the ground beneath him. "They stole the food."
"Oh my Gods." Kat muttered, her hand clasped against her mouth while she scanned the crowd. "This is because of us?"
Helo felt himself on the verge of totally losing control, the veins in his forehead were almost ready to burst. All he could do was scream at the top of his lungs into an open sky. "The Fire Nation stole the frakking food!"
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"-That I take the Office of the President without any moral reservation or mental evasion." Roslin repeated back to the tall priest, her right hand proudly raised and her left placed on a copy of the Scriptures. A crowd of reporters held out their microphones and records as their president took the oath of office for a second time. Her first inauguration had been in the middle of the Cylon attack, before the full magnitude of their destruction was apparent. President Roslin was much more self assured this time, easily reciting the oath back to the priest. He read again from his outstretched scroll.
She repeated the lines. "And that I will protect and defend the sovereignty of the Colonies with every fiber of my being."
Colonial One's crowded passenger cabin broke into applause. She dearly missed Elosha, the first priest to have sworn her in all those months ago. Maybe that was why she'd appeared in her dreams the other night. Laura wished she'd had the opportunity to ask Aang and his friends more about the swamp, but circumstances had stopped her from getting the chance for the foreseeable future. Still, the thought of Aang kept running through her mind as she took the podium to give her inauguration speech. She wished he and his friends could be here.
She had no paper copy of her speech, Laura always tore her notes up before stepping on stage. It was a trick President Adar taught her long ago. Memorize your notes, then tear them up. It was the least she could do to honor his memory.
President Roslin took hold of either side of the podium. "Citizens of the Colonies, people of the fleet. Three weeks ago, we were on the brink of despair. An aura of desperation had a grip on each and every one of us, and it felt like we were doomed to die a slow, cold death in the emptiness of space as our ships fell apart and our supplies ran out."
Every soul in the fleet would be listening to her. Warm them up with the stuff they'd like first, jeopardize her political future second.
"Finding this planet was nothing short of a miracle. We're orbiting a paradise host to as much beauty as all Twelve Colonies put together, and if that weren't enough, the nebula surrounding this star system would appear to shield us from Cylon detection. We're faced with a question that will define the very future of this civilization: Do we settle here? Make this world our permanent home? That is not a decision to be made lightly, and as the first act of my new term, I will immediately sign an executive order mandating the creation of a special committee - Made up of Ship Captain's, the Quorum, the military, and members of the public - to explore what settlement would look like in great detail."
Now came the hard sell.
"However, we must also recognize the fact we wouldn't share this world's beauty alone. All of us know the first words of the Ancient Scrolls: Life here, began out there. Indeed, a tribe of humans already calls this planet home - a wondrous tribe with abilities our science can't yet explain. The humans and spirits inhabiting this world may be strange and alien to us, but we have so much to learn from each other. That learning must begin with mutual understanding and common ground, and while I've found we do share common ground, it's filled with tragedy and heartbreak.
The Fire nation - The very people we turned to in our moment of desperation - is waging a brutal campaign of extermination against the other cultures of this planet. They've utterly exterminated the Air Nomads, and are within inches of inflicting the same horrors on the Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom. All of us know what it feels like to be hunted, to see our families and loved ones perish in hellfire. Now, we have a chance to prevent the same crime we've endured.
If we are to call this world our new home, we must prove ourselves worthy of that privilege. We must put a stop to the Fire Nation's campaign of genocide. To that end, I will ask the Quorum to issue a formal denunciation of the Fire Nation's atrocities, and to authorize the unrestricted use of military force to halt their advance by any means necessary.
This is not a decision I've made lightly, and I'd be lying if I said this will be a quick or easy endeavor. I've agonized over this decision with my advisors, but at the end of the day, if we are to prove Colonial civilization is worth saving in the first place, there can be only one course of action. So I ask you for your support, and your will. Let us forge a new future on this planet the right way. So Say We all."
On the Precipice
A shorter chapter than most, but it's been a bit since the last update so I wanted to get something out. Hope you're all doing alright!
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Starbuck picked up her hundredth black pin, setting it on the grand map sprawled out on the table in front of them. The situation room had been transformed into a makeshift war room, complete with a sizable political map of the entire planet displayed where star charts and battle plans usually rested. She set the pin on a coastal city on the Fire Nation's home continent, and pulled up a satellite image of the metropolis from her pile. Lee stood with his arms crossed expectantly across the table.
"Hokage, a major manufacturing hub of the Fire Nation. These factories here build tanks and armor for their infantry, the magistrate I talked to awhile back gushed about them. We bomb those and these ports here, the Fire Nation armies on the front lines can kiss their reinforcements goodbye for a few months."
Lee took the map from Kara, examining it with cynicism. "That's a good start. I'm a bit worried about hitting those ports, they probably export a lot of food from those nearby farming towns along with everything else. The President wants to minimize civilian casualties as much as possible."
Kara grabbed the picture back from Lee's hands. "I don't know what you want from me, the president isn't getting a bloodless war, and she should have known that before she decided to try getting us involved in this mess."
"She was very clear." The Commander repeated. "No targeting population centers, no mass destruction of infrastructure, and absolutely no nuclear option."
"Then we should've gotten here fifty years ago." Kara threw in her superior's face. "The Earth Kingdom isn't just losing at this point, they're being massacred. The Fire Nation has every advantage. Better equipment, more manpower, more mobility. The Earth Kingdom needs something decisive if they're going to turn the tide. Chipping at supply lines isn't going to cut it, we need to destroy them completely."
"What about targeting specific convoys headed for the front lines?" Lee offered.
"The Fire Nation has thousands of ships, Lee. You got thousands of bombs hiding somewhere on Pegasus? Unless you have an entire fleet of Battlestars I don't know about, we don't have enough ordinance to wage that kind of war."
"We could use our Raptors to move Earth Benders from the front lines to military targets, let them do most of the work." Lee thought out loud while he examined the board. "If the Earth Kingdom decides they want anything to do with us again."
"When you starve tens of thousands of a nation's civilians, they tend to trust you less."
"Yeah, it does." He said softly. "And if we ever want to make up for that, putting an end to this war is the only way."
"Whatever we come up with won't mean anything until the Quorum gets off their ass and authorizes war time powers."
"One step at a time." Lee noted. "We're not going to just jump in guns blazing, we're going to do this the right way."
"You want to end this war tomorrow?" Kara asked rhetorically. She pushed a finger onto the pin representing the Fire Nation's capital. "One guided missile package aimed at the Fire Lord's palace. The entire Royal family lives there, right? These people still think big walls are the best form of defense. All their high-level officials are gathered in one convenient spot. Cut their government's head off in one sortie, while launching follow-up strikes on major factories and shipyards."
Lee pursed his lips, appearing to give great consideration to Kara's latest suggestion. "If we want to end this war, we still need a government to negotiate with. The Fire Nation is also brainwashed to worship Ozai as practically a demi-god. If we kill him, for all we know we make him a martyr who only strengthens their resolve."
"Or we make Ozai look like any other man, and show the Fire Nation how easily we could wipe any of them out." Kara paced across the table, running her finger across the series of tan-red lines that told the story of the Earth Kingdom's increasingly worsening condition. "Lee, the only right way there is to stop the Fire Nation is going to have a higher body count than I think you or the president realizes. You need to get that into your head if we're ever going to stop this genocide in time."
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"I was pretty intimidated when you asked me to search the entire solar system for a single comet." Felix Gaeta reported to Adama and Tigh. The trio gathered around a chart of the inner solar system prepared by the officer, highlighting the planet and the curious object he'd been tasked to identify. "But it was actually pretty easy for astrometrics to pin down. Hundred year long orbit, pretty close to the planet, that narrows it down a lot. I think this is your comet right here." The officer indicated proudly.
"What can you tell me about this comet?" Adama inquired. He picked up the blurry, blackened image with a single barely perceptible white dot circled near the center. Aang would probably have been disappointed with how uninspiring his fearsome comet looked.
"Uh, not much. It's a bit bigger than a normal comet, but aside from that it's just another ball of ice and dust. It does pass unusually close to the planet, close enough that I think it might even hit the upper atmosphere. So it's a bit odd the comet's orbit has been stable for so long." The officer hesitated for a moment before deciding to press on. "If I may ask sir, what's so important about this comet?"
"The comet supposedly magnifies the power of fire benders on the planet, which would let them bring a swift end to their war." Adama informed Gaeta flatly.
"Oh." Gaeta replied doubtfully. "Okay, as long as we're on the same page."
"This ball of ice and dust had that kid pretty rustled up." Tigh proclaimed. "We're really taking him at his word? He's a kid."
"The last time we questioned the native's beliefs, two of our people died. I'm not leaving anything else to chance. I want samples of that comet's surface, and the exact date we can expect it to reach the planet."
Tigh traced over the stellar object with his finger. "The President wants to know what it would take to destroy the comet."
"Destroy it?" Gaeta repeated, tapping the central command console for a few moments. "The comet is a three mile long chunk of solid rock, destroying it is a tall order. If you just wanted to knock it off course so it doesn't approach the planet, that's a lot easier."
"How much easier?" Adama pressed.
"If we had more time we could just park Pegasus nearby and let gravity do the work, but the comet is too close to its flyby. We could detonate a nuke a few dozen meters away, the warhead's heat would vaporize half its surface and push it off course, but a radiological signature like that outside of an atmosphere could be detected by any Cylon ships within a few lightyears. We might be able to use Pegasus's forward guns on the comet, their inertia might be enough to knock it off course. Mining charges attached to the surface might even do the trick. I'd need to run some numbers."
"Run them quickly." Adama ordered. "President Roslin considers diverting this comet a top priority." A phone sounded off on CIC's command console, removing Adama's attention from the conversation. He grabbed it off its cradle in an instant. "Adama." A moment of silence. "I'll be right down."
The admiral returned the phone and handed CIC off to Tigh before hastily making his way out of CIC, much to Saul's annoyance.
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"Action stations, Action stations, set condition one throughout the ship, this is not a drill."
Klaxons ringed through Laura's ears as she walked aimlessly through Galactica's empty corridors. A mixture of panic and confusion ran through her head. Where was the crew? She couldn't even remember boarding Galactica, the last thing she remembered was-
This wasn't real. She was in another damned dream, she would swear it. The newly inaugurated president took a breath, reminding herself she was in control here. The most sensible thing to do felt like simply walking in the general direction of CIC, but the ship appeared twisted and incorrect. Corridors were out of place, even the wrong size.
She wanted to find that thing this time. Laura was intent on demanding answers from the beast stalking her subconscious. Finally, her corridor ended at a door marked Combat Information Center. She thrust the door open to find a stoic Adama overseeing a hectic buzz of activity.
Even Gaeta was reproduced to perfection, seated at his regular station. "Three more contacts just jumped in, base ships bearing one-one-seven carom nine-three, distance two hundred."
"Bastards are nearly right on top of us!" Tigh yelled out.
"How the hell did the Cylons find us?" Adama barked, turning to Laura. "Madam President, we can't hold off six baseships. We need to leave, now."
Laura looked up at the Dradis, displaying a crystal clear image of the Cylon armada making its way towards the fleet. It was easy to forget this was a dream. "The Cylons are here?"
"Base ships are launching raiders!" Gaeta shot out. "Four squadrons are heading for us, the rest are breaking for the planet. Radiologic alert, they've got nukes!"
"Order the CAP to land, tell the fleet to spin up their drives." Adama turned away from Laura.
Roslin watched the small red pips representing Cylon raiders streak closer to the planet than should be possible, before dozens of white pips sprung from them on the display. Enough nuclear warheads to level every major city on the surface.
Gaeta yelled through the chaos. "Flight pods retracted, Jumping in five, four…"
Roslin felt a chill come over her shoulder. She turned to see that thing looking over her, antlers nearly hitting the CIC displays behind it. The creature looked up at the DRADIS display, eyes squinted, before shoving its head in Laura's face. "This is what you fear?" It asked.
The president didn't get a chance to respond before her world melted away. All of the sudden she was fighting to catch her breath while the sound of medical equipment whirred around her. An arm held her down when she tried shooting up. It took a moment to regain enough of her senses to recognize Doctor Cottle's wrinkled face urging her to settle down.
"You win, I believe you. Whatever in the name of the Gods you just went through, it played holy hell with your brain. Deep breaths now."
It took a lot of courage coming forward to Adama about her dreams, she was worried he'd dismiss them as hallucinations or her nerves. However, even an atheist like William Adama was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt after several face-to-face encounters with the supernatural. He was beside her too - Adama was the one who convinced a skeptical Cottle to hook her up to these machines and keep an eye on her while she slept.
"Is she going to be alright?" The admiral asked with genuine concern.
"I think so, her readings are returning to normal." Cottle said as he scanned through his display. "None of her brain activity made any sense, everything up there was going haywire. These readings shouldn't be possible, end of line."
"It happened again, I saw the spirit. I was in CIC, the Cylons had found us and it was there with me."
"You're safe now, it's okay." Adama offered with a firm hand on her shoulder. "Doc, can we stop this from happening again?"
Cottle let out a long, dejected sigh. "How the hell should I know? Bending, healing magic, spirits? This planet doesn't play by the rules of nature as we know them, so I don't even know where to begin developing a countermeasure to whatever new form of bullshit this is."
"If that creature can get inside my head, there's no telling what else it might be able to do." Laura worried. Best to get all her concerns out at once. "Frak the dreams, I can deal with those, but if it's really learning about us through my dreams it's a security risk."
"I'd considered that, too." Adama was always a step ahead of her when it came to fleet security. "I'll keep military information need-to-know for now, I'd also consider delegating some of your more sensitive work to your staff."
Laura pulled Adama's arm, urging him closer. "Bill, these spirits are dangerous. What Aang said about living in harmony with the Spirit World, to hell with it. They don't give a damn about us, they've made that very clear. If we're going to stay here, we need some sort of defense against them."
"I have people working on it." Adama replied firmly. "Whether or not they'll succeed, I don't know."
"It wasn't enough for them to murder our people." Roslin scowled through clenched fists. "They made us accomplices to the murder of tens of thousands. I can't…" Adama stopped her.
"We did what we had to do. It's been almost two days since word got out to the fleet about what the Fire Nation did. The press is banging on every bulkhead on this ship, you need to say something soon."
"What can I say?" Laura pleaded. "What could anybody say to make the pain of what we've done hurt even a little less? If I go out there, my head is going to be on a stake. I've been wrangling with Quorum members for two days now, I'm this close to a majority on authorizing war powers against the Fire Nation. When Aang responds to us and agrees to talk to the Quorum, I'm absolutely sure we'll get there. That's the only way we're ever going to make this right."
William shook his head. "Whatever you do, you need to do it soon. You can't just keep waiting on Aang, for all we know they banged their wireless set on a rock and we'll never hear from them again. Right now, I need you to help me keep this fleet together."
"I know I can't wait forever." Laura admitted. "It's just, I was banking so hard on somebody being able to provide a first-hand account of what the Fire Nation is capable of. I know I've got Caprica, Virgon, I think I have Picon on board, but almost everybody else is up in the air. I never would have guessed I'd have Zarek as a close ally, I have him to thank for Virgon's support."
"You have a way of convincing people." Adama reminded her with a sly smile. "I think you'll find a way to get over the finish line."
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Roslin banged her gavel on the grand table once again stretched across Colonial One, bringing order to the room of twelve representatives. The chorus of demands and anger finally halted, giving her the chance to properly address the fleet for the first time since the Earth Kingdom incident went public.
She'd give anything to have Aang and his friends there with him. Katara's story of having her mother snatched from her, Aang waking from his hundred-year slumber to find his entire civilization gone, those were stories the fleet could identify with.
But it'd been almost two weeks since they said their goodbyes on Galactica, and not a single word from their wireless. She had to face reality and admit that they were either unable or unwilling to communicate with them again.
"I know we've all had our differences. There are people at this table who I've fought with vehemently over these past ten months." She glanced at Zarek, who nodded softly at her. Gods help her if that man was her strongest ally right now. She set a hand down on the table and leaned in. "But tens of thousands of Earth Kingdom men, women, and children just had their livelihoods destroyed. Tens of thousands of Earth Kingdom citizens - who had nothing to do with us - have been condemned to a slow, painful death so that we could live." She could feel her hand shaking despite her attempts to steady it. "That is a calculus that nobody, nobody at this table, or in this fleet, can justify. We can't give those people their lives back. That's a stain on our souls we're going to have to live with forever, but we can still stop more death from happening. I am imploring, begging you to authorize the use of war time powers against the Fire Nation. If we don't do this, we will never be able to find forgiveness in the eyes of the Lords of Kobol."
Tom Zarek stood to speak, his conciliatory tone taking most of the room off guard. "Everybody here knows me and Laura have had disagreements. This time though, this time she's right - we have to do this. Take it from a people who have one boot or another on them for centuries, we can't let that happen to the Earth Kingdom when it's in our power to stop it. Sagittaron votes to authorize wartime powers without hesitation."
"Madam President," Began the older Gemenese woman Laura knew so well. "We've all been horrified to learn where the Fire Nation procured our food from. None of us would try to justify it. However, I'm worried we're letting our emotions send us into a conflict we won't be able to get out of."
"Canceron has the same concerns." a balding man seated near the table's front piped up. "Madam President, what exactly does war with the Fire Nation mean? What's the win condition?"
"The win condition is halting the complete and total genocide of two entire peoples, I thought that was made fairly clear." Roslin replied coldly.
"How long do we think that will take?" The man continued. "A month, two? Five? A year?"
"Admiral Adama is drawing up war plans right now, trust me when I say we're not just going in blindly."
"So you don't even know how long we'll be at war?" The woman from Libran shot out. "You're asking us to commit to a war without anything resembling an exit strategy."
"Beyond time, what about resources?" The Gemenese representative asked pointedly. "How many bombs? How much fuel? Correct me if I'm wrong, but we don't have another source of tylium anywhere in the system. We have no way of replenishing any aviation fuel we use fighting their war."
"To hell with that." A dark skinned man yelled from the back of the room. Caprica's newest representative was a breath of fresh ear. A Much better person to have in the room than former Vice President Baltar. "We're talking about stopping an empire hell-bent on world domination. Today it'll be the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe, tomorrow it'll be us. We need to stop this war here and now. Caprica stands firmly with President Roslin."
One after the other, every Colony chimed in. Some more than a few times. Roslin hadn't been in a meeting this heated since the original exodus. Representatives drew battle lines across ideology or pragmatism. Some favored war out of a sense of self preservation, others out of a moral duty. Virgon made an especially stirring speech about duty and legacy, Gemenon was dead set on war not being the way the Lords of Kobol would have them resolve this.
Mercifully, the final vote was called.
Roslin knew what the outcome would be far ahead of time, but it didn't stop her heart from plummeting again. Seven-Five, against the authorization of force. There would be no war.
"You stood up for what was right." Adama reminded her as she stewed silently in Colonial One's private cabin hours later "That's all anybody could ever ask you to do."
"I could order you to carry out the strikes." She couldn't even look him in the eye. Or anybody for that matter.
"You know I can't lawfully carry out a military strike of that magnitude without authorization from the Quorum."
"I could dismiss you. Replace you with somebody else. Then replace them, keep going until I find somebody who will fraking do it." She knew it hurt him to hear her say that. Probably more than he'd ever confess.
"We've had a lot of hard days lately. More than we're used to, and that's saying something. But we're going to get through this."
"Maybe we will, but our souls won't." Laura cracked out weakly.
She couldn't sleep that night. Part of it was the cold, dry air she now forced herself to endure every night in Galactica's sickbay, under the watchful eye of Cottle's staff. Frak the spirits. Frak whatever magic tricks let them lord over this world. Those abominations weren't content with robbing her of the little bit of humanity she'd been able to cling on to since the exodus, they had to take away the few comforts in life she had left. She wasn't even safe in her own sleep.
Maybe this planet was cursed. Or maybe she was.
Because the Gods weren't done playing with her, she had a committee meeting to endure early the next morning. The very one she'd assembled regarding planetary settlement. They all seemed so optimistic in spite of the horror they were made aware of days ago.
Another day, another dozen people who'd all run out of soap and toothpaste six months ago crammed into a small room. Adama was there, too, seated on the opposite side of the table from her. At least the admiral had remained a constant in her life.
"We've narrowed down the location of our first settlement to three potential locations." One of the Ship Captain's offered hopefully. He commanded the Botanical Cruiser, the same ship that'd been at the center of their recent crisis. There were few people more qualified to discuss agriculture in the fleet than him. "All are fairly defensible, all have arable land nearby. One even has deposits of iron and copper the natives haven't found yet, if subsurface scans are to be believed."
"I'm sorry, I haven't had time to go over all this yet, where are these potential locations?" Laura asked groggily.
"You've got a copy of the map in your papers, Madam President." A woman said, raising up part of her own stack. "One is roughly inside the Earth Kingdom's territory, the other two are technically in Fire Nation land but are in what the Earth Kingdom considers occupied territory."
She sorted through her stack to find the map. "And how exactly are we going to secure this land if every other major power claims it? The Earth Kingdom's turned away both attempts at diplomatic contact in the last week, and negotiating with the Fire Nation is absolutely out of the question."
"None of these sites are anywhere near major settlements, one is an island pretty far off the major continents. That last one is only just barely inhabited."
"What do you mean just barely?"
"There's a small tribe living there, under a hundred people. It's a big island, they shouldn't be a problem working around."
Roslin set the sheet face down in front of her. "Shouldn't be a problem."
Laura thought back to her dream, of all those Cylon warheads streaking towards the planet. She thought of Helo's first-hand description of desperate, dying Earth Kingdom villagers. She wanted to believe they'd handle their arrival on this planet with maturity and respect, but everything they'd done only seemed to make life for these people worse.
"That island probably goes through some major hurricanes every year, it's probably not a good candidate." The Botanical Cruiser's captain noted dismissively. "Honestly, it wouldn't be a bad idea to wait a year or two and get an idea what the planet's climate looks like before-"
"No, I think we're done." Roslin said harshly without looking away from her papers.
The room fell silent. She'd barely acknowledged Adama, but he took the chance to speak. "We've all had a rough few days, I think it would be best for everybody if we rescheduled for-"
"No, I mean we're done." Even Adama seemed taken aback by Laura's cutting tone. "I'm dissolving this committee. I won't let this fleet frak something else up for this planet. As of this moment I'm formally shelving all plans for permanent settlement. We're leaving and resuming the search for Earth."
A long, stunned silence dominated the room. A woman in the back, a captain of one of the mining ships, threw her papers off her desk. "What?"
One person after the other started yelling at Laura, the volume only intensifying. She could feel Adama come up behind her. "We should talk." He offered softly.
"Don't touch me." Laura said dispassionately. "Meet me in my cabin in two hours, I want to discuss preparations for final departure." She stood up at the growing crowd. "This meeting is adjourned. You can either leave or I'll have security throw you out."
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Tory was used to dealing with the press, but every press conference before now was nothing compared to this hell. The crowd felt like a tsunami ready to envelope and destroy her the moment she let her guard down.
"Is it true President Roslin is abandoning plans for settlement?"
"Has she made a statement on possible reparations for the Earth Kingdom?"
"Will ships who don't want to leave be permitted to stay?"
Others weren't even asking questions, they were screaming bloody murder. Demanding a recall, a vote of no confidence from the Quorum, even calls for a redo of the entire election. They accused Roslin of breaking her promises, of not letting democracy run its course. They called her a dictator.
It would be easier to defend her if it weren't for the fact that it seemed like she had broken her promises quite publicly and loudly. Now Roslin wasn't even acknowledging that anybody in the fleet other than Admiral Adama existed. Tory hadn't been briefed by the President since the dissolved meeting, she didn't have any more of an idea of what was happening than the press did.
Tory put her fingers in her mouth and whistled hard. For just a moment, the chorus of voices softened.
"The President will be making a statement in due time." Tory yelled out. The crowd looked almost confused expecting for her to continue. "That is all."
The roar resumed even louder than before. Security had to physically hold them back from grabbing her as she ducked out of Colonial One's press room as quickly as she could possibly arrange.
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"This is a Gods damned dumpster fire" Tigh scowled through the buzz of activity in CIC. "Nearly twenty ships have said they'll outright refuse to spin up their FTL drives, another six are claiming they'll break off and land on the planet themselves."
Adama scanned through the print out listing concerning wireless traffic from various ships throughout the fleet. President Roslin's outburst had been transmitted live, and the civilians were not taking it well. "I want more birds in the air, put CAP at double strength indefinitely. Have marine teams on standby - Any ship deciding to go at it themselves is coming back at gunpoint."
"That's all well and good if one or two ships decide to land" Tigh noted as he jotted another ship onto his list. "But we can't do that for every ship in this fleet."
"I realize that. We may want to look into boarding certain vital ships preemptively."
"Admiral!"
William did a double take at CIC's command console before realizing his son's voice was coming from across the room. He shot his head back to find Lee on the warpath towards him.
"What the hell are you doing here?" The admiral shot at Pegasus's commander. "You should be coordinating with us on Pegasus."
"I needed to hear it straight from you, what the frak is going on? The President's vanished again while the fleet's about ready to split itself in half."
"The President will make herself heard when she is comfortable doing so."
"That's bull - to this fleet it looks like she just shut down any illusion of democracy. The longer she waits the more out of control this is going to get." He turned the admiral away, leaning the two of them into the central command console for some small amount of privacy. "Dualla told me she's heard a few whispers - nothing she can say is serious, but there are people on Pegasus who I don't think are going to just accept us leaving. I'm not ready to panic over a potential mutiny yet, but I'm getting worried about how far this is going to go."
Adama talked to Lee like he was lecturing a teenager. "You hear any talk like that, serious or not, you put those people in your brig and you don't let them out."
"If we're trying to make this not look like a military coup, I don't think that's what we want to do."
"You're commanding a battlestar, not a passenger liner. Your people don't get freedom of speech, especially when the chain of command is on the line."
Lee shook his head. The Admiral almost wanted to reconsider putting his son in command of their more powerful warship, but it's not like they had a large pool of command officers to choose from. "There's one more thing I wanted to ask you. There's a new rumor making its way around my ship."
The younger Adama moved his head to whisper in his father's ear. "Is there any truth to the claim that the president may have been compromised by… spirits?"
Adama felt himself freeze for a moment before snapping away from his son. "You shouldn't put any stock in slander. You hear anything like that again, you confine whoever is spreading it."
"Admiral I-"
"Get back to your ship, Commander."
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Roslin was only just barely aware of Admiral Adama pouring a hot, dark liquid from its kettle into a set of mugs on the table before them. "You don't have to talk, just listen." He said, taking a seat.
Laura rested her head on her hand to look at the admiral. She owed him that much.
"I wasn't speaking lightly when I said this planet is the first ray of hope this fleet has known since the exodus. If you try to take it away from them, there's going to an uprising. And I don't know if I'm going to be able to stop it."
She remained silent.
"You promised this fleet an open process on settlement. There's a damn good chance the Quorum is going to impeach you, you realize that?"
She could tell he wanted to reach his hand out. Feel something from her.
"Laura, please. I can't pretend to know what you're going through right now, but we still need to think about the future of this fleet."
"It wasn't enough for us to lose our own home, was it?" Laura started. "We found somebody else's and ruined it, too. How many more people here will have their homes destroyed because of us?"
"You're being way too hard on yourself. You and I both know the Fire Nation was on track to win their war long before we showed up."
Laura straightened her hair, and picked up the cup of viscous liquid Adama poured her. She hadn't eaten since the vote, her stomach would settle for anything. "Bill, the Cylons had a rough idea of where we were before we jumped to the planet. Have you considered that our presence may lead to them stumbling across it one day, just like we did?"
Adama stopped himself mid-sip. "Sharon seems very convinced this world is beyond Cylon technology's ability to detect. It's a miracle we found it ourselves."
"The Cylons are immortal and relentless. They have all the time in the universe to turn over every inch of this sector until they find us. If they do, have you considered what would happen to the humans on the planet?"
She leaned in, her voice down to a whisper. "The Cylons would cut those people open to figure out how they work, probably while they're still alive to experience it. The Fire Nation is going to look like a benevolent overlord compared to what the Cylons would do to them. I told myself that I would do anything, pay any price, to safeguard this fleet. But not this time Bill - this time the price is too high."
Adama nodded softly as he digested Laura's words. "I know you're holding a lot of guilt over what happened to those Earth Kingdom peasants. We made mistakes, nobody is questioning that. You reminded me of something the other day, that it isn't enough to survive, we have to be worthy of survival. But there's something else I've said you may want to consider. There comes a day where you can't hide from the things you've done anymore. If we do this, hiding is exactly what we're doing. Running away from the mess we've made."
She set her mug down, twining her fingers together and looking deeply into the admiral's eyes. "Did you ever get the chance to meet Katara? She was a lovely young woman, reminded me of some of my students."
Adama shook his head. Laura's tone was cold and level.
"Do you remember what the Cylons did to the women they found alive on Caprica?"
As much as she despised herself for stealing their people's best hope for survival, she couldn't bear to risk letting the entire planet burn just to save themselves.
And they were blowing up that damned comet on their way out.
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The Astral Queen was a dark, miserable prison liner tasked with transferring convicts to parole hearings on the eve of the Cylon attack. Even by the standards of the refugee fleet, the ship was cramped and devoid of creature comforts. Tom Zarek couldn't be more proud to call it home. The people onboard had endured the worst of Colonial oppression. They, more than most people in the fleet, understood the need to fight for their freedom - And they were fiercely loyal to him.
Zarek was as surprised as anybody else when Laura Roslin suddenly became his closest political ally. It seemed like she had seen the light, at least for a moment. But the outcome seemed clear long before the vote was held, the Quorum couldn't be counted on to do what was necessary.
And so, he kept his most valuable assets close to his chest. Zarek had a source of contact in the Earth Kingdom, but he wasn't willing to cede it to Roslin and Adama in the name of a hopeless vote.
After all, nothing Laura promised had come through. There was no supposed airbender there to tell stories of how his people were annihilated. No back-up plan to stop the Fire Nation war machine. She held a vote, lost, and appeared to have completely given up.
The heavy door to a chamber formerly used as a conference room for the guards and ship crew opened, and three more stepped in.
The twenty people currently gathered in the expansive room represented Zarek's most trusted inner circle. Some were former prisoners, others were ship captains.
"Laura Roslin's decision to leave has created an opportunity for us." Zarek declared to the small crowd. "We all know why we're here - Before you commit to this, you need to understand something. What we're about to do can never be undone. There will never be a home here for any of us ever again. But if we have the resolve to carry this through, we'll be immortalized as heroes to the people of this world until the end of time."
A large, muscled man near the front of the room called out first. "We're with you to the end, Zarek."
"How many people do we have?" A woman towards the back asked.
"Six ship captains, but I'm certain more will join when what's happening is clear. Too many for Adama to stop. And of course, our guest of honor. He beckoned a woman forward, dressed in dirty and stained brown clothes.
"Don't let appearances fool you. This is Lieutenant Abana, Master at Arms of the Battlestar Pegasus. She's been feeding our movement information for months now. Abana tells me other people on her ship sympathize with our cause. Most of them want to stay for themselves more than they want to help the Earth Kingdom, but either way we share the same goal."
"There are at least a dozen people on Pegasus ready to carry out your orders." Abana shared with resolve. "Most are lower level, but I trust all of them. I'm sure I can sway a few more to our cause."
"We also have one more other ally I'd like all of you to meet." Zarek said with a smirk. He turned to the wireless set mounted on his desk, and grabbed the receiver. "General Fong, are you receiving me?"
A deep, unfamiliar voice crackled back through the wireless. "We are receiving you Tom Zarek. I will have people waiting at the agreed upon area."
"Good, I'm glad your government is on board." Zarek replied with a smirk. "General Fong is a high-ranking strategist in the Earth Kingdom. We've been in contact for some time now, ironing out the plan. I'm certain what we're about to do in the coming days is going to make the difference for them.
Zarek clasped his hands together. "Now, let's get into specifics."
Calls of approval sounded throughout the room. It was almost enough to make Zarek shed a tear. If Roslin didn't have what it took to put an end to the Fire Nation's butchering, he would do it for her.
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Aang had been holding the now silent wireless device for what felt like hours, deeply conflicted on what to do. The Colonials had been trying to reach them for days now, but was it worth it to respond? Thousands of people in the Earth Kingdom had their lives destroyed because of what they'd done, why should he put any trust in them at all?
Laura had seemed so genuine, maybe she was telling the truth and wanted to help. Or maybe she'd been manipulating him from the start. He wasn't willing to commit either choice yet. Aang couldn't help but feel like a failure in his role - He hadn't been able to convince the spirit to help in the first place. He couldn't be grateful enough to have Katara and Sokka to comfort him.
His emotions had tormented him for weeks. It felt like the parts of Aang's head trying to pick one side or the other were fighting each other tooth and nail.
Aang set the wireless device back in its satchel, and tried to center himself. His breathing slowed as he tried to calm himself. After a few minutes, he could feel himself slipping away from the world.
As much as he'd like to think he could handle everything on his own, it was time to admit he needed help with this one.
"Hello, Aang." A deep voice called from nowhere and everywhere. Aang opened his eyes to see the apparition of his past life sitting crossed in front of him. Avatar Roku, his form surrounded by an aura of blue, had been a source of wisdom for the young avatar in the past, and he needed that now more than ever. "We have much to discuss."
"I have no idea what to do." Aang almost yelled out at the apparition. "I need some of that hundred life-times worth of wisdom. You have to know all about the Colonials, right?"
Roku's expression didn't give Aang hope. "Even my knowledge has limits. The spirits have limits too, though you won't get them to admit it. I don't know anymore about these visitors than you do. What I can tell you with certainty, is the Colonials have the undivided attention of the entire spiritual world."
"How am I supposed to know if they're being honest? If they're actually good? A lot of people have been hurt since they've arrived, what's going to happen if they stay?"
"Unfortunately, there's no way to know what their arrival will bring." Roku knelt closer. "But I'm worried, Aang. These Colonials have powers unlike anything else in this world, human or spirit. Spirits are used to getting their way, and the Colonials seem to be a desperate people with nothing left to lose. If you hadn't intervened in that forest, I don't think either side would have backed down. The consequences could have been enormous."
"If the Colonials had gotten what they wanted, they would have destroyed most of the forest. It makes sense the spirit turned them down, doesn't it?"
"Aang, the Colonials just watched a spirit take away their last hope of finding a peaceful way out of starvation. If they stay, they're not going to look at spirits as beings they can live in peaceful harmony with. They're going to look at them with nothing but hatred."
"There wasn't a way out!" Aang argued to his past life. "Either the spirit would've gotten what they wanted, or the Colonials would. I couldn't have made them both happy."
Roku spoke slowly. His tone reminded him of Adama's a little, now that Aang thought of it. "Unfortunately, that's something you'll have to come to terms with. Sometimes you simply can't fix everything for everyone. All you can do now is try to minimize the damage."
"The Colonials starved whole villages of people, why should I help them?"
"Sometimes good people do horrible things when they're desperate. I can't say if the Colonials are deserving of a home on this world, but I think they at least deserve a second chance."
Laura seemed to really care about what happened to them. Adama seemed driven more by what was best for his people than raw power. Kara, Agathon, everybody they'd actually talked to in person seemed more or less like good people. "So you think we should let the Colonials stay?"
"You're the Avatar now, not me. But to be blunt, the Colonials are powerful enough that if they decide to stay, there may not be much the three nations could do to stop them. And I'm terrified of what would happen if the spirits tried."
"Okay." Aang said with finality, feeling ever so slightly more self assured. "Okay, I'll talk to them."
The apparition of Roku vanished. Aang reached back into the satchel for the wireless set, hoping he remembered how to use it.
---------------------------------
Starbuck picked up her hundredth black pin, setting it on the grand map sprawled out on the table in front of them. The situation room had been transformed into a makeshift war room, complete with a sizable political map of the entire planet displayed where star charts and battle plans usually rested. She set the pin on a coastal city on the Fire Nation's home continent, and pulled up a satellite image of the metropolis from her pile. Lee stood with his arms crossed expectantly across the table.
"Hokage, a major manufacturing hub of the Fire Nation. These factories here build tanks and armor for their infantry, the magistrate I talked to awhile back gushed about them. We bomb those and these ports here, the Fire Nation armies on the front lines can kiss their reinforcements goodbye for a few months."
Lee took the map from Kara, examining it with cynicism. "That's a good start. I'm a bit worried about hitting those ports, they probably export a lot of food from those nearby farming towns along with everything else. The President wants to minimize civilian casualties as much as possible."
Kara grabbed the picture back from Lee's hands. "I don't know what you want from me, the president isn't getting a bloodless war, and she should have known that before she decided to try getting us involved in this mess."
"She was very clear." The Commander repeated. "No targeting population centers, no mass destruction of infrastructure, and absolutely no nuclear option."
"Then we should've gotten here fifty years ago." Kara threw in her superior's face. "The Earth Kingdom isn't just losing at this point, they're being massacred. The Fire Nation has every advantage. Better equipment, more manpower, more mobility. The Earth Kingdom needs something decisive if they're going to turn the tide. Chipping at supply lines isn't going to cut it, we need to destroy them completely."
"What about targeting specific convoys headed for the front lines?" Lee offered.
"The Fire Nation has thousands of ships, Lee. You got thousands of bombs hiding somewhere on Pegasus? Unless you have an entire fleet of Battlestars I don't know about, we don't have enough ordinance to wage that kind of war."
"We could use our Raptors to move Earth Benders from the front lines to military targets, let them do most of the work." Lee thought out loud while he examined the board. "If the Earth Kingdom decides they want anything to do with us again."
"When you starve tens of thousands of a nation's civilians, they tend to trust you less."
"Yeah, it does." He said softly. "And if we ever want to make up for that, putting an end to this war is the only way."
"Whatever we come up with won't mean anything until the Quorum gets off their ass and authorizes war time powers."
"One step at a time." Lee noted. "We're not going to just jump in guns blazing, we're going to do this the right way."
"You want to end this war tomorrow?" Kara asked rhetorically. She pushed a finger onto the pin representing the Fire Nation's capital. "One guided missile package aimed at the Fire Lord's palace. The entire Royal family lives there, right? These people still think big walls are the best form of defense. All their high-level officials are gathered in one convenient spot. Cut their government's head off in one sortie, while launching follow-up strikes on major factories and shipyards."
Lee pursed his lips, appearing to give great consideration to Kara's latest suggestion. "If we want to end this war, we still need a government to negotiate with. The Fire Nation is also brainwashed to worship Ozai as practically a demi-god. If we kill him, for all we know we make him a martyr who only strengthens their resolve."
"Or we make Ozai look like any other man, and show the Fire Nation how easily we could wipe any of them out." Kara paced across the table, running her finger across the series of tan-red lines that told the story of the Earth Kingdom's increasingly worsening condition. "Lee, the only right way there is to stop the Fire Nation is going to have a higher body count than I think you or the president realizes. You need to get that into your head if we're ever going to stop this genocide in time."
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"I was pretty intimidated when you asked me to search the entire solar system for a single comet." Felix Gaeta reported to Adama and Tigh. The trio gathered around a chart of the inner solar system prepared by the officer, highlighting the planet and the curious object he'd been tasked to identify. "But it was actually pretty easy for astrometrics to pin down. Hundred year long orbit, pretty close to the planet, that narrows it down a lot. I think this is your comet right here." The officer indicated proudly.
"What can you tell me about this comet?" Adama inquired. He picked up the blurry, blackened image with a single barely perceptible white dot circled near the center. Aang would probably have been disappointed with how uninspiring his fearsome comet looked.
"Uh, not much. It's a bit bigger than a normal comet, but aside from that it's just another ball of ice and dust. It does pass unusually close to the planet, close enough that I think it might even hit the upper atmosphere. So it's a bit odd the comet's orbit has been stable for so long." The officer hesitated for a moment before deciding to press on. "If I may ask sir, what's so important about this comet?"
"The comet supposedly magnifies the power of fire benders on the planet, which would let them bring a swift end to their war." Adama informed Gaeta flatly.
"Oh." Gaeta replied doubtfully. "Okay, as long as we're on the same page."
"This ball of ice and dust had that kid pretty rustled up." Tigh proclaimed. "We're really taking him at his word? He's a kid."
"The last time we questioned the native's beliefs, two of our people died. I'm not leaving anything else to chance. I want samples of that comet's surface, and the exact date we can expect it to reach the planet."
Tigh traced over the stellar object with his finger. "The President wants to know what it would take to destroy the comet."
"Destroy it?" Gaeta repeated, tapping the central command console for a few moments. "The comet is a three mile long chunk of solid rock, destroying it is a tall order. If you just wanted to knock it off course so it doesn't approach the planet, that's a lot easier."
"How much easier?" Adama pressed.
"If we had more time we could just park Pegasus nearby and let gravity do the work, but the comet is too close to its flyby. We could detonate a nuke a few dozen meters away, the warhead's heat would vaporize half its surface and push it off course, but a radiological signature like that outside of an atmosphere could be detected by any Cylon ships within a few lightyears. We might be able to use Pegasus's forward guns on the comet, their inertia might be enough to knock it off course. Mining charges attached to the surface might even do the trick. I'd need to run some numbers."
"Run them quickly." Adama ordered. "President Roslin considers diverting this comet a top priority." A phone sounded off on CIC's command console, removing Adama's attention from the conversation. He grabbed it off its cradle in an instant. "Adama." A moment of silence. "I'll be right down."
The admiral returned the phone and handed CIC off to Tigh before hastily making his way out of CIC, much to Saul's annoyance.
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"Action stations, Action stations, set condition one throughout the ship, this is not a drill."
Klaxons ringed through Laura's ears as she walked aimlessly through Galactica's empty corridors. A mixture of panic and confusion ran through her head. Where was the crew? She couldn't even remember boarding Galactica, the last thing she remembered was-
This wasn't real. She was in another damned dream, she would swear it. The newly inaugurated president took a breath, reminding herself she was in control here. The most sensible thing to do felt like simply walking in the general direction of CIC, but the ship appeared twisted and incorrect. Corridors were out of place, even the wrong size.
She wanted to find that thing this time. Laura was intent on demanding answers from the beast stalking her subconscious. Finally, her corridor ended at a door marked Combat Information Center. She thrust the door open to find a stoic Adama overseeing a hectic buzz of activity.
Even Gaeta was reproduced to perfection, seated at his regular station. "Three more contacts just jumped in, base ships bearing one-one-seven carom nine-three, distance two hundred."
"Bastards are nearly right on top of us!" Tigh yelled out.
"How the hell did the Cylons find us?" Adama barked, turning to Laura. "Madam President, we can't hold off six baseships. We need to leave, now."
Laura looked up at the Dradis, displaying a crystal clear image of the Cylon armada making its way towards the fleet. It was easy to forget this was a dream. "The Cylons are here?"
"Base ships are launching raiders!" Gaeta shot out. "Four squadrons are heading for us, the rest are breaking for the planet. Radiologic alert, they've got nukes!"
"Order the CAP to land, tell the fleet to spin up their drives." Adama turned away from Laura.
Roslin watched the small red pips representing Cylon raiders streak closer to the planet than should be possible, before dozens of white pips sprung from them on the display. Enough nuclear warheads to level every major city on the surface.
Gaeta yelled through the chaos. "Flight pods retracted, Jumping in five, four…"
Roslin felt a chill come over her shoulder. She turned to see that thing looking over her, antlers nearly hitting the CIC displays behind it. The creature looked up at the DRADIS display, eyes squinted, before shoving its head in Laura's face. "This is what you fear?" It asked.
The president didn't get a chance to respond before her world melted away. All of the sudden she was fighting to catch her breath while the sound of medical equipment whirred around her. An arm held her down when she tried shooting up. It took a moment to regain enough of her senses to recognize Doctor Cottle's wrinkled face urging her to settle down.
"You win, I believe you. Whatever in the name of the Gods you just went through, it played holy hell with your brain. Deep breaths now."
It took a lot of courage coming forward to Adama about her dreams, she was worried he'd dismiss them as hallucinations or her nerves. However, even an atheist like William Adama was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt after several face-to-face encounters with the supernatural. He was beside her too - Adama was the one who convinced a skeptical Cottle to hook her up to these machines and keep an eye on her while she slept.
"Is she going to be alright?" The admiral asked with genuine concern.
"I think so, her readings are returning to normal." Cottle said as he scanned through his display. "None of her brain activity made any sense, everything up there was going haywire. These readings shouldn't be possible, end of line."
"It happened again, I saw the spirit. I was in CIC, the Cylons had found us and it was there with me."
"You're safe now, it's okay." Adama offered with a firm hand on her shoulder. "Doc, can we stop this from happening again?"
Cottle let out a long, dejected sigh. "How the hell should I know? Bending, healing magic, spirits? This planet doesn't play by the rules of nature as we know them, so I don't even know where to begin developing a countermeasure to whatever new form of bullshit this is."
"If that creature can get inside my head, there's no telling what else it might be able to do." Laura worried. Best to get all her concerns out at once. "Frak the dreams, I can deal with those, but if it's really learning about us through my dreams it's a security risk."
"I'd considered that, too." Adama was always a step ahead of her when it came to fleet security. "I'll keep military information need-to-know for now, I'd also consider delegating some of your more sensitive work to your staff."
Laura pulled Adama's arm, urging him closer. "Bill, these spirits are dangerous. What Aang said about living in harmony with the Spirit World, to hell with it. They don't give a damn about us, they've made that very clear. If we're going to stay here, we need some sort of defense against them."
"I have people working on it." Adama replied firmly. "Whether or not they'll succeed, I don't know."
"It wasn't enough for them to murder our people." Roslin scowled through clenched fists. "They made us accomplices to the murder of tens of thousands. I can't…" Adama stopped her.
"We did what we had to do. It's been almost two days since word got out to the fleet about what the Fire Nation did. The press is banging on every bulkhead on this ship, you need to say something soon."
"What can I say?" Laura pleaded. "What could anybody say to make the pain of what we've done hurt even a little less? If I go out there, my head is going to be on a stake. I've been wrangling with Quorum members for two days now, I'm this close to a majority on authorizing war powers against the Fire Nation. When Aang responds to us and agrees to talk to the Quorum, I'm absolutely sure we'll get there. That's the only way we're ever going to make this right."
William shook his head. "Whatever you do, you need to do it soon. You can't just keep waiting on Aang, for all we know they banged their wireless set on a rock and we'll never hear from them again. Right now, I need you to help me keep this fleet together."
"I know I can't wait forever." Laura admitted. "It's just, I was banking so hard on somebody being able to provide a first-hand account of what the Fire Nation is capable of. I know I've got Caprica, Virgon, I think I have Picon on board, but almost everybody else is up in the air. I never would have guessed I'd have Zarek as a close ally, I have him to thank for Virgon's support."
"You have a way of convincing people." Adama reminded her with a sly smile. "I think you'll find a way to get over the finish line."
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Roslin banged her gavel on the grand table once again stretched across Colonial One, bringing order to the room of twelve representatives. The chorus of demands and anger finally halted, giving her the chance to properly address the fleet for the first time since the Earth Kingdom incident went public.
She'd give anything to have Aang and his friends there with him. Katara's story of having her mother snatched from her, Aang waking from his hundred-year slumber to find his entire civilization gone, those were stories the fleet could identify with.
But it'd been almost two weeks since they said their goodbyes on Galactica, and not a single word from their wireless. She had to face reality and admit that they were either unable or unwilling to communicate with them again.
"I know we've all had our differences. There are people at this table who I've fought with vehemently over these past ten months." She glanced at Zarek, who nodded softly at her. Gods help her if that man was her strongest ally right now. She set a hand down on the table and leaned in. "But tens of thousands of Earth Kingdom men, women, and children just had their livelihoods destroyed. Tens of thousands of Earth Kingdom citizens - who had nothing to do with us - have been condemned to a slow, painful death so that we could live." She could feel her hand shaking despite her attempts to steady it. "That is a calculus that nobody, nobody at this table, or in this fleet, can justify. We can't give those people their lives back. That's a stain on our souls we're going to have to live with forever, but we can still stop more death from happening. I am imploring, begging you to authorize the use of war time powers against the Fire Nation. If we don't do this, we will never be able to find forgiveness in the eyes of the Lords of Kobol."
Tom Zarek stood to speak, his conciliatory tone taking most of the room off guard. "Everybody here knows me and Laura have had disagreements. This time though, this time she's right - we have to do this. Take it from a people who have one boot or another on them for centuries, we can't let that happen to the Earth Kingdom when it's in our power to stop it. Sagittaron votes to authorize wartime powers without hesitation."
"Madam President," Began the older Gemenese woman Laura knew so well. "We've all been horrified to learn where the Fire Nation procured our food from. None of us would try to justify it. However, I'm worried we're letting our emotions send us into a conflict we won't be able to get out of."
"Canceron has the same concerns." a balding man seated near the table's front piped up. "Madam President, what exactly does war with the Fire Nation mean? What's the win condition?"
"The win condition is halting the complete and total genocide of two entire peoples, I thought that was made fairly clear." Roslin replied coldly.
"How long do we think that will take?" The man continued. "A month, two? Five? A year?"
"Admiral Adama is drawing up war plans right now, trust me when I say we're not just going in blindly."
"So you don't even know how long we'll be at war?" The woman from Libran shot out. "You're asking us to commit to a war without anything resembling an exit strategy."
"Beyond time, what about resources?" The Gemenese representative asked pointedly. "How many bombs? How much fuel? Correct me if I'm wrong, but we don't have another source of tylium anywhere in the system. We have no way of replenishing any aviation fuel we use fighting their war."
"To hell with that." A dark skinned man yelled from the back of the room. Caprica's newest representative was a breath of fresh ear. A Much better person to have in the room than former Vice President Baltar. "We're talking about stopping an empire hell-bent on world domination. Today it'll be the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe, tomorrow it'll be us. We need to stop this war here and now. Caprica stands firmly with President Roslin."
One after the other, every Colony chimed in. Some more than a few times. Roslin hadn't been in a meeting this heated since the original exodus. Representatives drew battle lines across ideology or pragmatism. Some favored war out of a sense of self preservation, others out of a moral duty. Virgon made an especially stirring speech about duty and legacy, Gemenon was dead set on war not being the way the Lords of Kobol would have them resolve this.
Mercifully, the final vote was called.
Roslin knew what the outcome would be far ahead of time, but it didn't stop her heart from plummeting again. Seven-Five, against the authorization of force. There would be no war.
"You stood up for what was right." Adama reminded her as she stewed silently in Colonial One's private cabin hours later "That's all anybody could ever ask you to do."
"I could order you to carry out the strikes." She couldn't even look him in the eye. Or anybody for that matter.
"You know I can't lawfully carry out a military strike of that magnitude without authorization from the Quorum."
"I could dismiss you. Replace you with somebody else. Then replace them, keep going until I find somebody who will fraking do it." She knew it hurt him to hear her say that. Probably more than he'd ever confess.
"We've had a lot of hard days lately. More than we're used to, and that's saying something. But we're going to get through this."
"Maybe we will, but our souls won't." Laura cracked out weakly.
She couldn't sleep that night. Part of it was the cold, dry air she now forced herself to endure every night in Galactica's sickbay, under the watchful eye of Cottle's staff. Frak the spirits. Frak whatever magic tricks let them lord over this world. Those abominations weren't content with robbing her of the little bit of humanity she'd been able to cling on to since the exodus, they had to take away the few comforts in life she had left. She wasn't even safe in her own sleep.
Maybe this planet was cursed. Or maybe she was.
Because the Gods weren't done playing with her, she had a committee meeting to endure early the next morning. The very one she'd assembled regarding planetary settlement. They all seemed so optimistic in spite of the horror they were made aware of days ago.
Another day, another dozen people who'd all run out of soap and toothpaste six months ago crammed into a small room. Adama was there, too, seated on the opposite side of the table from her. At least the admiral had remained a constant in her life.
"We've narrowed down the location of our first settlement to three potential locations." One of the Ship Captain's offered hopefully. He commanded the Botanical Cruiser, the same ship that'd been at the center of their recent crisis. There were few people more qualified to discuss agriculture in the fleet than him. "All are fairly defensible, all have arable land nearby. One even has deposits of iron and copper the natives haven't found yet, if subsurface scans are to be believed."
"I'm sorry, I haven't had time to go over all this yet, where are these potential locations?" Laura asked groggily.
"You've got a copy of the map in your papers, Madam President." A woman said, raising up part of her own stack. "One is roughly inside the Earth Kingdom's territory, the other two are technically in Fire Nation land but are in what the Earth Kingdom considers occupied territory."
She sorted through her stack to find the map. "And how exactly are we going to secure this land if every other major power claims it? The Earth Kingdom's turned away both attempts at diplomatic contact in the last week, and negotiating with the Fire Nation is absolutely out of the question."
"None of these sites are anywhere near major settlements, one is an island pretty far off the major continents. That last one is only just barely inhabited."
"What do you mean just barely?"
"There's a small tribe living there, under a hundred people. It's a big island, they shouldn't be a problem working around."
Roslin set the sheet face down in front of her. "Shouldn't be a problem."
Laura thought back to her dream, of all those Cylon warheads streaking towards the planet. She thought of Helo's first-hand description of desperate, dying Earth Kingdom villagers. She wanted to believe they'd handle their arrival on this planet with maturity and respect, but everything they'd done only seemed to make life for these people worse.
"That island probably goes through some major hurricanes every year, it's probably not a good candidate." The Botanical Cruiser's captain noted dismissively. "Honestly, it wouldn't be a bad idea to wait a year or two and get an idea what the planet's climate looks like before-"
"No, I think we're done." Roslin said harshly without looking away from her papers.
The room fell silent. She'd barely acknowledged Adama, but he took the chance to speak. "We've all had a rough few days, I think it would be best for everybody if we rescheduled for-"
"No, I mean we're done." Even Adama seemed taken aback by Laura's cutting tone. "I'm dissolving this committee. I won't let this fleet frak something else up for this planet. As of this moment I'm formally shelving all plans for permanent settlement. We're leaving and resuming the search for Earth."
A long, stunned silence dominated the room. A woman in the back, a captain of one of the mining ships, threw her papers off her desk. "What?"
One person after the other started yelling at Laura, the volume only intensifying. She could feel Adama come up behind her. "We should talk." He offered softly.
"Don't touch me." Laura said dispassionately. "Meet me in my cabin in two hours, I want to discuss preparations for final departure." She stood up at the growing crowd. "This meeting is adjourned. You can either leave or I'll have security throw you out."
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Tory was used to dealing with the press, but every press conference before now was nothing compared to this hell. The crowd felt like a tsunami ready to envelope and destroy her the moment she let her guard down.
"Is it true President Roslin is abandoning plans for settlement?"
"Has she made a statement on possible reparations for the Earth Kingdom?"
"Will ships who don't want to leave be permitted to stay?"
Others weren't even asking questions, they were screaming bloody murder. Demanding a recall, a vote of no confidence from the Quorum, even calls for a redo of the entire election. They accused Roslin of breaking her promises, of not letting democracy run its course. They called her a dictator.
It would be easier to defend her if it weren't for the fact that it seemed like she had broken her promises quite publicly and loudly. Now Roslin wasn't even acknowledging that anybody in the fleet other than Admiral Adama existed. Tory hadn't been briefed by the President since the dissolved meeting, she didn't have any more of an idea of what was happening than the press did.
Tory put her fingers in her mouth and whistled hard. For just a moment, the chorus of voices softened.
"The President will be making a statement in due time." Tory yelled out. The crowd looked almost confused expecting for her to continue. "That is all."
The roar resumed even louder than before. Security had to physically hold them back from grabbing her as she ducked out of Colonial One's press room as quickly as she could possibly arrange.
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"This is a Gods damned dumpster fire" Tigh scowled through the buzz of activity in CIC. "Nearly twenty ships have said they'll outright refuse to spin up their FTL drives, another six are claiming they'll break off and land on the planet themselves."
Adama scanned through the print out listing concerning wireless traffic from various ships throughout the fleet. President Roslin's outburst had been transmitted live, and the civilians were not taking it well. "I want more birds in the air, put CAP at double strength indefinitely. Have marine teams on standby - Any ship deciding to go at it themselves is coming back at gunpoint."
"That's all well and good if one or two ships decide to land" Tigh noted as he jotted another ship onto his list. "But we can't do that for every ship in this fleet."
"I realize that. We may want to look into boarding certain vital ships preemptively."
"Admiral!"
William did a double take at CIC's command console before realizing his son's voice was coming from across the room. He shot his head back to find Lee on the warpath towards him.
"What the hell are you doing here?" The admiral shot at Pegasus's commander. "You should be coordinating with us on Pegasus."
"I needed to hear it straight from you, what the frak is going on? The President's vanished again while the fleet's about ready to split itself in half."
"The President will make herself heard when she is comfortable doing so."
"That's bull - to this fleet it looks like she just shut down any illusion of democracy. The longer she waits the more out of control this is going to get." He turned the admiral away, leaning the two of them into the central command console for some small amount of privacy. "Dualla told me she's heard a few whispers - nothing she can say is serious, but there are people on Pegasus who I don't think are going to just accept us leaving. I'm not ready to panic over a potential mutiny yet, but I'm getting worried about how far this is going to go."
Adama talked to Lee like he was lecturing a teenager. "You hear any talk like that, serious or not, you put those people in your brig and you don't let them out."
"If we're trying to make this not look like a military coup, I don't think that's what we want to do."
"You're commanding a battlestar, not a passenger liner. Your people don't get freedom of speech, especially when the chain of command is on the line."
Lee shook his head. The Admiral almost wanted to reconsider putting his son in command of their more powerful warship, but it's not like they had a large pool of command officers to choose from. "There's one more thing I wanted to ask you. There's a new rumor making its way around my ship."
The younger Adama moved his head to whisper in his father's ear. "Is there any truth to the claim that the president may have been compromised by… spirits?"
Adama felt himself freeze for a moment before snapping away from his son. "You shouldn't put any stock in slander. You hear anything like that again, you confine whoever is spreading it."
"Admiral I-"
"Get back to your ship, Commander."
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Roslin was only just barely aware of Admiral Adama pouring a hot, dark liquid from its kettle into a set of mugs on the table before them. "You don't have to talk, just listen." He said, taking a seat.
Laura rested her head on her hand to look at the admiral. She owed him that much.
"I wasn't speaking lightly when I said this planet is the first ray of hope this fleet has known since the exodus. If you try to take it away from them, there's going to an uprising. And I don't know if I'm going to be able to stop it."
She remained silent.
"You promised this fleet an open process on settlement. There's a damn good chance the Quorum is going to impeach you, you realize that?"
She could tell he wanted to reach his hand out. Feel something from her.
"Laura, please. I can't pretend to know what you're going through right now, but we still need to think about the future of this fleet."
"It wasn't enough for us to lose our own home, was it?" Laura started. "We found somebody else's and ruined it, too. How many more people here will have their homes destroyed because of us?"
"You're being way too hard on yourself. You and I both know the Fire Nation was on track to win their war long before we showed up."
Laura straightened her hair, and picked up the cup of viscous liquid Adama poured her. She hadn't eaten since the vote, her stomach would settle for anything. "Bill, the Cylons had a rough idea of where we were before we jumped to the planet. Have you considered that our presence may lead to them stumbling across it one day, just like we did?"
Adama stopped himself mid-sip. "Sharon seems very convinced this world is beyond Cylon technology's ability to detect. It's a miracle we found it ourselves."
"The Cylons are immortal and relentless. They have all the time in the universe to turn over every inch of this sector until they find us. If they do, have you considered what would happen to the humans on the planet?"
She leaned in, her voice down to a whisper. "The Cylons would cut those people open to figure out how they work, probably while they're still alive to experience it. The Fire Nation is going to look like a benevolent overlord compared to what the Cylons would do to them. I told myself that I would do anything, pay any price, to safeguard this fleet. But not this time Bill - this time the price is too high."
Adama nodded softly as he digested Laura's words. "I know you're holding a lot of guilt over what happened to those Earth Kingdom peasants. We made mistakes, nobody is questioning that. You reminded me of something the other day, that it isn't enough to survive, we have to be worthy of survival. But there's something else I've said you may want to consider. There comes a day where you can't hide from the things you've done anymore. If we do this, hiding is exactly what we're doing. Running away from the mess we've made."
She set her mug down, twining her fingers together and looking deeply into the admiral's eyes. "Did you ever get the chance to meet Katara? She was a lovely young woman, reminded me of some of my students."
Adama shook his head. Laura's tone was cold and level.
"Do you remember what the Cylons did to the women they found alive on Caprica?"
As much as she despised herself for stealing their people's best hope for survival, she couldn't bear to risk letting the entire planet burn just to save themselves.
And they were blowing up that damned comet on their way out.
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The Astral Queen was a dark, miserable prison liner tasked with transferring convicts to parole hearings on the eve of the Cylon attack. Even by the standards of the refugee fleet, the ship was cramped and devoid of creature comforts. Tom Zarek couldn't be more proud to call it home. The people onboard had endured the worst of Colonial oppression. They, more than most people in the fleet, understood the need to fight for their freedom - And they were fiercely loyal to him.
Zarek was as surprised as anybody else when Laura Roslin suddenly became his closest political ally. It seemed like she had seen the light, at least for a moment. But the outcome seemed clear long before the vote was held, the Quorum couldn't be counted on to do what was necessary.
And so, he kept his most valuable assets close to his chest. Zarek had a source of contact in the Earth Kingdom, but he wasn't willing to cede it to Roslin and Adama in the name of a hopeless vote.
After all, nothing Laura promised had come through. There was no supposed airbender there to tell stories of how his people were annihilated. No back-up plan to stop the Fire Nation war machine. She held a vote, lost, and appeared to have completely given up.
The heavy door to a chamber formerly used as a conference room for the guards and ship crew opened, and three more stepped in.
The twenty people currently gathered in the expansive room represented Zarek's most trusted inner circle. Some were former prisoners, others were ship captains.
"Laura Roslin's decision to leave has created an opportunity for us." Zarek declared to the small crowd. "We all know why we're here - Before you commit to this, you need to understand something. What we're about to do can never be undone. There will never be a home here for any of us ever again. But if we have the resolve to carry this through, we'll be immortalized as heroes to the people of this world until the end of time."
A large, muscled man near the front of the room called out first. "We're with you to the end, Zarek."
"How many people do we have?" A woman towards the back asked.
"Six ship captains, but I'm certain more will join when what's happening is clear. Too many for Adama to stop. And of course, our guest of honor. He beckoned a woman forward, dressed in dirty and stained brown clothes.
"Don't let appearances fool you. This is Lieutenant Abana, Master at Arms of the Battlestar Pegasus. She's been feeding our movement information for months now. Abana tells me other people on her ship sympathize with our cause. Most of them want to stay for themselves more than they want to help the Earth Kingdom, but either way we share the same goal."
"There are at least a dozen people on Pegasus ready to carry out your orders." Abana shared with resolve. "Most are lower level, but I trust all of them. I'm sure I can sway a few more to our cause."
"We also have one more other ally I'd like all of you to meet." Zarek said with a smirk. He turned to the wireless set mounted on his desk, and grabbed the receiver. "General Fong, are you receiving me?"
A deep, unfamiliar voice crackled back through the wireless. "We are receiving you Tom Zarek. I will have people waiting at the agreed upon area."
"Good, I'm glad your government is on board." Zarek replied with a smirk. "General Fong is a high-ranking strategist in the Earth Kingdom. We've been in contact for some time now, ironing out the plan. I'm certain what we're about to do in the coming days is going to make the difference for them.
Zarek clasped his hands together. "Now, let's get into specifics."
Calls of approval sounded throughout the room. It was almost enough to make Zarek shed a tear. If Roslin didn't have what it took to put an end to the Fire Nation's butchering, he would do it for her.
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Aang had been holding the now silent wireless device for what felt like hours, deeply conflicted on what to do. The Colonials had been trying to reach them for days now, but was it worth it to respond? Thousands of people in the Earth Kingdom had their lives destroyed because of what they'd done, why should he put any trust in them at all?
Laura had seemed so genuine, maybe she was telling the truth and wanted to help. Or maybe she'd been manipulating him from the start. He wasn't willing to commit either choice yet. Aang couldn't help but feel like a failure in his role - He hadn't been able to convince the spirit to help in the first place. He couldn't be grateful enough to have Katara and Sokka to comfort him.
His emotions had tormented him for weeks. It felt like the parts of Aang's head trying to pick one side or the other were fighting each other tooth and nail.
Aang set the wireless device back in its satchel, and tried to center himself. His breathing slowed as he tried to calm himself. After a few minutes, he could feel himself slipping away from the world.
As much as he'd like to think he could handle everything on his own, it was time to admit he needed help with this one.
"Hello, Aang." A deep voice called from nowhere and everywhere. Aang opened his eyes to see the apparition of his past life sitting crossed in front of him. Avatar Roku, his form surrounded by an aura of blue, had been a source of wisdom for the young avatar in the past, and he needed that now more than ever. "We have much to discuss."
"I have no idea what to do." Aang almost yelled out at the apparition. "I need some of that hundred life-times worth of wisdom. You have to know all about the Colonials, right?"
Roku's expression didn't give Aang hope. "Even my knowledge has limits. The spirits have limits too, though you won't get them to admit it. I don't know anymore about these visitors than you do. What I can tell you with certainty, is the Colonials have the undivided attention of the entire spiritual world."
"How am I supposed to know if they're being honest? If they're actually good? A lot of people have been hurt since they've arrived, what's going to happen if they stay?"
"Unfortunately, there's no way to know what their arrival will bring." Roku knelt closer. "But I'm worried, Aang. These Colonials have powers unlike anything else in this world, human or spirit. Spirits are used to getting their way, and the Colonials seem to be a desperate people with nothing left to lose. If you hadn't intervened in that forest, I don't think either side would have backed down. The consequences could have been enormous."
"If the Colonials had gotten what they wanted, they would have destroyed most of the forest. It makes sense the spirit turned them down, doesn't it?"
"Aang, the Colonials just watched a spirit take away their last hope of finding a peaceful way out of starvation. If they stay, they're not going to look at spirits as beings they can live in peaceful harmony with. They're going to look at them with nothing but hatred."
"There wasn't a way out!" Aang argued to his past life. "Either the spirit would've gotten what they wanted, or the Colonials would. I couldn't have made them both happy."
Roku spoke slowly. His tone reminded him of Adama's a little, now that Aang thought of it. "Unfortunately, that's something you'll have to come to terms with. Sometimes you simply can't fix everything for everyone. All you can do now is try to minimize the damage."
"The Colonials starved whole villages of people, why should I help them?"
"Sometimes good people do horrible things when they're desperate. I can't say if the Colonials are deserving of a home on this world, but I think they at least deserve a second chance."
Laura seemed to really care about what happened to them. Adama seemed driven more by what was best for his people than raw power. Kara, Agathon, everybody they'd actually talked to in person seemed more or less like good people. "So you think we should let the Colonials stay?"
"You're the Avatar now, not me. But to be blunt, the Colonials are powerful enough that if they decide to stay, there may not be much the three nations could do to stop them. And I'm terrified of what would happen if the spirits tried."
"Okay." Aang said with finality, feeling ever so slightly more self assured. "Okay, I'll talk to them."
The apparition of Roku vanished. Aang reached back into the satchel for the wireless set, hoping he remembered how to use it.
Chapter 8 - Inflection Point
"This is bullshit, and everybody on this frakking ship knows it!"
Racetrack slammed a hand on her table, sending half her plate of food flying onto the floor. The crowded rec room on Pegasus screeched to a nervous halt at the Raptor pilot's outburst, though she seemed happy to carry on as if nothing happened.
"How many times have we put our asses on the line for this fleet? Huh? Every day we climb into ours birds, and not all of us come back. Remember Crashdown? BB? Jo-Jo? We've lost a lot of friends so this fleet doesn't turn into toaster food."
A pilot yelled approval from the table over, then another. Morale had taken a nosedive, to put it mildly, since Roslin's sudden announcement to leave the planet. While the civilian fleet was in chaos, most of the military had been content to stew in silence. The few crewmen who'd been vocal were spending the next week cooling their heels in the brig.
Racetrack, on the other hand, finally had enough of remaining quietly discontent. She threw her chair aside to address the entire room. "Our friends didn't give their lives so we could spend the rest of ours living in a metal box. Roslin has no right to take this away from us!"
"So say we all!" yelled a woman from another corner of the room.
"Hey hey hey!" Skulls - Racetrack's ECO - called out in a vain attempt to silence the room. Racetrack had become close to her copilot, the two made a good team. It helped he was a decent enough card player on those dozens of uneventful CAP's over the last month. "If we don't keep it down they are going to lock all of us up."
"Yeah, they can try!" Thumper challenged, gripping his holster tight.
"We're not going to get anywhere from a cell." Skulls shot back. He shifted his eyes towards Racetrack. "The Master at Arms came up to me earlier, we had a little chat. What if I told you there might be another way out of this?"
Racetrack waited a few moments for her ECO to let the joke run its course. Only he didn't start cackling, and he didn't say Gotcha. "Skulls, what exactly are you saying?"
The ECO shot a glance at their Rec Room's bulkhead. "Lock that door."
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"We're not leaving." Sarah Porter declared with a harsh decisiveness. The Gemenese delegate had made life difficult for Roslin in the past, but recent tensions had magnified every political squabble ten fold. The two met in Roslin's makeshift oval office to discuss the sudden decision to jump away from the new world, and she didn't seem to be taking the news very well.
While of the raw emotion from before had faded, Roslin's remained firm, political suicide be damned. "I'm sorry, I know how difficult this is for all of us to bear, but the decision has been made."
It wasn't a choice she'd made lightly. Roslin knew very well just how much this planet meant to the remnants of Colonial civilization she represented. To most of the civilian fleet, it felt like the only way out of the daily misery their lives had become.
"The Gods did not put this planet in front of us just to abandon it. The magic here - Spirits who roam the land, people who can bend the world around them to their will - we can't deny the Lords of Kobol have blessed this world. You can leave if you want, we won't stop you, but we are staying."
It was pointless to reason with her, but she owed it to the office to try. "Sarah, I realize how much this is to ask, but try to take a step back. Every day we're here is another day the Cylons could be closer to finding this world themselves. If the human race - not just us, the human race, is to carry on, the very best thing for us to do is to leave them alone and undetected."
"The Cylons haven't found this world yet, what makes you think they ever will?" Sarah rebutted.
"It takes one raider among tens of thousands to have the same malfunction as our Raptor, then these people will be at the mercy of an enemy they have no way to defend themselves against. Those aren't odds I'm willing to play."
"Look, arguing about this is hopeless." The delegate conceded. "We respect your right to leave, please respect our right to stay. We'll let you rip out our ship's FTL drive, hell cut off the ship's weapons if that makes you feel better, but you must respect our right to stay."
"Sarah…" Laura started. "Unity is this fleet's only hope of survival. We can't jeopardize that, and we can't afford to let our knowledge and technology run loose on their planet. We've seen what the Fire Nation was willing to do to get even a fraction of what we know."
The delegate leaned down to level with Roslin. "You seem to be the only one here jeopardizing that unity."
"Sarah, we're not getting anywhere. Why don't I have my staff show you back to your ship?"
"Roslin," Sarah began, voice just perceptibly cracking. "People are not going to let you push this. If I have to, I'll charge the helm of that ship myself, and there isn't anything a whole company of Adama's marines could do to stop me. We're staying, and you're going to have a lot of blood on your hands if you try to stop us."
Roslin leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "Excuse me? I'm sorry, but did you just threaten to lead an armed rebellion of your ship? Because that sounds an awful lot like sedition."
"Call it what you want."
"I will. Now, please, get back to your ship. I don't want things to escalate anymore than you do. The last thing I want is to start making arrests in the civilian fleet."
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Paolo "Redwing" McKay couldn't help himself from taking a deep, nervous breath during the long walk down Pegasus's bustling hanger deck. The pilot had been transferred to Pegasus along with Racetrack and Skulls shortly after Lee had been given command of the ship. He was more than happy to take the reassignment. Pegasus boasted features unlike anything on the much older Galactica. More spacious accommodations and showers that actually kept water hot chief among them.
Normal breaths. Stay calm Paolo, just a little longer and this will all be over. You just need to do what the Master at Arms Told you to do.
"Hey, Peter!" Paolo yelled out much louder than he intended.
Peter Laird was Pegasus's deck chief, a formal civilian aeronautical engineer who'd been pressed into the war shortly after the exodus. He was a good bit quieter than Tyrol, but kept their birds flying just as well. The man rolled out from underneath a raptor donning a soot-encrusted jumpsuit, and set his tool down. "Something I can help you with?"
"New ordinance loadout for the whole squadron. CO wants it done on the double." Paolo handed his clipboard off to the deck chief, praying the paperwork would pass muster with him.
Peter grabbed the clipboard and started scanning through it without bothering to stand up. "If he wants things done on the double, make sure to ask him for more deckhands. Gods, this is a lot of firepower, what the hell is he having you people do out there?"
"After whatever happened to that knuckledragger on Galactica, guess they want us ready for anything, right? Plus, with everything going on in the fleet right now…"
"Yeah, the fleet's shitshow right now, that's for sure." He turned a page on the clipboard, and his eyes shot open. "Really? What the frak do you need those for?"
Paolo had, of course, taken his time going over every piece of equipment he'd need to snag one way or the other. Some of it made him uneasy, but Abana and the other pilots helped quell his worries. They'd need protection once the first phase of their plan had been carried out. Some forms of protection offered more assurances than others. "You know, I couldn't tell you.:
"Well, this I can't do without direct authorization from the Commander."
"You should have it there, his signature is on page 5."
Laird flipped another page. "Yeah, I sure do. Technically I still need to hear from him directly… but honestly it's so hard to get him to come down here for anything, this'll work fine. I'll have it done for you pronto."
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"Sedition? Is Roslin insane? Nobody has been arrested for sedition in forty years." Lee paced Pegasus's command console from one side to another, a worried Dualla watching on as the commander desperately tried to reason with his father. "I mean, dissolving the committee was a disaster, but at least it was legal. The president just threatened to arrest a political opponent, how do you think that's going to look right now?"
"I recognize the severity of the situation, but Roslin hasn't actually done anything." Admiral Adama replied through the wireless. "The Gemenese delegate was threatening armed violence against my men, you can't expect her to do nothing."
"How much farther are we going to let this go?" Lee asked hopelessly. "The Quorum has already started the process of recalling Roslin, but that whole process was designed to take its time. It could be weeks before she's formally removed, and we could be looking at a full-blown revolt before then. "
"That's the president's prerogative. Like it or not, we answer to the civilian government Roslin leads, and we're obligated to follow our orders whether we agree with them or not. You're usually the one telling me that, Lee."
"So, what? You're just going to sit here and let this fleet devolve into civil war? Because that's what's happening, and it's getting worse."
Tense silence from the wireless. Lee clicked the receiver's push-to-talk button to speak again, but his father came through at last. "We're not going to let that happen. I'm trying to sway the president to at least give the issue more time, if we're lucky we can settle things down without any bloodshed."
"And if you can't?"
"What do you want me to do, Lee? Stage a coup?"
"We don't need to go that far." Lee said hesitantly. "I've been thinking about that rumor, the one about Roslin being compromised by some sort of spirit from the planet."
"That's slanderous bullshit and-"
"If it's true, somebody could argue that her judgement is potentially being manipulated. The Articles of Colonization allow the Quorum to remove a sitting president who isn't mentally fit to serve immediately."
Lee hated wondering if the silence was wireless distortion from the nebula, or his father intentionally being difficult. "You're missing a lot of pieces of that story. Get a Raptor, meet me on Galactica."
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"Abana just signalled, her people are in position." The stout henchman reported from his seat on Astral Queen's cramped command deck. These prison liners offered the creature comforts to its crew as it did to the prisoners it was designed to transport. That is, none at all. Every inch of space served some vital purpose, no luxury or compromise was granted.
"Not as many as we hoped, but enough to get the job done." Zarek replied with a slight nod. It made sense the woman couldn't make as much headway as Tom would have hoped. Many of the marines formerly loyal to Cain and Fisk - and not blindly loyal to Adama, had been transferred to Galactica some time ago to avoid any more incidents. Most of Pegasus's officers were loyal to the admiral, too many to make a lot of headway without arousing suspicion. "And Racetrack?"
"She's flying CAP now, as scheduled."
Zarek paced across what miniscule space the dark, cramped room would allow. Roslin only had herself to blame for what was about to happen. She and Adama had been laying the groundwork to seize power for a long time, and the planet was just a catalyst for them to make their move.
Even he didn't think his fellow delegates on the Quorum would stoop so low as to let some completely unrelated people suffer on their behalf, though. Zarek would remedy even that crime in the coming days. The Earth Kingdom would have justice, and so would the men and women of the Colonies.
The freedom fighter couldn't have asked for better men and women by his side. "Send the signal to Racetrack's Raptor."
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A series of deafening pings emitted from Racetrack's console before she silenced the device with a quick tap. "That was Zarek, we're go."
The fleet's Combat Air Patrol usually took the form of a dozen Vipers supported by a single Raptor. What the electronic warfare craft lacked in dogfighting abilities, it more than made up for with immensely superior sensors. They were the eyes and ears of any combat sortie, and usually the first warning that something hostile was making its way towards the rag-tag fleet.
"It's not too late to break things off." Skulls offered from the rear compartment.
"No, you were right. We need to do this."
CAP had been increased from one to two squadrons after a number of ships threatened to break off from the fleet. Adama even went as far as to order a number of close flyby's to spook some of the ship captains. Right now, her bird was attached to Red Squadron, patrolling the outer edge of the fleet's perimeter.
She took a breath, and flipped a final switch. She waited for Skull's signal they were good to go before she pressed her push-to-talk button. "Red Squadron, Racetrack. We're hitting a pocket of EM interference from the nebula. Looks like we'll be out of contact with the fleet for a while."
"Finally, some Gods damned privacy." Hotdog, one of the patrol's pilots, joked into his comms.
After triple checking she wasn't transmitting, she turned to her ECO. "You're sure they're jammed?"
"Positive. As far as Galactica is concerned, we're out of commission."
Racetrack wasn't doing this herself, she reminded herself. She was doing it for all those people in the fleet who'd be doomed to die in the cold and dark if Roslin had her way.
At least it made the thought of betraying her friends easier.
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"I'm going to need you to run all of this by me one more time." Lee insisted to his father. "So, Roslin is being visited by spirits? How does that even work?"
"Since shortly after we arrived at the planet, yes." Admiral Adama pressed on. "It appears to be a single entity, it even offered information about the forest spirit before Roslin and Aang attempted negotiating with it. Doc Cottle confirmed something is off about her a few days ago"
Tigh let out an exasperated sigh. "This damned planet just keeps throwing one surprise after another at us.""
"We also know the spirit seems to be learning about us through her dreams. It showed her people who died in the Colonies, or on the fleet. It even reproduced an image of Caprica. We think this could be this spirit's way of collecting intelligence about us."
"How do we know that thing isn't directly influencing President Roslin?" Lee accused.
The admiral adjusted his glasses. "I know Laura Roslin, Commander. I'd know if something was off about her. She's been under tremendous stress lately just like all of us, but she hasn't been compromised."
Lee, for all his faults, could at least be counted on to listen to reason. "I believe you, but the civilian fleet might not. If this gets out-"
"Sir!" Gaeta called out. "Zarek's on the wireless, transmitting fleet wide. You need to hear this."
A crack of distortion sounded over CIC's loudspeaker's before the overly righteous voice of Tom Zarek took over.
-And women of the fleet, Laura Roslin and Admiral Adama have threatened to take away the one bastion of hope this fleet has known since the destruction of the Colonies. I, for one, will not allow them to rip this away from us, and neither should you. Right now six ships are breaking formation with the fleet to land on the planet at the coordinates I am transmitting. Any ship who defies this corrupt administration to join us will be welcomed in with open arms. We have a strength in numbers Adama cannot stop - I urge you to do what's best for your people. Zarek out."
Admiral Adama's voice cracked over CIC like a whip."What the hell does Zarek think he's doing?"
Gaeta was quick to double-check his station's DRADIS. "Confirmation on six ships breaking formation with the fleet, they're definitely on course for the planet."
"Tom Zarek has finally crossed the line." Tigh spat out. "We still have time to stop him."
"Have CAP box those ships in." Adama commanded. "Order them to fire warning shots off those ship's bow if they don't cut their engines immediately."
"Sir, I'm only getting confirmation from one squadron." Gaeta reported, voice heavy with worry, a few moments later. "Blue Squadron is en route to intercept the ships, but Red Squadron has gone completely dark. They're still on DRADIS, barely, but they're just not responding or changing course. Could be EM interference from the nebula."
"That's a hell of a coincidence. People in the military have been feeding information to Zarek for months now." Tigh noted with disgust. "Looks like a few of them may have finally decided to take things further."
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"Redwing, you and your squadron have been cleared for launch. Your orders are to jam the civilian ship's navigation systems and force them to break off their descent. They've got a head start so you'll need to hit the gas."
"Roger Actual, we'll take it from here." Paola took one last check of his ship's weapons systems to verify everything had been loaded on, though it wouldn't have made a difference at this point. "Engines green, we're hauling ass now."
"Redwing, Narcho." Paolo's wireless system crackled. "All the right people got on these birds. Just stick to the plan, don't fire unless we have to, and we'll be under a real sky by dinner."
It was risky sending a transmission like that before they'd even cleared the flight deck, though it was likely to slip by all the chaos.
This was it, they were at the point of no return now.
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"Three more ships just broke formation." Hoshi announced to the first-time acting CO of Pegasus.
Anastasia Dualla had plenty of experience in drills and simulations, but not in what could potentially end with live combat. CIC felt like it'd grown three times as large during her struggle to coordinate various stations. Despite the challenge, she at least felt in control of the situation.
"How much longer until alert vipers are in the air?" She asked, examining the quickly growing number of green pips change course. How many people were really stupid enough to follow that terrorist?
"Another thirty seconds." An officer behind her reported. A set of pings came from his direction. "Sir, I'm getting energy spikes all along the port flight pod, something-"
Pegasus rocked, sending a shock up Dualla's spine. It wasn't enough to knock anybody over, but she definitely felt it.
"Reading massive power failures all along the port flight pod!" An officer called out from her Damage Control terminal. "Whatever caused it, we've got severed power conduits all along decks 2 through 13."
Hoshi sounded off again. "Hangar Deck is reporting every launch tube on the port flight pod is out of commission, they can't get any power to the magnetic launch system."
"Have Laird push the damn vipers out the tubes if he has to, I want every bird we have in the air, now!"
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"The Aurora and the Celestra just broke formation." Gaeta communicated.
Tigh cursed in disbelief. "Forteen ships, we're not going to be able to stop all of them."
"Where the hell are my birds?" Adama cried out.
Gaeta had nothing but bad news to report. "Pegasus suffered a major malfunction, they're launching half their squadrons now. Still nothing from Red Squadron."
Lee grabbed his father's shoulder. "More than half our pilots out of the fight? That's definitely not a coincidence."
"No." Adama agreed. "It isn't. Are our Raptors in position?"
Gaeta seemed happy to finally relay something good for a change. "Pegasus has five raptors two minutes out from the farthest civilian ships, they'll be able to jam their DRADIS and guidance systems."
"Stopping them dead in their tracks." Tigh said with satisfaction. "No captain would land their ship without instrumentation, it'd be a suicide mission."
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Redwing pulled back on his throttle to enter tight formation with the Heiti Kan. The pilot cleared his throat, and activated his wireless receiver with great trepidation.
"To incoming vipers, these civilian ships are under our protection. Any attempt to interfere with their landing will be met with force. Please disengage."
He turned to his ECO to verify the transmission had made it out. It had. No response from Galactica or Pegasus.
"Redwing, their vipers aren't breaking off."
"They won't actually fire on civilian ships, Adama isn't that kind of person. Let them fire their warning shots."
Redwing's ECO tapped on his shoulder. "Picked up a transmission from Galactica. Adama may not be willing to shoot the civilians down, but we're fair game."
"Those civilians need the kit we're carrying to defend the settlement. Not making it down there with them isn't an option." Narcho declared coldly. "I'm sorry, none of us wanted it to come to this."
Redwing didn't let the pit in his stomach stop him from working his console to arm the guided anti-ship warheads attached to either side of his spacecraft. "I'm sorry." He muttered, along with a prayer to the Lords of Kobol. He waited for the DRADIS to produce a solid buzz,indicating a target lock on the dozen Viper's minutes away from intercepting them.
He flipped away the plastic trigger lock, and pressed down hard.
A dozen warheads streaked from the raptor into the cold black of space, visible for only a brief few seconds before becoming too distant for the naked eye to make out. Redwing relied on his DRADIS for confirmation that three of the warheads had found their target. The rest had, mercifully, either broken off early enough or used their own electronic counter measures to evade the missiles.
Vipers had ejection seats. There was a good chance nobody had actually died.
His squadron's landing minutes later wasn't filled with jubilation or cheers. Only a tense, hurried meeting with the fifteen ship captains who'd been bold enough to break off from the fleet.
The sky wasn't quite as blue as Paolo had hoped, but the feeling of a warm sun radiating on his skin made him feel like what they'd done was worth it.
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Racetrack knew their patrol would pass close enough for Galactica to break through their jamming sooner or later. The static starting to come through the wireless grew more and more discernible, eventually the fleet's orders to pursue the civilian ships was received loud and clear.
"That's our cue to leave." Skulls declared from the rear compartment.
"And hope like hell everybody else came through for us." Racetrack tapped a set of coordinates into the raptor's FTL navigation console. It wouldn't even take them out of the nebula, but it was far enough out to get the patrol off her back before they realized what happened.
"Jumping in three, two…" The canopy flashed a solid white. That routine feeling of being squeezed and compromised- a side effect of the FTL jump - washed over the two officers until the spacecraft returned to the hazey black of normal space an instant later.
It'd take her at least an hour to calculate the short range jump back to the planet. It'd need to be much closer to the surface than she was comfortable with, but a safer jump outside the atmosphere would give the fleet plenty of time to shoot her out of the sky.
They'd have to be over just the right part of the planet, too. Once their bird was on the ground, it was stuck there. Anything that took off would be detected and shot down from orbit. She'd be trapped with every other pilot who took part in this little mutiny.
Racetrack reached for her notepad and the astrometrics chart under her seat. At least they'd have plenty of time to get it right.
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Zarek held high hopes that more ships would've broken with Roslin and Adama, but they were enough to make Roslin's plan of simply leaving an impossibility. He stepped off Astral Queen to find a scene of dozens of crewmen from various ships frantically taking inventory of how many they were, and what they had to work with.
First order of business was setting up a defense perimeter, and figuring out exactly what kind of firepower they had to defend themselves against Adama.
Of course, the Colonials weren't the only ones lying in wait on their stretch of beach. As Zarek finally worked past the bustle of people and imposing spacecraft, their surface still hot to the touch from the heat of re-entry, he caught sight of those dozens of armor-clad men making their way towards the landing site. They rode odd creatures that looked vaguely like scaled camels with elongated heads, and the green sheen of their armor gave their home nation away long before they were close enough to talk.
"General Fong, I'm guessing?" Zarek asked with an extended hand.
The man wore an almost imposingly thick beard stretching down to his sternum, and a golden cap kept most of his hair standing straight up. He reached a hand out to clasp Zarek's before disembarking from his animal. "Tom Zarek of the Colonials?"
"It's good to meet you face to face. I'd like to introduce you to some of my ship captains, they're touching bases right now."
"And then we set off for Ba Sing Se." Fong replied curtly. "My men will keep up their end of the bargain if you can keep up yours."
"Of course, I have my people gathering the supplies we'll need right now. Come with me please."
Zarek beckoned Fong and his men into the crowd, catching more than their fair share of deeply confused glances. He caught sight of Racetrack and Redwing nestled in the chaos.
"Racetrack!" Zarek called out through the crowd. "That was good work, we couldn't have made it through the fleet's air patrol without you. I'm in your debt."
"They aren't going to give up on us easily." Racetrack said with concern. "Adama's going to try and force us back one way or another."
"I think he'll find bringing our rebellion back into the fold to be a much more difficult job than he expected." The freedom fighter gestured towards his newfound ally. "This man is General Fong of the Earth Kingdom. He's pledged a platoon of Earth Benders to aid in the defense of our little settlement. Adama's only hope is to land marine teams and take us back at the barrel of a gun, but I don't think he'll want to take on Fong's men in close-quarters combat."
Racetrack looked absolutely gobsmacked, eyeing Fong with a mix of disbelief and amusement. "This is your plan? A bunch of Gods damned peasants against a marine strike team that can pick them off ten kilometers away?"
Zarek raised a hand towards the Hitei Kan. Its menacing, ribbed hull towering over most other civilian ships. "See that? That's one of two refinery ships in the entire fleet. Adama's not going to call in a military strike if there's any chance at all she could be damaged. Adama also isn't our only concern. What if the Fire Nation decides to come pay us a visit?"
He set a hand on Fong's creature. Zarek wasn't sure if that was slime or sweat he was feeling, and he certainly wasn't going to pause and ask. "Most of these civvies are just desperate for a home, they don't know how to fight if it comes to it. Fong's men will augment the firepower we already have."
"Yeah, I hope you're right." Racetrack retorted.
"Paolo, did you get everything we needed?" Zarek asked the second pilot eagerly.
"Small arms, grenade launchers, everything we'll need to defend ourselves, at least in the short term." Paolo affirmed.
"That's great. What about the ordinance on your birds, did your flight crews mount everything?"
"Yeah" The pilot didn't sound as eager to be on the surface as Zarek would've thought. "Everything you and Abana wanted."
"Perfect." Zarek turned to Fong. "I'm going to have my people start unmounting some equipment we'll need from the Raptors, then we can go. It won't take long."
"How many people are you bringing?" Fong asked expectantly.
"Only the people I trust implicitly, about a dozen."
"A dozen men are supposed to stop the Fire Nation?"
"Wait, wait." Racetrack interrupted. "Stop the Fire Nation? That wasn't part of-"
Zarek grabbed the pilot's arm. "You don't think the Earth Kingdom sent a contingent of Earth Benders to defend us out of the goodness of their heart, did you? You worry about playing games with Adama. I have other concerns."
Tom returned his attention to the general. "Trust me, Fong. A dozen is all we're going to need."
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Roslin couldn't avoid stepping over broken piping and exposed wiring during her walk through Pegasus's badly bruised flight deck. The ship's air scrubbers had finished removing the last traces of smoke and CO2 from the ship's air, but the physical wounds would take much longer to heal.
She wanted to curse herself for being blind enough to let all this happen in front of her. She knew how dejected people would feel for leaving, but she didn't realize things would go downhill so quickly. It was her job to know how people would react to such news, and she'd been an abject failure at that role.
"Do we know how many people were involved in the mutiny?" She asked both Adama's as the three continued down the damaged Battlestar. "Could any of them still be onboard?"
Lee was quick to answer, but the feeling of shame over all this happening under his command was palpable. "We don't know how many exactly, probably in the dozens. A Battlestar has insanely redundant systems, they would've needed a lot of technical know-how about how Pegasus worked to know exactly which power conduits to trip to cause a total failure like that."
"I think we should assume at least some of Zarek's accomplices are still in orbit." Admiral Adama offered solemnly.
Lee at least tried to provide some hope. "CIC is reviewing every scrap of security footage since Roslin dissolved the committee, it's only a matter of time until we ferret them out."
The Cylons, Spirits, the Fire Nation, fleet politics, and now even the military itself. Roslin wondered if there was any faction in the universe she wouldn't need to watch her back around. "Beyond Zarek's co-conspirators up here, do we know how many people landed on the surface?"
Admiral Adama shoved a clipboard into her hand. "Fifteen ships, around seven thousand souls."
"Nearly twenty percent of the fleet." Roslin counted.
Leave it to Adama not to put the brakes on bad news. "You should know what ships left. The mining ship Monarch and refinery ship Hetei Kan are among the defectors, both absolutely vital to our long-term survival."
"We can't replace them." Lee explained. "Without those ships this fleet would run out of fuel within a year, either we bring them back into the fold, or we're stuck here."
"One more thing," Adama started to Roslin's horror. "We had a Raptor take some flyby shots of Zarek's little settlement, you're going to want to see this."
The admiral quickly handed Laura a set of highly zoomed in fly-by shots of Zarek's camp. Towards the top of the picture, a set of black figures were circled in red. As she shifted through the pictures, the figures blended into those of the settlement. "They've made some acquaintances down there pretty quickly."
"Aside from you, Tom Zarek was the loudest advocate of the Earth Kingdom in the fleet." Lee reasoned. "He also had direct contact with the Earth Kingdom during Baltar's campaign. Given the settlement seems deliberately located within their territory, it makes me wonder if the locals knew this was coming."
A frantic Dualla came rushing through the corridor, and practically shoved a set of papers into Lee's hands. "Did you sign this?" She asked urgently.
The younger Adama ran his eyes down the document, his facial expression becoming more still by the second. "Absolutely not, they forged my signature." He flipped a page. "Oh my Gods."
"What? What's wrong?" Roslin implored, her eyes darting from Lee to Dualla.
"I confirmed with munitions." Dualla stated. "Two GNO-50's were removed and mounted on one of the defecting Raptors shortly before the mutiny."
"And those would be?"
Lee gulped before folding the papers in half. "Guided Nuclear Ordinance, 50 kiloton yield. Zarek's people managed to steal two warheads."
"This should never have happened." Dualla was still in a half-panic. "There are a lot of safeguards around the authorization of nuclear weapons. The deckhands either ignored them, or were part of the conspiracy to smuggle them out."
Laura opened her mouth, trying to speak, but nothing came out. Her legs suddenly began to fail her, forcing the president to lean against a bulkhead for support. "Are you telling me," She started as her internal horror mounted, "A terrorist with a martyr complex is loose on that planet, with two nuclear warheads?"
"If he's in contact with the Earth Kingdom, he might be trying to take their war into his own hands." Admiral Adama grabbed the reconnaissance photos back from Roslin. "We need to find him soon, before he has a chance to do whatever the hell he has planned."
"I want constant surveillance of that settlement, if anybody leaves we need to know exactly where they're going." Roslin demanded. "Tom Zarek has never been above bombing civilians in the past, we have to assume no target is off the table."
"Madam President!" One of the deckhands called out from half way down the flight deck. Roslin didn't know the man, but Lee seemed familiar with him. "CIC just called down for you. Someone from the planet is trying to get in touch with you."
Laura's heart skipped a beat. "Somebody from the settlement?"
The deckhand shook his head. "One of the locals. I think CIC said his name was Aang."
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Fire Nation ingenuity had no match anywhere on the planet, Azula had always known this. This time, however, even their most cunning of engineers had outdone themselves. The grand machine roaring beneath the princess stretched nearly a mile long, and what it lacked in speed it more than made up for in sheer herculean power. The great, metallic cylinder was an unfathomably powerful drill, deliberately designed for one specific purpose:
To bring a decisive end to the Fire Nation's hundred-year conflict.
Ba Seng Se had proven to be a more resilient adversary than the Fire Nation initially believed. The city remained the crown jewel of the Earth Kingdom through a century of warfare, even enduring a years-long siege led by her uncle, the great General Iroh. The metropolis's walls were thought to be utterly impenetrable, a testament to the defiance of the Earth Kingdom.
Today, Azula would shatter that veneer of invincibility. This machine was the pinnacle of Fire Nation engineering - so utterly massive it sunk the very ground beneath it, its engines mighty enough to fill the air for miles with a titanic roar warning of their approach. If that wasn't enough to break the defender's resolve, a regiment of soldiers housed in the drill's hull would quickly overwhelm them.
"War Minister Qin, how much longer until we reach the city?" Azula asked as if her will alone would expedite their movement.
The War Minister ran his magnifying glass across his map. It was one of those new, unnaturally precise maps provided by the Colonials. Every minor change in the terrain's height was clearly labeled by a series of lines on one copy, right down to the meter. It helped expedite the movement of their massive drill by ensuring it only travelled on more favorable terrain. Another, larger copy showed the exact position of every scrap of terrain - every lake, river, and tree - within ten miles of the Earth Kingdom Capital. Every potential ambush point was there in plain sight, giving Azula the chance to coordinate the most tactically expedient angle to approach the city from.
"Before sunset for sure." Qin replied with delight.
The tanks escorting their drill also bore new modifications, courtesy of their trading partners. They'd just rolled off the production line shortly before departing for Ba Seng Se, hulls reinforced by the more refined methods the Colonials had passed on to them. That was only the beginning, imagine how else the Fire Nation's mechanists could put their new toys to use in the coming years.
"How much longer until we're off this filthy thing?" Mai, Azula's close friend and ally, brooded as she leaned off the side of the great machine's railing.
"Have some patience, not much longer and my father will welcome us back as heroes to the Fire Nation." Azula boasted.
An officer climbed atop the pavilion to greet Azula with a swift bow. "Princess Azula, Fire Lord Ozai is on the wireless. He wishes to speak with you right away."
The wireless sets provided by the Colonials had proven to be a more valuable asset than Azula could have imagined. When given to military units, they were able to coordinate attacks more quickly and efficiently than ever before, to the point of enveloping entire Earth Kingdom divisions before they had a chance to react. One was installed here on the drill, allowing Azula to report their progress directly to her father in real time.
"Something has happened, Azula." Ozai bellowed. "Some of our scouts in the Earth Kingdom reported a number of metal ships descending from the sky on trails of fire, they landed on the coastline a few hours ago. I don't need to tell you who that sounds like."
A few hours. Normally, news like this would've taken days to make its way to the Royal Palace.
"The Colonials have business in the Earth Kingdom." Azula deduced. "The question is, what kind?"
It was strange, trying to deduce exactly what her father wanted without having his body language as a guide post. "That's what I want you to find out. You have experience with their kind, I want you to start making your way back to the Royal Palace immediately. War Minister Qin will take lead on the siege of Ba Seng Se."
"Father, you have-" Azula bit her tongue. She was so looking forward to cementing her name in the history books as the person who finally broke the walls of the Earth Kingdom's capital after a hundred years of war. However, she knew better than to try changing her father's mind. "I'll start heading back to the palace right away."
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Three hours had passed since Laura returned to Colonial One, and she was more than ready for what she hoped was the first piece of good news she'd known in weeks.
Aang and the others had finally reached out to the fleet on his wireless. Laura would've liked to think better late than never, but even if the kids couldn't do much to change the irreparably damaged political situation in the fleet, knowing at least one person on the planet wanted something to do with them made her feel a little better.
Maybe they could even help track down Zarek, though the president wasn't sure how willing they'd be to help them after she couldn't come through with her promise to help Aang stop the Fire Nation.
With that thought, Roslin felt a little more down again. How in the world was she going to explain the Zarek situation to these people? Well, I failed to get the Quorum to stop the Fire Nation like I said I would, then a former terrorist apparently vowed to take the war into his own hands and is probably helping the Earth Kingdom right now. Yes, I promise he's the bad guy.
Colonial One's pilot confirmed the Raptor carrying the children had arrived on Colonial One, and were ready to meet with Adama and Roslin. The president felt an odd mixture of relief and guilt when the bulkhead to her office opened and the familiar trio walked inside.
"Welcome back." Laura said with a forced smile. "You know Admiral Adama, and this is Lee, Adama's son and commander of the Battlestar Pegasus."
"It's good to finally meet you." Lee offered a hand to the tattooed boy, then Katara and her brother.
"Nice place you've got." Sokka said, looking out the windows dotting the hull of the passenger-liner-turned-office. The planet dominated a good chunk of their view, even from the higher orbit Adama had the fleet assume post-mutiny.
"I was a passenger on this ship when the Cylons attacked, we've changed it up quite a bit since then." Roslin decided it was best to ease them into recent events. "A lot has happened since you've been gone."
Aang's face looked more like the angry and confused expression he first wore when they met on Galactica for the first time weeks ago. "I'm still upset about what happened to the Earth Kingdom because of you."
"We had no idea they were planning to steal the food." Roslin couldn't put into words how numb she'd felt after the news reached the fleet, but she would try anyway. "If we knew, we would've done things differently. I can't even begin to express how horrified I felt when I learned what happened."
Thankfully, the admiral was there to back her up. "What the Fire Nation did was wrong. We're not going to try making excuses for what happened."
Aang's face softened. "Were you at least able to get the Quorum to let you fight the Fire Nation?"
"Aang…" Where was she even supposed to begin? "I tried to get the Quorum on board, but they refused to take action. I felt just, absolutely disgusted after that, knowing what happened to- I mean, what we did to the Earth Kingdom, then being powerless to stop the Fire Nation..."
The trio's faces looked frustrated, but allowed her to continue.
"I became terrified of what might happen if our people stayed, so I made preparations for the fleet to leave. A lot of people refused to go, to the point they were willing to mutiny in order to stay. More than a dozen ships, with thousands of people, broke away and landed on the planet themselves."
Aang's expression changed from anger to confusion like a switch was flipped. "You were going to leave?"
"I decided the risk of potentially drawing the Cylons to your world was too great." Roslin continued with a nod. "I cannot overstate how much of a slaughter it would be if they were to stumble across your planet, and I wasn't willing to let that happen."
"You were going to leave to protect us?" Katara paraphrased.
"I knew the fleet wouldn't be happy, but I hate to say I think I had a lapse in judgement. I was mortified I felt when I learned how the Fire Nation supplied our food, and knowing we'd already given them our technology…" Roslin shook her head.
That combined with visions of the Cylons bringing destruction to Aang's world finally pushed her over the edge. Her rash decision hadn't just split the fleet, it'd gotten even more people killed.
"Where did they go?" Aang asked. "The people you said left for the planet."
The admiral took over the conversation from here. "They landed near a coastline in the Earth Kingdom. The leader of their movement, a man named Tom Zarek, seemed to be in contact with their government."
"Zarek's people stole a pretty decent stockpile of weapons before they staged their mini-coup." Lee advanced. "Some of those weapons have destructive potential beyond anything you can imagine, and we think he's going to use them against the Fire Nation."
The older Adama piped up again. "We can't overemphasize how important it is that Zarek is found and stopped."
Sokka threw his arms apart. "Well that sounds like a good thing, if this Zarek guy wants to stop the Fire Nation himself, just let him!"
"You need to understand what kind of person Tom Zarek is." Roslin carried on. "Before the Cylon attack, Zarek was a violent terrorist. He once bombed a government building filled with hundreds of innocent people just to make a political statement. To him, there is no distinction between military and civilian targets."
Katara and Aang locked eyes. "We met somebody like that once. He was willing to blow up a dam to kill Fire Nation soldiers, even if it flooded whole villages."
"Whole villages are small compared to what this man could destroy if he thought it would accomplish his goals." Lee warned.
"Aang, if you had to strike one target in the Fire Nation, what would it be? Where do you think he could be headed?" Roslin implored.
Aang mulled the question over for a few moments. "My plan was to master all four elements, then defeat the Fire Lord. If he wanted to stop the war, he'd go after Fire Lord Ozai, too."
"The Royal Palace." Lee thought out loud. "Ozai and most of the Royal Family live in a palace, near the Fire Nation's capital city."
"That palace is one of the most well defended strongholds in the world." Sokka expressed in frustration. "If the Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom couldn't get anywhere near it for a hundred years, Zarek wouldn't be able to, either."
"With the weapons Zarek has, he doesn't need to get anywhere near the palace." Adama emphasised. "All that man has to do is get into the Fire Nation's capital, put himself within a couple miles of the palace…"
"No more Fire Lord, and the city is just collateral damage." Roslin finished with horror.
Lee pressed himself closer to Laura. "I've been to that city, Madam President. It's one of the most densely populated places on the planet. If that nuke goes off anywhere near the palace, we're talking hundreds of thousands of people in the blast radius."
"Hundreds of thousands?" Aang asked with similar mounting dread.
Laura confirmed Aang's terror. "The weapon Zarek has could destroy a big chunk of the city and poison the land for decades."
"Then we have to stop him." Aang boldly declared. "We'll help you find him."
Aang's respect for life might be extreme to the point of naivety, but in this case it was working in their favor. Roslin felt a deep respect for his willingness to stick up for his beliefs, even if it meant potentially saving the Fire Lord he was so keen on stopping.
Although they weren't completely buddy-buddy, it was nice to have one ally among the locals again.
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Ba Seng Se was a sight to behold. Zarek heard plenty of first-hand accounts of the Earth Kingdom capital, but they hadn't come close to doing the metropolis justice. The architecture seemed to flow seamlessly out of the ground, gleaming streets of brick and stone hosted shops selling every conceivable good. His new-found allies had provided living arrangements in the city's middle ring, where he was told most of the Ba Seng Se's merchants and working-class population lived. Zarek couldn't stop himself from looking out the open-air window of the modest upper-story apartment he was provided, where he could see beautiful green-roofed buildings dotting the horizon.
But for all the city's beauty, the place seemed strangely off putting.
In all the fleet's diplomatic overtures over the past few weeks, not a single delegation had been permitted into the inner walls of Ba Seng Se. Even Zarek and his men were closely watched by a group called the Dai Li, who seemed to be the Earth Kingdom equivalent of a secret police.
As far as the very few people Zarek had talked to were concerned, there was no war. No existential crisis being waged against the Fire Nation. The Dai Li seemed content to cover up all discussion of the 100-year war in the name of stability. Their scheme was alarmingly authoritarian, but it wasn't as if Zarek had a chance to back out now. Besides, the Earth Kingdom was still the lesser of two evils by a significant margin.
"I've been eagerly awaiting your proposal." A balding Dai Li agent said after allowing himself into Zarek's abode. His sleeves were interlocked, and while the man looked at Zarek with almost bored disinterest, Zarek knew when somebody was trying to put on an act for him. "My name is Long Feng, Grand Secretariat of Ba Seng Se. "My men have told me you've promised a way to strike a fatal blow to the Fire Nation. I don't have to tell you how valuable a company of Earth benders is to the military right now, so I hope you're able to come through with your side of the bargain."
"Of course." Zarek gave a charismatic smile at the Dai Li agent. "The Fire Nation is fanatically autocratic, their people have been brainwashed for generations to worship the Royal Family almost as Gods. That's a pretty fair assessment, wouldn't you say?"
Long Feng seemed happy to yield Zarek's point. "To most Fire Nation citizens, Fire Lord Ozai is the very symbol of victory. He's overseen decades of military triumphs."
"So just imagine what would happen," Zarek traced a hand over one of the two large crates his people lugged through hundreds of miles of terrain. "If their Gods were to die? Suddenly, traumatically, and without any possible way of seeing it coming or stopping it from happening. One day, the whole Royal Family is just wiped off the map."
Feng raised a curious eye brow. "I'd say that would certainly hurt their resolve. Even Avatar Aang's plan was to defeat Ozai in order to bring an end to the war." He was quick to change tone. "But even at the height of our power, an assault on the Fire Nation capital was completely out of the question. Ozai and the Royal Family are safe behind a fortress almost as impregnable as Ba Seng Se."
Zarek tapped on the metal crate. His people had taken great care to remove the warheads from their delivery system. He'd have loved anything to take one of the stolen raptors and just fire the nuke off from twenty miles in the air, but there was a more than even chance Adama would shoot them down before they reached altitude. "My people have weapons, devastating weapons, secretariat. These two devices might not look like anything, but I promise they harness the very same powers that make the sun burn. If we can sneak one of them into the Fire Nation capital, get within a few miles of the palace…" Zarek gave Feng a satisfied grin. "The great symbol of the Royal Palace would be turned into a crater. Most of their capital city would be a grim, dying husk. It'll destroy the Fire Nation's resolve, they'll beg for peace before they let it happen again."
Long Feng's face betrayed an incredulous, demeaning expression, but Zarek had a certain charisma to him as well. It didn't take long to convince Feng the weapon was a genuine item, not when so much of the Colonial's technological might power had already been on display for the world to see.
"I will see to it you have what you need." Long Feng announced when all was said and done. "I have a few agents in mind to help you already."
A second man opened the door to Zarek's apartment, donning the same tan-green uniform draping down his body, and a wide green cap adorning his head. "Secretariat, something is coming. You're needed at the outer wall."
The Dai Li officer's emotions weren't exaggerated. The sight greeting Zarek and Long Feng at the city's outer walls didn't just shake the steeled men to their core, it rocked the very ground beneath them.
Far off in the distance, a massive, dark grey cylinder inched ever closer towards the city. Swathes of dust and rock swirled to either side of the colossal machine as it tore rock like it was paper, and a regiment of Fire Nation tanks flanked the nightmare on either end.
"The Fire Nation are trying to end this war themselves." Long Feng deduced.
The voice of the officer who'd summoned them quivered. "They've already tore through the Terra Team."
"The Terra Team was our last line of defense." Long Feng's worry was finally starting to pierce his veil of invincibility. "If they couldn't stop that thing, we're doomed!"
Tom Zarek saw an opportunity.
"This is our chance to deliver a warning." Zarek said coldly. "We have two warheads. We're going to destroy that device, Long Feng. Completely and utterly."
Zarek turned to the mixture of Earth benders and his own men behind him. "We need a volunteer."
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To Aang and his friends, Pegasus held a completely different atmosphere from Galactica. Most of that dreary ambience Aang had come to know was gone. The corridors were brighter, and the electronic equipment installed through the ship simply looked sleeker. Lee told him Pegasus was a much more modern ship at the time of the attack, and that something about the ship let them do just as much work with half the people. For all the wonders these people had, their willingness to replace actual people with machines seemed the most outlandish. Where would that path end? The ship's sheer size meant Lee was able to find Aang and his friends somewhere more comfortable to stay.
While the ship itself was a little less bleak, the people were anything but. Many of those he'd talked to last time had taken their eventual settlement on his world as an inevitability. Now, they were processing the idea of being locked up in this glorified metal barrel for the rest of their days. All to protect his world from the Cylons he'd heard so much about.
"I wonder if a tour of this ship is out of the question." Sokka wondered out loud. "If Galactica was supposed to be old and rusty, I can't wait to find out what's here."
Katara rolled her eyes at his brother. "I think we have more important things to worry about right now, Sokka."
"Do you really think they were going to leave?" Aang blurted out, only half-listening to his friend's conversation.
"Laura sounded pretty serious." Katara said softly. "And it sounded like her trying to leave caused a lot of problems."
"Some of them died." Aang carried on. "Lee told me two of his pilots died trying to stop Zarek from landing."
"If they leave, at least it means we won't have to worry about these people causing any problems for us, after this mutiny thing is sorted out." Sokka observed.
"Yeah, if it's sorted out." Katara said skeptically. "Those people didn't sound like they were going to leave quietly before, I don't think that's going to change now that they've made it down."
Aang shoved his chin into his palms. "I can't get over how she was willing to risk everything, just to protect us. That doesn't sound like the kind of person who would sell us out to the Fire Nation."
Sokka shot a finger at Aang, "But they did sell us out."
"I don't know what I would have done." Aang looked towards the young waterbender he was proud to call a friend. "If you guys were going to starve, and I had to make a choice like that, I really don't know. Just thinking about it terrifies me."
Katara offered Aang a warm smile. "We're lucky we haven't had to make a choice like that."
"Yeah, but if we did have to make it, what would we do?"
The waterbender only offered an uncomfortable silence.
Their conversation was cut short by a ping they'd been told indicated somebody was at their door. Katara opened the door to find a frazzled Lee Adama entered the room holding… momo?
Lee instantly let go of the creature, allowing it to scatter behind Aang. "Your little pet got away on the trip over. It's been giving the deckhands hell for an hour, you're welcome."
"There you are!" Aang exclaimed at the small animal. "I figured you just found a corner to hide in, I didn't know you'd run off on us again."
"Yeah, let us know if you have any other surprises waiting for us." Lee fumed, helping himself to a seat in their room. "I actually did have another reason for coming up here. We've completely lost track of Zarek and his Earth bender friends, we were hoping you might have an idea of where they might have taken him."
Sokka seemed the most eager to talk to this new commander. "If the Earth Kingdom is working with him, it'd make sense for the Earth King to want to meet him. He'd be heading for Ba Seng Se."
"Unfortunately, we're not exactly welcome there." Lee shook his head, then gave a nervous glance at the wall. "You know, I thought about telling you this on Colonial One, but… I was the one who met with Fire Lord Ozai and negotiated the deal. It still hurts, thinking about those Earth Kingdom villagers. When I heard what happened, it was like a knife through my chest. I feel like a big part of it was my fault, I should've seen the kind of people they were."
"The Fire Lord is good at manipulating people." Aang genuinely wanted to believe Lee. His words couldn't bring those villagers back, but at least he seemed to be trying to take responsibility for his actions. "Are you really Admiral Adama's son?"
Lee nodded. "We don't always see eye to eye, but he's my father. And my superior officer."
"What made you side with Roslin?" Aang pushed on. "I mean, everybody I've met sounds super disappointed to be leaving. But you and your dad sided with her anyway. You even attacked your own people! Why side with her?"
Lee stared at the three of them for a moment, then stroked his chin contemplatively. Finally, after a few moments, he took a breath to answer. "That's a hard question. Honestly, I thought Roslin was making a terrible mistake. It was obvious her decision was going to tear the fleet apart. I even looked for options, legal options, to remove her."
The Commander leaned forward to level with Aang. "At the end of the day though, our society is a democracy. When my dad tried removing Laura from power a few months ago, I was willing to put a gun on Colonel Tigh's head to stop him. The system we've built isn't perfect, but I'd die before I let the military stage a coup against the civilian government, even if I don't agree with it."
Aang gave a faint smile. These people didn't appear to be the self-serving demagogues he'd been worried they were after he'd learned of their deal with the Fire Nation. "It's important to have beliefs more important than your own life, I think."
"My dad was telling me you've got some beliefs you're pretty dead-set on yourself." Now it was Lee's turn to push. "You place a pretty high value on life, isn't that right?"
"My people believed all life is sacred." Aang began explaining. "I don't even eat meat! We believed in living in harmony with the world around us, physically and spiritually."
Lee actually seemed pretty interested in what he had to say. "I admire that a lot about you, your willingness to stand up for your ideals. I wish we'd had the luxury of doing that over the last year."
"It's hard to understand you people." Aang expressed. "You said you were willing to turn on your own people instead of betraying your democracy, Roslin was willing to risk her life in that forest to try getting that food."
Katara gripped Aang's shoulder. "Laura was actually trying to get to know me as a person. That doesn't feel like somebody who'd be willing to let an old woman die in that sickbay."
Lee's expression shifted, his body relaxed. Though his eyes betrayed a much more solemn state of mind. "Ever since the Cylons destroyed the Colonies, we've had to make a lot of really hard decisions. I'd be lying if I said we haven't had to compromise who we are to survive."
The commander reached into his pocket to pull out a scrap of paper. "I want to show you something. After we escaped, the Cylons kept finding us over and over again. We finally figured out they were tracking-"
"Tracking a civilian ship." Katara finished. "Kara told us that story, she said she had to blow it up."
"With over a thousand people on it." Aang concluded.
Lee twiddled whatever he was holding in his hands. "Yeah, I was a Viper pilot back then. I was actually the one who fired on the ship first, and President Roslin was the one who gave the order. I kept having nightmares about that ship - I'd see the faces of those passengers, or the last flames of its blasted hull mixed with blood - And Roslin helped me get through it. She told me how important it is not to let those people be forgotten. She gave me this."
He revealed the crumpled, yellowing paper to the three, but the scribbles on it didn't mean anything to them. "It's the name of the civilian ship I destroyed, the Olympic Carrier. Roslin keeps a note like this in her desk drawer to help her remember, too."
Lee let Aang hold the note. Their language might be alien to him, but the meaning wasn't lost in translation. It felt good to be holding physical evidence of what Aang wanted to believe: The Colonials were hardened people just as Roku said, but they weren't evil.
"Are you still planning to leave?" Aang asked with a pang of regret.
"I don't know." Lee replied honestly. "I don't think anybody knows. The Quorum might even remove Roslin all together, and with the mutiny, I feel like we might end up staying, but I'm not sure if the fleet's going to stay in one piece."
"You need to stay." Aang urged. "I know you said you were trying to protect us, and I know we can't change the past, but if I really think all life is sacred, I can't just turn my back on you. You need to stay."
"That means a lot, Aang." Lee said with a firm hand on Aang's shoulder. "Really, more than you know. But it's not up to either of us."
"Hey!" Sokka yelled without warning. "I think I know how he can stop Zarek. He wants to stop the Fire Nation from winning the war, right?"
Katara was the quicker of the two. "Right?"
"So what we need to do is end the war for him, before he gets the chance." Sokka pushed a fist into his open palm. "If we can convince the Quorum to go through with fighting the Fire Nation, maybe we could beat Zarek to the punch, before he uses that weapon."
"The Quorum was dead set against the war before Roslin's career imploded." Lee rebuked. "I don't know if we can convince them to change their minds, even with Zarek."
The cogs in Aang's head began turning. The Colonials wanted to stay, he thought. Well, he did have a lot of influence with the various nations on the planet, being the avatar at all. Roku said there would be times he wouldn't be able to make everybody happy, but maybe this time, there was a way he could.
"I have an idea." Aang proclaimed. "I need something to write with."
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Aang knew Laura was usually willing to listen to what they had to say, but the admiral always appeared a little more skeptical of him. He wasn't used to being doubted so openly. Sure he was young, but just the title of Avatar carried a lot of weight. When he talked, people usually listened. With the Colonials, he had to work a little harder to get his point across.
Hopefully, this little conference he'd asked for on Colonial One would work out the way he hoped it would. Laura was seated in her fancy desk, Adama in a nearby chair. Lee preferred to stand.
Aang knew where he needed to begin. "First, you need to stay. I can't let you risk your own people's lives any longer, even if you were trying to protect us."
Laura actually looked momentarily taken aback, a reaction that reaction surprised Aang. "I don't know what staying here would bring." She replied. "If the Cylons were to find this world, there's nothing we could do to protect you. I don't know how much our survival is worth, if it comes at the cost of yours."
Aang mustered as much compassion as he could, and put an arm on the president's shoulder. "You were willing to risk your own people if it meant saving ours. You deserve to stay."
"I think your Cylons might be a little surprised at what they find when they get here." Sokka jabbed, unsheathing his boomerang. Lee clenched his teeth at the motion.
Admiral Adama chuckled and shook his head. "The gesture is appreciated, Sokka."
"We didn't get off on the right foot." Katara admitted. "I know you're a good person Laura, I can't let you just die out there either."
"I don't think the Earth Kingdom or Water Tribe will want much to do with us at this point." Laura expressed mournfully. "Not after what we did."
"We can help with that too!" Aang expressed in the animated tone he was so known for. "I bet they'd listen if we vouched for you."
Katara pulled Aang closer to her. "We saved the Northern Water Tribe, I'm positive we could talk them into helping you find a home, maybe even give you a few fishing boats so you don't have another food problem."
Aang slowly reached into his pocket, feeling for the small token he'd crafted before leaving Pegasus. "I wanted to give you something." The avatar produced a small, crumbled paper torn out of a notebook. He took his time unfurling the gift before setting it on Laura's recently tidied desk.
She studied the note inquisitively, though Aang knew the words were unintelligible to her. "It's a list of the villages the Fire Nation stole food from. I mean, not all of them, but I left room on there to write more."
Roslin blinked hard at the note. After a few quiet moments, she slowly clasped a hand to her mouth, and her breathing quickened. "Aang, you wrote this for me?"
"Lee told me about how you gave him a note when he had to destroy that one ship." Aang explained. "How it's important to never let ourselves forget, even while we're moving on. I wanted you to have something like that."
Laura lifted the edge of the note, caressing it for a moment between her hands before opening the top drawer of her desk and tucking it in as softly as she could manage. She inhaled hard again, as if struggling to control her breathing. "We can't ever make up for-"
Aang lifted a hand. "We know. What happened doesn't define who you are, and I can't let even more people die because of it. Which is why you need to stay, and listen to our plan."
Laura removed her glasses to wipe something off her eye. "Do you have any idea how much that means to us?"
"I'd love to hear this plan of yours." Admiral Adama urged with a similar, warm smile.
Sokka took the lead. "Zarek is only doing this to end the war, right? So if we want to stop him, the best way to do it is to end the war for him before he gets a chance to."
"And to do that, you need the Quorom's support, right?" Katara pried.
Laura bobbed her head in agreement. "I can't take military action without the Quorom's say-so, but Zarek's one-man war isn't their concern with everything else going on."
Aang took charge of laying out the scheme. "You tell the Quorum that your fleet is definitely staying. I'll even promise to vouch for you guys to the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe. People tend to listen to me, you know. In exchange, the Quorum has to let you stop the Fire Lord."
The admiral silently dipped his head. Laura gave a deep sigh. "I can't imagine the quorum is going to be very happy to hear another pitch from us."
Lee seemed noticeably more optimistic. "It could work. The Quorum gets a guarantee we're staying, and having somebody like Aang willing to smooth over relations with these people is a hell of a deal."
"The Fire Nation manipulated us." Admiral Adama fumed. "They lied to us, used us, and a lot of people are dead because we were desperate enough to fall for it." He stood up, straightened his uniform, and looked Aang dead in the eye.
Boy did the Admiral have some size on him. "Madam President, I think it's about time we take those bastards down a peg or two. If we can stop Zarek at the same time, that's a bonus. Aang has my support."
Laura looked from Aang, to Lee, then to Katara. "Well, my days as president are numbered either way. I might as well go out doing the right thing." She reached a hand out to Aang. "Stop the Fire Lord, stop Zarek, then put this fleet back together. Let's do it."
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To the lone Earth Kingdom soldier riding out of Ba Seng Se, the oncoming Fire Nation army looked like a tsunami ready to engulf his homeland. Even the ground beneath him shook with a fury rivaled only by the Earth Benders he'd seen open and close the city gates. When the call came for a single volunteer to blunt the Fire Nation attack, he was the first to jump. Unlike most of the guard, he didn't have a family left to lose. Most of them had been killed as the Fire Nation slowly but surely encroached on their territory.
It felt fitting to die spitting in the face of the very people who'd taken everything from him.
The soldier rode with a flag of surrender over his beast, shining light from the afternoon sun gleaming off the fabric.
Six tanks speed up ahead of the others, prompting the Earth Kingdom trooper to bring his creature to a halt. All he could do was wait as the Fire Nation war machines took their time riding up to greet him.
Only instead of some revered general or skeptical corporal greeting him, two young women jumped out of the contraption. One was dressed far too brightly than the guardsman would've expected to find on a battlefield, with a top exposing her midriff. Her braided hair stretched all the way down her face, and she seemed to be… smiling, very broadly at him. The other's hair was dark as a cloudy night, and seemed content to brood quietly while the other did the talking.
"Come to let us off the hook a little early?" She asked in an off puttingly cheerful voice.
The guardsmen dismounted from his animal, and began working the tarp off the small cart behind it. "I've come to deliver a message of surrender from the Earth King." With a single throw, the deceptively heavy metal box was finally revealed. "A gift from the king himself, in hopes you will show mercy."
The more cheerful one started forward towards the box, but the dark haired girl stopped her. "This could be a trick, Ty Lee." She warned. She pointed towards the guardsman "Open the box yourself."
"Of course." He heaved the cover off the metal grate, prompting the duo to hesitantly examine its contents. It was actually pretty empty, save for an odd black-green tube the length of a couple spears laid end to end. Part of the cylinder laid cut open, revealing strange, tiny red ropes jerry-rigged into a glowing screen that also laid in the box.
The two young women looked at the odd device equally confused. The brighter one laid a hand on its warm, smooth surface. "What is i-"
There was no wave of searing pain, no blinding light. The guardsman's world simply came to an abrupt, screeching halt.
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To Iroh's delight, his tea shop's business had been booming in recent days. People all over Ba Seng Se's upper ring seemed to be gushing about the district's latest offering. The Jasmine Dragon, as he'd named it, was quite the step up from the lowly shop he'd found work in after arriving in the city with his nephew as refugees. Having full control over every aspect gave him the chance to fine-tune the enterprise to his liking, a perk he'd taken full advantage of. It was the first time in a long time, the former Fire Nation general felt true purpose in life, even if his nephew's support was begrudging.
He was in the thick of mid-day's lull, cleaning dishes and preparing for the inevitable rush of people making their way to the exquisite building for lunch. Iroh set another cup down, taking a moment to admire the intricate rose patterns crafted into the small dish, and reached for yet another.
Just as the aging man was about to grasp it, his world was thrown into disarray. The walls around him flashed white, while the ground shook so hard he'd thought an earthquake had struck the city. Most of his recently cleaned dishware was thrown off their drying rack, and Iroh himself was sent tumbling towards the ground.
Next came an ear-piercing blast. Covering his ears did next to nothing to muffle a roar loud enough to put a dragon to shame. Iroh struggled to grab onto something and regain his footing. He still retained enough of his senses to notice the tea shop felt a good deal warmer.
"Uncle!" Cried Zuko, Iroh's teenage nephew. The young man helped him back onto his feet, though the boy's words were still hard to make out through badly ringing ears. "What's happening?"
Iroh gestured towards the opened door, prompting Zuko to move them both outside in the hopes of seeing what in the world was going on. Some people were on their knees screaming. Others covered their eyes, saying they'd been blinded by an impossibly bright flash.
Far off in the distance, past the city's great walls, a cloud of red and grey was creeping up towards the sky. The plume of smoke and ash seemed to rise on top of itself higher than any building.
Before the two had time to process the sight, a shockwave of dust and rock slammed into Ba Seng Se's outer wall, sending more smoke barreling into the sky. The walls remained unphased, but Iroh could feel another blast of air running over him, almost knocking the two off balance again. The door behind them broke off its hinges.
"I've never seen anything like it." Zuko's tone expressed a rare moment of genuine fear.
Iroh couldn't say he had either. Whatever caused that explosion, it was beyond any power he'd seen in his long life. Natural or otherwise.
Then, something deep within the old man's being felt like it was starting to stir. Waves of dread began rushing over Iroh. He sensed a force much greater than himself was watching over the disaster, with a similar feeling of fear and perplexion.
"Something is coming." Iroh warned, though he was only half-sure his nephew could hear him. "Something is waking up."
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Aang's brief moment of hope had been quickly interrupted by an urgent call from Galactica requesting the admiral that very second. The avatar could only hope the worst hadn't already happened, but Adama's expressionless face worried him.
"We'll be right there." Admiral Adama softly clasped the phone on Roslin's desk back on its cradle, and calmly stood up to deliver the message. "Galactica detected radiological signatures indicative of a nuclear detonation five minutes ago. Zarek just set off one of his warheads."
Aang's expression had looked so hopeful just moments ago, but it quickly turned to dread. "Where? He couldn't have made it into the Fire Nation already."
"We don't know yet." Adama said solemnly. "CIC is narrowing down the location now, we should know shortly."
Roslin shared Aang's concern. "We need to figure out where it happened, and send Raptor teams down there. These people don't have a concept for what radiation is, they need to know to get the hell out of there before people poison themselves."
Lee and his father started talking with each other while a strange out-of-body feeling began to overtake Aang. He clasped a hand to his forehead, trying to steady himself, but the sensation only grew stronger. Katara was the first to notice something was wrong, and urged him back down to his seat.
"Something wrong with Aang!" Katara cried out. "Are you okay?"
"I- I don't know." Aang stammered. "I felt something, I think from the planet."
Roslin shifted her attention towards Aang and Katara. "What kind of something?"
"Something very, very old is starting to wake up."
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The creature was timeless. It had existed as long as the planet, watching it change and evolve over the eons. So old was the beast, even the spirits themselves honored its kind with the title of Ancient Ones. Ages long ago, they roamed the untamed planet as Gods, or served as the protectors of humankind from the spirits. They'd granted humanity the ability to bend the elements, and in return were hunted down one by one over the centuries.
The Lion Turtles were thought to have been driven to extinction long ago, but still they roamed the planet. So colossal were these creatures, they effortlessly disguised themselves as entire islands. Whole villages could live and thrive on their backs, explorers would come and go, none the wiser of the primordial beast quietly biding its time.
It had been a long, long time since the Lion Turtles felt a need to make their presence known.
Far from the warring nations, the turtle rose it's inconceivably large head out of the water, sending the whole ecosystem peacefully living upon its shell into a disoriented frenzy. It looked towards the distant horizon, feeling the presence of those thousands of new arrivals busily fortifying their new settlement.
It could sense the humans above, too, albeit only faintly. They came and went, whizzing so fast above it didn't make sense. There was hardly any knowledge beyond the reach of his kind. It'd been eons since they'd felt something truly unknown. The Lion Turtle had been observing these visitors from a distance, but the time for passivity was over.
They were dangerous. They were destructive. The time to take back the mantle of this world's protector had come. These humans would be removed from the planet, one way or the other. The creature would see to it.
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Next time: The penultimate chapter. Adama decides they are officially done screwing around. Roslin finally gets some answers about her dreams. Spirit/Colonial relations come to a head. Zarek sets a plan in motion.
I wanted to be about more than just having the Colonials bashing the Fire Nation over the head for 90,000 words, so I've held back on major battle scenes until now. I'm psyched to finally get that out of my system next chapter.
Racetrack slammed a hand on her table, sending half her plate of food flying onto the floor. The crowded rec room on Pegasus screeched to a nervous halt at the Raptor pilot's outburst, though she seemed happy to carry on as if nothing happened.
"How many times have we put our asses on the line for this fleet? Huh? Every day we climb into ours birds, and not all of us come back. Remember Crashdown? BB? Jo-Jo? We've lost a lot of friends so this fleet doesn't turn into toaster food."
A pilot yelled approval from the table over, then another. Morale had taken a nosedive, to put it mildly, since Roslin's sudden announcement to leave the planet. While the civilian fleet was in chaos, most of the military had been content to stew in silence. The few crewmen who'd been vocal were spending the next week cooling their heels in the brig.
Racetrack, on the other hand, finally had enough of remaining quietly discontent. She threw her chair aside to address the entire room. "Our friends didn't give their lives so we could spend the rest of ours living in a metal box. Roslin has no right to take this away from us!"
"So say we all!" yelled a woman from another corner of the room.
"Hey hey hey!" Skulls - Racetrack's ECO - called out in a vain attempt to silence the room. Racetrack had become close to her copilot, the two made a good team. It helped he was a decent enough card player on those dozens of uneventful CAP's over the last month. "If we don't keep it down they are going to lock all of us up."
"Yeah, they can try!" Thumper challenged, gripping his holster tight.
"We're not going to get anywhere from a cell." Skulls shot back. He shifted his eyes towards Racetrack. "The Master at Arms came up to me earlier, we had a little chat. What if I told you there might be another way out of this?"
Racetrack waited a few moments for her ECO to let the joke run its course. Only he didn't start cackling, and he didn't say Gotcha. "Skulls, what exactly are you saying?"
The ECO shot a glance at their Rec Room's bulkhead. "Lock that door."
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"We're not leaving." Sarah Porter declared with a harsh decisiveness. The Gemenese delegate had made life difficult for Roslin in the past, but recent tensions had magnified every political squabble ten fold. The two met in Roslin's makeshift oval office to discuss the sudden decision to jump away from the new world, and she didn't seem to be taking the news very well.
While of the raw emotion from before had faded, Roslin's remained firm, political suicide be damned. "I'm sorry, I know how difficult this is for all of us to bear, but the decision has been made."
It wasn't a choice she'd made lightly. Roslin knew very well just how much this planet meant to the remnants of Colonial civilization she represented. To most of the civilian fleet, it felt like the only way out of the daily misery their lives had become.
"The Gods did not put this planet in front of us just to abandon it. The magic here - Spirits who roam the land, people who can bend the world around them to their will - we can't deny the Lords of Kobol have blessed this world. You can leave if you want, we won't stop you, but we are staying."
It was pointless to reason with her, but she owed it to the office to try. "Sarah, I realize how much this is to ask, but try to take a step back. Every day we're here is another day the Cylons could be closer to finding this world themselves. If the human race - not just us, the human race, is to carry on, the very best thing for us to do is to leave them alone and undetected."
"The Cylons haven't found this world yet, what makes you think they ever will?" Sarah rebutted.
"It takes one raider among tens of thousands to have the same malfunction as our Raptor, then these people will be at the mercy of an enemy they have no way to defend themselves against. Those aren't odds I'm willing to play."
"Look, arguing about this is hopeless." The delegate conceded. "We respect your right to leave, please respect our right to stay. We'll let you rip out our ship's FTL drive, hell cut off the ship's weapons if that makes you feel better, but you must respect our right to stay."
"Sarah…" Laura started. "Unity is this fleet's only hope of survival. We can't jeopardize that, and we can't afford to let our knowledge and technology run loose on their planet. We've seen what the Fire Nation was willing to do to get even a fraction of what we know."
The delegate leaned down to level with Roslin. "You seem to be the only one here jeopardizing that unity."
"Sarah, we're not getting anywhere. Why don't I have my staff show you back to your ship?"
"Roslin," Sarah began, voice just perceptibly cracking. "People are not going to let you push this. If I have to, I'll charge the helm of that ship myself, and there isn't anything a whole company of Adama's marines could do to stop me. We're staying, and you're going to have a lot of blood on your hands if you try to stop us."
Roslin leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "Excuse me? I'm sorry, but did you just threaten to lead an armed rebellion of your ship? Because that sounds an awful lot like sedition."
"Call it what you want."
"I will. Now, please, get back to your ship. I don't want things to escalate anymore than you do. The last thing I want is to start making arrests in the civilian fleet."
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Paolo "Redwing" McKay couldn't help himself from taking a deep, nervous breath during the long walk down Pegasus's bustling hanger deck. The pilot had been transferred to Pegasus along with Racetrack and Skulls shortly after Lee had been given command of the ship. He was more than happy to take the reassignment. Pegasus boasted features unlike anything on the much older Galactica. More spacious accommodations and showers that actually kept water hot chief among them.
Normal breaths. Stay calm Paolo, just a little longer and this will all be over. You just need to do what the Master at Arms Told you to do.
"Hey, Peter!" Paolo yelled out much louder than he intended.
Peter Laird was Pegasus's deck chief, a formal civilian aeronautical engineer who'd been pressed into the war shortly after the exodus. He was a good bit quieter than Tyrol, but kept their birds flying just as well. The man rolled out from underneath a raptor donning a soot-encrusted jumpsuit, and set his tool down. "Something I can help you with?"
"New ordinance loadout for the whole squadron. CO wants it done on the double." Paolo handed his clipboard off to the deck chief, praying the paperwork would pass muster with him.
Peter grabbed the clipboard and started scanning through it without bothering to stand up. "If he wants things done on the double, make sure to ask him for more deckhands. Gods, this is a lot of firepower, what the hell is he having you people do out there?"
"After whatever happened to that knuckledragger on Galactica, guess they want us ready for anything, right? Plus, with everything going on in the fleet right now…"
"Yeah, the fleet's shitshow right now, that's for sure." He turned a page on the clipboard, and his eyes shot open. "Really? What the frak do you need those for?"
Paolo had, of course, taken his time going over every piece of equipment he'd need to snag one way or the other. Some of it made him uneasy, but Abana and the other pilots helped quell his worries. They'd need protection once the first phase of their plan had been carried out. Some forms of protection offered more assurances than others. "You know, I couldn't tell you.:
"Well, this I can't do without direct authorization from the Commander."
"You should have it there, his signature is on page 5."
Laird flipped another page. "Yeah, I sure do. Technically I still need to hear from him directly… but honestly it's so hard to get him to come down here for anything, this'll work fine. I'll have it done for you pronto."
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"Sedition? Is Roslin insane? Nobody has been arrested for sedition in forty years." Lee paced Pegasus's command console from one side to another, a worried Dualla watching on as the commander desperately tried to reason with his father. "I mean, dissolving the committee was a disaster, but at least it was legal. The president just threatened to arrest a political opponent, how do you think that's going to look right now?"
"I recognize the severity of the situation, but Roslin hasn't actually done anything." Admiral Adama replied through the wireless. "The Gemenese delegate was threatening armed violence against my men, you can't expect her to do nothing."
"How much farther are we going to let this go?" Lee asked hopelessly. "The Quorum has already started the process of recalling Roslin, but that whole process was designed to take its time. It could be weeks before she's formally removed, and we could be looking at a full-blown revolt before then. "
"That's the president's prerogative. Like it or not, we answer to the civilian government Roslin leads, and we're obligated to follow our orders whether we agree with them or not. You're usually the one telling me that, Lee."
"So, what? You're just going to sit here and let this fleet devolve into civil war? Because that's what's happening, and it's getting worse."
Tense silence from the wireless. Lee clicked the receiver's push-to-talk button to speak again, but his father came through at last. "We're not going to let that happen. I'm trying to sway the president to at least give the issue more time, if we're lucky we can settle things down without any bloodshed."
"And if you can't?"
"What do you want me to do, Lee? Stage a coup?"
"We don't need to go that far." Lee said hesitantly. "I've been thinking about that rumor, the one about Roslin being compromised by some sort of spirit from the planet."
"That's slanderous bullshit and-"
"If it's true, somebody could argue that her judgement is potentially being manipulated. The Articles of Colonization allow the Quorum to remove a sitting president who isn't mentally fit to serve immediately."
Lee hated wondering if the silence was wireless distortion from the nebula, or his father intentionally being difficult. "You're missing a lot of pieces of that story. Get a Raptor, meet me on Galactica."
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"Abana just signalled, her people are in position." The stout henchman reported from his seat on Astral Queen's cramped command deck. These prison liners offered the creature comforts to its crew as it did to the prisoners it was designed to transport. That is, none at all. Every inch of space served some vital purpose, no luxury or compromise was granted.
"Not as many as we hoped, but enough to get the job done." Zarek replied with a slight nod. It made sense the woman couldn't make as much headway as Tom would have hoped. Many of the marines formerly loyal to Cain and Fisk - and not blindly loyal to Adama, had been transferred to Galactica some time ago to avoid any more incidents. Most of Pegasus's officers were loyal to the admiral, too many to make a lot of headway without arousing suspicion. "And Racetrack?"
"She's flying CAP now, as scheduled."
Zarek paced across what miniscule space the dark, cramped room would allow. Roslin only had herself to blame for what was about to happen. She and Adama had been laying the groundwork to seize power for a long time, and the planet was just a catalyst for them to make their move.
Even he didn't think his fellow delegates on the Quorum would stoop so low as to let some completely unrelated people suffer on their behalf, though. Zarek would remedy even that crime in the coming days. The Earth Kingdom would have justice, and so would the men and women of the Colonies.
The freedom fighter couldn't have asked for better men and women by his side. "Send the signal to Racetrack's Raptor."
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A series of deafening pings emitted from Racetrack's console before she silenced the device with a quick tap. "That was Zarek, we're go."
The fleet's Combat Air Patrol usually took the form of a dozen Vipers supported by a single Raptor. What the electronic warfare craft lacked in dogfighting abilities, it more than made up for with immensely superior sensors. They were the eyes and ears of any combat sortie, and usually the first warning that something hostile was making its way towards the rag-tag fleet.
"It's not too late to break things off." Skulls offered from the rear compartment.
"No, you were right. We need to do this."
CAP had been increased from one to two squadrons after a number of ships threatened to break off from the fleet. Adama even went as far as to order a number of close flyby's to spook some of the ship captains. Right now, her bird was attached to Red Squadron, patrolling the outer edge of the fleet's perimeter.
She took a breath, and flipped a final switch. She waited for Skull's signal they were good to go before she pressed her push-to-talk button. "Red Squadron, Racetrack. We're hitting a pocket of EM interference from the nebula. Looks like we'll be out of contact with the fleet for a while."
"Finally, some Gods damned privacy." Hotdog, one of the patrol's pilots, joked into his comms.
After triple checking she wasn't transmitting, she turned to her ECO. "You're sure they're jammed?"
"Positive. As far as Galactica is concerned, we're out of commission."
Racetrack wasn't doing this herself, she reminded herself. She was doing it for all those people in the fleet who'd be doomed to die in the cold and dark if Roslin had her way.
At least it made the thought of betraying her friends easier.
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"I'm going to need you to run all of this by me one more time." Lee insisted to his father. "So, Roslin is being visited by spirits? How does that even work?"
"Since shortly after we arrived at the planet, yes." Admiral Adama pressed on. "It appears to be a single entity, it even offered information about the forest spirit before Roslin and Aang attempted negotiating with it. Doc Cottle confirmed something is off about her a few days ago"
Tigh let out an exasperated sigh. "This damned planet just keeps throwing one surprise after another at us.""
"We also know the spirit seems to be learning about us through her dreams. It showed her people who died in the Colonies, or on the fleet. It even reproduced an image of Caprica. We think this could be this spirit's way of collecting intelligence about us."
"How do we know that thing isn't directly influencing President Roslin?" Lee accused.
The admiral adjusted his glasses. "I know Laura Roslin, Commander. I'd know if something was off about her. She's been under tremendous stress lately just like all of us, but she hasn't been compromised."
Lee, for all his faults, could at least be counted on to listen to reason. "I believe you, but the civilian fleet might not. If this gets out-"
"Sir!" Gaeta called out. "Zarek's on the wireless, transmitting fleet wide. You need to hear this."
A crack of distortion sounded over CIC's loudspeaker's before the overly righteous voice of Tom Zarek took over.
-And women of the fleet, Laura Roslin and Admiral Adama have threatened to take away the one bastion of hope this fleet has known since the destruction of the Colonies. I, for one, will not allow them to rip this away from us, and neither should you. Right now six ships are breaking formation with the fleet to land on the planet at the coordinates I am transmitting. Any ship who defies this corrupt administration to join us will be welcomed in with open arms. We have a strength in numbers Adama cannot stop - I urge you to do what's best for your people. Zarek out."
Admiral Adama's voice cracked over CIC like a whip."What the hell does Zarek think he's doing?"
Gaeta was quick to double-check his station's DRADIS. "Confirmation on six ships breaking formation with the fleet, they're definitely on course for the planet."
"Tom Zarek has finally crossed the line." Tigh spat out. "We still have time to stop him."
"Have CAP box those ships in." Adama commanded. "Order them to fire warning shots off those ship's bow if they don't cut their engines immediately."
"Sir, I'm only getting confirmation from one squadron." Gaeta reported, voice heavy with worry, a few moments later. "Blue Squadron is en route to intercept the ships, but Red Squadron has gone completely dark. They're still on DRADIS, barely, but they're just not responding or changing course. Could be EM interference from the nebula."
"That's a hell of a coincidence. People in the military have been feeding information to Zarek for months now." Tigh noted with disgust. "Looks like a few of them may have finally decided to take things further."
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"Redwing, you and your squadron have been cleared for launch. Your orders are to jam the civilian ship's navigation systems and force them to break off their descent. They've got a head start so you'll need to hit the gas."
"Roger Actual, we'll take it from here." Paola took one last check of his ship's weapons systems to verify everything had been loaded on, though it wouldn't have made a difference at this point. "Engines green, we're hauling ass now."
"Redwing, Narcho." Paolo's wireless system crackled. "All the right people got on these birds. Just stick to the plan, don't fire unless we have to, and we'll be under a real sky by dinner."
It was risky sending a transmission like that before they'd even cleared the flight deck, though it was likely to slip by all the chaos.
This was it, they were at the point of no return now.
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"Three more ships just broke formation." Hoshi announced to the first-time acting CO of Pegasus.
Anastasia Dualla had plenty of experience in drills and simulations, but not in what could potentially end with live combat. CIC felt like it'd grown three times as large during her struggle to coordinate various stations. Despite the challenge, she at least felt in control of the situation.
"How much longer until alert vipers are in the air?" She asked, examining the quickly growing number of green pips change course. How many people were really stupid enough to follow that terrorist?
"Another thirty seconds." An officer behind her reported. A set of pings came from his direction. "Sir, I'm getting energy spikes all along the port flight pod, something-"
Pegasus rocked, sending a shock up Dualla's spine. It wasn't enough to knock anybody over, but she definitely felt it.
"Reading massive power failures all along the port flight pod!" An officer called out from her Damage Control terminal. "Whatever caused it, we've got severed power conduits all along decks 2 through 13."
Hoshi sounded off again. "Hangar Deck is reporting every launch tube on the port flight pod is out of commission, they can't get any power to the magnetic launch system."
"Have Laird push the damn vipers out the tubes if he has to, I want every bird we have in the air, now!"
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"The Aurora and the Celestra just broke formation." Gaeta communicated.
Tigh cursed in disbelief. "Forteen ships, we're not going to be able to stop all of them."
"Where the hell are my birds?" Adama cried out.
Gaeta had nothing but bad news to report. "Pegasus suffered a major malfunction, they're launching half their squadrons now. Still nothing from Red Squadron."
Lee grabbed his father's shoulder. "More than half our pilots out of the fight? That's definitely not a coincidence."
"No." Adama agreed. "It isn't. Are our Raptors in position?"
Gaeta seemed happy to finally relay something good for a change. "Pegasus has five raptors two minutes out from the farthest civilian ships, they'll be able to jam their DRADIS and guidance systems."
"Stopping them dead in their tracks." Tigh said with satisfaction. "No captain would land their ship without instrumentation, it'd be a suicide mission."
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Redwing pulled back on his throttle to enter tight formation with the Heiti Kan. The pilot cleared his throat, and activated his wireless receiver with great trepidation.
"To incoming vipers, these civilian ships are under our protection. Any attempt to interfere with their landing will be met with force. Please disengage."
He turned to his ECO to verify the transmission had made it out. It had. No response from Galactica or Pegasus.
"Redwing, their vipers aren't breaking off."
"They won't actually fire on civilian ships, Adama isn't that kind of person. Let them fire their warning shots."
Redwing's ECO tapped on his shoulder. "Picked up a transmission from Galactica. Adama may not be willing to shoot the civilians down, but we're fair game."
"Those civilians need the kit we're carrying to defend the settlement. Not making it down there with them isn't an option." Narcho declared coldly. "I'm sorry, none of us wanted it to come to this."
Redwing didn't let the pit in his stomach stop him from working his console to arm the guided anti-ship warheads attached to either side of his spacecraft. "I'm sorry." He muttered, along with a prayer to the Lords of Kobol. He waited for the DRADIS to produce a solid buzz,indicating a target lock on the dozen Viper's minutes away from intercepting them.
He flipped away the plastic trigger lock, and pressed down hard.
A dozen warheads streaked from the raptor into the cold black of space, visible for only a brief few seconds before becoming too distant for the naked eye to make out. Redwing relied on his DRADIS for confirmation that three of the warheads had found their target. The rest had, mercifully, either broken off early enough or used their own electronic counter measures to evade the missiles.
Vipers had ejection seats. There was a good chance nobody had actually died.
His squadron's landing minutes later wasn't filled with jubilation or cheers. Only a tense, hurried meeting with the fifteen ship captains who'd been bold enough to break off from the fleet.
The sky wasn't quite as blue as Paolo had hoped, but the feeling of a warm sun radiating on his skin made him feel like what they'd done was worth it.
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Racetrack knew their patrol would pass close enough for Galactica to break through their jamming sooner or later. The static starting to come through the wireless grew more and more discernible, eventually the fleet's orders to pursue the civilian ships was received loud and clear.
"That's our cue to leave." Skulls declared from the rear compartment.
"And hope like hell everybody else came through for us." Racetrack tapped a set of coordinates into the raptor's FTL navigation console. It wouldn't even take them out of the nebula, but it was far enough out to get the patrol off her back before they realized what happened.
"Jumping in three, two…" The canopy flashed a solid white. That routine feeling of being squeezed and compromised- a side effect of the FTL jump - washed over the two officers until the spacecraft returned to the hazey black of normal space an instant later.
It'd take her at least an hour to calculate the short range jump back to the planet. It'd need to be much closer to the surface than she was comfortable with, but a safer jump outside the atmosphere would give the fleet plenty of time to shoot her out of the sky.
They'd have to be over just the right part of the planet, too. Once their bird was on the ground, it was stuck there. Anything that took off would be detected and shot down from orbit. She'd be trapped with every other pilot who took part in this little mutiny.
Racetrack reached for her notepad and the astrometrics chart under her seat. At least they'd have plenty of time to get it right.
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Zarek held high hopes that more ships would've broken with Roslin and Adama, but they were enough to make Roslin's plan of simply leaving an impossibility. He stepped off Astral Queen to find a scene of dozens of crewmen from various ships frantically taking inventory of how many they were, and what they had to work with.
First order of business was setting up a defense perimeter, and figuring out exactly what kind of firepower they had to defend themselves against Adama.
Of course, the Colonials weren't the only ones lying in wait on their stretch of beach. As Zarek finally worked past the bustle of people and imposing spacecraft, their surface still hot to the touch from the heat of re-entry, he caught sight of those dozens of armor-clad men making their way towards the landing site. They rode odd creatures that looked vaguely like scaled camels with elongated heads, and the green sheen of their armor gave their home nation away long before they were close enough to talk.
"General Fong, I'm guessing?" Zarek asked with an extended hand.
The man wore an almost imposingly thick beard stretching down to his sternum, and a golden cap kept most of his hair standing straight up. He reached a hand out to clasp Zarek's before disembarking from his animal. "Tom Zarek of the Colonials?"
"It's good to meet you face to face. I'd like to introduce you to some of my ship captains, they're touching bases right now."
"And then we set off for Ba Sing Se." Fong replied curtly. "My men will keep up their end of the bargain if you can keep up yours."
"Of course, I have my people gathering the supplies we'll need right now. Come with me please."
Zarek beckoned Fong and his men into the crowd, catching more than their fair share of deeply confused glances. He caught sight of Racetrack and Redwing nestled in the chaos.
"Racetrack!" Zarek called out through the crowd. "That was good work, we couldn't have made it through the fleet's air patrol without you. I'm in your debt."
"They aren't going to give up on us easily." Racetrack said with concern. "Adama's going to try and force us back one way or another."
"I think he'll find bringing our rebellion back into the fold to be a much more difficult job than he expected." The freedom fighter gestured towards his newfound ally. "This man is General Fong of the Earth Kingdom. He's pledged a platoon of Earth Benders to aid in the defense of our little settlement. Adama's only hope is to land marine teams and take us back at the barrel of a gun, but I don't think he'll want to take on Fong's men in close-quarters combat."
Racetrack looked absolutely gobsmacked, eyeing Fong with a mix of disbelief and amusement. "This is your plan? A bunch of Gods damned peasants against a marine strike team that can pick them off ten kilometers away?"
Zarek raised a hand towards the Hitei Kan. Its menacing, ribbed hull towering over most other civilian ships. "See that? That's one of two refinery ships in the entire fleet. Adama's not going to call in a military strike if there's any chance at all she could be damaged. Adama also isn't our only concern. What if the Fire Nation decides to come pay us a visit?"
He set a hand on Fong's creature. Zarek wasn't sure if that was slime or sweat he was feeling, and he certainly wasn't going to pause and ask. "Most of these civvies are just desperate for a home, they don't know how to fight if it comes to it. Fong's men will augment the firepower we already have."
"Yeah, I hope you're right." Racetrack retorted.
"Paolo, did you get everything we needed?" Zarek asked the second pilot eagerly.
"Small arms, grenade launchers, everything we'll need to defend ourselves, at least in the short term." Paolo affirmed.
"That's great. What about the ordinance on your birds, did your flight crews mount everything?"
"Yeah" The pilot didn't sound as eager to be on the surface as Zarek would've thought. "Everything you and Abana wanted."
"Perfect." Zarek turned to Fong. "I'm going to have my people start unmounting some equipment we'll need from the Raptors, then we can go. It won't take long."
"How many people are you bringing?" Fong asked expectantly.
"Only the people I trust implicitly, about a dozen."
"A dozen men are supposed to stop the Fire Nation?"
"Wait, wait." Racetrack interrupted. "Stop the Fire Nation? That wasn't part of-"
Zarek grabbed the pilot's arm. "You don't think the Earth Kingdom sent a contingent of Earth Benders to defend us out of the goodness of their heart, did you? You worry about playing games with Adama. I have other concerns."
Tom returned his attention to the general. "Trust me, Fong. A dozen is all we're going to need."
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Roslin couldn't avoid stepping over broken piping and exposed wiring during her walk through Pegasus's badly bruised flight deck. The ship's air scrubbers had finished removing the last traces of smoke and CO2 from the ship's air, but the physical wounds would take much longer to heal.
She wanted to curse herself for being blind enough to let all this happen in front of her. She knew how dejected people would feel for leaving, but she didn't realize things would go downhill so quickly. It was her job to know how people would react to such news, and she'd been an abject failure at that role.
"Do we know how many people were involved in the mutiny?" She asked both Adama's as the three continued down the damaged Battlestar. "Could any of them still be onboard?"
Lee was quick to answer, but the feeling of shame over all this happening under his command was palpable. "We don't know how many exactly, probably in the dozens. A Battlestar has insanely redundant systems, they would've needed a lot of technical know-how about how Pegasus worked to know exactly which power conduits to trip to cause a total failure like that."
"I think we should assume at least some of Zarek's accomplices are still in orbit." Admiral Adama offered solemnly.
Lee at least tried to provide some hope. "CIC is reviewing every scrap of security footage since Roslin dissolved the committee, it's only a matter of time until we ferret them out."
The Cylons, Spirits, the Fire Nation, fleet politics, and now even the military itself. Roslin wondered if there was any faction in the universe she wouldn't need to watch her back around. "Beyond Zarek's co-conspirators up here, do we know how many people landed on the surface?"
Admiral Adama shoved a clipboard into her hand. "Fifteen ships, around seven thousand souls."
"Nearly twenty percent of the fleet." Roslin counted.
Leave it to Adama not to put the brakes on bad news. "You should know what ships left. The mining ship Monarch and refinery ship Hetei Kan are among the defectors, both absolutely vital to our long-term survival."
"We can't replace them." Lee explained. "Without those ships this fleet would run out of fuel within a year, either we bring them back into the fold, or we're stuck here."
"One more thing," Adama started to Roslin's horror. "We had a Raptor take some flyby shots of Zarek's little settlement, you're going to want to see this."
The admiral quickly handed Laura a set of highly zoomed in fly-by shots of Zarek's camp. Towards the top of the picture, a set of black figures were circled in red. As she shifted through the pictures, the figures blended into those of the settlement. "They've made some acquaintances down there pretty quickly."
"Aside from you, Tom Zarek was the loudest advocate of the Earth Kingdom in the fleet." Lee reasoned. "He also had direct contact with the Earth Kingdom during Baltar's campaign. Given the settlement seems deliberately located within their territory, it makes me wonder if the locals knew this was coming."
A frantic Dualla came rushing through the corridor, and practically shoved a set of papers into Lee's hands. "Did you sign this?" She asked urgently.
The younger Adama ran his eyes down the document, his facial expression becoming more still by the second. "Absolutely not, they forged my signature." He flipped a page. "Oh my Gods."
"What? What's wrong?" Roslin implored, her eyes darting from Lee to Dualla.
"I confirmed with munitions." Dualla stated. "Two GNO-50's were removed and mounted on one of the defecting Raptors shortly before the mutiny."
"And those would be?"
Lee gulped before folding the papers in half. "Guided Nuclear Ordinance, 50 kiloton yield. Zarek's people managed to steal two warheads."
"This should never have happened." Dualla was still in a half-panic. "There are a lot of safeguards around the authorization of nuclear weapons. The deckhands either ignored them, or were part of the conspiracy to smuggle them out."
Laura opened her mouth, trying to speak, but nothing came out. Her legs suddenly began to fail her, forcing the president to lean against a bulkhead for support. "Are you telling me," She started as her internal horror mounted, "A terrorist with a martyr complex is loose on that planet, with two nuclear warheads?"
"If he's in contact with the Earth Kingdom, he might be trying to take their war into his own hands." Admiral Adama grabbed the reconnaissance photos back from Roslin. "We need to find him soon, before he has a chance to do whatever the hell he has planned."
"I want constant surveillance of that settlement, if anybody leaves we need to know exactly where they're going." Roslin demanded. "Tom Zarek has never been above bombing civilians in the past, we have to assume no target is off the table."
"Madam President!" One of the deckhands called out from half way down the flight deck. Roslin didn't know the man, but Lee seemed familiar with him. "CIC just called down for you. Someone from the planet is trying to get in touch with you."
Laura's heart skipped a beat. "Somebody from the settlement?"
The deckhand shook his head. "One of the locals. I think CIC said his name was Aang."
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Fire Nation ingenuity had no match anywhere on the planet, Azula had always known this. This time, however, even their most cunning of engineers had outdone themselves. The grand machine roaring beneath the princess stretched nearly a mile long, and what it lacked in speed it more than made up for in sheer herculean power. The great, metallic cylinder was an unfathomably powerful drill, deliberately designed for one specific purpose:
To bring a decisive end to the Fire Nation's hundred-year conflict.
Ba Seng Se had proven to be a more resilient adversary than the Fire Nation initially believed. The city remained the crown jewel of the Earth Kingdom through a century of warfare, even enduring a years-long siege led by her uncle, the great General Iroh. The metropolis's walls were thought to be utterly impenetrable, a testament to the defiance of the Earth Kingdom.
Today, Azula would shatter that veneer of invincibility. This machine was the pinnacle of Fire Nation engineering - so utterly massive it sunk the very ground beneath it, its engines mighty enough to fill the air for miles with a titanic roar warning of their approach. If that wasn't enough to break the defender's resolve, a regiment of soldiers housed in the drill's hull would quickly overwhelm them.
"War Minister Qin, how much longer until we reach the city?" Azula asked as if her will alone would expedite their movement.
The War Minister ran his magnifying glass across his map. It was one of those new, unnaturally precise maps provided by the Colonials. Every minor change in the terrain's height was clearly labeled by a series of lines on one copy, right down to the meter. It helped expedite the movement of their massive drill by ensuring it only travelled on more favorable terrain. Another, larger copy showed the exact position of every scrap of terrain - every lake, river, and tree - within ten miles of the Earth Kingdom Capital. Every potential ambush point was there in plain sight, giving Azula the chance to coordinate the most tactically expedient angle to approach the city from.
"Before sunset for sure." Qin replied with delight.
The tanks escorting their drill also bore new modifications, courtesy of their trading partners. They'd just rolled off the production line shortly before departing for Ba Seng Se, hulls reinforced by the more refined methods the Colonials had passed on to them. That was only the beginning, imagine how else the Fire Nation's mechanists could put their new toys to use in the coming years.
"How much longer until we're off this filthy thing?" Mai, Azula's close friend and ally, brooded as she leaned off the side of the great machine's railing.
"Have some patience, not much longer and my father will welcome us back as heroes to the Fire Nation." Azula boasted.
An officer climbed atop the pavilion to greet Azula with a swift bow. "Princess Azula, Fire Lord Ozai is on the wireless. He wishes to speak with you right away."
The wireless sets provided by the Colonials had proven to be a more valuable asset than Azula could have imagined. When given to military units, they were able to coordinate attacks more quickly and efficiently than ever before, to the point of enveloping entire Earth Kingdom divisions before they had a chance to react. One was installed here on the drill, allowing Azula to report their progress directly to her father in real time.
"Something has happened, Azula." Ozai bellowed. "Some of our scouts in the Earth Kingdom reported a number of metal ships descending from the sky on trails of fire, they landed on the coastline a few hours ago. I don't need to tell you who that sounds like."
A few hours. Normally, news like this would've taken days to make its way to the Royal Palace.
"The Colonials have business in the Earth Kingdom." Azula deduced. "The question is, what kind?"
It was strange, trying to deduce exactly what her father wanted without having his body language as a guide post. "That's what I want you to find out. You have experience with their kind, I want you to start making your way back to the Royal Palace immediately. War Minister Qin will take lead on the siege of Ba Seng Se."
"Father, you have-" Azula bit her tongue. She was so looking forward to cementing her name in the history books as the person who finally broke the walls of the Earth Kingdom's capital after a hundred years of war. However, she knew better than to try changing her father's mind. "I'll start heading back to the palace right away."
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Three hours had passed since Laura returned to Colonial One, and she was more than ready for what she hoped was the first piece of good news she'd known in weeks.
Aang and the others had finally reached out to the fleet on his wireless. Laura would've liked to think better late than never, but even if the kids couldn't do much to change the irreparably damaged political situation in the fleet, knowing at least one person on the planet wanted something to do with them made her feel a little better.
Maybe they could even help track down Zarek, though the president wasn't sure how willing they'd be to help them after she couldn't come through with her promise to help Aang stop the Fire Nation.
With that thought, Roslin felt a little more down again. How in the world was she going to explain the Zarek situation to these people? Well, I failed to get the Quorum to stop the Fire Nation like I said I would, then a former terrorist apparently vowed to take the war into his own hands and is probably helping the Earth Kingdom right now. Yes, I promise he's the bad guy.
Colonial One's pilot confirmed the Raptor carrying the children had arrived on Colonial One, and were ready to meet with Adama and Roslin. The president felt an odd mixture of relief and guilt when the bulkhead to her office opened and the familiar trio walked inside.
"Welcome back." Laura said with a forced smile. "You know Admiral Adama, and this is Lee, Adama's son and commander of the Battlestar Pegasus."
"It's good to finally meet you." Lee offered a hand to the tattooed boy, then Katara and her brother.
"Nice place you've got." Sokka said, looking out the windows dotting the hull of the passenger-liner-turned-office. The planet dominated a good chunk of their view, even from the higher orbit Adama had the fleet assume post-mutiny.
"I was a passenger on this ship when the Cylons attacked, we've changed it up quite a bit since then." Roslin decided it was best to ease them into recent events. "A lot has happened since you've been gone."
Aang's face looked more like the angry and confused expression he first wore when they met on Galactica for the first time weeks ago. "I'm still upset about what happened to the Earth Kingdom because of you."
"We had no idea they were planning to steal the food." Roslin couldn't put into words how numb she'd felt after the news reached the fleet, but she would try anyway. "If we knew, we would've done things differently. I can't even begin to express how horrified I felt when I learned what happened."
Thankfully, the admiral was there to back her up. "What the Fire Nation did was wrong. We're not going to try making excuses for what happened."
Aang's face softened. "Were you at least able to get the Quorum to let you fight the Fire Nation?"
"Aang…" Where was she even supposed to begin? "I tried to get the Quorum on board, but they refused to take action. I felt just, absolutely disgusted after that, knowing what happened to- I mean, what we did to the Earth Kingdom, then being powerless to stop the Fire Nation..."
The trio's faces looked frustrated, but allowed her to continue.
"I became terrified of what might happen if our people stayed, so I made preparations for the fleet to leave. A lot of people refused to go, to the point they were willing to mutiny in order to stay. More than a dozen ships, with thousands of people, broke away and landed on the planet themselves."
Aang's expression changed from anger to confusion like a switch was flipped. "You were going to leave?"
"I decided the risk of potentially drawing the Cylons to your world was too great." Roslin continued with a nod. "I cannot overstate how much of a slaughter it would be if they were to stumble across your planet, and I wasn't willing to let that happen."
"You were going to leave to protect us?" Katara paraphrased.
"I knew the fleet wouldn't be happy, but I hate to say I think I had a lapse in judgement. I was mortified I felt when I learned how the Fire Nation supplied our food, and knowing we'd already given them our technology…" Roslin shook her head.
That combined with visions of the Cylons bringing destruction to Aang's world finally pushed her over the edge. Her rash decision hadn't just split the fleet, it'd gotten even more people killed.
"Where did they go?" Aang asked. "The people you said left for the planet."
The admiral took over the conversation from here. "They landed near a coastline in the Earth Kingdom. The leader of their movement, a man named Tom Zarek, seemed to be in contact with their government."
"Zarek's people stole a pretty decent stockpile of weapons before they staged their mini-coup." Lee advanced. "Some of those weapons have destructive potential beyond anything you can imagine, and we think he's going to use them against the Fire Nation."
The older Adama piped up again. "We can't overemphasize how important it is that Zarek is found and stopped."
Sokka threw his arms apart. "Well that sounds like a good thing, if this Zarek guy wants to stop the Fire Nation himself, just let him!"
"You need to understand what kind of person Tom Zarek is." Roslin carried on. "Before the Cylon attack, Zarek was a violent terrorist. He once bombed a government building filled with hundreds of innocent people just to make a political statement. To him, there is no distinction between military and civilian targets."
Katara and Aang locked eyes. "We met somebody like that once. He was willing to blow up a dam to kill Fire Nation soldiers, even if it flooded whole villages."
"Whole villages are small compared to what this man could destroy if he thought it would accomplish his goals." Lee warned.
"Aang, if you had to strike one target in the Fire Nation, what would it be? Where do you think he could be headed?" Roslin implored.
Aang mulled the question over for a few moments. "My plan was to master all four elements, then defeat the Fire Lord. If he wanted to stop the war, he'd go after Fire Lord Ozai, too."
"The Royal Palace." Lee thought out loud. "Ozai and most of the Royal Family live in a palace, near the Fire Nation's capital city."
"That palace is one of the most well defended strongholds in the world." Sokka expressed in frustration. "If the Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom couldn't get anywhere near it for a hundred years, Zarek wouldn't be able to, either."
"With the weapons Zarek has, he doesn't need to get anywhere near the palace." Adama emphasised. "All that man has to do is get into the Fire Nation's capital, put himself within a couple miles of the palace…"
"No more Fire Lord, and the city is just collateral damage." Roslin finished with horror.
Lee pressed himself closer to Laura. "I've been to that city, Madam President. It's one of the most densely populated places on the planet. If that nuke goes off anywhere near the palace, we're talking hundreds of thousands of people in the blast radius."
"Hundreds of thousands?" Aang asked with similar mounting dread.
Laura confirmed Aang's terror. "The weapon Zarek has could destroy a big chunk of the city and poison the land for decades."
"Then we have to stop him." Aang boldly declared. "We'll help you find him."
Aang's respect for life might be extreme to the point of naivety, but in this case it was working in their favor. Roslin felt a deep respect for his willingness to stick up for his beliefs, even if it meant potentially saving the Fire Lord he was so keen on stopping.
Although they weren't completely buddy-buddy, it was nice to have one ally among the locals again.
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Ba Seng Se was a sight to behold. Zarek heard plenty of first-hand accounts of the Earth Kingdom capital, but they hadn't come close to doing the metropolis justice. The architecture seemed to flow seamlessly out of the ground, gleaming streets of brick and stone hosted shops selling every conceivable good. His new-found allies had provided living arrangements in the city's middle ring, where he was told most of the Ba Seng Se's merchants and working-class population lived. Zarek couldn't stop himself from looking out the open-air window of the modest upper-story apartment he was provided, where he could see beautiful green-roofed buildings dotting the horizon.
But for all the city's beauty, the place seemed strangely off putting.
In all the fleet's diplomatic overtures over the past few weeks, not a single delegation had been permitted into the inner walls of Ba Seng Se. Even Zarek and his men were closely watched by a group called the Dai Li, who seemed to be the Earth Kingdom equivalent of a secret police.
As far as the very few people Zarek had talked to were concerned, there was no war. No existential crisis being waged against the Fire Nation. The Dai Li seemed content to cover up all discussion of the 100-year war in the name of stability. Their scheme was alarmingly authoritarian, but it wasn't as if Zarek had a chance to back out now. Besides, the Earth Kingdom was still the lesser of two evils by a significant margin.
"I've been eagerly awaiting your proposal." A balding Dai Li agent said after allowing himself into Zarek's abode. His sleeves were interlocked, and while the man looked at Zarek with almost bored disinterest, Zarek knew when somebody was trying to put on an act for him. "My name is Long Feng, Grand Secretariat of Ba Seng Se. "My men have told me you've promised a way to strike a fatal blow to the Fire Nation. I don't have to tell you how valuable a company of Earth benders is to the military right now, so I hope you're able to come through with your side of the bargain."
"Of course." Zarek gave a charismatic smile at the Dai Li agent. "The Fire Nation is fanatically autocratic, their people have been brainwashed for generations to worship the Royal Family almost as Gods. That's a pretty fair assessment, wouldn't you say?"
Long Feng seemed happy to yield Zarek's point. "To most Fire Nation citizens, Fire Lord Ozai is the very symbol of victory. He's overseen decades of military triumphs."
"So just imagine what would happen," Zarek traced a hand over one of the two large crates his people lugged through hundreds of miles of terrain. "If their Gods were to die? Suddenly, traumatically, and without any possible way of seeing it coming or stopping it from happening. One day, the whole Royal Family is just wiped off the map."
Feng raised a curious eye brow. "I'd say that would certainly hurt their resolve. Even Avatar Aang's plan was to defeat Ozai in order to bring an end to the war." He was quick to change tone. "But even at the height of our power, an assault on the Fire Nation capital was completely out of the question. Ozai and the Royal Family are safe behind a fortress almost as impregnable as Ba Seng Se."
Zarek tapped on the metal crate. His people had taken great care to remove the warheads from their delivery system. He'd have loved anything to take one of the stolen raptors and just fire the nuke off from twenty miles in the air, but there was a more than even chance Adama would shoot them down before they reached altitude. "My people have weapons, devastating weapons, secretariat. These two devices might not look like anything, but I promise they harness the very same powers that make the sun burn. If we can sneak one of them into the Fire Nation capital, get within a few miles of the palace…" Zarek gave Feng a satisfied grin. "The great symbol of the Royal Palace would be turned into a crater. Most of their capital city would be a grim, dying husk. It'll destroy the Fire Nation's resolve, they'll beg for peace before they let it happen again."
Long Feng's face betrayed an incredulous, demeaning expression, but Zarek had a certain charisma to him as well. It didn't take long to convince Feng the weapon was a genuine item, not when so much of the Colonial's technological might power had already been on display for the world to see.
"I will see to it you have what you need." Long Feng announced when all was said and done. "I have a few agents in mind to help you already."
A second man opened the door to Zarek's apartment, donning the same tan-green uniform draping down his body, and a wide green cap adorning his head. "Secretariat, something is coming. You're needed at the outer wall."
The Dai Li officer's emotions weren't exaggerated. The sight greeting Zarek and Long Feng at the city's outer walls didn't just shake the steeled men to their core, it rocked the very ground beneath them.
Far off in the distance, a massive, dark grey cylinder inched ever closer towards the city. Swathes of dust and rock swirled to either side of the colossal machine as it tore rock like it was paper, and a regiment of Fire Nation tanks flanked the nightmare on either end.
"The Fire Nation are trying to end this war themselves." Long Feng deduced.
The voice of the officer who'd summoned them quivered. "They've already tore through the Terra Team."
"The Terra Team was our last line of defense." Long Feng's worry was finally starting to pierce his veil of invincibility. "If they couldn't stop that thing, we're doomed!"
Tom Zarek saw an opportunity.
"This is our chance to deliver a warning." Zarek said coldly. "We have two warheads. We're going to destroy that device, Long Feng. Completely and utterly."
Zarek turned to the mixture of Earth benders and his own men behind him. "We need a volunteer."
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To Aang and his friends, Pegasus held a completely different atmosphere from Galactica. Most of that dreary ambience Aang had come to know was gone. The corridors were brighter, and the electronic equipment installed through the ship simply looked sleeker. Lee told him Pegasus was a much more modern ship at the time of the attack, and that something about the ship let them do just as much work with half the people. For all the wonders these people had, their willingness to replace actual people with machines seemed the most outlandish. Where would that path end? The ship's sheer size meant Lee was able to find Aang and his friends somewhere more comfortable to stay.
While the ship itself was a little less bleak, the people were anything but. Many of those he'd talked to last time had taken their eventual settlement on his world as an inevitability. Now, they were processing the idea of being locked up in this glorified metal barrel for the rest of their days. All to protect his world from the Cylons he'd heard so much about.
"I wonder if a tour of this ship is out of the question." Sokka wondered out loud. "If Galactica was supposed to be old and rusty, I can't wait to find out what's here."
Katara rolled her eyes at his brother. "I think we have more important things to worry about right now, Sokka."
"Do you really think they were going to leave?" Aang blurted out, only half-listening to his friend's conversation.
"Laura sounded pretty serious." Katara said softly. "And it sounded like her trying to leave caused a lot of problems."
"Some of them died." Aang carried on. "Lee told me two of his pilots died trying to stop Zarek from landing."
"If they leave, at least it means we won't have to worry about these people causing any problems for us, after this mutiny thing is sorted out." Sokka observed.
"Yeah, if it's sorted out." Katara said skeptically. "Those people didn't sound like they were going to leave quietly before, I don't think that's going to change now that they've made it down."
Aang shoved his chin into his palms. "I can't get over how she was willing to risk everything, just to protect us. That doesn't sound like the kind of person who would sell us out to the Fire Nation."
Sokka shot a finger at Aang, "But they did sell us out."
"I don't know what I would have done." Aang looked towards the young waterbender he was proud to call a friend. "If you guys were going to starve, and I had to make a choice like that, I really don't know. Just thinking about it terrifies me."
Katara offered Aang a warm smile. "We're lucky we haven't had to make a choice like that."
"Yeah, but if we did have to make it, what would we do?"
The waterbender only offered an uncomfortable silence.
Their conversation was cut short by a ping they'd been told indicated somebody was at their door. Katara opened the door to find a frazzled Lee Adama entered the room holding… momo?
Lee instantly let go of the creature, allowing it to scatter behind Aang. "Your little pet got away on the trip over. It's been giving the deckhands hell for an hour, you're welcome."
"There you are!" Aang exclaimed at the small animal. "I figured you just found a corner to hide in, I didn't know you'd run off on us again."
"Yeah, let us know if you have any other surprises waiting for us." Lee fumed, helping himself to a seat in their room. "I actually did have another reason for coming up here. We've completely lost track of Zarek and his Earth bender friends, we were hoping you might have an idea of where they might have taken him."
Sokka seemed the most eager to talk to this new commander. "If the Earth Kingdom is working with him, it'd make sense for the Earth King to want to meet him. He'd be heading for Ba Seng Se."
"Unfortunately, we're not exactly welcome there." Lee shook his head, then gave a nervous glance at the wall. "You know, I thought about telling you this on Colonial One, but… I was the one who met with Fire Lord Ozai and negotiated the deal. It still hurts, thinking about those Earth Kingdom villagers. When I heard what happened, it was like a knife through my chest. I feel like a big part of it was my fault, I should've seen the kind of people they were."
"The Fire Lord is good at manipulating people." Aang genuinely wanted to believe Lee. His words couldn't bring those villagers back, but at least he seemed to be trying to take responsibility for his actions. "Are you really Admiral Adama's son?"
Lee nodded. "We don't always see eye to eye, but he's my father. And my superior officer."
"What made you side with Roslin?" Aang pushed on. "I mean, everybody I've met sounds super disappointed to be leaving. But you and your dad sided with her anyway. You even attacked your own people! Why side with her?"
Lee stared at the three of them for a moment, then stroked his chin contemplatively. Finally, after a few moments, he took a breath to answer. "That's a hard question. Honestly, I thought Roslin was making a terrible mistake. It was obvious her decision was going to tear the fleet apart. I even looked for options, legal options, to remove her."
The Commander leaned forward to level with Aang. "At the end of the day though, our society is a democracy. When my dad tried removing Laura from power a few months ago, I was willing to put a gun on Colonel Tigh's head to stop him. The system we've built isn't perfect, but I'd die before I let the military stage a coup against the civilian government, even if I don't agree with it."
Aang gave a faint smile. These people didn't appear to be the self-serving demagogues he'd been worried they were after he'd learned of their deal with the Fire Nation. "It's important to have beliefs more important than your own life, I think."
"My dad was telling me you've got some beliefs you're pretty dead-set on yourself." Now it was Lee's turn to push. "You place a pretty high value on life, isn't that right?"
"My people believed all life is sacred." Aang began explaining. "I don't even eat meat! We believed in living in harmony with the world around us, physically and spiritually."
Lee actually seemed pretty interested in what he had to say. "I admire that a lot about you, your willingness to stand up for your ideals. I wish we'd had the luxury of doing that over the last year."
"It's hard to understand you people." Aang expressed. "You said you were willing to turn on your own people instead of betraying your democracy, Roslin was willing to risk her life in that forest to try getting that food."
Katara gripped Aang's shoulder. "Laura was actually trying to get to know me as a person. That doesn't feel like somebody who'd be willing to let an old woman die in that sickbay."
Lee's expression shifted, his body relaxed. Though his eyes betrayed a much more solemn state of mind. "Ever since the Cylons destroyed the Colonies, we've had to make a lot of really hard decisions. I'd be lying if I said we haven't had to compromise who we are to survive."
The commander reached into his pocket to pull out a scrap of paper. "I want to show you something. After we escaped, the Cylons kept finding us over and over again. We finally figured out they were tracking-"
"Tracking a civilian ship." Katara finished. "Kara told us that story, she said she had to blow it up."
"With over a thousand people on it." Aang concluded.
Lee twiddled whatever he was holding in his hands. "Yeah, I was a Viper pilot back then. I was actually the one who fired on the ship first, and President Roslin was the one who gave the order. I kept having nightmares about that ship - I'd see the faces of those passengers, or the last flames of its blasted hull mixed with blood - And Roslin helped me get through it. She told me how important it is not to let those people be forgotten. She gave me this."
He revealed the crumpled, yellowing paper to the three, but the scribbles on it didn't mean anything to them. "It's the name of the civilian ship I destroyed, the Olympic Carrier. Roslin keeps a note like this in her desk drawer to help her remember, too."
Lee let Aang hold the note. Their language might be alien to him, but the meaning wasn't lost in translation. It felt good to be holding physical evidence of what Aang wanted to believe: The Colonials were hardened people just as Roku said, but they weren't evil.
"Are you still planning to leave?" Aang asked with a pang of regret.
"I don't know." Lee replied honestly. "I don't think anybody knows. The Quorum might even remove Roslin all together, and with the mutiny, I feel like we might end up staying, but I'm not sure if the fleet's going to stay in one piece."
"You need to stay." Aang urged. "I know you said you were trying to protect us, and I know we can't change the past, but if I really think all life is sacred, I can't just turn my back on you. You need to stay."
"That means a lot, Aang." Lee said with a firm hand on Aang's shoulder. "Really, more than you know. But it's not up to either of us."
"Hey!" Sokka yelled without warning. "I think I know how he can stop Zarek. He wants to stop the Fire Nation from winning the war, right?"
Katara was the quicker of the two. "Right?"
"So what we need to do is end the war for him, before he gets the chance." Sokka pushed a fist into his open palm. "If we can convince the Quorum to go through with fighting the Fire Nation, maybe we could beat Zarek to the punch, before he uses that weapon."
"The Quorum was dead set against the war before Roslin's career imploded." Lee rebuked. "I don't know if we can convince them to change their minds, even with Zarek."
The cogs in Aang's head began turning. The Colonials wanted to stay, he thought. Well, he did have a lot of influence with the various nations on the planet, being the avatar at all. Roku said there would be times he wouldn't be able to make everybody happy, but maybe this time, there was a way he could.
"I have an idea." Aang proclaimed. "I need something to write with."
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Aang knew Laura was usually willing to listen to what they had to say, but the admiral always appeared a little more skeptical of him. He wasn't used to being doubted so openly. Sure he was young, but just the title of Avatar carried a lot of weight. When he talked, people usually listened. With the Colonials, he had to work a little harder to get his point across.
Hopefully, this little conference he'd asked for on Colonial One would work out the way he hoped it would. Laura was seated in her fancy desk, Adama in a nearby chair. Lee preferred to stand.
Aang knew where he needed to begin. "First, you need to stay. I can't let you risk your own people's lives any longer, even if you were trying to protect us."
Laura actually looked momentarily taken aback, a reaction that reaction surprised Aang. "I don't know what staying here would bring." She replied. "If the Cylons were to find this world, there's nothing we could do to protect you. I don't know how much our survival is worth, if it comes at the cost of yours."
Aang mustered as much compassion as he could, and put an arm on the president's shoulder. "You were willing to risk your own people if it meant saving ours. You deserve to stay."
"I think your Cylons might be a little surprised at what they find when they get here." Sokka jabbed, unsheathing his boomerang. Lee clenched his teeth at the motion.
Admiral Adama chuckled and shook his head. "The gesture is appreciated, Sokka."
"We didn't get off on the right foot." Katara admitted. "I know you're a good person Laura, I can't let you just die out there either."
"I don't think the Earth Kingdom or Water Tribe will want much to do with us at this point." Laura expressed mournfully. "Not after what we did."
"We can help with that too!" Aang expressed in the animated tone he was so known for. "I bet they'd listen if we vouched for you."
Katara pulled Aang closer to her. "We saved the Northern Water Tribe, I'm positive we could talk them into helping you find a home, maybe even give you a few fishing boats so you don't have another food problem."
Aang slowly reached into his pocket, feeling for the small token he'd crafted before leaving Pegasus. "I wanted to give you something." The avatar produced a small, crumbled paper torn out of a notebook. He took his time unfurling the gift before setting it on Laura's recently tidied desk.
She studied the note inquisitively, though Aang knew the words were unintelligible to her. "It's a list of the villages the Fire Nation stole food from. I mean, not all of them, but I left room on there to write more."
Roslin blinked hard at the note. After a few quiet moments, she slowly clasped a hand to her mouth, and her breathing quickened. "Aang, you wrote this for me?"
"Lee told me about how you gave him a note when he had to destroy that one ship." Aang explained. "How it's important to never let ourselves forget, even while we're moving on. I wanted you to have something like that."
Laura lifted the edge of the note, caressing it for a moment between her hands before opening the top drawer of her desk and tucking it in as softly as she could manage. She inhaled hard again, as if struggling to control her breathing. "We can't ever make up for-"
Aang lifted a hand. "We know. What happened doesn't define who you are, and I can't let even more people die because of it. Which is why you need to stay, and listen to our plan."
Laura removed her glasses to wipe something off her eye. "Do you have any idea how much that means to us?"
"I'd love to hear this plan of yours." Admiral Adama urged with a similar, warm smile.
Sokka took the lead. "Zarek is only doing this to end the war, right? So if we want to stop him, the best way to do it is to end the war for him before he gets a chance to."
"And to do that, you need the Quorom's support, right?" Katara pried.
Laura bobbed her head in agreement. "I can't take military action without the Quorom's say-so, but Zarek's one-man war isn't their concern with everything else going on."
Aang took charge of laying out the scheme. "You tell the Quorum that your fleet is definitely staying. I'll even promise to vouch for you guys to the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe. People tend to listen to me, you know. In exchange, the Quorum has to let you stop the Fire Lord."
The admiral silently dipped his head. Laura gave a deep sigh. "I can't imagine the quorum is going to be very happy to hear another pitch from us."
Lee seemed noticeably more optimistic. "It could work. The Quorum gets a guarantee we're staying, and having somebody like Aang willing to smooth over relations with these people is a hell of a deal."
"The Fire Nation manipulated us." Admiral Adama fumed. "They lied to us, used us, and a lot of people are dead because we were desperate enough to fall for it." He stood up, straightened his uniform, and looked Aang dead in the eye.
Boy did the Admiral have some size on him. "Madam President, I think it's about time we take those bastards down a peg or two. If we can stop Zarek at the same time, that's a bonus. Aang has my support."
Laura looked from Aang, to Lee, then to Katara. "Well, my days as president are numbered either way. I might as well go out doing the right thing." She reached a hand out to Aang. "Stop the Fire Lord, stop Zarek, then put this fleet back together. Let's do it."
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To the lone Earth Kingdom soldier riding out of Ba Seng Se, the oncoming Fire Nation army looked like a tsunami ready to engulf his homeland. Even the ground beneath him shook with a fury rivaled only by the Earth Benders he'd seen open and close the city gates. When the call came for a single volunteer to blunt the Fire Nation attack, he was the first to jump. Unlike most of the guard, he didn't have a family left to lose. Most of them had been killed as the Fire Nation slowly but surely encroached on their territory.
It felt fitting to die spitting in the face of the very people who'd taken everything from him.
The soldier rode with a flag of surrender over his beast, shining light from the afternoon sun gleaming off the fabric.
Six tanks speed up ahead of the others, prompting the Earth Kingdom trooper to bring his creature to a halt. All he could do was wait as the Fire Nation war machines took their time riding up to greet him.
Only instead of some revered general or skeptical corporal greeting him, two young women jumped out of the contraption. One was dressed far too brightly than the guardsman would've expected to find on a battlefield, with a top exposing her midriff. Her braided hair stretched all the way down her face, and she seemed to be… smiling, very broadly at him. The other's hair was dark as a cloudy night, and seemed content to brood quietly while the other did the talking.
"Come to let us off the hook a little early?" She asked in an off puttingly cheerful voice.
The guardsmen dismounted from his animal, and began working the tarp off the small cart behind it. "I've come to deliver a message of surrender from the Earth King." With a single throw, the deceptively heavy metal box was finally revealed. "A gift from the king himself, in hopes you will show mercy."
The more cheerful one started forward towards the box, but the dark haired girl stopped her. "This could be a trick, Ty Lee." She warned. She pointed towards the guardsman "Open the box yourself."
"Of course." He heaved the cover off the metal grate, prompting the duo to hesitantly examine its contents. It was actually pretty empty, save for an odd black-green tube the length of a couple spears laid end to end. Part of the cylinder laid cut open, revealing strange, tiny red ropes jerry-rigged into a glowing screen that also laid in the box.
The two young women looked at the odd device equally confused. The brighter one laid a hand on its warm, smooth surface. "What is i-"
There was no wave of searing pain, no blinding light. The guardsman's world simply came to an abrupt, screeching halt.
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To Iroh's delight, his tea shop's business had been booming in recent days. People all over Ba Seng Se's upper ring seemed to be gushing about the district's latest offering. The Jasmine Dragon, as he'd named it, was quite the step up from the lowly shop he'd found work in after arriving in the city with his nephew as refugees. Having full control over every aspect gave him the chance to fine-tune the enterprise to his liking, a perk he'd taken full advantage of. It was the first time in a long time, the former Fire Nation general felt true purpose in life, even if his nephew's support was begrudging.
He was in the thick of mid-day's lull, cleaning dishes and preparing for the inevitable rush of people making their way to the exquisite building for lunch. Iroh set another cup down, taking a moment to admire the intricate rose patterns crafted into the small dish, and reached for yet another.
Just as the aging man was about to grasp it, his world was thrown into disarray. The walls around him flashed white, while the ground shook so hard he'd thought an earthquake had struck the city. Most of his recently cleaned dishware was thrown off their drying rack, and Iroh himself was sent tumbling towards the ground.
Next came an ear-piercing blast. Covering his ears did next to nothing to muffle a roar loud enough to put a dragon to shame. Iroh struggled to grab onto something and regain his footing. He still retained enough of his senses to notice the tea shop felt a good deal warmer.
"Uncle!" Cried Zuko, Iroh's teenage nephew. The young man helped him back onto his feet, though the boy's words were still hard to make out through badly ringing ears. "What's happening?"
Iroh gestured towards the opened door, prompting Zuko to move them both outside in the hopes of seeing what in the world was going on. Some people were on their knees screaming. Others covered their eyes, saying they'd been blinded by an impossibly bright flash.
Far off in the distance, past the city's great walls, a cloud of red and grey was creeping up towards the sky. The plume of smoke and ash seemed to rise on top of itself higher than any building.
Before the two had time to process the sight, a shockwave of dust and rock slammed into Ba Seng Se's outer wall, sending more smoke barreling into the sky. The walls remained unphased, but Iroh could feel another blast of air running over him, almost knocking the two off balance again. The door behind them broke off its hinges.
"I've never seen anything like it." Zuko's tone expressed a rare moment of genuine fear.
Iroh couldn't say he had either. Whatever caused that explosion, it was beyond any power he'd seen in his long life. Natural or otherwise.
Then, something deep within the old man's being felt like it was starting to stir. Waves of dread began rushing over Iroh. He sensed a force much greater than himself was watching over the disaster, with a similar feeling of fear and perplexion.
"Something is coming." Iroh warned, though he was only half-sure his nephew could hear him. "Something is waking up."
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Aang's brief moment of hope had been quickly interrupted by an urgent call from Galactica requesting the admiral that very second. The avatar could only hope the worst hadn't already happened, but Adama's expressionless face worried him.
"We'll be right there." Admiral Adama softly clasped the phone on Roslin's desk back on its cradle, and calmly stood up to deliver the message. "Galactica detected radiological signatures indicative of a nuclear detonation five minutes ago. Zarek just set off one of his warheads."
Aang's expression had looked so hopeful just moments ago, but it quickly turned to dread. "Where? He couldn't have made it into the Fire Nation already."
"We don't know yet." Adama said solemnly. "CIC is narrowing down the location now, we should know shortly."
Roslin shared Aang's concern. "We need to figure out where it happened, and send Raptor teams down there. These people don't have a concept for what radiation is, they need to know to get the hell out of there before people poison themselves."
Lee and his father started talking with each other while a strange out-of-body feeling began to overtake Aang. He clasped a hand to his forehead, trying to steady himself, but the sensation only grew stronger. Katara was the first to notice something was wrong, and urged him back down to his seat.
"Something wrong with Aang!" Katara cried out. "Are you okay?"
"I- I don't know." Aang stammered. "I felt something, I think from the planet."
Roslin shifted her attention towards Aang and Katara. "What kind of something?"
"Something very, very old is starting to wake up."
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The creature was timeless. It had existed as long as the planet, watching it change and evolve over the eons. So old was the beast, even the spirits themselves honored its kind with the title of Ancient Ones. Ages long ago, they roamed the untamed planet as Gods, or served as the protectors of humankind from the spirits. They'd granted humanity the ability to bend the elements, and in return were hunted down one by one over the centuries.
The Lion Turtles were thought to have been driven to extinction long ago, but still they roamed the planet. So colossal were these creatures, they effortlessly disguised themselves as entire islands. Whole villages could live and thrive on their backs, explorers would come and go, none the wiser of the primordial beast quietly biding its time.
It had been a long, long time since the Lion Turtles felt a need to make their presence known.
Far from the warring nations, the turtle rose it's inconceivably large head out of the water, sending the whole ecosystem peacefully living upon its shell into a disoriented frenzy. It looked towards the distant horizon, feeling the presence of those thousands of new arrivals busily fortifying their new settlement.
It could sense the humans above, too, albeit only faintly. They came and went, whizzing so fast above it didn't make sense. There was hardly any knowledge beyond the reach of his kind. It'd been eons since they'd felt something truly unknown. The Lion Turtle had been observing these visitors from a distance, but the time for passivity was over.
They were dangerous. They were destructive. The time to take back the mantle of this world's protector had come. These humans would be removed from the planet, one way or the other. The creature would see to it.
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Next time: The penultimate chapter. Adama decides they are officially done screwing around. Roslin finally gets some answers about her dreams. Spirit/Colonial relations come to a head. Zarek sets a plan in motion.
I wanted to be about more than just having the Colonials bashing the Fire Nation over the head for 90,000 words, so I've held back on major battle scenes until now. I'm psyched to finally get that out of my system next chapter.
Chapter 9 - Clash of Titans
Helo couldn't make himself avert his gaze for the entire descent.
The ominous, mushroom-shaped cloud of black was at last being dispersed by passing winds, but it'd be far from the last lingering reminder of the sheer scale of destruction Zarek's warhead had wrought. Whatever threat he'd deemed serious enough to expend one of his two irreplaceable weapons, only whispers of it remained. Globs of melted and misshapen metal were thrown kilometers away, culminating in a battered carcass of steel so disfigured Helo couldn't hazard a guess as to what the supposed Fire Nation device had been.
The machine wasn't alone, an entire army must've been at its back. Barely recognizable remnants of Fire Nation tanks dotted the flat terrain, the corpses of fallen soldiers around them charred and maimed. One out of every few dozen still displayed some signs of life - twitching or dragging themselves across the ground with what little embers of life they hung onto.
This wasn't a rescue mission, and even if it was, anybody this close to the blast radius was beyond hope.
Helo knelt down and listened to the yellow-black device in his hands emit a steady series of distinct clicks. He transmitted the geiger counter's reading back to Galactica, before remounting the Raptor to reach the next waypoint.
These people were probably in awe of such destruction, Helo thought to himself, hastily running through his pre-flight checklist. The Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation just had a first-hand demonstration of the sheer destructive power of Colonial technology. Before today, Helo and most of his kind had usually been greeted by a combination of curiosity and admiration. Now, he worried they'd only be met with fear.
"At this rate, we're not going to have to worry about the Cylons showing up." Helo muttered to his ECO while the Raptor's engines slowly began roaring to life. "We're doing a pretty good job of killing these people ourselves."
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"Believe it or not, I think we got off lucky." Doctor Baltar explained to the odd mix around him. The Doctor couldn't stop shooting nervous side-eyes at Aang, Katara, and Sokka. Roslin knew having the adolescents actively helping them was going to take some getting used to, and she worried the scientist would have difficulty taking the trio seriously. "These warheads have dialable yields, and it looks like Zarek set the device to detonate roughly around the 15-kiloton range. Now as a rule, ground bursts tend to kick up a lot of fallout. This close to the city, it's inevitable there's going to be some level exposure, but winds seem to be blowing the majority of it away from the city walls."
"This is just the start." Adama warned, studying the recon images transmitted from survey teams dispatched to investigate the circumstances around Zarek's attack - And to look for the man himself. "The radiation levels in that chunk of land are going to be deadly for months, probably years."
Roslin shook her head, still reeling in disbelief. "I knew Zarek was insane, but this is on another level. Detonating a nuclear warhead this close to the largest city of the civilization he's trying to save?"
"While the city is avoiding the worst of it for the time being," Baltar set a series of maps detailing Ba Seng Se's metropolitan area on CIC's command console. In the weeks since they'd arrived, intelligence teams had been putting in overtime to map out as much of the local population as they could. "There are a number of smaller villages within the fallout zone, and these tracts of land here look like farms. Every crop growing there will need to be destroyed, along with the topsoil."
"Why would anybody build a weapon like this?" Aang asked in a mix of awe and terror. He kept returning to the same image of that eerily familiar mushroom cloud, taken by the first Raptor team to put boots on the ground. "I don't see why anybody would ever need something like this."
"Yeah, could you give the Cylons that memo?" Kara Thrace quipped.
Roslin squeezed the avatar's shoulder. "That's a complicated question, Aang. Right now, the best thing we can do is talk to those villages, try to mitigate the damage."
To Roslin's delight, Aang seemed almost eager to step up. "I can talk to those villages, make sure those people get away."
"It'll be hard," Katara shared. "I still don't totally understand what you mean by radiation, convincing those people to leave their homes isn't going to be a walk in the park."
Roslin nodded in agreement. The villagers down there probably thought they were already safe from the worst of the explosion. Oh, how horrifically wrong they were.
"You'll need anti-radiation meds." Adama remarked. He was probably more than happy to take Aang up on his offer to help. "I'll have you see Cottle before you go down there."
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Aang could nearly describe the sight he'd witnessed near Ba Seng Se as perverse. The destructive path wrought by the Colonial's weapon had been visible to the naked eye long before he touched down on the surface, marked by charred and blackened ground and the remnants of Fire Nation war machines strewn across the terrain. Before they'd left, Roslin told him it was weapons like these that brought an end to the Twelve Colonies. She said this was practically a firecracker compared to the city killers responsible for turning shining cities of glass and metal to ashes, while poisoning the air itself. He'd always found it hard to fathom annihilation on the scale of an entire world, but this in-person encounter finally brought Roslin's story home.
Try as he might, there were plenty of people who doubted Aang's warnings of radiation sickness. To the contrary, most of the people he'd meet in the last few villages were celebrating. The Fire Nation's offensive had been routed, why would they need to evacuate now? Luckily, he could count on Katara to make the point a little more clear. She compared it to any other disease, invisible but ever present. The waterbender told them disease was a side effect of the Colonial weapon, and if they wanted to live, they needed to get out now. After some time, most of them finally got the picture.
Not all of them, though. Some choose to stay behind, and Aang shuddered at the thought of what fate awaited them. Doctor Cottle made sure to instill the horrors of how a human body degraded from high doses of radiation. Aang wouldn't wish that horror on anybody.
When they'd finally returned to Galactica, the deckhands showered them down in warm water. Apparently, it did something to help minimize their risk of exposure.
According to Adama, there was still no sign of Tom Zarek yet.
Sokka had definitely found his voice among these people. "We have to move quickly if we want to stop him from using his weapon on the Fire Nation capital." He implored. "If Earth benders are helping him get there, he could be at the city in a few weeks."
Tigh drew his finger across their political map, stretching from Ba Seng Se to the Fire Nation's capital, a whole continent away. "That's a lot of ground to cover with a bomb in tow."
"Sokka's right, if we're going to end this war we need to move." Roslin granted. "I'm calling an emergency meeting of the quorum this afternoon. Hopefully they'll see the need to stop Zarek's insanity, especially if they ever want to be welcome on this world."
The next few hours were a nervous rush to prepare everything on Colonial One. Aang and Katara even helped move the tables into place, a ritual Roslin said really did get old after a while. She said she pined for the days a ship named Cloud 9 been used for these meetings, until security concerns forced them to use a smaller setting. Interestingly, Zarek had been at the center of those issues, too.
Two of the Quorum delegates were on ships that'd broken with the fleet during the mutiny. Zarek of course, and a woman from a colony named Gemenon. The long, formal table looked odd with two vacant chairs, but Laura insisted on keeping the formality.
Aang and his friends didn't even have time to introduce themselves to the delegates before Laura called them to order. Roslin took her podium, centered up front, both Adama's flanking her as she delved head-first into her address.
"A lot has happened since we last met in this chamber." She began. "This fleet has literally torn itself apart these last couple days. I hate to say, I must accept a good deal of responsibility for what's happened. Now we're faced with the reality that if we, as a civilization, are going to survive this new crisis, we need to find a way to mend this wound."
The President beckoned Aang and his friends to the podium. "Don't let this boy's age deceive you. His name is Aang - and he holds a vitally important role in this planet's culture." She asked him to do the explaining from there.
"Uh," Aang gave an awkward glance to the series of fabric-encased devices on the podium Laura told him to speak into. He poked one curiously before beginning to address his incredulous audience. "Hi everybody." He said with a wave. "I'm the avatar. It's my job to help maintain balance on my world. Balance between the elements, between the physical world and the spirits… You could say I keep myself busy." He joked.
A man towards the back raised his hands. The name Virgon was proudly encrusted on the metal plate in front of him. "The same spirits responsible for murdering two of Galactica's crewmen?"
Aang stuttered, trying to formulate a response, only for Laura to cut him off. "Aang did everything in his power to help us find a compromise with the forest spirit, before it turned us away. He isn't responsible for what happened."
"Madam President," A woman near the front said with a raise of her hand. "He is literally a child. I think all of us would appreciate it if you would get to the point of bringing these people up here."
Roslin gave a curt nod. "The point is, despite his age, Aang has a great deal of influence on this world. He's willing using that influence to help us settle this world, contingent on us helping defeat the Fire Nation."
A series of hushed murmurs ran through the room. The Caprican delegate gestured to speak. "Three days ago, you shut down a democratic process to draw up settlement plans, and stormed out of here declaring we were leaving."
"I made a mistake." Laura admitted. "I had a number of reservations about settlement, and I still do. I believe the possibility of Cylon detection is a concern that needs more discussion, but I shouldn't have made the decision for this fleet."
Aang pushed Laura out of the way, taking back control of the podium. "I'm the last of the Air Nomads. They believed all life is sacred, and if I really want to honor their memory, I can't let you go back to dying a slow death out there."
Aang stole a glance of Laura giving him a warm smile of approval before he resumed. "We have a common enemy now, Tom Zarek. Zarek wants to end the war in a way that would kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people."
"I'm sure you're all aware, Tom Zarek just detonated a nuclear warhead outside of the Earth Kingdom's capital city." Roslin elaborated. "We think Zarek used the weapon to blunt a Fire Nation offensive. We believe he's planning to use his last warhead to destroy the Fire Nation's Royal Palace - and most of the surrounding city along with it."
Admiral Adama leaned into the microphone. "I'd like all of you to remember the hatred you felt when your families burned in nuclear hellfire. If Zarek uses that weapon, every last Fire Nation citizen is going to swear revenge against us."
"We would never be welcome on this planet." Laura warned. "If that weapon goes off, all of us can kiss any hope of settlement goodbye."
Lee Adama bounced off Roslin's statement. "I don't need to tell you that the Earth Kingdom isn't exactly thrilled with us either. Aang could be the only person on the planet with the power to get us talking again."
"I want to be clear what Aang is offering all of us." Laura put a soft hand on Aang's shoulder. "He's offering us a future on this planet. A future Tom Zarek and the Fire Nation would both be happy to destroy for their own gain. So, I'm asking you again to authorize war time powers against the Fire Nation."
Quorum members held hushed discussions amongst each other, but to Aang, the tension seemed to be getting thinner.
"Stopping Zarek isn't going to bring those ships and people on the surface back." The quorum delegate from Leonis noted.
"I'm prepared to offer a blanket amnesty to the mutineers." Roslin declared. "There's been plenty of death in the fleet these last few weeks, we don't need more."
Aang ignored the device attached to the podium, instead choosing to throw his voice across the room. "That's the deal. Stop Fire Lord Ozai, stop Tom Zarek, then start a future on this planet together."
This time, there was no long-winded philosophical debate, or harsh words exchanged between quorum members. Thirty minutes later, they held their final vote. 9 - 1 in favor of war time powers.
"You did it!" Sokka cried out with delight at Aang and the president. "I can't wait to see the look on the Fire Nation's face when they realize just how badly their butt's about to be kicked."
Laura pulled Aang into a warm hug. "I couldn't have done this without you three." She confessed. "Thank you, so, so much."
"Captain Thrace finalized the plan of attack against the Fire Nation before the first vote." Adama said, barely taking the time to enjoy their first victory in what felt like an eternity. "I want to go over the details with the six of us first, but she believes we can launch the first wave of our attack within six hours of your order, Madam President."
Laura's smile vanished. Aang didn't realize Laura's capacity to switch to such a cold, commanding voice on demand. "Then I declare that the Fire Nation's war machine should be extinguished. Launch the attack, admiral."
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The Raptor descended on a shallow trajectory over the planet's largest continent. Despite the distance, it took the craft mere minutes to cross thousands of miles of terrain and bleed off enough speed to ensure the optimal flight path of its payload. For Kat, this would be the easiest combat sortie of her life.
When her spacecraft finished passing through the world's stratosphere, she gave a final report to Galactica before verifying her target, arming her ordinance, and firing a slew of air-to-surface missiles at the globe below.
The warheads arced down and flew apart, their guidance systems honing in on an enemy possessing no hope of evading them, or even knowing they were coming for that matter. Four of them screamed into the exquisitely intricate structure that was the Fire Nation Royal Palace,
hitting its pagodas with a precision that would make the finest markman envious. Each warhead possessed a timing device almost frightening in its precision, allowing the weapon to penetrate just the right number of floors to ensure maximum damage before detonating in a slurry of fire and shrapnel.
In a flash, the Palace's pagodas became smoking rubble, it's great spire - once the pride of an entire nation - reduced to so much indistinguishable wreckage.
Eleven other warheads found their marks in the metropolis with as little effort. The city's drydocks, and the dozens of warships they were dutifully refitting, were turned to molten slag. On the outskirts of the city, a factory responsible for assembling swords and spears perished in an explosion so intense, villagers ten miles away would hear the blast echo.
Kat's Raptor was one of thirteen deployed for the first wave of Adama's offensive. All together, they hit twenty-eight targets simultaneously. The famed training academies of Lun Yang, which had furnished the front lines with new recruits for generations, burned. The industrial titan that was Hokage - it's air so thick with smog, some of its citizens had never seen the sky - saw the most missile strikes of any city. The great forges and machinery that'd proudly churned out almost half the Fire Nation's tanks and armor, would whirr to life no more.
And on the war-torn mainland, deep in the Earth Kingdom's territory, entire formations were torn asunder by the Colonial onslaught. Cluster bombs - each carrying a hundred tiny bomblets no larger than a small fruit - exploded a kilometer above the unsuspecting armies, their payload ripping through tank and infantry armor like butter.
Less than two hours after departing from Galactica's flight pod, Kat and the rest of her squadron were already requesting permission to land and rearm. If Kat didn't know better, she'd say the entire operation felt like an entry-level training simulation. She almost lamented the lack of challenge, but she'd take it over tangoing with Cylon raiders any day.
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Fire Lord Ozai was still basking in the glow of a job well done. His predecessors' 100-year quest for global domination had entered its final phases, and if that weren't enough, fate had bestowed upon them powers his ancestors would've called magic. Colonial's technology was beyond impressive, and Ozai's engineers were only just beginning to feverishly study every scrap of knowledge the Colonials had foolishly parted with.
Even now, regiments equipped with the new wireless sets reported resounding victory after victory. Oddly, the offensive against Ba Seng Se - the very one Princess Azula was in the process of returning from - was out of contact. Ozai had his own brand of tried-and-true methods to secure progress from his engineers, who emphatically ensured the Fire Lord any communication issues would be resolved shortly.
That promise was the last thing Ozai would ever hear, before an impossibly loud crash thundered from the roof above him, and a carnage of flame and debris ended his world forever.
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"The first wave was a complete success." Kara Thrace, still in the process of removing a number of pins from the War Room's strategic map, reported. "We've significantly damaged the Fire Nation's capacity to reinforce their mainland armies, and two separate offensives into Earth Kingdom territory have been halted for the time being. That should give Ba Seng Se room to breath, let them regroup their forces for a counter attack."
Admiral Adama wasn't much for celebration, instead giving the slightest bob of his head to indicate approval. "Is there any indication of Fire Lord Ozai's status? Has he been eliminated?"
Starbuck's grin was all the affirmation the room needed. "One of the benefits of giving the Fire Nation wireless sets, they're using them to relay all sorts of sensitive information, and we're intercepting all of it. A communique from a city near the capital confirmed it, Ozai is dead."
Sokka let out a victory cheer at the news. Katara gave a soft, quiet smile, while Roslin's expression stayed stone cold. Aang felt a good deal more numb than he'd expected, but couldn't place why. This is what he'd always wanted, wasn't it? This is what he'd asked the Colonials to do, so why did he just feel an emptiness inside?
"Do we know who will assume command of the Fire Nation's general affairs, now that most of the Royal Family is dead or incapaciated?" Roslin inquired.
Starbuck gave a concerned expression. "Most of the Royal Family was in the palace at the time of the attack, but there were a handful off the home islands. The most likely heir would actually be a young woman I met on the surface, Princess Azula."
Aang shuttered, while Sokka's gloating ground to a halt. "Princess Azula?" Aang asked in horror.
"Someone you know?" Lee asked inquisitively.
"Yeah, you could say that." Katara offered cautiously. "We met her in Omashu, along with her gang of friends. Believe it or not, we might've been better off with Ozai."
Starbuck pulled out a log book, and sifted through its contents until landing her finger on a specific block of text. "Azula seems to have a knack for avoiding death. Not only was she away from the Royal Palace, she'd only just left the offensive at Ba Seng Se when Zarek's bomb went off."
"I take it this Azula isn't the diplomatic type?" Roslin pressed.
Aang shook his head. "No, she's pretty crazy."
"I'd guess she'll probably be passing through a few Fire Nation strongholds on her way back to the capital." Starbuck deduced. "Depending on what route she takes, there's a good chance she'll be caught in the second wave of our attack."
Aang thought back to Starbuck's initial briefing a few hours ago, before the first wave of the Colonial attack. Aang knew Galactica was built for war, but seeing how the Colonials did war up close and personal was eye opening. Her presentation lacked the proud boasting or camaraderie he'd been used to from Earth Kingdom generals. Only the cold, clinical details of exactly how and when the Fire Nation juggernaut would be brought to its knees.
Aang figured the Colonials would have the edge, but this operation proved these spacefarers were on a completely different level. Starbuck and the admiral dismissed entire Fire Nation armies like they were pawns on a chess board. Defenses that would've taken entire Water Tribe fleets hundreds of days to wear down were casually reduced to an exact number of missiles required to break the target, before moving on. The success of each strike seemed to be taken for granted, a testament to the absolute technological supremacy of his planet's latest inhabitants.
The first wave was mostly focused on destroying key infrastructure. Factories, shipyards, and of course, the Royal Palace. It also dulled some of the Fire Nation armies near Ba Seng Se, one of the last true strongholds of the Earth Kingdom. The second wave would focus on supply lines closer to home, destroying key reinforcements and equipment before they'd have a chance to reach the battlefield. Finally, the third wave was tasked with clearing a path to Omashu, giving the Earth Kingdom a chance to liberate their second largest city.
Aang was certainly glad these people had peaceful intentions. With the ease Adama dealt with the world's greatest superpower, it felt odd recalling just how much difficulty Roslin had getting the Colonials to actually fight.
"We've done the heavy lifting, now it'll be up to the Earth Kingdom to take initiative." Lee observed. "By tomorrow we'll have expended almost one third of all the guided munitions we have in the fleet, so they'd better to make the most of the chaos on the front lines."
"Oh, you can count on the Earth Kingdom." Sokka bragged. "I'm sure they're more than ready to bring the fight to the Fire Nation for a change."
Aang hoped Sokka was right, and the city of Omashu would finally be liberated soon. At the same time, his inner conflict only widened. Ozai had been a psychopath bent on world domination, but at the same time, Aang was supposed to hold all life as sacred. How was he supposed to reconcile his belief to never take a life, with the amount of death required to halt the Fire Nation?
The answer he kept coming back to, though he didn't want to admit it, was that he couldn't. Either the Colonials shouldn't have helped; or this much killing in the name of stopping Fire Nation was justified. These were mutual exclusive positions, and one of them needed to give.
One choice kept Katara and her family safe, the other didn't.
It seemed like ever since the Colonials arrived, the world had become so much murkier. The difference between right and wrong was starting to blur, to the point of something becoming both at the same time. He desperately missed the simple, clear cut beliefs his people had instilled in him more than a century ago, though he was becoming ever more certain the days of clear boundaries between right and wrong were coming to an end.
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Aang's self-doubt only grew in strength throughout the evening, and was still present when he tried to get some sleep. He'd given up hope on shut-eye ever coming after a few hours, turning to aimlessly walking the corridor outside his room until he wore himself out. After some time, that finally seemed to be working, but as the young boy reached out to let himself back into his room, he felt his body begin falling through the very deck below him.
His world turned to a void of black, then the stars began sprinkling his vision. Aang looked down to find his hands an ethereal shade of blue, a tell-tale sign that he wasn't on Pegasus anymore. Or at least, his spirit wasn't.
"Hello, Aang." The familiar voice caught Aang off guard as he turned to face Avatar Roku for the second time in as many days. "I'm sorry to surprise you, but things in the Spirit World are changing quickly. This couldn't wait."
Roku's warmth was nearly absent, something really must have been wrong. "What's happening? Fire Lord Ozai is gone, things should be getting better, not worse."
"When we spoke last, I told you the spirits were wary of the Colonial's arrival. When the visitors detonated that… that weapon in the Earth Kingdom, they experienced something their kind hasn't felt for a long time: Fear. Most of them now believe the Colonials are too dangerous to be allowed on this planet."
Aang blinked hard in disbelief. The very concept of nuclear weapons shook the young avatar to his core, but he would never have believed the weapon's impact would reach the Spirit World. The spirits were old and wise, it took a lot to freak them out. "You don't understand! It wasn't the Colonials who used it. They were trying to leave, then this guy broke away, and he's-"
"The spirits don't concern themselves with mortal affairs, they won't listen to any explanation from me. As we speak, they're plotting to remove the Colonials by any means necessary. I fear the coming conflict may be more destructive than the hundred-year war ever was."
The boy shot his arms to his sides. "How could they not listen? They're supposed to be these all-knowing, wisdom-filled beings. The Colonials are complicated, but they're not bad people. If I could just show them, they'd see that."
Roku's face remained calm and dignified as he laid out a spark of hope. "There is one way to avert disaster. There is a spirit - Marathi - one of the most ancient of the spirits. Marathi has been communicating with one of the visitors, one you know as Laura Roslin."
Aang's face lit up. "Laura! She's the perfect person for the spirits to talk to."
"Laura Roslin is to her world, what you are to this one. She is the leader of her people, and may hold the key to convincing the spirits they can live in harmony with the Colonials. Unfortunately, even the greatest of the spirits can't communicate from such great distances for more than a few minutes. You are unique Aang, you're the bridge between worlds, so I may be able to bring you into the Spirit World, but neither I nor the spirits can bring Roslin."
"So what, I just need to bring Roslin to the Spirit World and let her talk, right? Easy-Peasy."
Roku shook his head. "The spirits don't change their minds easily. Marathi may be able to convince the spirits to grant her an audience, but you and Roslin will have to do the rest. Marathi's home is a place you are also quite familiar with. A swamp known to give its visitors strange visions of lost loved ones, or visions of things to come."
"The Foggy Swamp!" Aang cried out. "I know exactly where that is!"
"Then move quickly, Aang." Roku warned. "The Colonial's involvement in this war may stop the Fire Nation, but the demonstration of their power has made the spirits more and more leery. Tread carefully, the spirits don't feel threatened often - certainly not by mortals - and I'm not sure how they will react."
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In the day since she'd commandeered a Tundra Tank and set off on the long journey to the Colonial settlement, Princess Azula hadn't had time to do anything but stew. Both Mai and Ty Lee were skilled warriors, more than capable of handling anything on their own. Qin was good at what he did, but at the end of the day, he was more of a bureaucrat than a warrior. She left her only two friends behind because the Fire Nation needed somebody Azula could implicitly trust to watch over their greatest military victory. Had she put too much responsibility on the shoulders of those two? No - they were more than ready for the task. If she was to take her father's place one day, she needed to learn to delegate.
"There's a Fire Nation encampment not far up the road from here." Azula told the vehicle's operator. "We'll stop to refuel, get an hour or two's rest and set off again."
When their tank screeched to a halt outside of the modest arrangement of tents and barracks, Azula was surprised to find the usual Fire Nation discipline absent. People were rushing from one building to another, frantically gathering supplies and giving the impression that they were planning to book it out of there as soon as they could possibly arrange it.
Borderline furious at their sloppiness, Azula ran over to the man whose gold-encrusted cap indicated he was in charge. "You! What are you people doing? Are you expecting to be attacked?"
The soldier removed his helmet and blinked hard before replying? "Princess Azula? I don't-"
"You're not answering the question."
The man shrunk down, trying to work out how to address his better. "You haven't heard the news, have you?"
"What news?" demanded an increasingly irate Azula.
"I don't know how to tell you this." The officer set his helmet on the ground below him, and began twiddling with his fingers. "Messengers have been spreading the word all day. Earlier today, the Colonials attacked the Royal Palace with great bolts of fire, destroying it completely. Fire Lord Ozai is dead."
Azula waited for a punchline that never came.
There had to be some sort of miscommunication. They were still getting used to the Wireless sets, something must have been lost in translation. The officer assured her that wasn't the case.
"Ozai… my father... is dead?" She gawked, feeling her knees grow weak. They never grew weak. She forced her posture straight again.
"They attacked several cities on the Home Islands. Factories, shipyards - A few of the wireless sets back home are still working, so we can get information back and forth. The Colonials eviscerated our supply lines, in a few weeks we'll be struggling to put up any kind of fight at all."
Azula thought back to that Colonial settlement, nestled on a coast line right here in the Earth Kingdom. "Those double crossing-" The princess steadied herself, she needed to remain in her element. "I'm going back to Ba Seng Se, our forces should have been able to overrun its defenders by now. When I get back I'm-"
"The Colonials-" The officer began again, ushering a series of frustrated fire-charges from Azula.
"What else?"
"The Colonials have been attacking our armies around Ba Seng Se. Our messengers have been reporting entire formations reduced to a handful of crippled survivors. Our front lines around the Earth Kingdom capital have totally collapsed."
Though she hadn't thought it possible, Azula's heart dropped even further. "What of the drill? Surely such a formidable weapon has been able to… to…"
The officer's grim face gave her an answer. She didn't need to ask; she knew what the Colonials were capable of.
Ty Lee and Mai. She'd left them behind. They wanted to come, but she made them stay behind and tend to her affairs. Her only two real friends on the entire planet were dead. Her father was dead.
In five minutes, Azula's entire world was shattered into a million pieces.
"We can't stay here." The officer warned. "The Colonials have been striking targets around Ba Seng Se, so it's only a matter of time until-"
A high-pitched scream from the sky cut the officer off. Azula's keen eyesight caught the white trail of some weapon shooting from the sky, and used what fractions of a second she had to grab the officer's chest and throw them both down. She pulled him on top of her in an effort to use the man's armor as a shield, though given the strength of the Colonial weapons, she wasn't sure what kind of difference it would make.
The ground shook, and the shockwave threw her against the hull of her tank. Agonizing screams and the smell of burning fabric and flesh filled the air.
She threw the officer off her to find his blood deeply staining her outfit. Metal fragments had pierced his armor - the man was either dead, or would be very shortly.
Something was cutting into her abdomen, but the princess didn't have time to deal with it now. With sheer force of will, Azula slowly pulled herself back on her feet. Lightning crackled around her body as she finally lost the capability to keep her anger contained any longer. She screamed into the sky, a trail of fire shooting out of her mouth.
She wandered down that road for hours to reach the next encampment. Her tank was totaled, and its operator among the dead. Blood oozed down onto the dirt road below her, though she refused to take the time to tend to her wounds. Not until the great enemy responsible for stealing her world had been dealt with once and for all.
After some time, she came across the still-intact Fire Nation encampment. Ignoring gasping faces, she drug her damaged body into the largest tent, and demanded the attention of the stout officer strategizing an exit plan with her comrades.
"Princess Azula?" The woman asked, staring at the growing pool of blood seeping through the royal woman's uniform.
"That's Fire Lord Azula now." She corrected. "Who are you? What is your rank?"
"My name is Colonel-"
"Nevermind, I don't care what your name is." Azula snarled. "Colonel, I want you to send the messengers out. Gather up everybody who's still alive, and get them ready for combat. The Colonials have established a settlement no more than two days' travel from here - We're going to have our revenge on those traitors who seem so intent on destroying everything we've worked for."
"Fire Lord Azula, our forces are already stretched so thin, how many men can we commit to-"
"I said all of them!"
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Roslin was used to being woken up at the strangest hours. Whether it was some calamity, a Cylon threat, or just the odd creaks of a passenger liner that hadn't seen drydock in nearly a year, it was a wonder she managed to get any sleep at all.
Still, being woken up by a magical twelve-year old boy insisting he'd had spiritual visions he needed to share right that very second was a new one for the bingo board.
So, Laura had forced herself awake, then dragged Bill Adama onboard while a shuttle fetched Aang and his friends.
"Avatar Roku - me in a past life - came to me in a vision. He said the spirits are afraid of you, and that they're going to try kicking you off the planet." Aang started matter-of-factly.
Past lives, Roslin thought. Add reincarnation to the list of apparently real things.
"None of our encounters with the spirits have gone well," Laura noted. "But they've seemed mostly ambivalent towards humanity. Why the sudden change?"
"Roku said they were afraid." Aang elaborated. "He said they watched the weapon go off near Ba Seng Se. It was powerful enough to freak even them out, and they're worried about what else you can do."
Adama actually chuckled at that. "They're afraid of us? Appreciate the irony in that, we can't even hurt them."
"Maybe they're afraid of you for the same reasons we were at first." Katara offered. "We only saw glimpses of the kind of people you were, and it was easy to jump to conclusions."
"The spirits are wise, but they're not used to dealing with something new." Aang resumed. "I think they're letting their fear get the best of them, but we can still stop the fighting before it starts. Laura - Roku told me a spirit has been talking to you already. An ancient one named Marathi."
Roslin gulped, the visions of that elk-esque thing still reeling in her mind. "I have been having visions that involve a spirit. It's been coming to me ever since we jumped into orbit, and it almost always appears in some sort of swamp."
"That's the one!" Aang cried out happily. "Marathi lives in a swamp I've been to before, I even told you about it once. The Foggy Swamp, it's in the Earth Kingdom. If we take you down to the swamp, Marathi can take you into the Spirit World so you can give your side of the story."
Adama's tone left no illusions about his feelings. "The last time we attempted communicating with a spirit, it tried to kill Laura. Frankly, ever since we've arrived, they've been nothing but hostile towards us. I don't see why we should be humoring them again."
This time, Roslin was inclined to agree with him. "I don't know Aang. I don't want a conflict anymore than you do, but the last spirit we spoke with was happy to watch us die before lifting a finger to help us."
"It could very well be a trap." Adama suspected. "Lure our leader down there to kill her, or interrogate her."
The boy was losing his patience. "It's not a trap! Roku has always been on my side, and he has a lot more experience with the spirits than I do. If the spirits decide to actually fight you, you won't be able to stop them. This is the only way."
"Don't count on that." Adama warned coldly. "If these spirits are afraid, they must believe we pose a threat to them. I'm wondering if we're able to harm them a lot more than they want us to think we can."
Roslin put a hand on Adama's shoulder to quiet him. "Why don't we meet them halfway. The spirits haven't actually attacked us yet, we can use this time to learn all we can about that swamp. Aang, I want you to show us exactly where it is, maybe we can send a team down to figure out if this is a genuine offer."
"In the meantime," Adama started as he stood up and straightened his uniform, "I'm going to put the reserve pilots on alert, and we should seriously consider contacting the rogue settlement to relay this information. It's likely to be the primary target of the spirits."
Hopefully, all of this was sabre-rattling on the part of these otherworldly beings, or even just a bad dream Aang was putting too much stock in. Unfortunately, with the way things were going since they'd arrived, Laura didn't think they'd get off so easily. The very last thing they needed was a war with the Fire Nation and the Spirit World, especially when she wasn't sure how much of a fight they'd put up against the latter.
Aang was of course, less than pleased with her hesitation. However, after all the horrors that'd come from the spirits callousness, could anybody blame her? Sokka seemed a little more reluctant to trust the spirits, but Katara always seemed to have her friend's back.
Until the spirits actually did something, all she could do was wait and see.
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The offensive against the Fire Nation had surpassed all expectations. Their mainland forces had lost all cohesion, and were scattering in every direction. Most of the generals leading the charge were either dead or unaccounted for, and the Home Islands themselves would have a hell of a time trying to provide relief for months to come. Adama knew the Fire Nation - its leadership at least - were a corrupt, power hungry collection of psychopaths bent on the extermination of anybody standing in their way. Striking them down seemed like the morally just thing to do, but he worried over the precedent it would set. Would the three nations come to them if this ever happened again? Would the civilian government use this war an excuse to insert themselves into other conflicts down the line? The implications of making themselves judge and jury weren't lost on Adama, but at this moment, he could feel some bit of pride for having done the right thing.
Sadly, even as the battered remains of the Fire Nation's chain of command seemed to be whispering thoughts of peace, this spiritual conflict gave him something new to mull over.
"It looks like any other swamp to me." Colonel Tigh stated, setting down the black-white survey images of the stretch of terrain Aang referred to as 'The Foggy Swamp.' "Not that I can say I've been to very many swamps in my days."
"That forest looked like any other forest, too." Adama countered. "I've had Gaeta point every sensor on this ship towards that area, and he's found nothing special. If we ever want to defend ourselves against these things, we need to figure out how they work."
Tigh gave a disgusted scowl. "We're going to have an awfully hard time making a living on this hunk of rock if those spirits keep knocking at our door, tooling for a fight."
"Our top priority is defending the settlement. If the spirits turn hostile, the president agrees it's likely to be their prime target."
"We'll see how they like picking a fight with us when we've-"
Tigh couldn't even mouth out the rest of his sentence. His dumbstruck face was transfixed on something behind Adama. The admiral turned to see, of all things, a mesmerizing, blue sphere floating in CIC. The… whatever it was kept about a foot above eye level, and pulsed with strange energy that sent miniature arcs of energy across its half-transparent surface.
One of those arcs shot out to a nearby console, shorting the device and eliciting a confused screech from the officer manning it.
"What in the name of the Gods is that?" Tigh cried out, though, everybody else in CIC was just as astonished.
Adama and Tigh took several cautious steps back as the sphere doubled in size. Before Adama was given the chance to contemplate a plan to deal with the otherworldly thing, something began to emerge from it.
Adama felt the urge to check if he was dreaming. The thing slowly emerging from the portal was quite literally, a single, glowing... eyeball.
The thing couldn't have been more than a foot long, and its body was attached to a giant web of green, lurid veins stretching back to the portal the entity had emerged from.
"You are Adama?" Echoed a malevolent voice that seemed to come from everywhere in the room all at once. "My name is Father Glowworm, and I am here to deliver a message from the Spirit World."
With those menacing words, Tigh wasted no time pulling his sidearm from its holster and taking aim at the newly arrived spirit. "Sergeant of the Guards, get your team in here!"
A half dozen marines charged into the room, rifles in hand, and took aim at the creature. Most of CIC's on-duty officers had ducked for cover, with the exception of one brave comms officer raising the other decks for help.
The eye's gaze shifted from Adama, to Tigh, to one of the marines. Its pupil contracted and its body bobbed ever so slightly as a deep, bellowing laugh rocked the room. "Your mortal weapons cannot harm me, though I'd be delighted if you wanted to try."
"We'll see how much you're laughing when we're done peeling you off the wall!" Tigh barked.
"You said you're here to deliver a message." Adama said, taking a number of steps towards Father Glowworm. "Get on with it."
The eye focused its attention on Admiral Adama. "We've been observing your kind since your arrival above this world. You are careless and destructive, even by human standards. The chaos you will bring threatens to throw the already hobbled balance of this planet further into disarray. Therefore, we have decided your stain is to be removed. You have one day to leave this land, and depart."
The eye cast a curious glance around CIC. "If you do not heed this warning, then your people will pay in blood."
Glowworm could use whatever so-called magic it wanted - Adama wouldn't be backing down.
"I think our people have been extremely patient with your kind." The admiral said with a harsh, steely resolve. "You talk a big game about harmony and balance, but you've been the ones to initiate every conflict. You murdered our people in the forest. You attacked us again when we tried negotiating with you. Now, you're making threats while calling us the destructive ones."
"Don't fool yourself into thinking you're in a position to lecture us." Father Glowworm boomed "You people are hardly worth this conversation."
Tigh gave a curt chuckle. "You seem awfully worried about what we've got up our sleeve, for a thing who thinks we're hardly worth it's time."
The eye inched forward, the webs behind it pulsating and elongating as its body twisted itself to examine Saul Tigh. "You are peculiar. Something's off about you, but I just can't place it…"
Adama brought himself barely an inch away from the spirit, staring it down with a fiery intensity that even Glowworm seemed to respect. "Listen to me: I'm delivering a warning now. Our patience with you is over. Make any attempt to harm our people on the surface, or in orbit, and I'll show you just how destructive us lowly humans can be."
Father Glowroom actually backed a few inches away from the admiral before delivering another roaring laugh. "We have nothing to fear from your kind in this physical world."
"Maybe you don't." Adama took hold of the recon image of the Foggy Swamp, still sitting on CIC's command console. "This swamp, it seems pretty important to your kind. Something about the place is filled with a sort of spiritual energy as I understand it."
"You would know even less of spiritual matters than the ignorant humans who already live here." Father Glowworm condescended. "I don't expect you to understand."
The admiral didn't bother acknowledging the spirit's latest quipp as he barked a new order to CIC: "Open nuclear launch tube three, and load a targeting package centered thirty kilometers east of the swamp."
Bill yelled for Tigh to get his launch key, while preparing his own. Feelix, still shooting nervous glances at the spirit watching him do his work, yelled out a confirmation that the warhead was armed and ready to fire on his command.
"What are you doing?" Father Glowroom asked with growing concern. "You can't-"
"Launch missile." Adama growled as he and the Colonel turned their key simultaneously, causing Galactica to rock ever so slightly as it unleashed the strategic weapon
This device wasn't the ship-to-ship tactical weapon stolen by Zarek and his people. Its yield was more than an order of magnitude greater, powerful enough to incinerate everything within a kilometer of the blast.
It took ninety seconds for the warhead to reach altitude and detonate near the sacred land. Ninety seconds filled with a spirit who's tone rapidly shifted from indifferent, to confused, to furious.
"You wonder why we've banished you!" It screamed out. "I should strike you down where you stand, turn your body inside out, twist your flesh into-"
"I don't think you can." Adama cut in. "I know how hard it is for you spirits to manifest yourselves in orbit. I think you're using most of your power just to get here."
Adama threw his picture of the Foggy Swamp on the ground in front of Glowworm. "If you come anywhere near our settlement, I'll vaporize that swamp."
"You insolent-"
"You things are used to getting your way; not with us. Not with me. Now get your pompous, hypocritical equivalent of an ass off my ship."
The eye began glowing an ominous red, and practically shook with a fury that sent most of CIC back under their stations for cover. However, without another word, Gloworm reversed his movement, and retreated back into his portal. The gateway closed behind him, sending a gust of wind across the command center.
"Well," It took Tigh a few tense moments before he slowly began lowering his sidearm. "That is going to be a new one for the log books."
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"You did what!?"
Aang's exclamation echoed around CIC, but the boy's frustration only seemed to irritate Admiral Adama. "You attacked a place sacred to the spirits? Didn't you say you wanted to avoid fighting them?"
Katara put a hand on Aang's back. "What I think Aang's trying to say is-"
"That you're crazy! Don't you see I'm trying to walk a fine line between-"
"They threatened us." Adama intjerfected, his booming voice catching Aang off guard. "They promised to kill every man, woman, and child in that settlement if we don't give in to their demands. You can talk about balance all you want Aang, the reality is that these things are bullies, and bullies respond to force."
Aang tried glaring the grizzled man down, to no effect.
"Aang, we want to live in peace with the spirits, and everybody else on this planet for that matter." Roslin said kindly. "But the reality is, the spirits just proved they're willing to escalate this conflict."
"The warhead didn't strike the swamp." Adama pointed out in a vaguely conciliatory tone. "It was close enough to get their attention, but that's it. A warning shot."
Aang huffed as he leaned against the command console. The poor boy seemed genuinely distraught and conflicted.
The admiral called Lieutenant Gaeta over, folder in hand. "If that isn't enough, we've got another potential problem for the pile."
Gaeta pulled a photograph from his folder, setting it down in front of Aang and his friends.
"Do you have any idea what this thing is?" Adama asked the avatar.
Laura examined the picture along with everybody else in the dimly lit room. Centered on the shot of the deep blue ocean, was a small, green island. It was unnaturally round, with a series of waves riding out behind its back.
"Uh.." Aang started, clearly confused. "I don't get it, that's just an island."
"Islands usually don't move." Gaeta jabbed. "Whatever that is, it's changed positions every time we've sent a survey mission out. It actually looks like it's making a beeline for the settlement."
Aanged pressed himself closer to the photo, looking it over several more times before finally coming to some sort of realization. "Oh!" He cried out. "I think I know what that is! It's a Lion Turtle, it has to be."
"The Lion Turtles were hunted to extinction a long time ago." Sokka chimed. "Try again, Aang."
"The Air Nomads told legends about the Lion Turtles, they were once sacred to us. The monks said the turtles disguised themselves as islands or giant rocks to avoid humans. It's the only explanation that makes sense."
Colonel Tigh shook his head. "You're telling us, a giant, island-sized turtle is double timing it to our people? Why?"
"The Lion Turtles are ancient, they protected humanity before the four nations even existed." Aang explained. "They gave our ancestors the ability to bend, they're one of the most powerful things in the world."
"So a magic island-sized turtle." Laura noted. "Lovely."
"Even the spirits respected the Lion Turtles." Aang continued, just before his face sombered. "I wonder if the turtle is afraid of you too, if it's working with the spirits."
"That would be bad." Katara forewarned.
"How long do we have before the turtle reaches the rogue settlers?" Laura asked.
Gaeta had been prepared to answer this well in advance. Roslin guessed Adama already knew himself. "Two, maybe three days."
"Oh Lords," Laura let out, pacing a few feet back and forth as she considered her options. "This conflict is going to spiral out of control before the Fire Nation is even dealt with. We can't just sit back and wait to see what happens when that oversized reptile gets to the settlement. So frak it, If this Marathi really thinks he, or she, or it, can get me an audience in the Spirit World and put an end to this battle before it starts, then I'm going down there."
"Yes!" Aang cried out. "We can leave right now!"
"I'm not taking any chances this time." Adama counseled. Laura wouldn't try stopping him. Her patience with this fairy-tale magic was growing shorter by the second. "I'm sending Mathias down with you, along with a strike team."
Sokka was surprisingly approving of the admiral's stance. "Glad to see somebody around here knows how to take precautions, honestly Aang, you could learn from Adama here."
"Prep the team, we're leaving in an hour." Roslin ordered. She tapped on the railing behind her, thinking of something Shinrin said to her down in that forest. "I do have one more request. Sharon, the Cylon prisoner, I'd like her to come with us as well. Something about human-form Cylons seems to throw the spirits off guard, she might be an asset."
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The very minute after Zarek's warhead went off, he was lauded as a hero by Feng and his men. He'd succeeded in eradicating the Fire Nation's weapon, saving the great city of Ba Seng Se.
Of course, there had been collateral damage. Hundreds of city dwellers unfortunate enough to be looking in the general direction of the blast were blinded, and many more suffered from severe burns. Fallout would inevitably claim a number of lives over the next few days, and more still would suffer side effects even decades down the line. It was unfortunate, but the alternative would've been the complete subjugation of the Earth Kingdom. Stopping the Fire Nation at the cost of a few hundred lives was a bargain Zarek was happy to take.
They'd set off for the Fire Nation capital not even an hour after the weapon was destroyed. Zarek traded in his jeans and leather jacket for a set of loose-fitting Fire Nation garbs. As they approached the coast line, they'd look like any other Fire Nation citizens to the numerous patrols and roving armies. The creatures they rode pulled carts full of fine pottery, giving credibility to their cover story of merchants looking to sell their goods. Once they made it to shore, they'd take a trawler to the Home Islands, talk their way into the capitol, and set off the second warhead.
"Your people wield such power." Observed Du Jiang, one of the Dai Li agent tasked by Feng to escort Zarek and his people into Fire Nation territory. Jiang and the two other Earth Kingdom agents with him tended to be the silent types, hardly exchanging more than the necessary pleasantries since they'd departed from Ba Seng Se, so the sudden conversation took Zarek off guard. "Why would you ever leave them? Why betray them to help us?"
"The Fire Nation has a lot in common with my people." Zarek told Jiang. "The Colonials are ruled by a caste of imperialists who spent centuries exploiting my homeland. The Fire Nation were well on the way to doing the same to you. When I had a chance to stop the Earth Kingdom from going the way of Sagittaron, abandoning my people was a small price."
Jiang steadied his creature as he digested Zarek's words. "There are those who would ask how they could possibly trust you, Zarek. You betrayed your own people, who's to say you won't betray us, too?"
"They may have been my people, but I had nothing in common with them." Zarek maintained. "If they do stay on this planet, you'll need to keep your guard up around the Colonials."
Silence resumed amongst the small gang of travellers as they winded down road after road for hours. When they came across a platoon of Fire Nation soldiers marching down the same path, it was time to find out if their cover story would actually be sufficient.
Zarek tipped his cap at the armored men taking point. To Tom's horror, just before they passed, the soldiers cut in front of their caravan and yelled for them to stop.
"What can we do for you fine men?" Jiang asked amicably.
"You haven't heard the news, have you?" The soldier asked, his face obscured by a red-black helmet with the image of a skull imprinted on its front. "The Colonials - those visitors from another world - They've sided with the Earth Kingdom. Ozai is dead, and it's no longer safe for us to be this close to Ba Seng Se." The man eyed their carts. Even if he inspected them, Zarek could tell these soldiers the warhead was just another fancy piece of pottery. They wouldn't know any better. "If you're headed back to the Home Islands, I'd be careful. There's a lot of chaos there right now, you might want to find somewhere safe to wait it out."
"Ozai is dead?" Jiang asked, clearly trying his hardest to feign a tone of horror. "How tragic!"
The soldier gripped his beast's reigns tightly. "We need to leave, but I couldn't let fellow Fire Nation citizens get themselves caught in the carnage. You have a safe trip."
When their caravan was well out of earshot, Jiang dismounted and virtually threw himself into Zarek. "Whatever you did, it worked! Ozai is dead, and from the sound of those soldiers, we're finally starting to drive the Fire Nation back."
"Our leaders must have finally gotten in through their heads that the Fire Nation would've come for them next." Zarek guessed. Adama's intervention came as a genuine surprise, but a welcome one.
"We should turn back for Ba Seng Se." Jiang advised. "If the Fire Nation is growing desperate, they'll sue for peace. There's no need to cause more destruction that could strengthen their resolve."
Zarek raised a hand. "No, our mission needs to stay the same. I know the Fire Nation, I know how people like them operate. Thirst for conquest runs in their people's veins by now. Even if Ozai is dead, and they end the war, they'll just try again a few decades down the line."
"Our mission was to kill the Fire Lord." Jiang pointed out. "If he's already dead, what's the point of going to the capital?
"Killing the Fire Lord was an objective, one of many." Zarek said. "But I'm telling you, if you want to guarantee the Earth Kingdom's survival in the long term, we need to inflict a wound on their country so great, they'll never pose a threat to you again."
"You're not…" Jiang started, his eyes narrowing at Zarek. "You actually want to destroy the entire city, don't you? Do you have any idea how many people live there? I was willing to accept casualties if it meant killing Ozai, but I'm not going to let you kill just to kill."
Zarek gave a dejected sigh. "I really thought the Dai Li of all people would understand what is necessary."
"I'm not arguing about this with you." Jiang stabbed. "We're turning back."
When Jiang began climbing back onto his steed, Zarek reached into his garments and grabbed the butt of his pistol. In one swift motion, he raised the weapon and fired a pair of rounds into Jiang's chest, sending him toppling to the ground.
Zarek's men didn't hesitate. They produced their weapons and began taking aim at the remaining Dai Li agents, but the Dai Li had a lifetime of combat training to work with. Zarek people, for the most part, consisted of convicted criminals. The Earth Kingdom agents dodged the initial volley of fire. One produced an assassin's knife, jamming it into the abdomen of one of the Colonials before they had a chance to steady their aim.
Zarek's two remaining allies took cover behind the metal crate housing his precious cargo. One of the Dai Li agents - the only Earth bender with them - kicked the ground in front of him, sending a spire of rock shooting up out of the ground and into the metal box, throwing it down and crushing the two Colonials underneath it.
The few seconds of firefighting was all the time Zarek needed to reload his weapon, and take aim at the two Dai Li agents. With military precision, Zarek dispatched the two in a hail of bullets before either of them had a chance to mount a counterattack
The brief tussle subsided, leaving Zarek as the only man left standing. He checked the pulse of his stabbed comrade to find nothing, surmising the blade must have been coated in a type of poison. It took him a good deal of time to get the deceptively heavy crate back on one of the carts. Zarek found the mangled corpses of his two remaining accomplices crushed under the weight of metal and rock.
Tom took a moment to inspect the warhead, finding it dented and scratched, though it appeared mostly intact. The Earth Kingdom had given them money, forged papers, everything he needed to get the job done - even on his own.
Just as he began trying to work out how Jiang rode the beast that would take him the rest of the way across the mainland, the crippled Dai Li agent weakly croaked something out.
"This vendetta Zarek, it's going to destroy all of us."
Zarek stared down at the agent's mortally wounded body. "No, Jiang. The only thing that would destroy you, is your inability to do what needs to be done."
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"What we're about to discuss doesn't make its way out of this room." William Adama emphasised, shutting the Situation Room's heavy door behind Roslin. "Certainly not to Aang and his friends under any circumstances."
They'd last conferenced in CIC less than an hour ago. She was supposed to be meeting Aang and the others on the hanger deck any minute now. What else could the admiral possibly want to tell her? And just as important, why the veil of secrecy?
Captain Thrace was there, too. Standing in front of the table, its bright glow producing most of the light glowing off the lower half of her face in the dimly illuminated space. "We needed a plan B." She said simply.
"The Lion Turtle could very well destroy this fleet's long-term prospects for survival." Adama expounded. "We needed a plan to deal with it, in the event your excursion to the swamp fails."
"Deal with it?" Roslin repeated.
"Aang said these things were hunted to near extinction." Adama established, moving to stand behind Captain Thrace. "That would suggest the turtles can die, just like we can."
Kara Thrace took over from there. "If these people can kill it with their weapons and a few fancy magic tricks, we should be more than capable of doing the same thing."
"You're planning to kill the Lion Turtle?" Roslin spat out.
Kara nodded. "A Raptor carrying a set of bunker busters should be able to penetrate the turtle's shell and destroy it from the inside."
"Aang said the Lion Turtles were sacred to his people." Laura recalled. "If we destroy it, there would be no hope of reconciliation with the planet's factions."
Adama's softened his tone. "None of us want to do this, we didn't ask for this conflict. Unfortunately, the turtle and the Spirit World have put us in a position where it's either them, or us."
"And we're not going down without a fight." Kara threatened. "Aang's a good kid, but I don't think he appreciates just how dangerous the spirits are."
Roslin chewed on Adama's words. The admiral was right, it was smart to have a backup plan in case her second spiritual encounter went as well as her first. They had thousands of innocent people on the surface - if Aang wasn't able to save them, the fleet would have to do it themselves.
Still, the thought of attacking such an ancient creature made her feel uncomfortable. Not uncomfortable enough to disagree with Adama's assessment, but that nagging feeling gnawing on her when she shut down plans for settlement began to return. Would the planet have been better off if their fleet had simply never found it?
"Okay." She admitted. "Keep this plan in reserve, we've still got a couple days until the Lion Turtle reaches that settlement. In the meantime, pray to the Gods Aang's plan works out."
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I think we're actually going to finish a story for a change! The next chapter will bring the story to a conclusion, and if all goes according to plan, an epilogue will be posted at the same time.
The ominous, mushroom-shaped cloud of black was at last being dispersed by passing winds, but it'd be far from the last lingering reminder of the sheer scale of destruction Zarek's warhead had wrought. Whatever threat he'd deemed serious enough to expend one of his two irreplaceable weapons, only whispers of it remained. Globs of melted and misshapen metal were thrown kilometers away, culminating in a battered carcass of steel so disfigured Helo couldn't hazard a guess as to what the supposed Fire Nation device had been.
The machine wasn't alone, an entire army must've been at its back. Barely recognizable remnants of Fire Nation tanks dotted the flat terrain, the corpses of fallen soldiers around them charred and maimed. One out of every few dozen still displayed some signs of life - twitching or dragging themselves across the ground with what little embers of life they hung onto.
This wasn't a rescue mission, and even if it was, anybody this close to the blast radius was beyond hope.
Helo knelt down and listened to the yellow-black device in his hands emit a steady series of distinct clicks. He transmitted the geiger counter's reading back to Galactica, before remounting the Raptor to reach the next waypoint.
These people were probably in awe of such destruction, Helo thought to himself, hastily running through his pre-flight checklist. The Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation just had a first-hand demonstration of the sheer destructive power of Colonial technology. Before today, Helo and most of his kind had usually been greeted by a combination of curiosity and admiration. Now, he worried they'd only be met with fear.
"At this rate, we're not going to have to worry about the Cylons showing up." Helo muttered to his ECO while the Raptor's engines slowly began roaring to life. "We're doing a pretty good job of killing these people ourselves."
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"Believe it or not, I think we got off lucky." Doctor Baltar explained to the odd mix around him. The Doctor couldn't stop shooting nervous side-eyes at Aang, Katara, and Sokka. Roslin knew having the adolescents actively helping them was going to take some getting used to, and she worried the scientist would have difficulty taking the trio seriously. "These warheads have dialable yields, and it looks like Zarek set the device to detonate roughly around the 15-kiloton range. Now as a rule, ground bursts tend to kick up a lot of fallout. This close to the city, it's inevitable there's going to be some level exposure, but winds seem to be blowing the majority of it away from the city walls."
"This is just the start." Adama warned, studying the recon images transmitted from survey teams dispatched to investigate the circumstances around Zarek's attack - And to look for the man himself. "The radiation levels in that chunk of land are going to be deadly for months, probably years."
Roslin shook her head, still reeling in disbelief. "I knew Zarek was insane, but this is on another level. Detonating a nuclear warhead this close to the largest city of the civilization he's trying to save?"
"While the city is avoiding the worst of it for the time being," Baltar set a series of maps detailing Ba Seng Se's metropolitan area on CIC's command console. In the weeks since they'd arrived, intelligence teams had been putting in overtime to map out as much of the local population as they could. "There are a number of smaller villages within the fallout zone, and these tracts of land here look like farms. Every crop growing there will need to be destroyed, along with the topsoil."
"Why would anybody build a weapon like this?" Aang asked in a mix of awe and terror. He kept returning to the same image of that eerily familiar mushroom cloud, taken by the first Raptor team to put boots on the ground. "I don't see why anybody would ever need something like this."
"Yeah, could you give the Cylons that memo?" Kara Thrace quipped.
Roslin squeezed the avatar's shoulder. "That's a complicated question, Aang. Right now, the best thing we can do is talk to those villages, try to mitigate the damage."
To Roslin's delight, Aang seemed almost eager to step up. "I can talk to those villages, make sure those people get away."
"It'll be hard," Katara shared. "I still don't totally understand what you mean by radiation, convincing those people to leave their homes isn't going to be a walk in the park."
Roslin nodded in agreement. The villagers down there probably thought they were already safe from the worst of the explosion. Oh, how horrifically wrong they were.
"You'll need anti-radiation meds." Adama remarked. He was probably more than happy to take Aang up on his offer to help. "I'll have you see Cottle before you go down there."
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Aang could nearly describe the sight he'd witnessed near Ba Seng Se as perverse. The destructive path wrought by the Colonial's weapon had been visible to the naked eye long before he touched down on the surface, marked by charred and blackened ground and the remnants of Fire Nation war machines strewn across the terrain. Before they'd left, Roslin told him it was weapons like these that brought an end to the Twelve Colonies. She said this was practically a firecracker compared to the city killers responsible for turning shining cities of glass and metal to ashes, while poisoning the air itself. He'd always found it hard to fathom annihilation on the scale of an entire world, but this in-person encounter finally brought Roslin's story home.
Try as he might, there were plenty of people who doubted Aang's warnings of radiation sickness. To the contrary, most of the people he'd meet in the last few villages were celebrating. The Fire Nation's offensive had been routed, why would they need to evacuate now? Luckily, he could count on Katara to make the point a little more clear. She compared it to any other disease, invisible but ever present. The waterbender told them disease was a side effect of the Colonial weapon, and if they wanted to live, they needed to get out now. After some time, most of them finally got the picture.
Not all of them, though. Some choose to stay behind, and Aang shuddered at the thought of what fate awaited them. Doctor Cottle made sure to instill the horrors of how a human body degraded from high doses of radiation. Aang wouldn't wish that horror on anybody.
When they'd finally returned to Galactica, the deckhands showered them down in warm water. Apparently, it did something to help minimize their risk of exposure.
According to Adama, there was still no sign of Tom Zarek yet.
Sokka had definitely found his voice among these people. "We have to move quickly if we want to stop him from using his weapon on the Fire Nation capital." He implored. "If Earth benders are helping him get there, he could be at the city in a few weeks."
Tigh drew his finger across their political map, stretching from Ba Seng Se to the Fire Nation's capital, a whole continent away. "That's a lot of ground to cover with a bomb in tow."
"Sokka's right, if we're going to end this war we need to move." Roslin granted. "I'm calling an emergency meeting of the quorum this afternoon. Hopefully they'll see the need to stop Zarek's insanity, especially if they ever want to be welcome on this world."
The next few hours were a nervous rush to prepare everything on Colonial One. Aang and Katara even helped move the tables into place, a ritual Roslin said really did get old after a while. She said she pined for the days a ship named Cloud 9 been used for these meetings, until security concerns forced them to use a smaller setting. Interestingly, Zarek had been at the center of those issues, too.
Two of the Quorum delegates were on ships that'd broken with the fleet during the mutiny. Zarek of course, and a woman from a colony named Gemenon. The long, formal table looked odd with two vacant chairs, but Laura insisted on keeping the formality.
Aang and his friends didn't even have time to introduce themselves to the delegates before Laura called them to order. Roslin took her podium, centered up front, both Adama's flanking her as she delved head-first into her address.
"A lot has happened since we last met in this chamber." She began. "This fleet has literally torn itself apart these last couple days. I hate to say, I must accept a good deal of responsibility for what's happened. Now we're faced with the reality that if we, as a civilization, are going to survive this new crisis, we need to find a way to mend this wound."
The President beckoned Aang and his friends to the podium. "Don't let this boy's age deceive you. His name is Aang - and he holds a vitally important role in this planet's culture." She asked him to do the explaining from there.
"Uh," Aang gave an awkward glance to the series of fabric-encased devices on the podium Laura told him to speak into. He poked one curiously before beginning to address his incredulous audience. "Hi everybody." He said with a wave. "I'm the avatar. It's my job to help maintain balance on my world. Balance between the elements, between the physical world and the spirits… You could say I keep myself busy." He joked.
A man towards the back raised his hands. The name Virgon was proudly encrusted on the metal plate in front of him. "The same spirits responsible for murdering two of Galactica's crewmen?"
Aang stuttered, trying to formulate a response, only for Laura to cut him off. "Aang did everything in his power to help us find a compromise with the forest spirit, before it turned us away. He isn't responsible for what happened."
"Madam President," A woman near the front said with a raise of her hand. "He is literally a child. I think all of us would appreciate it if you would get to the point of bringing these people up here."
Roslin gave a curt nod. "The point is, despite his age, Aang has a great deal of influence on this world. He's willing using that influence to help us settle this world, contingent on us helping defeat the Fire Nation."
A series of hushed murmurs ran through the room. The Caprican delegate gestured to speak. "Three days ago, you shut down a democratic process to draw up settlement plans, and stormed out of here declaring we were leaving."
"I made a mistake." Laura admitted. "I had a number of reservations about settlement, and I still do. I believe the possibility of Cylon detection is a concern that needs more discussion, but I shouldn't have made the decision for this fleet."
Aang pushed Laura out of the way, taking back control of the podium. "I'm the last of the Air Nomads. They believed all life is sacred, and if I really want to honor their memory, I can't let you go back to dying a slow death out there."
Aang stole a glance of Laura giving him a warm smile of approval before he resumed. "We have a common enemy now, Tom Zarek. Zarek wants to end the war in a way that would kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people."
"I'm sure you're all aware, Tom Zarek just detonated a nuclear warhead outside of the Earth Kingdom's capital city." Roslin elaborated. "We think Zarek used the weapon to blunt a Fire Nation offensive. We believe he's planning to use his last warhead to destroy the Fire Nation's Royal Palace - and most of the surrounding city along with it."
Admiral Adama leaned into the microphone. "I'd like all of you to remember the hatred you felt when your families burned in nuclear hellfire. If Zarek uses that weapon, every last Fire Nation citizen is going to swear revenge against us."
"We would never be welcome on this planet." Laura warned. "If that weapon goes off, all of us can kiss any hope of settlement goodbye."
Lee Adama bounced off Roslin's statement. "I don't need to tell you that the Earth Kingdom isn't exactly thrilled with us either. Aang could be the only person on the planet with the power to get us talking again."
"I want to be clear what Aang is offering all of us." Laura put a soft hand on Aang's shoulder. "He's offering us a future on this planet. A future Tom Zarek and the Fire Nation would both be happy to destroy for their own gain. So, I'm asking you again to authorize war time powers against the Fire Nation."
Quorum members held hushed discussions amongst each other, but to Aang, the tension seemed to be getting thinner.
"Stopping Zarek isn't going to bring those ships and people on the surface back." The quorum delegate from Leonis noted.
"I'm prepared to offer a blanket amnesty to the mutineers." Roslin declared. "There's been plenty of death in the fleet these last few weeks, we don't need more."
Aang ignored the device attached to the podium, instead choosing to throw his voice across the room. "That's the deal. Stop Fire Lord Ozai, stop Tom Zarek, then start a future on this planet together."
This time, there was no long-winded philosophical debate, or harsh words exchanged between quorum members. Thirty minutes later, they held their final vote. 9 - 1 in favor of war time powers.
"You did it!" Sokka cried out with delight at Aang and the president. "I can't wait to see the look on the Fire Nation's face when they realize just how badly their butt's about to be kicked."
Laura pulled Aang into a warm hug. "I couldn't have done this without you three." She confessed. "Thank you, so, so much."
"Captain Thrace finalized the plan of attack against the Fire Nation before the first vote." Adama said, barely taking the time to enjoy their first victory in what felt like an eternity. "I want to go over the details with the six of us first, but she believes we can launch the first wave of our attack within six hours of your order, Madam President."
Laura's smile vanished. Aang didn't realize Laura's capacity to switch to such a cold, commanding voice on demand. "Then I declare that the Fire Nation's war machine should be extinguished. Launch the attack, admiral."
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The Raptor descended on a shallow trajectory over the planet's largest continent. Despite the distance, it took the craft mere minutes to cross thousands of miles of terrain and bleed off enough speed to ensure the optimal flight path of its payload. For Kat, this would be the easiest combat sortie of her life.
When her spacecraft finished passing through the world's stratosphere, she gave a final report to Galactica before verifying her target, arming her ordinance, and firing a slew of air-to-surface missiles at the globe below.
The warheads arced down and flew apart, their guidance systems honing in on an enemy possessing no hope of evading them, or even knowing they were coming for that matter. Four of them screamed into the exquisitely intricate structure that was the Fire Nation Royal Palace,
hitting its pagodas with a precision that would make the finest markman envious. Each warhead possessed a timing device almost frightening in its precision, allowing the weapon to penetrate just the right number of floors to ensure maximum damage before detonating in a slurry of fire and shrapnel.
In a flash, the Palace's pagodas became smoking rubble, it's great spire - once the pride of an entire nation - reduced to so much indistinguishable wreckage.
Eleven other warheads found their marks in the metropolis with as little effort. The city's drydocks, and the dozens of warships they were dutifully refitting, were turned to molten slag. On the outskirts of the city, a factory responsible for assembling swords and spears perished in an explosion so intense, villagers ten miles away would hear the blast echo.
Kat's Raptor was one of thirteen deployed for the first wave of Adama's offensive. All together, they hit twenty-eight targets simultaneously. The famed training academies of Lun Yang, which had furnished the front lines with new recruits for generations, burned. The industrial titan that was Hokage - it's air so thick with smog, some of its citizens had never seen the sky - saw the most missile strikes of any city. The great forges and machinery that'd proudly churned out almost half the Fire Nation's tanks and armor, would whirr to life no more.
And on the war-torn mainland, deep in the Earth Kingdom's territory, entire formations were torn asunder by the Colonial onslaught. Cluster bombs - each carrying a hundred tiny bomblets no larger than a small fruit - exploded a kilometer above the unsuspecting armies, their payload ripping through tank and infantry armor like butter.
Less than two hours after departing from Galactica's flight pod, Kat and the rest of her squadron were already requesting permission to land and rearm. If Kat didn't know better, she'd say the entire operation felt like an entry-level training simulation. She almost lamented the lack of challenge, but she'd take it over tangoing with Cylon raiders any day.
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Fire Lord Ozai was still basking in the glow of a job well done. His predecessors' 100-year quest for global domination had entered its final phases, and if that weren't enough, fate had bestowed upon them powers his ancestors would've called magic. Colonial's technology was beyond impressive, and Ozai's engineers were only just beginning to feverishly study every scrap of knowledge the Colonials had foolishly parted with.
Even now, regiments equipped with the new wireless sets reported resounding victory after victory. Oddly, the offensive against Ba Seng Se - the very one Princess Azula was in the process of returning from - was out of contact. Ozai had his own brand of tried-and-true methods to secure progress from his engineers, who emphatically ensured the Fire Lord any communication issues would be resolved shortly.
That promise was the last thing Ozai would ever hear, before an impossibly loud crash thundered from the roof above him, and a carnage of flame and debris ended his world forever.
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"The first wave was a complete success." Kara Thrace, still in the process of removing a number of pins from the War Room's strategic map, reported. "We've significantly damaged the Fire Nation's capacity to reinforce their mainland armies, and two separate offensives into Earth Kingdom territory have been halted for the time being. That should give Ba Seng Se room to breath, let them regroup their forces for a counter attack."
Admiral Adama wasn't much for celebration, instead giving the slightest bob of his head to indicate approval. "Is there any indication of Fire Lord Ozai's status? Has he been eliminated?"
Starbuck's grin was all the affirmation the room needed. "One of the benefits of giving the Fire Nation wireless sets, they're using them to relay all sorts of sensitive information, and we're intercepting all of it. A communique from a city near the capital confirmed it, Ozai is dead."
Sokka let out a victory cheer at the news. Katara gave a soft, quiet smile, while Roslin's expression stayed stone cold. Aang felt a good deal more numb than he'd expected, but couldn't place why. This is what he'd always wanted, wasn't it? This is what he'd asked the Colonials to do, so why did he just feel an emptiness inside?
"Do we know who will assume command of the Fire Nation's general affairs, now that most of the Royal Family is dead or incapaciated?" Roslin inquired.
Starbuck gave a concerned expression. "Most of the Royal Family was in the palace at the time of the attack, but there were a handful off the home islands. The most likely heir would actually be a young woman I met on the surface, Princess Azula."
Aang shuttered, while Sokka's gloating ground to a halt. "Princess Azula?" Aang asked in horror.
"Someone you know?" Lee asked inquisitively.
"Yeah, you could say that." Katara offered cautiously. "We met her in Omashu, along with her gang of friends. Believe it or not, we might've been better off with Ozai."
Starbuck pulled out a log book, and sifted through its contents until landing her finger on a specific block of text. "Azula seems to have a knack for avoiding death. Not only was she away from the Royal Palace, she'd only just left the offensive at Ba Seng Se when Zarek's bomb went off."
"I take it this Azula isn't the diplomatic type?" Roslin pressed.
Aang shook his head. "No, she's pretty crazy."
"I'd guess she'll probably be passing through a few Fire Nation strongholds on her way back to the capital." Starbuck deduced. "Depending on what route she takes, there's a good chance she'll be caught in the second wave of our attack."
Aang thought back to Starbuck's initial briefing a few hours ago, before the first wave of the Colonial attack. Aang knew Galactica was built for war, but seeing how the Colonials did war up close and personal was eye opening. Her presentation lacked the proud boasting or camaraderie he'd been used to from Earth Kingdom generals. Only the cold, clinical details of exactly how and when the Fire Nation juggernaut would be brought to its knees.
Aang figured the Colonials would have the edge, but this operation proved these spacefarers were on a completely different level. Starbuck and the admiral dismissed entire Fire Nation armies like they were pawns on a chess board. Defenses that would've taken entire Water Tribe fleets hundreds of days to wear down were casually reduced to an exact number of missiles required to break the target, before moving on. The success of each strike seemed to be taken for granted, a testament to the absolute technological supremacy of his planet's latest inhabitants.
The first wave was mostly focused on destroying key infrastructure. Factories, shipyards, and of course, the Royal Palace. It also dulled some of the Fire Nation armies near Ba Seng Se, one of the last true strongholds of the Earth Kingdom. The second wave would focus on supply lines closer to home, destroying key reinforcements and equipment before they'd have a chance to reach the battlefield. Finally, the third wave was tasked with clearing a path to Omashu, giving the Earth Kingdom a chance to liberate their second largest city.
Aang was certainly glad these people had peaceful intentions. With the ease Adama dealt with the world's greatest superpower, it felt odd recalling just how much difficulty Roslin had getting the Colonials to actually fight.
"We've done the heavy lifting, now it'll be up to the Earth Kingdom to take initiative." Lee observed. "By tomorrow we'll have expended almost one third of all the guided munitions we have in the fleet, so they'd better to make the most of the chaos on the front lines."
"Oh, you can count on the Earth Kingdom." Sokka bragged. "I'm sure they're more than ready to bring the fight to the Fire Nation for a change."
Aang hoped Sokka was right, and the city of Omashu would finally be liberated soon. At the same time, his inner conflict only widened. Ozai had been a psychopath bent on world domination, but at the same time, Aang was supposed to hold all life as sacred. How was he supposed to reconcile his belief to never take a life, with the amount of death required to halt the Fire Nation?
The answer he kept coming back to, though he didn't want to admit it, was that he couldn't. Either the Colonials shouldn't have helped; or this much killing in the name of stopping Fire Nation was justified. These were mutual exclusive positions, and one of them needed to give.
One choice kept Katara and her family safe, the other didn't.
It seemed like ever since the Colonials arrived, the world had become so much murkier. The difference between right and wrong was starting to blur, to the point of something becoming both at the same time. He desperately missed the simple, clear cut beliefs his people had instilled in him more than a century ago, though he was becoming ever more certain the days of clear boundaries between right and wrong were coming to an end.
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Aang's self-doubt only grew in strength throughout the evening, and was still present when he tried to get some sleep. He'd given up hope on shut-eye ever coming after a few hours, turning to aimlessly walking the corridor outside his room until he wore himself out. After some time, that finally seemed to be working, but as the young boy reached out to let himself back into his room, he felt his body begin falling through the very deck below him.
His world turned to a void of black, then the stars began sprinkling his vision. Aang looked down to find his hands an ethereal shade of blue, a tell-tale sign that he wasn't on Pegasus anymore. Or at least, his spirit wasn't.
"Hello, Aang." The familiar voice caught Aang off guard as he turned to face Avatar Roku for the second time in as many days. "I'm sorry to surprise you, but things in the Spirit World are changing quickly. This couldn't wait."
Roku's warmth was nearly absent, something really must have been wrong. "What's happening? Fire Lord Ozai is gone, things should be getting better, not worse."
"When we spoke last, I told you the spirits were wary of the Colonial's arrival. When the visitors detonated that… that weapon in the Earth Kingdom, they experienced something their kind hasn't felt for a long time: Fear. Most of them now believe the Colonials are too dangerous to be allowed on this planet."
Aang blinked hard in disbelief. The very concept of nuclear weapons shook the young avatar to his core, but he would never have believed the weapon's impact would reach the Spirit World. The spirits were old and wise, it took a lot to freak them out. "You don't understand! It wasn't the Colonials who used it. They were trying to leave, then this guy broke away, and he's-"
"The spirits don't concern themselves with mortal affairs, they won't listen to any explanation from me. As we speak, they're plotting to remove the Colonials by any means necessary. I fear the coming conflict may be more destructive than the hundred-year war ever was."
The boy shot his arms to his sides. "How could they not listen? They're supposed to be these all-knowing, wisdom-filled beings. The Colonials are complicated, but they're not bad people. If I could just show them, they'd see that."
Roku's face remained calm and dignified as he laid out a spark of hope. "There is one way to avert disaster. There is a spirit - Marathi - one of the most ancient of the spirits. Marathi has been communicating with one of the visitors, one you know as Laura Roslin."
Aang's face lit up. "Laura! She's the perfect person for the spirits to talk to."
"Laura Roslin is to her world, what you are to this one. She is the leader of her people, and may hold the key to convincing the spirits they can live in harmony with the Colonials. Unfortunately, even the greatest of the spirits can't communicate from such great distances for more than a few minutes. You are unique Aang, you're the bridge between worlds, so I may be able to bring you into the Spirit World, but neither I nor the spirits can bring Roslin."
"So what, I just need to bring Roslin to the Spirit World and let her talk, right? Easy-Peasy."
Roku shook his head. "The spirits don't change their minds easily. Marathi may be able to convince the spirits to grant her an audience, but you and Roslin will have to do the rest. Marathi's home is a place you are also quite familiar with. A swamp known to give its visitors strange visions of lost loved ones, or visions of things to come."
"The Foggy Swamp!" Aang cried out. "I know exactly where that is!"
"Then move quickly, Aang." Roku warned. "The Colonial's involvement in this war may stop the Fire Nation, but the demonstration of their power has made the spirits more and more leery. Tread carefully, the spirits don't feel threatened often - certainly not by mortals - and I'm not sure how they will react."
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In the day since she'd commandeered a Tundra Tank and set off on the long journey to the Colonial settlement, Princess Azula hadn't had time to do anything but stew. Both Mai and Ty Lee were skilled warriors, more than capable of handling anything on their own. Qin was good at what he did, but at the end of the day, he was more of a bureaucrat than a warrior. She left her only two friends behind because the Fire Nation needed somebody Azula could implicitly trust to watch over their greatest military victory. Had she put too much responsibility on the shoulders of those two? No - they were more than ready for the task. If she was to take her father's place one day, she needed to learn to delegate.
"There's a Fire Nation encampment not far up the road from here." Azula told the vehicle's operator. "We'll stop to refuel, get an hour or two's rest and set off again."
When their tank screeched to a halt outside of the modest arrangement of tents and barracks, Azula was surprised to find the usual Fire Nation discipline absent. People were rushing from one building to another, frantically gathering supplies and giving the impression that they were planning to book it out of there as soon as they could possibly arrange it.
Borderline furious at their sloppiness, Azula ran over to the man whose gold-encrusted cap indicated he was in charge. "You! What are you people doing? Are you expecting to be attacked?"
The soldier removed his helmet and blinked hard before replying? "Princess Azula? I don't-"
"You're not answering the question."
The man shrunk down, trying to work out how to address his better. "You haven't heard the news, have you?"
"What news?" demanded an increasingly irate Azula.
"I don't know how to tell you this." The officer set his helmet on the ground below him, and began twiddling with his fingers. "Messengers have been spreading the word all day. Earlier today, the Colonials attacked the Royal Palace with great bolts of fire, destroying it completely. Fire Lord Ozai is dead."
Azula waited for a punchline that never came.
There had to be some sort of miscommunication. They were still getting used to the Wireless sets, something must have been lost in translation. The officer assured her that wasn't the case.
"Ozai… my father... is dead?" She gawked, feeling her knees grow weak. They never grew weak. She forced her posture straight again.
"They attacked several cities on the Home Islands. Factories, shipyards - A few of the wireless sets back home are still working, so we can get information back and forth. The Colonials eviscerated our supply lines, in a few weeks we'll be struggling to put up any kind of fight at all."
Azula thought back to that Colonial settlement, nestled on a coast line right here in the Earth Kingdom. "Those double crossing-" The princess steadied herself, she needed to remain in her element. "I'm going back to Ba Seng Se, our forces should have been able to overrun its defenders by now. When I get back I'm-"
"The Colonials-" The officer began again, ushering a series of frustrated fire-charges from Azula.
"What else?"
"The Colonials have been attacking our armies around Ba Seng Se. Our messengers have been reporting entire formations reduced to a handful of crippled survivors. Our front lines around the Earth Kingdom capital have totally collapsed."
Though she hadn't thought it possible, Azula's heart dropped even further. "What of the drill? Surely such a formidable weapon has been able to… to…"
The officer's grim face gave her an answer. She didn't need to ask; she knew what the Colonials were capable of.
Ty Lee and Mai. She'd left them behind. They wanted to come, but she made them stay behind and tend to her affairs. Her only two real friends on the entire planet were dead. Her father was dead.
In five minutes, Azula's entire world was shattered into a million pieces.
"We can't stay here." The officer warned. "The Colonials have been striking targets around Ba Seng Se, so it's only a matter of time until-"
A high-pitched scream from the sky cut the officer off. Azula's keen eyesight caught the white trail of some weapon shooting from the sky, and used what fractions of a second she had to grab the officer's chest and throw them both down. She pulled him on top of her in an effort to use the man's armor as a shield, though given the strength of the Colonial weapons, she wasn't sure what kind of difference it would make.
The ground shook, and the shockwave threw her against the hull of her tank. Agonizing screams and the smell of burning fabric and flesh filled the air.
She threw the officer off her to find his blood deeply staining her outfit. Metal fragments had pierced his armor - the man was either dead, or would be very shortly.
Something was cutting into her abdomen, but the princess didn't have time to deal with it now. With sheer force of will, Azula slowly pulled herself back on her feet. Lightning crackled around her body as she finally lost the capability to keep her anger contained any longer. She screamed into the sky, a trail of fire shooting out of her mouth.
She wandered down that road for hours to reach the next encampment. Her tank was totaled, and its operator among the dead. Blood oozed down onto the dirt road below her, though she refused to take the time to tend to her wounds. Not until the great enemy responsible for stealing her world had been dealt with once and for all.
After some time, she came across the still-intact Fire Nation encampment. Ignoring gasping faces, she drug her damaged body into the largest tent, and demanded the attention of the stout officer strategizing an exit plan with her comrades.
"Princess Azula?" The woman asked, staring at the growing pool of blood seeping through the royal woman's uniform.
"That's Fire Lord Azula now." She corrected. "Who are you? What is your rank?"
"My name is Colonel-"
"Nevermind, I don't care what your name is." Azula snarled. "Colonel, I want you to send the messengers out. Gather up everybody who's still alive, and get them ready for combat. The Colonials have established a settlement no more than two days' travel from here - We're going to have our revenge on those traitors who seem so intent on destroying everything we've worked for."
"Fire Lord Azula, our forces are already stretched so thin, how many men can we commit to-"
"I said all of them!"
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Roslin was used to being woken up at the strangest hours. Whether it was some calamity, a Cylon threat, or just the odd creaks of a passenger liner that hadn't seen drydock in nearly a year, it was a wonder she managed to get any sleep at all.
Still, being woken up by a magical twelve-year old boy insisting he'd had spiritual visions he needed to share right that very second was a new one for the bingo board.
So, Laura had forced herself awake, then dragged Bill Adama onboard while a shuttle fetched Aang and his friends.
"Avatar Roku - me in a past life - came to me in a vision. He said the spirits are afraid of you, and that they're going to try kicking you off the planet." Aang started matter-of-factly.
Past lives, Roslin thought. Add reincarnation to the list of apparently real things.
"None of our encounters with the spirits have gone well," Laura noted. "But they've seemed mostly ambivalent towards humanity. Why the sudden change?"
"Roku said they were afraid." Aang elaborated. "He said they watched the weapon go off near Ba Seng Se. It was powerful enough to freak even them out, and they're worried about what else you can do."
Adama actually chuckled at that. "They're afraid of us? Appreciate the irony in that, we can't even hurt them."
"Maybe they're afraid of you for the same reasons we were at first." Katara offered. "We only saw glimpses of the kind of people you were, and it was easy to jump to conclusions."
"The spirits are wise, but they're not used to dealing with something new." Aang resumed. "I think they're letting their fear get the best of them, but we can still stop the fighting before it starts. Laura - Roku told me a spirit has been talking to you already. An ancient one named Marathi."
Roslin gulped, the visions of that elk-esque thing still reeling in her mind. "I have been having visions that involve a spirit. It's been coming to me ever since we jumped into orbit, and it almost always appears in some sort of swamp."
"That's the one!" Aang cried out happily. "Marathi lives in a swamp I've been to before, I even told you about it once. The Foggy Swamp, it's in the Earth Kingdom. If we take you down to the swamp, Marathi can take you into the Spirit World so you can give your side of the story."
Adama's tone left no illusions about his feelings. "The last time we attempted communicating with a spirit, it tried to kill Laura. Frankly, ever since we've arrived, they've been nothing but hostile towards us. I don't see why we should be humoring them again."
This time, Roslin was inclined to agree with him. "I don't know Aang. I don't want a conflict anymore than you do, but the last spirit we spoke with was happy to watch us die before lifting a finger to help us."
"It could very well be a trap." Adama suspected. "Lure our leader down there to kill her, or interrogate her."
The boy was losing his patience. "It's not a trap! Roku has always been on my side, and he has a lot more experience with the spirits than I do. If the spirits decide to actually fight you, you won't be able to stop them. This is the only way."
"Don't count on that." Adama warned coldly. "If these spirits are afraid, they must believe we pose a threat to them. I'm wondering if we're able to harm them a lot more than they want us to think we can."
Roslin put a hand on Adama's shoulder to quiet him. "Why don't we meet them halfway. The spirits haven't actually attacked us yet, we can use this time to learn all we can about that swamp. Aang, I want you to show us exactly where it is, maybe we can send a team down to figure out if this is a genuine offer."
"In the meantime," Adama started as he stood up and straightened his uniform, "I'm going to put the reserve pilots on alert, and we should seriously consider contacting the rogue settlement to relay this information. It's likely to be the primary target of the spirits."
Hopefully, all of this was sabre-rattling on the part of these otherworldly beings, or even just a bad dream Aang was putting too much stock in. Unfortunately, with the way things were going since they'd arrived, Laura didn't think they'd get off so easily. The very last thing they needed was a war with the Fire Nation and the Spirit World, especially when she wasn't sure how much of a fight they'd put up against the latter.
Aang was of course, less than pleased with her hesitation. However, after all the horrors that'd come from the spirits callousness, could anybody blame her? Sokka seemed a little more reluctant to trust the spirits, but Katara always seemed to have her friend's back.
Until the spirits actually did something, all she could do was wait and see.
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The offensive against the Fire Nation had surpassed all expectations. Their mainland forces had lost all cohesion, and were scattering in every direction. Most of the generals leading the charge were either dead or unaccounted for, and the Home Islands themselves would have a hell of a time trying to provide relief for months to come. Adama knew the Fire Nation - its leadership at least - were a corrupt, power hungry collection of psychopaths bent on the extermination of anybody standing in their way. Striking them down seemed like the morally just thing to do, but he worried over the precedent it would set. Would the three nations come to them if this ever happened again? Would the civilian government use this war an excuse to insert themselves into other conflicts down the line? The implications of making themselves judge and jury weren't lost on Adama, but at this moment, he could feel some bit of pride for having done the right thing.
Sadly, even as the battered remains of the Fire Nation's chain of command seemed to be whispering thoughts of peace, this spiritual conflict gave him something new to mull over.
"It looks like any other swamp to me." Colonel Tigh stated, setting down the black-white survey images of the stretch of terrain Aang referred to as 'The Foggy Swamp.' "Not that I can say I've been to very many swamps in my days."
"That forest looked like any other forest, too." Adama countered. "I've had Gaeta point every sensor on this ship towards that area, and he's found nothing special. If we ever want to defend ourselves against these things, we need to figure out how they work."
Tigh gave a disgusted scowl. "We're going to have an awfully hard time making a living on this hunk of rock if those spirits keep knocking at our door, tooling for a fight."
"Our top priority is defending the settlement. If the spirits turn hostile, the president agrees it's likely to be their prime target."
"We'll see how they like picking a fight with us when we've-"
Tigh couldn't even mouth out the rest of his sentence. His dumbstruck face was transfixed on something behind Adama. The admiral turned to see, of all things, a mesmerizing, blue sphere floating in CIC. The… whatever it was kept about a foot above eye level, and pulsed with strange energy that sent miniature arcs of energy across its half-transparent surface.
One of those arcs shot out to a nearby console, shorting the device and eliciting a confused screech from the officer manning it.
"What in the name of the Gods is that?" Tigh cried out, though, everybody else in CIC was just as astonished.
Adama and Tigh took several cautious steps back as the sphere doubled in size. Before Adama was given the chance to contemplate a plan to deal with the otherworldly thing, something began to emerge from it.
Adama felt the urge to check if he was dreaming. The thing slowly emerging from the portal was quite literally, a single, glowing... eyeball.
The thing couldn't have been more than a foot long, and its body was attached to a giant web of green, lurid veins stretching back to the portal the entity had emerged from.
"You are Adama?" Echoed a malevolent voice that seemed to come from everywhere in the room all at once. "My name is Father Glowworm, and I am here to deliver a message from the Spirit World."
With those menacing words, Tigh wasted no time pulling his sidearm from its holster and taking aim at the newly arrived spirit. "Sergeant of the Guards, get your team in here!"
A half dozen marines charged into the room, rifles in hand, and took aim at the creature. Most of CIC's on-duty officers had ducked for cover, with the exception of one brave comms officer raising the other decks for help.
The eye's gaze shifted from Adama, to Tigh, to one of the marines. Its pupil contracted and its body bobbed ever so slightly as a deep, bellowing laugh rocked the room. "Your mortal weapons cannot harm me, though I'd be delighted if you wanted to try."
"We'll see how much you're laughing when we're done peeling you off the wall!" Tigh barked.
"You said you're here to deliver a message." Adama said, taking a number of steps towards Father Glowworm. "Get on with it."
The eye focused its attention on Admiral Adama. "We've been observing your kind since your arrival above this world. You are careless and destructive, even by human standards. The chaos you will bring threatens to throw the already hobbled balance of this planet further into disarray. Therefore, we have decided your stain is to be removed. You have one day to leave this land, and depart."
The eye cast a curious glance around CIC. "If you do not heed this warning, then your people will pay in blood."
Glowworm could use whatever so-called magic it wanted - Adama wouldn't be backing down.
"I think our people have been extremely patient with your kind." The admiral said with a harsh, steely resolve. "You talk a big game about harmony and balance, but you've been the ones to initiate every conflict. You murdered our people in the forest. You attacked us again when we tried negotiating with you. Now, you're making threats while calling us the destructive ones."
"Don't fool yourself into thinking you're in a position to lecture us." Father Glowworm boomed "You people are hardly worth this conversation."
Tigh gave a curt chuckle. "You seem awfully worried about what we've got up our sleeve, for a thing who thinks we're hardly worth it's time."
The eye inched forward, the webs behind it pulsating and elongating as its body twisted itself to examine Saul Tigh. "You are peculiar. Something's off about you, but I just can't place it…"
Adama brought himself barely an inch away from the spirit, staring it down with a fiery intensity that even Glowworm seemed to respect. "Listen to me: I'm delivering a warning now. Our patience with you is over. Make any attempt to harm our people on the surface, or in orbit, and I'll show you just how destructive us lowly humans can be."
Father Glowroom actually backed a few inches away from the admiral before delivering another roaring laugh. "We have nothing to fear from your kind in this physical world."
"Maybe you don't." Adama took hold of the recon image of the Foggy Swamp, still sitting on CIC's command console. "This swamp, it seems pretty important to your kind. Something about the place is filled with a sort of spiritual energy as I understand it."
"You would know even less of spiritual matters than the ignorant humans who already live here." Father Glowworm condescended. "I don't expect you to understand."
The admiral didn't bother acknowledging the spirit's latest quipp as he barked a new order to CIC: "Open nuclear launch tube three, and load a targeting package centered thirty kilometers east of the swamp."
Bill yelled for Tigh to get his launch key, while preparing his own. Feelix, still shooting nervous glances at the spirit watching him do his work, yelled out a confirmation that the warhead was armed and ready to fire on his command.
"What are you doing?" Father Glowroom asked with growing concern. "You can't-"
"Launch missile." Adama growled as he and the Colonel turned their key simultaneously, causing Galactica to rock ever so slightly as it unleashed the strategic weapon
This device wasn't the ship-to-ship tactical weapon stolen by Zarek and his people. Its yield was more than an order of magnitude greater, powerful enough to incinerate everything within a kilometer of the blast.
It took ninety seconds for the warhead to reach altitude and detonate near the sacred land. Ninety seconds filled with a spirit who's tone rapidly shifted from indifferent, to confused, to furious.
"You wonder why we've banished you!" It screamed out. "I should strike you down where you stand, turn your body inside out, twist your flesh into-"
"I don't think you can." Adama cut in. "I know how hard it is for you spirits to manifest yourselves in orbit. I think you're using most of your power just to get here."
Adama threw his picture of the Foggy Swamp on the ground in front of Glowworm. "If you come anywhere near our settlement, I'll vaporize that swamp."
"You insolent-"
"You things are used to getting your way; not with us. Not with me. Now get your pompous, hypocritical equivalent of an ass off my ship."
The eye began glowing an ominous red, and practically shook with a fury that sent most of CIC back under their stations for cover. However, without another word, Gloworm reversed his movement, and retreated back into his portal. The gateway closed behind him, sending a gust of wind across the command center.
"Well," It took Tigh a few tense moments before he slowly began lowering his sidearm. "That is going to be a new one for the log books."
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"You did what!?"
Aang's exclamation echoed around CIC, but the boy's frustration only seemed to irritate Admiral Adama. "You attacked a place sacred to the spirits? Didn't you say you wanted to avoid fighting them?"
Katara put a hand on Aang's back. "What I think Aang's trying to say is-"
"That you're crazy! Don't you see I'm trying to walk a fine line between-"
"They threatened us." Adama intjerfected, his booming voice catching Aang off guard. "They promised to kill every man, woman, and child in that settlement if we don't give in to their demands. You can talk about balance all you want Aang, the reality is that these things are bullies, and bullies respond to force."
Aang tried glaring the grizzled man down, to no effect.
"Aang, we want to live in peace with the spirits, and everybody else on this planet for that matter." Roslin said kindly. "But the reality is, the spirits just proved they're willing to escalate this conflict."
"The warhead didn't strike the swamp." Adama pointed out in a vaguely conciliatory tone. "It was close enough to get their attention, but that's it. A warning shot."
Aang huffed as he leaned against the command console. The poor boy seemed genuinely distraught and conflicted.
The admiral called Lieutenant Gaeta over, folder in hand. "If that isn't enough, we've got another potential problem for the pile."
Gaeta pulled a photograph from his folder, setting it down in front of Aang and his friends.
"Do you have any idea what this thing is?" Adama asked the avatar.
Laura examined the picture along with everybody else in the dimly lit room. Centered on the shot of the deep blue ocean, was a small, green island. It was unnaturally round, with a series of waves riding out behind its back.
"Uh.." Aang started, clearly confused. "I don't get it, that's just an island."
"Islands usually don't move." Gaeta jabbed. "Whatever that is, it's changed positions every time we've sent a survey mission out. It actually looks like it's making a beeline for the settlement."
Aanged pressed himself closer to the photo, looking it over several more times before finally coming to some sort of realization. "Oh!" He cried out. "I think I know what that is! It's a Lion Turtle, it has to be."
"The Lion Turtles were hunted to extinction a long time ago." Sokka chimed. "Try again, Aang."
"The Air Nomads told legends about the Lion Turtles, they were once sacred to us. The monks said the turtles disguised themselves as islands or giant rocks to avoid humans. It's the only explanation that makes sense."
Colonel Tigh shook his head. "You're telling us, a giant, island-sized turtle is double timing it to our people? Why?"
"The Lion Turtles are ancient, they protected humanity before the four nations even existed." Aang explained. "They gave our ancestors the ability to bend, they're one of the most powerful things in the world."
"So a magic island-sized turtle." Laura noted. "Lovely."
"Even the spirits respected the Lion Turtles." Aang continued, just before his face sombered. "I wonder if the turtle is afraid of you too, if it's working with the spirits."
"That would be bad." Katara forewarned.
"How long do we have before the turtle reaches the rogue settlers?" Laura asked.
Gaeta had been prepared to answer this well in advance. Roslin guessed Adama already knew himself. "Two, maybe three days."
"Oh Lords," Laura let out, pacing a few feet back and forth as she considered her options. "This conflict is going to spiral out of control before the Fire Nation is even dealt with. We can't just sit back and wait to see what happens when that oversized reptile gets to the settlement. So frak it, If this Marathi really thinks he, or she, or it, can get me an audience in the Spirit World and put an end to this battle before it starts, then I'm going down there."
"Yes!" Aang cried out. "We can leave right now!"
"I'm not taking any chances this time." Adama counseled. Laura wouldn't try stopping him. Her patience with this fairy-tale magic was growing shorter by the second. "I'm sending Mathias down with you, along with a strike team."
Sokka was surprisingly approving of the admiral's stance. "Glad to see somebody around here knows how to take precautions, honestly Aang, you could learn from Adama here."
"Prep the team, we're leaving in an hour." Roslin ordered. She tapped on the railing behind her, thinking of something Shinrin said to her down in that forest. "I do have one more request. Sharon, the Cylon prisoner, I'd like her to come with us as well. Something about human-form Cylons seems to throw the spirits off guard, she might be an asset."
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The very minute after Zarek's warhead went off, he was lauded as a hero by Feng and his men. He'd succeeded in eradicating the Fire Nation's weapon, saving the great city of Ba Seng Se.
Of course, there had been collateral damage. Hundreds of city dwellers unfortunate enough to be looking in the general direction of the blast were blinded, and many more suffered from severe burns. Fallout would inevitably claim a number of lives over the next few days, and more still would suffer side effects even decades down the line. It was unfortunate, but the alternative would've been the complete subjugation of the Earth Kingdom. Stopping the Fire Nation at the cost of a few hundred lives was a bargain Zarek was happy to take.
They'd set off for the Fire Nation capital not even an hour after the weapon was destroyed. Zarek traded in his jeans and leather jacket for a set of loose-fitting Fire Nation garbs. As they approached the coast line, they'd look like any other Fire Nation citizens to the numerous patrols and roving armies. The creatures they rode pulled carts full of fine pottery, giving credibility to their cover story of merchants looking to sell their goods. Once they made it to shore, they'd take a trawler to the Home Islands, talk their way into the capitol, and set off the second warhead.
"Your people wield such power." Observed Du Jiang, one of the Dai Li agent tasked by Feng to escort Zarek and his people into Fire Nation territory. Jiang and the two other Earth Kingdom agents with him tended to be the silent types, hardly exchanging more than the necessary pleasantries since they'd departed from Ba Seng Se, so the sudden conversation took Zarek off guard. "Why would you ever leave them? Why betray them to help us?"
"The Fire Nation has a lot in common with my people." Zarek told Jiang. "The Colonials are ruled by a caste of imperialists who spent centuries exploiting my homeland. The Fire Nation were well on the way to doing the same to you. When I had a chance to stop the Earth Kingdom from going the way of Sagittaron, abandoning my people was a small price."
Jiang steadied his creature as he digested Zarek's words. "There are those who would ask how they could possibly trust you, Zarek. You betrayed your own people, who's to say you won't betray us, too?"
"They may have been my people, but I had nothing in common with them." Zarek maintained. "If they do stay on this planet, you'll need to keep your guard up around the Colonials."
Silence resumed amongst the small gang of travellers as they winded down road after road for hours. When they came across a platoon of Fire Nation soldiers marching down the same path, it was time to find out if their cover story would actually be sufficient.
Zarek tipped his cap at the armored men taking point. To Tom's horror, just before they passed, the soldiers cut in front of their caravan and yelled for them to stop.
"What can we do for you fine men?" Jiang asked amicably.
"You haven't heard the news, have you?" The soldier asked, his face obscured by a red-black helmet with the image of a skull imprinted on its front. "The Colonials - those visitors from another world - They've sided with the Earth Kingdom. Ozai is dead, and it's no longer safe for us to be this close to Ba Seng Se." The man eyed their carts. Even if he inspected them, Zarek could tell these soldiers the warhead was just another fancy piece of pottery. They wouldn't know any better. "If you're headed back to the Home Islands, I'd be careful. There's a lot of chaos there right now, you might want to find somewhere safe to wait it out."
"Ozai is dead?" Jiang asked, clearly trying his hardest to feign a tone of horror. "How tragic!"
The soldier gripped his beast's reigns tightly. "We need to leave, but I couldn't let fellow Fire Nation citizens get themselves caught in the carnage. You have a safe trip."
When their caravan was well out of earshot, Jiang dismounted and virtually threw himself into Zarek. "Whatever you did, it worked! Ozai is dead, and from the sound of those soldiers, we're finally starting to drive the Fire Nation back."
"Our leaders must have finally gotten in through their heads that the Fire Nation would've come for them next." Zarek guessed. Adama's intervention came as a genuine surprise, but a welcome one.
"We should turn back for Ba Seng Se." Jiang advised. "If the Fire Nation is growing desperate, they'll sue for peace. There's no need to cause more destruction that could strengthen their resolve."
Zarek raised a hand. "No, our mission needs to stay the same. I know the Fire Nation, I know how people like them operate. Thirst for conquest runs in their people's veins by now. Even if Ozai is dead, and they end the war, they'll just try again a few decades down the line."
"Our mission was to kill the Fire Lord." Jiang pointed out. "If he's already dead, what's the point of going to the capital?
"Killing the Fire Lord was an objective, one of many." Zarek said. "But I'm telling you, if you want to guarantee the Earth Kingdom's survival in the long term, we need to inflict a wound on their country so great, they'll never pose a threat to you again."
"You're not…" Jiang started, his eyes narrowing at Zarek. "You actually want to destroy the entire city, don't you? Do you have any idea how many people live there? I was willing to accept casualties if it meant killing Ozai, but I'm not going to let you kill just to kill."
Zarek gave a dejected sigh. "I really thought the Dai Li of all people would understand what is necessary."
"I'm not arguing about this with you." Jiang stabbed. "We're turning back."
When Jiang began climbing back onto his steed, Zarek reached into his garments and grabbed the butt of his pistol. In one swift motion, he raised the weapon and fired a pair of rounds into Jiang's chest, sending him toppling to the ground.
Zarek's men didn't hesitate. They produced their weapons and began taking aim at the remaining Dai Li agents, but the Dai Li had a lifetime of combat training to work with. Zarek people, for the most part, consisted of convicted criminals. The Earth Kingdom agents dodged the initial volley of fire. One produced an assassin's knife, jamming it into the abdomen of one of the Colonials before they had a chance to steady their aim.
Zarek's two remaining allies took cover behind the metal crate housing his precious cargo. One of the Dai Li agents - the only Earth bender with them - kicked the ground in front of him, sending a spire of rock shooting up out of the ground and into the metal box, throwing it down and crushing the two Colonials underneath it.
The few seconds of firefighting was all the time Zarek needed to reload his weapon, and take aim at the two Dai Li agents. With military precision, Zarek dispatched the two in a hail of bullets before either of them had a chance to mount a counterattack
The brief tussle subsided, leaving Zarek as the only man left standing. He checked the pulse of his stabbed comrade to find nothing, surmising the blade must have been coated in a type of poison. It took him a good deal of time to get the deceptively heavy crate back on one of the carts. Zarek found the mangled corpses of his two remaining accomplices crushed under the weight of metal and rock.
Tom took a moment to inspect the warhead, finding it dented and scratched, though it appeared mostly intact. The Earth Kingdom had given them money, forged papers, everything he needed to get the job done - even on his own.
Just as he began trying to work out how Jiang rode the beast that would take him the rest of the way across the mainland, the crippled Dai Li agent weakly croaked something out.
"This vendetta Zarek, it's going to destroy all of us."
Zarek stared down at the agent's mortally wounded body. "No, Jiang. The only thing that would destroy you, is your inability to do what needs to be done."
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"What we're about to discuss doesn't make its way out of this room." William Adama emphasised, shutting the Situation Room's heavy door behind Roslin. "Certainly not to Aang and his friends under any circumstances."
They'd last conferenced in CIC less than an hour ago. She was supposed to be meeting Aang and the others on the hanger deck any minute now. What else could the admiral possibly want to tell her? And just as important, why the veil of secrecy?
Captain Thrace was there, too. Standing in front of the table, its bright glow producing most of the light glowing off the lower half of her face in the dimly illuminated space. "We needed a plan B." She said simply.
"The Lion Turtle could very well destroy this fleet's long-term prospects for survival." Adama expounded. "We needed a plan to deal with it, in the event your excursion to the swamp fails."
"Deal with it?" Roslin repeated.
"Aang said these things were hunted to near extinction." Adama established, moving to stand behind Captain Thrace. "That would suggest the turtles can die, just like we can."
Kara Thrace took over from there. "If these people can kill it with their weapons and a few fancy magic tricks, we should be more than capable of doing the same thing."
"You're planning to kill the Lion Turtle?" Roslin spat out.
Kara nodded. "A Raptor carrying a set of bunker busters should be able to penetrate the turtle's shell and destroy it from the inside."
"Aang said the Lion Turtles were sacred to his people." Laura recalled. "If we destroy it, there would be no hope of reconciliation with the planet's factions."
Adama's softened his tone. "None of us want to do this, we didn't ask for this conflict. Unfortunately, the turtle and the Spirit World have put us in a position where it's either them, or us."
"And we're not going down without a fight." Kara threatened. "Aang's a good kid, but I don't think he appreciates just how dangerous the spirits are."
Roslin chewed on Adama's words. The admiral was right, it was smart to have a backup plan in case her second spiritual encounter went as well as her first. They had thousands of innocent people on the surface - if Aang wasn't able to save them, the fleet would have to do it themselves.
Still, the thought of attacking such an ancient creature made her feel uncomfortable. Not uncomfortable enough to disagree with Adama's assessment, but that nagging feeling gnawing on her when she shut down plans for settlement began to return. Would the planet have been better off if their fleet had simply never found it?
"Okay." She admitted. "Keep this plan in reserve, we've still got a couple days until the Lion Turtle reaches that settlement. In the meantime, pray to the Gods Aang's plan works out."
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I think we're actually going to finish a story for a change! The next chapter will bring the story to a conclusion, and if all goes according to plan, an epilogue will be posted at the same time.
Chapter 10 - Put me Back Together Again
Note: This story will has an epilogue posted immediately after this chapter, in a separate post.
"You know, when we fought the Cylons, we did it to save ourselves from extinction. But we never answered the question, why? Why are we as a people worth saving?"
- Commander William Adama, Galactica Decommissioning Ceremony
---
"Altitude twenty clicks, prep for final approach." Helo reported to the cramped looking group behind him: President Roslin, Aang Katara and Sokka, and Gunnery Sergeant Erin Mathias.
Aang leaned forward to give Helo's co-pilot a closer examination. "I don't know, you look pretty human to me." The boy said skeptically.
Sharon Valerii produced an amused snicker, but stopped short of looking away from her control console. "Yeah, if you tell that to the rest of the fleet when you get the chance."
"But you're not human." Sokka stressed. "I don't know, it just creeps me out. Why go through all the trouble of making machines that look like people, but aren't?" Katara jabbed an annoyed fist into her brother's abdomen.
"Sharon's as much a person as any of us." Helo stated firmly. "Sharon feels love, pain, the whole nine yards."
"I wonder if my healing powers would work on you, Sharon." Katara wondered.
"If we're lucky, we won't need to find out in this swamp." Laura hoped
The Raptor escorting them touched down in the murky water first, allowing the marine team it held the opportunity to disembark before Roslin and company joined them. From the moment Helo was assigned to this mission, he'd agonized over their landing. Swamps and multi-ton spacecraft didn't feel like a good pairing, and Helo worried the ground would swallow half their bird the moment they touched down.
Fortunately, the captain's skills were enough to carry the day.
The Foggy Swamp felt as if it had an unnatural vigor to it, and while Aang had told her the land itself was alive and breathing, actually experiencing it felt downright eerie. Above them, she could make out inklings of the single largest living entity ever discovered in Colonial history. The gargantuan tree stretched for miles, and its roots were thick enough to be mistaken for trees in their own right. How such a thing could have evolved was beyond Laura's understanding, but there it was.
"We'll take point." Mathias offered, the swamp's mucky water stopping just short of the top of her boots. She, along with the half-dozen marines accompanying them, were adorned in the usual black armor and helmets of the Colonial Marine Corps. Clear visors shielded their eyes, and they held those standard-issue rifles Roslin knew still made Aang and Katara feel uncomfortable. "Fischer and Maldonaldo, you pick up the rear."
Aang still wasn't completely happy with the arrangement, but towards the tree they went. As they trekked further into the canopy, the sky grew darker and the water below them thickened, to the point where it was beginning to become a struggle just to walk.
Mathias and her team flicked on the lights mounted below their weapons, which certainly helped a bit.
A set of distant splashes brought the Gunnery Sergeant to an abrupt halt, and she signalled the group to stop in their tracks. She produced a set of gestures with her left hand, and one of the marines flanked left while the rest crouched down.
A set of green vines shot out from the bog, striking the unfortunate marine and pinning him down. Mathias took aim into the half-obscured void in front of her, then Aang started yelling into the abyss.
"Huu, it's us!"
In an instant, the vines let the marine go and retracted themselves. A broad, half-naked man emerged from the fog, and even as Mathias kept her gun trained on him, he seemed perfectly content to beam a smile back at Aang. "Well hello! I didn't expect to see you again so soon."
"It's good to see you." Aang replied, walking up to the man even while a visibly confused Mathias looked to Helo for instruction. The avatar turned to address the group. "This is Huu, the swamp is his home. He helped us the last time we came here."
"And you couldn't have told us about him?" Mathias yelled.
"Oh," Aang said with shame. "Yeah sorry, I guess that would've been a good idea."
"Who do we have here?" Huu asked the Colonial group, eyeing each of them with intense curiosity. "New friends of yours, avatar?"
"It's a long story." Aang brushed off. "They're not from around here, and the spirits aren't happy with them. We need to talk to a spirit named…"
"Marathi." Roslin finished. "I've been receiving visions from a spirit named Marathi for almost a month now."
"These people and the spirits are about ready to destroy each other." Aang explained. "Marathi thinks if Roslin and I go into the Spirit World, Marathi can help convince the spirits to make peace."
"Marathi, huh?" Huu sounded genuinely impressed. "Marathi is one of the oldest of the spirits - And the spirit of this very swamp. You must be some particularly interesting people to get her attention."
"Please, can you take us to her?" Aang urged.
"I can take you to the spiritual center of the swamp." Huu offered. "But you should know getting into the spirit world isn't an easy task, it would be wise to spend some time communing with the swamp before-"
"Huu," Roslin raised a finger, cutting the half-dressed man off. "As we speak, my people and the Spirit World are hours away from mutual annihilation, so I would really appreciate it if the swamp could skip the touchy-feeling one-with-nature part of this expedition and get to the point."
Huu gave a dejected sigh, and a disapproving glare, but nonetheless agreed to Roslin's demand. "I'll take you there now, but the rest will be up to you."
Their walk quickly turned from bothersome and creepy, to difficult and ominous. The swamp only grew darker as its vines and branches blotted out that little sunlight remained, forcing the group to pack more tightly together just so the marines could keep eyes on everyone.
After some time, Huu announced they'd arrived. Thousands of branches coalesced into a dome-shaped structure that glowed with a faint, green ambience. It was no larger than a small cabin, and was totally sealed from the world until Huu and Aang approached. When they did, the vines making up the Dome's outer layer twisted and contorted, making an entrance just wide enough for a person to fit through.
"This is your ticket into the Spirit World." Huu announced.
Aang bowed in thanks, then became the first to walk into the dome. As the rest followed, the glow inside the doom intensified while shifting to a more intense shade of blue.
"Just static from the wireless." Helo warned. "I don't know if it's the swamp or something else, but we can't reach Galactica."
"Sounds par the course for the supernatural." Roslin said dryly as she watched Aang sit criss cross on an especially long root, one of the only truly dry places within the dome. "You're the bridge, Aang, what do we do from here?"
"I honestly couldn't tell you." Aang said to Laura's dismay. "I entered the Spirit World by myself once before, at the Northern Water Tribe, but it wasn't easy. I had to-"
Laura felt something jolt inside her, just a split second before her legs gave out and she collapsed - along with about everyone else - towards the ground.
The next thing Roslin knew, she was staring down at her own body. Aang was there, too, both of their semi-transparent bodies radiating an odd ethereal glow.
"Helo! Hey, stay with me!" Sharon's voice demanded. Laura shot her head around to see just about everybody else knocked out, save for a frantic Sharon desperately trying to figure out what was happening. She checked each of their bodies for signs of life, and her brief sigh of relief told Roslin they were at least still alive.
"Sharon, what's happening?" Laura asked, though the Cylon wouldn't even acknowledge her presence.
"She can't see us." Aang explained. "I think we've crossed over, that was a lot easier than I expected."
"You might have had a little help." Called a voice quite familiar to Roslin by now. She and Aang turned to see an oversized elk standing before them, the same one she'd seen in her dreams over and over again.
"You're Marathi?" Laura asked. "You're the thing that's been appearing to me since our fleet arrived over this planet?
Marathi nodded. The thing looked just as intimidating up close and personal, as it did in Laura's subconscious. "Come with me, the others are waiting for you."
"What about my people?" Laura gestured at the collection of unconscious people around the branch-encased dome. "What happened to them? I need to know they will remain unharmed."
"I'm not the only spirit curious about your kind." Marathi said dismissively. "They won't be harmed, but this audience is for you two alone."
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One by one, Sharon pushed the rest of her team's bodies against the dome's bark wall. They were definitely alive and breathing, they just weren't there. Every single one of them had lost consciousness simultaneously, leaving her the only able-bodied member of the surface team. Her wireless still didn't work, and she started debating if and when she should try getting back to the Raptor to signal for help, when something outside of the so-called spiritual center started to stir.
Something black and long slithered past the dome's entrance. Sharon instinctively pulled out her firearm, and weighed her options. She was in the process of debating whether or not she'd be able to make a break for their Raptor when the vines making up the dome's roof started deforming and retracting, revealing the horrific monster she'd seen hints of a moment before.
A hundred lanky legs jutted out from it's thick, hardened body. The thing looked like a giant centipede, it's black skin twisting and writhing around one of the nearby trees, staring down at her with a distinctly human face attached to the very front of it's disconcertingly long form. A dozen thin, sharpened appendages moved back and forth the front of its body as it gave a warm, malicious smile at her.
"A pleasure to meet you." It's voice was almost welcoming, in sharp contrast to the creature's alien, insectoid body. "I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to getting to know your kind."
Sharon raised her firearm at the spirit, and stepped back until she was pressing up against the dome's edge.
"The rest of my kind is rather annoyed by my curiosity." The beast explained. "I've spent centuries bringing wisdom to mortals brave enough to seek me out - and punishing others for their arrogance. The other spirits even think I'm setting a bad example for being so willing to talk to humans. However, this is the first time I'm the one to seek one of you out."
Sharon lightly pressed a finger against her weapon's trigger. "What did you do to them?" She asked.
"The spirit's simply don't trust you, they didn't want you to do anything foolish in this sacred place. Something is different about you, though. Our magic didn't work on you, why is that?"
"I guess there's a bit more to us than you expected." Sharon taunted.
The 'face' of the creature shifted into a woman's head, complete with long, flowing hair. "So it would seem. My name is Koh, and I would be delighted to add a face belonging to someone so unique to my collection."
The face shifted again, to a plain blue mask with deep black eyes. Koh lunged towards Sharon, its tendril-like spikes at the front of its body thrusting into the bark behind her. Sharon fired her weapon, but the creature's sudden movement shocked her badly enough to drop the firearm into the murky water below. Koh's latest face stopped just an inch from her, forcing her eyes shut as she awaited her inevitable death.
Would there be a resurrection ship in range, or would she truly be gone?
However, that death never came. She opened her eyes a few moments later to find Koh silently staring her down.
"You were obviously afraid for your life." Koh stated. "You clearly showed emotion, but your face isn't mine."
Sharon didn't even know what she was supposed to tell Koh this time. After a moment, it backed off, raising its body above the dome.
"You are unique. Shinrin told us about a strange human whose presence left no scent, no spiritual trace. He said your leader called you a... machine?"
"You really do have a lot to learn about us." Sharon sneered. "I'm not human"
"A machine that thinks it's alive." Koh jabbed. "These Cylons I've heard whispers about, I would love very much to know more about these strange things."
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Moments after they'd taken their new, ghostly forms, Aang and Roslin had found themselves being whisked away from the Foggy Swamp. Marathi guided their incorporeal forms through a tunnel of swirling white clouds, until they emerged above a tranquil valley, marked with rolling hills and dotted by purple flowers. Marathi brought them to a soft landing on the grass that wasn't quite grass. Everything about this place felt ever so subtly different: The air seemed lighter and cleaner, and despite the serene surroundings, there was no sun above to give off light.
"This is the human you've been going on about?" inquired a far-off voice. It didn't take Roslin long to find the source, a spirit that took the form of a deceptively ordinary baboon. "Was it really appropriate to bring her here?"
"If you're going to be so bent on driving them off, the least you could do is give one of them the time of day first." A new, feminine voice barked at the baboon. A beautiful young woman with snow-white hair appeared to Aang and Roslin, dressed in the familiar blue tunics of the Water Tribe. "Hello again, Aang."
Aang ran up to hug the newest arrival. "Princess Yue! I didn't expect to run into you."
"When I heard you and the Colonials were being summoned, I had to be here." Yue returned Aang's hug before introducing herself to Laura. "I am the spirit of the Moon after all. I could feel your people's presence the moment you arrived over our world. I'm the one who asked Marathi to reach out to you."
"Yue has only taken this form for a very brief time." Marathi explained. "Her powers aren't quite enough to reach out to yo yet, but mine were."
"Tell me Aang, how is Sokka? Is he doing okay?" Yue pleaded.
Aang's smile shined at the princess. "Sokka's doing great, he thinks about you all the time. Oh - Laura, you should know, Sokka and the Moon have a lot of history."
Roslin recalled Sokka's fantastical tale of his girlfriend turning into the Moon. She'd just assumed it was a figure of speech she didn't understand, but apparently not. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Yue. I hope everybody here is as pleasant as you."
"That would be too easy." Marathi warned. "Most of the spirits see Colonial kind as violent in the extreme, they haven't seen you through the lens that I have."
Laura tilted her head. "In my dreams, you showed me visions of people I've lost. President Adar, the priest Elosha, Billy…"
"My swamp shows people visions of lost loved ones, in part to remind them they live on in memory." Marathi described. "But it also serves another purpose. We spirits don't have the same perspective on life as mortals, feeling and experiencing such strong memories helps me to understand your kind. Most spirits are indifferent to human life, they don't see that we're connected in the same way all other life on your planet is."
Adama and her did theorize the spirits were using her dreams to gather intelligence. That was surprisingly close to the mark, though the motive was much less malicious than she'd feared. "You used my dreams to understand me?"
"And the rest of your people. I'm sure Aang has told you, spirit's aren't used to surprises. We've never encountered something like you before: Mortals who sail from star to star upon great arks of metal. Humans with the power to harness the same forces as the sun itself, and turn it into a weapon. My kind likes to think they're above fear and desperation, but I think you've proven this belief is wishful thinking."
"But not all of them think that way." Aang pried. "You and Avatar Roku wanted us to come down here to stop this war before it starts."
Marathi nodded solemnly. "And I can only hope they listen."
If the situation weren't so desperate, Laura would've loved the chance to interrogate Marathi for hours. Did spirits have a culture of their own? Did they reproduce? They must have, people kept referring to spirits like Shinrin and Marathi as 'very old,' that implied others were young or newly born. How did that work, and how did a human like Yue turn from her physical form into a spirit?
Where did they come from? Did they evolve naturally? What exactly was the Spirit World? A dimension parallel to their own, or something Colonial science hadn't even thought of yet?
And for all the good intentions Marathi seemed to have, did she understand how much pain those dreams had brought Laura? Did the spirit ever consider her intrusions into the minds of her subjects might be seen as a violation? Was Roslin even in a position to raise such questions while this spirit seemed to be the only one trying to help them?
The number of spirits inhabiting the valley swelled over the next few minutes. One was an odd green blob with a plain white face, another took the form of a fox, and yet another a giant owl.
"We've agreed to humor you, Marathi." Called out one of the spirits, an ominous glowing eye. Almost certainly the Father Glowworm Adama tussled with back on Galactica. "Please just get on with it."
"Show some respect to the elder spirit, Glowworm." A tall, humanoid figure demanded.
"I'll speak as I please, Old Iron. Especially when it concerns mortals who show no respect for us."
Marathi stomped one of her hooves into the valley, shaking the ground hard enough to catch Laura off guard. "Not now, you two. I've asked you here to show you the truth behind these visitors who have caused such chaos in our realm. You all know they hail from a place in the physical realm, but have you even wondered what series of events led them here in the first place?"
"Actually," started the owl. "I'm quite curious how her people got here. The stars are so far apart, the knowledge you must have to traverse such impossibly vast distances has to be-"
"Not the time, Wan Shi Tong." Marathi silenced.
"What does it matter?" Shinrin, the first spirit Laura had the displeasure of meeting, asked. "Humans have a lust for conquest and exploitation, I don't see why they'd come here for any other reason."
"These people didn't come as conquerors." Marathi looked to Laura. "In fact, her people never wanted to leave their worlds at all. A force even more powerful than themselves destroyed their home, driving them away. Laura, I want you to show them what you showed me."
"Show them what?" Laura begged.
Aang pressed his elbow against her. "Show them the same visions Marathi saw. Let the spirits see what happened to the Twelve Colonies."
"And how in the name of the Gods am I supposed to do that?" Laura pressed.
"I can help you." Marathi offered
The spirit pressed her head against Laura, and a moment later she found herself floating in the void of space. Her homeworld of Caprica was the principle subject of this vision, its surface inflamed by dozens of nuclear detonations across every continent.
She saw the farms of Aerilon burn to cinders, and the plains of Leonis turn to lifeless valleys. Laura watched tsunamis slam into the coastal cities of Caprica, while great skyscrapers collapsed into crowds of panicked people. The shipyards of Scorpia turned to fiery debris, surrounded by the remnants of what little resistance the Colonies had offered.
"What are we looking at?" Asked a disembodied voice.
Aang actually spoke up before Laura had the chance. "These people lost their home. A race called the Cylons destroyed it, just like the Fire Nation destroyed mine."
"Fifty billion people, that's how many lived in the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. On this day, fifty billion people died at the hands of an enemy who knew no mercy. Even after our government offered a total surrender, the Cylons remained intent on completely annihilating the human race."
Her conversation with Bill Adama that fateful day ran through Laura's mind, and played out for the spirits to see. "We have fifty thousand people left and that's it. If we are going to survive - as a species - then we need to get the hell out of here."
"So you ran?" Another spirit asked.
"Staying would've been suicide. We ran, and we haven't stopped running since."
"Such destruction…" A third voice chimed in. "Whole words turned to lifeless shells, death on this scale is difficult to fathom."
Marathi appeared beside Laura and Aang. "Imagine the sorrow these people must endure every day, having their whole world taken from them."
"I don't have to imagine." Aang declared defiantly. "I know what it's like to lose your civilization, I know what that does to a person. Laura showed me their people mourn for their dead, just like we do."
"When a wild animal is desperate and hungry, it lashes out." Marathi spoke. "These Colonials are a desperate, broken people, and they've lashed out just the same. That doesn't make them evil."
"You're making excuses for them." The voice of Shinrin echoed. "They were warned by the Earth Kingdom to stay out of my forest. They refused to heed those warnings, then they burned half of it to the ground."
"Laura tried to make things right!" Aang pointed out. "You're not being fair to her."
"I don't think you'd blame the cat-deer for striking back against a wolf." Marathi fumed. "Their worlds didn't have beings like us, they would've assumed any warning was just another myth."
"I was angry at them, too." Aang emphasized. "For a while, I wished they'd never come here. They almost killed my friend, but then they did everything they could to save her."
Before another spirit could respond, a new, uniquely horrific creature emerged from the darkness. The Starlight reflecting off its long, insectoid body gave Laura the faint impression of a giant centipede - complete with an eerily human face.
"Koh." Aang said flatly. "They call him the Face Stealer, you can't show any emotion at all around him."
"It's touching how much you've done to help these people." Koh's menacing voice took Laura off guard. "You've even forsaken some of your people's most sacred values just because they gave you a shortcut to end your mortal war. I wonder if Avatar Aang would be so willing to help these people, if he knew just how much they've stolen from him."
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It was official, the Fire Nation's forces near Omashu had been routed. The Earth Kingdom had wasted no time launching a desperate counter attack, rolling over the scattered and disorganized remains of their front lines, and were set to retake their second largest city by day's end. The war was lost, Azula knew that was beyond question at this point. Even if their forces could regroup, they'd be out of supplies within weeks. Very few ships were coming, and hardly any new troops from the Home Islands would be offering relief.
Though even if the war was lost, revenge could still be hers. Azula would still have the chance to destroy these Colonials who had ripped everything from her, some of them at least. The deaths of her father, Ty Lee, and Mei would be repaid a thousand fold, even if she had to drag the whole world down with them.
Ten thousand troops wearily marched towards the Colonial settlement established just a couple days travel time from their current position. Fire Lord Azula did what she could to mitigate any further damage - Her troops marched in very loose formations, spaced out as much as could be managed while maintaining their cohesion. The hope was, when the Colonials noticed they were coming, they'd be able to mitigate the damage. When Azula had spoken with Kara Thrace, she'd made the Colonials sound like a broken people barely in a position to feed themselves, let alone fight a war. She could only hope they didn't have the firepower to sustain their offensive for long.
Soon, Azula thought to herself, it wouldn't matter what became of the Fire Nation, or even the world. All that mattered was making sure the Colonials burned with them.
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"Stole?" Aang half-stuttered. "What are you talking about?"
"I can see the future, if you recall." Koh remarked while his body twisted around Aang, Roslin, and Marathi. "Without fail, my predictions have always come true. Throughout your world's history, events have unfolded just as foretold, that is until these Colonials made themselves known."
Koh's face came within inches of Roslin's before he spoke again. "In the future I saw, Ba Seng Se was saved by the avatar and his friends, not by your Zarek. In my future, Aang ultimately stopped the Fire Lord himself, restoring balance to the world. Instead, how many tens of thousands of humans are dead because of your arrival? Quite frankly, I think Aang and his friends would've been better off if your people had died slow, cold deaths in the emptiness of space."
"You can't know that for sure." Aang countered. "You said it yourself, you didn't see the Colonials coming, who knows what else you could've missed!"
"Ask your past incarnations how often I've been wrong before." Koh said simply. "The fact is, these Colonials have already destroyed the original path the physical world was on, and we have no idea what else their arrival will herald. They can't be allowed to stay."
"And that's what really scares you, isn't it Koh?" Marathi taunted. "Spirit Kind dealing with the unknown - the real unknown - for the first time in eons."
Koh looked down at the echoes of Caprica burning amongst the stars. "These humans aren't so different from the ones we already knew. Did you know the Colonials brought their ultimate destruction upon themselves? They built the Cylons that ultimately destroyed their civilization. They created them to be their slaves and wage their wars, and their creation annihilated them. The Cylons are still out there Marathi, still hunting these last few survivors. For all we know, if we don't drive them off now, the Cylons will bring the same destruction to our world as they did to the Colonies."
"They won't even need the Cylons." Shrinrin added snidely. "The Colonials have the same devastating weapons, they'll make more, and they'll teach the three nations to make them, too."
"There's one more, very worrying fact that must be raised." Koh started again. "My magic doesn't work on Cylons. If it came to actual fight, it's questionable how well we could even defend ourselves."
A new form - The Princess Yue from before - flickered into existence besides Koh. "It's good to know the endless wisdom of the Spirit World starts and ends with our own preservation. Honestly, both you and the Colonials have been insufferable. Yes, the Colonials could have been more careful before entering Shinrin's forest, but if he wanted them to leave so badly, he could have asked."
Laura was elated to have another potential ally in her corner.
Yue's harsh glare at Roslin snapped that feeling away. "And you have been more than eager to turn to violence when it's the most convenient option. You could have gone back to the Earth Kingdom to learn more about the spirits before burning the forest down."
"You weren't there." Laura offered in her defense. "You can't understand what kind of pressure me and Admiral Adama were under. I'm not going to pretend we're a perfect civilization, we do have a violent past, but you need to dig deeper than that. When the Cylons threatened to destroy us fifty years ago, the Twelve Colonies united as one people to fight them. When the Cylons offered peace, we jumped at the opportunity, and honored the armistice we signed for forty years. We tried making peace with your kind in the forest, and I have personally risked my life twice now just for the possibility that our two kinds can coexist peacefully."
"She wants peace, the spirits want peace, what more is there to say?" Aang proclaimed. "We can put an end to this conflict right now, before any more people die."
"I know Laura Roslin, and her people, more intimately than any of you." Marathi professed. "She's a damaged, flawed individual, like all mortals. However, she was willing to sacrifice her own people's future if it meant keeping the mortal world safe from their Cylons. They deserve a place there."
The various spirits - most of their eyes only barely disguisible from the starfield, Yue and Marathi the only exceptions - took their time letting the conversation simmer. Then, one by one, various spiritual forms twinkled into existence around them. Shinrin, the owl, the baboon, and many even more oddly shaped creatures Laura could hardly begin to describe.
"This human was willing to leave?" Shinrin asked disbelievingly.
Aang pointed his staff towards Roslin. "She was willing to leave our world forever if it meant protecting my friends."
The following silence was unsettlingly long, as each spirit gave astonished glances to one another. It was the owl who spoke first: "Mortal inventions have never interested me before, but I wouldn't mind adding their knowledge of the stars to my library. Their kind may be inherently violent, but I think they at least deserve a chance to prove themselves."
"I've met humans who've proven themselves to be noble and selfless." A lemur-shaped spirit added to Laura's defense. "I'm willing to at least give them a shot."
"Hmmm." Koh growled deeply, his human face frowning deeply. "I still can't see what a future with their kind holds, and I don't know if I ever will. Their arrival brings an uncertainty Spirits haven't dealt with in eons, life for us won't be the same."
"We'll face it anyway." Marathi jabbed as she raised her elongated head above the crowd. "It's decided, The humans will be allowed to remain on the mortal world without our interference. There has been much suffering on both sides since the start of our conflict, and plenty of misunderstandings, but it ends today."
Laura felt as if she were about to faint. Finally, finally something looked as if it were actually going right. "I'm honored to have had the chance to meet you, all of you. There has been a great deal of misunderstanding, from both of us, but it doesn't need to continue. I vow to do everything in my power to ensure our people live in harmony with your world."
"I know you will do all you can." Marathi said before turning to Aang. "Avatar, these people are a part of your world now, they have a place in the balance of all things."
"They won't let you down, and neither will I." Aang gave a warm smile at the spirits, but it faded just as swiftly as it came.
"You should go, your people are still in danger." Princess Yue warned. "When you return, please tell Sokka I've never forgotten him?"
"Of course I will." Aang replied. "Yue is right, we need to leave."
Roslin awoke to find her clothes drenched in swamp water, and most of her people in the same awkward predicament. Sharon was dutifully checking on every man and woman as they came to, still unaffected by the Spirit's magic just as Koh had said.
"What the frak happened?" Sharon demanded while helping Laura onto her feet.
"I think-" Laura coughed out some of the swamp's morbid tasting water. "I think we just bought ourselves a reprieve."
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"That's five hours without a peep from the surface team." Saul Tigh remarked with disdain. "Bill, I know how much you want her to be right, but we've only got so much time until that turtle is close enough to-"
Adama was quick to silence his XO. "We've got time. If Laura can't negotiate a peace with the Spirits, nothing we do up here will matter in the long run."
"Sir," Gaeta said with the briefest of salutes. "I'm afraid we have another problem for the pile. We've been keeping a close eye on the rogue settlement, there's a huge mass of troops headed straight for it, definitely Fire Nation."
Adama grabbed the sheet of paper his officer offered up, depicting formations of armored soldiers marching through roads and forests. "How many troops?"
"Ten, maybe twenty thousand. It looks like they pulled just about every battalion off the front lines for whatever it is they're planning. They're approaching from several fronts, but the settlement is definitely their destination."
Tigh was next to examine the oncoming army. "It wouldn't take a genius to figure out we were the ones who brought Ozai down, they might be eager for some payback."
"This isn't just payback, it's revenge." Adama observed. "If they've pulled this many troops, they've probably abandoned any hope of maintaining their hold on the Earth Kingdom. I don't think whoever's leading this charge has any goal beyond simple vengeance."
"So we just tell the settlement to pack their bags and launch their ships while we sweep up the mess." Tigh suggested.
"Get on the horn, see if they'll even listen to what we have to say this time." Adama ordered. "This might actually be good for us, they're putting what's left of their front line forces in one, convenient area. I think it's time to ask Kara Thrace for one more last-minute plan of action."
"Admiral!" Cried out CIC's comms officer. "The President and her surface team are reporting back, they're requesting to speak with actual."
"Put it over the loudspeaker. Adama grabbed his receiver. If he were a believer, now would've been a good time for a prayer. "This is actual."
"Admiral, we've negotiated a peace with the Spirit World. Repeat, our mission was successful!" Laura's voice was like a breath of fresh air - and the jubilant cheering around CIC seemed to confirm the feeling was mutual.
"I was starting to think we weren't allowed to have good news up here anymore. Get your asses back up here, we've still got a terrorist to track down and an angry empire to deal with."
"Aang seems to believe the Lion Turtle will be turning back on it's own, have a Raptor verify that. We're launching for Galactica now, and Lords do we have a lot to tell you."
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"All vipers form up on me, line formation, let's go score some target practice." Starbuck bellowed into her MK VII viper's wireless set. She'd always preferred the older MK II's that made up most of Galactica's air wing, but the more modern craft was far more suited for this last offensive operation. The sleek, grey fighter was designed from the ground up for atmospheric entry, and the slew of weaponry underneath it would make short work of what little resistance the Fire Nation had left to offer on the mainland.
"Don't know how you plan on having fun toasting guys who can't shoot back, doesn't seem like Starbuck's style." Hotdog teased.
"Look at it this way, you might actually hit something for a change." Starbuck shot back. "Alright, enough chatter, this is still a combat mission. Remember, they can't hit us in the air, but you do not want to make friends with a bunch of firebenders on the ground today. Bug out and return to base if your bird gives as much as an engine light, and for the love of the Gods do not start daydreaming and plow into the ground. Starbuck out."
Before their squadron even entered the planet's upper atmosphere, Starbuck's DRADIS produced a number of odd returns in the vicinity of the Fire Nation's army. Big returns, easily the size of a small civilian ship. She knew the Fire Nation had a sort of primitive war balloon, some of them even had wireless sets installed in them now.
Ninety clicks out from the spear of the Fire Nation army, Starbuck broke wireless silence. "All vipers, weapon's free. Break formation and engage your targets, let's light them up."
A soft, constant tone alerted the captain to a missile lock on four of the twelve Fire Nation zeppelins. With a cold, emotionless squeeze of her trigger, she signed the death warrants of a hundred men and women.
Hotdog was right, these people couldn't defend themselves. Honor had no meaning when you were fighting for the fate of your civilization, but Starbuck couldn't help but regret the cold, detached nature of the Fire nation's defeat. In the last few days, tens of thousands of their people had been snuffed out of existence. Every single one of them might have had a family, many probably had children they were planning on coming home to. There was no question the Fire Nation had brought this destruction upon themselves, but that wouldn't make the daughter who'd just learned her mother was never coming home cry any less. That girl would grow up to hate Kara and all her kind just the same.
They'd won a home for themselves, but the cost was greater than she could've dreamed.
Kara didn't let her reflections distract her from the mission at hand, as her Viper's payload shot through the sky, producing a set of barely visible explosions far off in the distance.
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The shadow of a dozen bulbous war zeppelins dimmed the sun above Azula, and the roar of tanks from every direction made communicating with her generals more than a little difficult. They were mere hours from the Colonial's settlement, hours from avenging Mai and Ty Lee.
She was still considering the most optimal attack path when the tell-tale booms of Colonial spaceships rocked the sky. She yelled for her troops to scatter, but they barely had more than a few seconds to react before the great zeppelins above them exploded in fiery infernos. Their debris hadn't even reached the ground before the next wave of Colonial weaponry exploded overhead, shredding through the armor of the tanks in front of her, and forcing her to curl up into as small a form as the Fire Lord could possibly manage in an effort to dodge whatever she could.
Azula thought she heard screams from somewhere around her, but it was drowned out by the roar of Colonial ships mixed with the flaming metal hulks of their war zeppelins raining around them. She'd taken every conceivable measure to stop this carnage, but it hadn't been enough. Maybe not all was lost, she could still regroup with whatever was left, stage some smaller, more guerilla style-
Azula never had a chance to finish her plot before A zeppelin's still-burning frame slammed into the ground on top of her, ending the young woman's dreams of revenge forever.
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Tom Zarek fought with his haphazard collection of rocks and sticks for what felt like the thousandth time, before finally throwing the collection into the ground in frustration. His people were known for living off the land, scraping by with whatever they could scrounge up. Obviously, fire making was not of the skills to transfer down. He repositioned his electric lamp, wondering how many more nights the battery pack would hold out. He'd managed to find shelter from the growing storm in a damp, funky smelling cave, but the Earth Kingdom could be deceptively cold. Tom Zarek: Man of the People, The titan who brought about the beginning of the end of the Fire Nation, and the man who couldn't remember to pack a blanket.
Zarek was beginning to consider the possibility of detouring to a nearby village for supplies when a rustling sound echoed through the narrow cave. He grabbed hold of his handgun's holster, while reminding himself that his precious, limited ammunition was irreplaceable.
He crouched and squinted at the pitch black tunnel, hoping to make something out. Before Tom even had the chance to raise his weapon, a jet of water slammed into his chest, pushed him into the cave wall, and froze into ice. A set of lights flickered on, then a dozen familiar faces walked into the light.
"Damn nice work, Katara." Kara Thrace remarked with a genuinely impressed inflection. "The ice was a nice touch."
"Don't mention it." Said a young, dark-haired woman beside her.
"Sir, over here!" A marine called out, as the constant buzz of a geiger counter sounded throughout the cave. "This is definitely the warhead, it must've been beat up pretty bad. All of us will need to take radiation meds when we get back to Galactica, just to be on the safe side."
"We're on a roll, Mathias." Starbuck declared. "Have your men secure that warhead, we'll get it back to Pegasus. And as for you…" She turned to Zarek. "You realize you're holding the one and only armed nuclear device on the planet, right? Your cronies must have dropped it a little too hard, we picked up the radiological signature from orbit."
Tom remained defiant, refusing to even acknowledge the group.
"It's alright, you don't have to waste your breath right this second." Kara warned. "You'll have plenty of time to choose your last words before Adama puts a bullet through your head."
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Laura stood across the cell from Tom Zarek, arms crossed, wondering where to even begin with the man. Aang was there, too, after insisting on meeting the person responsible for so much carnage. Zarek had refused legal counsel, accusing the whole trial he was about to be subjected to of being a shame before it could even begin.
"Do you have any idea how many people around Ba Seng Se are dead because of you?" Aang asked Zarek. "People in the outer wall have been getting sick for days now, does that bother you even a little bit?"
Zarek's stillness hung in the air.
"You want to know what I think?" Roslin asked coldly. "I think you're quite pleased with how everything unfolded these last few days. You got what you wanted: A war with the Fire Nation, and eternal fame in the Earth Kingdom. A few farmers and peasants dead of radiation poisoning is a small price to pay for that, right?"
"Of course it is." Zarek barked. "If I hadn't gone down there when I had, there'd be a Fire Nation flag over Ba Seng Se right now. How many thousands more would be dead or dying then? You of all people can respect the philosophy of ends justifying the means, can't you President Roslin?"
Laura leaned into the table. "Your actions not only ripped this fleet apart, and resulted in the deaths of who the frak knows how many Earth Kingdom men, women, and children, they very nearly brought us into a war with the Spirit World."
Before Laura even finished her sentence, Zarek was laughing again. "You still don't get it. This fleet is home to fifty thousand people, we became small potatoes when we found this planet. We all could've gone up in flames and it wouldn't have mattered, as long as we preserved the lives of millions in the Earth Kingdom."
"The monks taught me all life is sacred, all life." Aang trumpeted. "You can't just decide some lives are worth less than others, I would've found a way to save Ba Seng Se without you."
"No, Aang, you wouldn't have." Zarek accused with a shake of his head. "Even if you and your friends had been there, it wouldn't have made a difference. You're weak, and your people were weak. They were unwilling to do what's needed to defend their own freedom, let alone anyone else's. You should be on your knees thanking me and my people, you would never have been able to face the Fire Lord, or end this war without our help."
"You're wrong, Zarek." Aang rebuked. "I would've found a way."
"If that's what you need to tell yourself."
Laura put a gentle hand on Aang's shoulder. "You can make all the quipp remarks you want Mr. Zarek, your charisma isn't getting you out this time. Let's go, Aang."
Roslin could tell something about Zarek's words bothered Aang, even through the buzz of activity that made up the rest of their day. The Fire Nation had requested, and been granted, a formal ceasefire with the Earth Kingdom, bringing the war to at least a temporary end while both sides tended to their battered homes. The next step, for the Colonial government at least, would be a formal settlement treaty with the Earth Kingdom. From what Aang said, the Kingdom seemed open to the idea of the Colonials keeping the little chunk of coastline the rogue fleet settled on. Now they needed to negotiate how large that chunk would officially be, before formalizing a treaty and beginning city planning in earnest.
Even when Aang returned from the planet, having met with Earth Kingdom officials to set up a time and date to really pin a treaty down, his usual upbeat mood was still absent.
"It's what Tom Zarek said about me and my friends, that I would never have saved Ba Seng Se or defeated the Fire Lord on my own." Aang confessed. "I know that's not true, because in the future Koh saw, I did do all that. I keep thinking about all those people who died in those Fire Nation factories, or on those ships. I know most of them weren't good people, but that doesn't change the fact that all of them are dead because I wanted to use you as a shortcut."
Laura took Aang's hand. "You told me Koh is a dark, malevolent spirit. For all you know, he could've been trying to manipulate you. War is hard, it's messy, and sometimes there isn't a winning move to play. You did what you thought would save the most lives, and in the end, your actions did help put an end to the war."
Aang gave a faint smile, but it didn't last. "Avatar Roku told me it was my destiny to defeat the Fire Lord and restore balance to the world. I feel like I cheated, and that a lot of people have suffered because of it. Katara even told me I haven't been the same since you helped us, and I just keep thinking…"
"Thinking what, Aang?"
His words felt like a knife aimed for her heart.
"Thinking of what life would be like if you hadn't shown up."
---------------------------------------------
"Tom Zarek, this panel of Ship Captain's finds you unanimously guilty of high treason, and are sentenced to execution by firing squad."
----
Laura took a puff of smoke off Adama's cigar before handing it back. She didn't ask what he had to barter to get it. "As far Zarek's concerned, he's won. The Fire Nation is defeated, and the Earth Kingdom still thinks of him as the savior of Ba Seng Se. Despite everything he's done, the suffering he's wrought, they'll be singing songs about him for generations."
"Frak Tom Zarek, I don't give a damn what that lunatic thinks." Adama countered. "And neither should you."
----
Roslin tapped on her microphone, ensuring the device was active before clearing her throat to speak. "The military raid on Cloud Nine earlier today was indeed ordered directly by Admiral Adama. As all of you know, fleet security has tightened significantly since the mutiny, leading to security personnel aboard the luxury liner to recognizing a Cylon agent during a routine sweep. The Cylon in question has been apprehended, and while she was in possession of a nuclear device, we have no reason to believe the fleet is in any immediate danger of Cylon attack."
"Madam President, can you comment on the upcoming settlement conference in Ba Seng Se? When will more ships be permitted to join the colony?"
"That's a complicated question, there are a lot of kinks to work out. There are those in the Earth Kingdom government who are still wary of us, but with Aang's help I'm certain we'll reach a compromise. Beyond the settlement conference, I'm also happy to report that my administration has finally established formal diplomatic relations with the Northern Water Tribe, and are in the process of starting talks with the newest Fire Lord, um…"
Laura had to double check her notes.
"Fire Lord Iroh."
---------------------------------------------
Fire Lord Iroh clasped a hand on his nephew's shoulder. Zuko was still clutching a tracing of Mei, the woman he'd so dearly loved before his exile years ago. Though the boy didn't show it, Iroh knew the emotions within him hadn't been this strong since the fateful day of his banishment.
"The generals are waiting in the throne room, the ones who are still alive anyway." Iroh explained. "Well, actually it's our living room, but it'll do the job just fine."
"When I said I wanted to be back home more than anything, this isn't what I had in mind." Zuko said stoically. "Grovelling to Earth Kingdom generals while signing a peace treaty was bad enough, but this place doesn't even feel like home, it feels like a shell."
Word of Ozai's death spread through the Earth Kingdom like wildfire. It wasn't long before Zuko and Iroh learned that pretty much the whole royal family was dead, leaving them as quite possibly the only survivors. Long ago, Iroh had been destined for the crown, but he'd assumed that part of his life was over forever. Worried the power vacuum could potentially lead to civil war, it was Iroh who suggested returning home right away. After all, Ozai wasn't exactly in a position to punish them anymore.
"Zuko, I know this isn't where any of us thought our lives would take us-"
"They murdered my father." Zuko yelled out, embers spitting out of my mouth. "The Colonials murdered our entire family, humiliated my country, and if that wasn't enough…" He gripped the portrait of Mei tighter. "They took away everything I ever loved, everything that made my life worth living. I'll never redeem myself in the eyes of my father, so I'll never reclaim my honor. They might as well have killed me off, too."
Iroh kept his trademarked warm inflection. This raw emotion was why Iroh pushed so hard to be instated as the new Fire Lord, even if Zuko was technically next in line. Right now, their nation couldn't afford to be ruled by hate.
"Zuko, Mei was very special to you. I know this hollowness you're feeling, I feel it every time I think about the son I lost at Ba Seng Se. Do you feel the pain in you like a thousand daggers? Do you feel it every time you close your eyes, every time you go to sleep? Is this pain the first thing you think of in the morning, and the last thing before you drift into a dream?"
Zuko clenched his fists so hard they were turning red. He nodded.
"I want you to remember this pain, because you'll be asking a million other people to experience it if you keep pushing the idea of further conflict with the Colonials. Our people have a chance for a new beginning, Zuko. Ozai ruled with fear and hate, but we can build a nation out of compassion and understanding. If you truly wish to learn from this pain, use it to make that not one more soul will have to go through it."
---------------------------------------------
Ba Seng Se truly was a sight to behold. Laura even had the opportunity to, for the first time in what felt like forever, actually enjoy herself in the metropolis's upper ring. She'd visited a sauna for what had to have been the single most relaxing afternoon she'd experienced since the exodus, and took the opportunity to enjoy a real tea shop with Adama, Katara, and Sokka before making their way to the conference.
The Earth Kingdom insignia adorning the Earth King's great palace caught Adama's attention on the way in. It was the same square surrounded by a large, green circle they'd seen painted on Earth Kingdom armor. "What does it mean?" Adama asked Joo Dee, the official tasked with showing them around Ba Seng Se.
"It represents the many layers of rock Earth Benders control, as well as the depth and diversity of our people." She answered. "I'm certain your flags are just as interesting."
"I have so, so many questions for them." Laura admitted to Adama. "Honestly part of me wants to forget all about the conference and just spend the next three days immersing ourselves in these people's culture. A whole society completely separate from Kobol and the Colonies, what could we learn from them?"
"If all goes well, you'll have plenty of time to find out."
The two bowed as they entered the Palace's central chamber, where Aang and the Earth Kingdom delegation were waiting for them. Curiously, the Earth King was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a balding man with thin, sharp facial hair stood at the center of the Earth Kingdom's delegation.
"My name is Long Feng, Grand Secretariat of Ba Seng Se." The man said with a curt bow. "I'll be filling for the Earth King today, he sends his most sincere apologies that he wasn't able to greet you himself."
Laura shot a confused glance at Aang, who merely shrugged. "It's an honor to have been invited into the palace itself."
"The honor is all ours." Long Feng confessed. "Our two peoples have had a trying relationship, but I think we have a bright future ahead of us."
"I couldn't agree more." Roslin concurred, though she pegged Feng's type right away. He was a bureaucrat through and through. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it meant she'd always have to dig deep to find real meaning behind the man's words.
Aang taped his staff on the ground. "Now that the meet and greet is over, if all of you would kindly take your seats, I think it's time we bring this conference to order."
"You know, when we fought the Cylons, we did it to save ourselves from extinction. But we never answered the question, why? Why are we as a people worth saving?"
- Commander William Adama, Galactica Decommissioning Ceremony
---
"Altitude twenty clicks, prep for final approach." Helo reported to the cramped looking group behind him: President Roslin, Aang Katara and Sokka, and Gunnery Sergeant Erin Mathias.
Aang leaned forward to give Helo's co-pilot a closer examination. "I don't know, you look pretty human to me." The boy said skeptically.
Sharon Valerii produced an amused snicker, but stopped short of looking away from her control console. "Yeah, if you tell that to the rest of the fleet when you get the chance."
"But you're not human." Sokka stressed. "I don't know, it just creeps me out. Why go through all the trouble of making machines that look like people, but aren't?" Katara jabbed an annoyed fist into her brother's abdomen.
"Sharon's as much a person as any of us." Helo stated firmly. "Sharon feels love, pain, the whole nine yards."
"I wonder if my healing powers would work on you, Sharon." Katara wondered.
"If we're lucky, we won't need to find out in this swamp." Laura hoped
The Raptor escorting them touched down in the murky water first, allowing the marine team it held the opportunity to disembark before Roslin and company joined them. From the moment Helo was assigned to this mission, he'd agonized over their landing. Swamps and multi-ton spacecraft didn't feel like a good pairing, and Helo worried the ground would swallow half their bird the moment they touched down.
Fortunately, the captain's skills were enough to carry the day.
The Foggy Swamp felt as if it had an unnatural vigor to it, and while Aang had told her the land itself was alive and breathing, actually experiencing it felt downright eerie. Above them, she could make out inklings of the single largest living entity ever discovered in Colonial history. The gargantuan tree stretched for miles, and its roots were thick enough to be mistaken for trees in their own right. How such a thing could have evolved was beyond Laura's understanding, but there it was.
"We'll take point." Mathias offered, the swamp's mucky water stopping just short of the top of her boots. She, along with the half-dozen marines accompanying them, were adorned in the usual black armor and helmets of the Colonial Marine Corps. Clear visors shielded their eyes, and they held those standard-issue rifles Roslin knew still made Aang and Katara feel uncomfortable. "Fischer and Maldonaldo, you pick up the rear."
Aang still wasn't completely happy with the arrangement, but towards the tree they went. As they trekked further into the canopy, the sky grew darker and the water below them thickened, to the point where it was beginning to become a struggle just to walk.
Mathias and her team flicked on the lights mounted below their weapons, which certainly helped a bit.
A set of distant splashes brought the Gunnery Sergeant to an abrupt halt, and she signalled the group to stop in their tracks. She produced a set of gestures with her left hand, and one of the marines flanked left while the rest crouched down.
A set of green vines shot out from the bog, striking the unfortunate marine and pinning him down. Mathias took aim into the half-obscured void in front of her, then Aang started yelling into the abyss.
"Huu, it's us!"
In an instant, the vines let the marine go and retracted themselves. A broad, half-naked man emerged from the fog, and even as Mathias kept her gun trained on him, he seemed perfectly content to beam a smile back at Aang. "Well hello! I didn't expect to see you again so soon."
"It's good to see you." Aang replied, walking up to the man even while a visibly confused Mathias looked to Helo for instruction. The avatar turned to address the group. "This is Huu, the swamp is his home. He helped us the last time we came here."
"And you couldn't have told us about him?" Mathias yelled.
"Oh," Aang said with shame. "Yeah sorry, I guess that would've been a good idea."
"Who do we have here?" Huu asked the Colonial group, eyeing each of them with intense curiosity. "New friends of yours, avatar?"
"It's a long story." Aang brushed off. "They're not from around here, and the spirits aren't happy with them. We need to talk to a spirit named…"
"Marathi." Roslin finished. "I've been receiving visions from a spirit named Marathi for almost a month now."
"These people and the spirits are about ready to destroy each other." Aang explained. "Marathi thinks if Roslin and I go into the Spirit World, Marathi can help convince the spirits to make peace."
"Marathi, huh?" Huu sounded genuinely impressed. "Marathi is one of the oldest of the spirits - And the spirit of this very swamp. You must be some particularly interesting people to get her attention."
"Please, can you take us to her?" Aang urged.
"I can take you to the spiritual center of the swamp." Huu offered. "But you should know getting into the spirit world isn't an easy task, it would be wise to spend some time communing with the swamp before-"
"Huu," Roslin raised a finger, cutting the half-dressed man off. "As we speak, my people and the Spirit World are hours away from mutual annihilation, so I would really appreciate it if the swamp could skip the touchy-feeling one-with-nature part of this expedition and get to the point."
Huu gave a dejected sigh, and a disapproving glare, but nonetheless agreed to Roslin's demand. "I'll take you there now, but the rest will be up to you."
Their walk quickly turned from bothersome and creepy, to difficult and ominous. The swamp only grew darker as its vines and branches blotted out that little sunlight remained, forcing the group to pack more tightly together just so the marines could keep eyes on everyone.
After some time, Huu announced they'd arrived. Thousands of branches coalesced into a dome-shaped structure that glowed with a faint, green ambience. It was no larger than a small cabin, and was totally sealed from the world until Huu and Aang approached. When they did, the vines making up the Dome's outer layer twisted and contorted, making an entrance just wide enough for a person to fit through.
"This is your ticket into the Spirit World." Huu announced.
Aang bowed in thanks, then became the first to walk into the dome. As the rest followed, the glow inside the doom intensified while shifting to a more intense shade of blue.
"Just static from the wireless." Helo warned. "I don't know if it's the swamp or something else, but we can't reach Galactica."
"Sounds par the course for the supernatural." Roslin said dryly as she watched Aang sit criss cross on an especially long root, one of the only truly dry places within the dome. "You're the bridge, Aang, what do we do from here?"
"I honestly couldn't tell you." Aang said to Laura's dismay. "I entered the Spirit World by myself once before, at the Northern Water Tribe, but it wasn't easy. I had to-"
Laura felt something jolt inside her, just a split second before her legs gave out and she collapsed - along with about everyone else - towards the ground.
The next thing Roslin knew, she was staring down at her own body. Aang was there, too, both of their semi-transparent bodies radiating an odd ethereal glow.
"Helo! Hey, stay with me!" Sharon's voice demanded. Laura shot her head around to see just about everybody else knocked out, save for a frantic Sharon desperately trying to figure out what was happening. She checked each of their bodies for signs of life, and her brief sigh of relief told Roslin they were at least still alive.
"Sharon, what's happening?" Laura asked, though the Cylon wouldn't even acknowledge her presence.
"She can't see us." Aang explained. "I think we've crossed over, that was a lot easier than I expected."
"You might have had a little help." Called a voice quite familiar to Roslin by now. She and Aang turned to see an oversized elk standing before them, the same one she'd seen in her dreams over and over again.
"You're Marathi?" Laura asked. "You're the thing that's been appearing to me since our fleet arrived over this planet?
Marathi nodded. The thing looked just as intimidating up close and personal, as it did in Laura's subconscious. "Come with me, the others are waiting for you."
"What about my people?" Laura gestured at the collection of unconscious people around the branch-encased dome. "What happened to them? I need to know they will remain unharmed."
"I'm not the only spirit curious about your kind." Marathi said dismissively. "They won't be harmed, but this audience is for you two alone."
------------------------------------------------------------
One by one, Sharon pushed the rest of her team's bodies against the dome's bark wall. They were definitely alive and breathing, they just weren't there. Every single one of them had lost consciousness simultaneously, leaving her the only able-bodied member of the surface team. Her wireless still didn't work, and she started debating if and when she should try getting back to the Raptor to signal for help, when something outside of the so-called spiritual center started to stir.
Something black and long slithered past the dome's entrance. Sharon instinctively pulled out her firearm, and weighed her options. She was in the process of debating whether or not she'd be able to make a break for their Raptor when the vines making up the dome's roof started deforming and retracting, revealing the horrific monster she'd seen hints of a moment before.
A hundred lanky legs jutted out from it's thick, hardened body. The thing looked like a giant centipede, it's black skin twisting and writhing around one of the nearby trees, staring down at her with a distinctly human face attached to the very front of it's disconcertingly long form. A dozen thin, sharpened appendages moved back and forth the front of its body as it gave a warm, malicious smile at her.
"A pleasure to meet you." It's voice was almost welcoming, in sharp contrast to the creature's alien, insectoid body. "I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to getting to know your kind."
Sharon raised her firearm at the spirit, and stepped back until she was pressing up against the dome's edge.
"The rest of my kind is rather annoyed by my curiosity." The beast explained. "I've spent centuries bringing wisdom to mortals brave enough to seek me out - and punishing others for their arrogance. The other spirits even think I'm setting a bad example for being so willing to talk to humans. However, this is the first time I'm the one to seek one of you out."
Sharon lightly pressed a finger against her weapon's trigger. "What did you do to them?" She asked.
"The spirit's simply don't trust you, they didn't want you to do anything foolish in this sacred place. Something is different about you, though. Our magic didn't work on you, why is that?"
"I guess there's a bit more to us than you expected." Sharon taunted.
The 'face' of the creature shifted into a woman's head, complete with long, flowing hair. "So it would seem. My name is Koh, and I would be delighted to add a face belonging to someone so unique to my collection."
The face shifted again, to a plain blue mask with deep black eyes. Koh lunged towards Sharon, its tendril-like spikes at the front of its body thrusting into the bark behind her. Sharon fired her weapon, but the creature's sudden movement shocked her badly enough to drop the firearm into the murky water below. Koh's latest face stopped just an inch from her, forcing her eyes shut as she awaited her inevitable death.
Would there be a resurrection ship in range, or would she truly be gone?
However, that death never came. She opened her eyes a few moments later to find Koh silently staring her down.
"You were obviously afraid for your life." Koh stated. "You clearly showed emotion, but your face isn't mine."
Sharon didn't even know what she was supposed to tell Koh this time. After a moment, it backed off, raising its body above the dome.
"You are unique. Shinrin told us about a strange human whose presence left no scent, no spiritual trace. He said your leader called you a... machine?"
"You really do have a lot to learn about us." Sharon sneered. "I'm not human"
"A machine that thinks it's alive." Koh jabbed. "These Cylons I've heard whispers about, I would love very much to know more about these strange things."
------------------------------------------------------------
Moments after they'd taken their new, ghostly forms, Aang and Roslin had found themselves being whisked away from the Foggy Swamp. Marathi guided their incorporeal forms through a tunnel of swirling white clouds, until they emerged above a tranquil valley, marked with rolling hills and dotted by purple flowers. Marathi brought them to a soft landing on the grass that wasn't quite grass. Everything about this place felt ever so subtly different: The air seemed lighter and cleaner, and despite the serene surroundings, there was no sun above to give off light.
"This is the human you've been going on about?" inquired a far-off voice. It didn't take Roslin long to find the source, a spirit that took the form of a deceptively ordinary baboon. "Was it really appropriate to bring her here?"
"If you're going to be so bent on driving them off, the least you could do is give one of them the time of day first." A new, feminine voice barked at the baboon. A beautiful young woman with snow-white hair appeared to Aang and Roslin, dressed in the familiar blue tunics of the Water Tribe. "Hello again, Aang."
Aang ran up to hug the newest arrival. "Princess Yue! I didn't expect to run into you."
"When I heard you and the Colonials were being summoned, I had to be here." Yue returned Aang's hug before introducing herself to Laura. "I am the spirit of the Moon after all. I could feel your people's presence the moment you arrived over our world. I'm the one who asked Marathi to reach out to you."
"Yue has only taken this form for a very brief time." Marathi explained. "Her powers aren't quite enough to reach out to yo yet, but mine were."
"Tell me Aang, how is Sokka? Is he doing okay?" Yue pleaded.
Aang's smile shined at the princess. "Sokka's doing great, he thinks about you all the time. Oh - Laura, you should know, Sokka and the Moon have a lot of history."
Roslin recalled Sokka's fantastical tale of his girlfriend turning into the Moon. She'd just assumed it was a figure of speech she didn't understand, but apparently not. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Yue. I hope everybody here is as pleasant as you."
"That would be too easy." Marathi warned. "Most of the spirits see Colonial kind as violent in the extreme, they haven't seen you through the lens that I have."
Laura tilted her head. "In my dreams, you showed me visions of people I've lost. President Adar, the priest Elosha, Billy…"
"My swamp shows people visions of lost loved ones, in part to remind them they live on in memory." Marathi described. "But it also serves another purpose. We spirits don't have the same perspective on life as mortals, feeling and experiencing such strong memories helps me to understand your kind. Most spirits are indifferent to human life, they don't see that we're connected in the same way all other life on your planet is."
Adama and her did theorize the spirits were using her dreams to gather intelligence. That was surprisingly close to the mark, though the motive was much less malicious than she'd feared. "You used my dreams to understand me?"
"And the rest of your people. I'm sure Aang has told you, spirit's aren't used to surprises. We've never encountered something like you before: Mortals who sail from star to star upon great arks of metal. Humans with the power to harness the same forces as the sun itself, and turn it into a weapon. My kind likes to think they're above fear and desperation, but I think you've proven this belief is wishful thinking."
"But not all of them think that way." Aang pried. "You and Avatar Roku wanted us to come down here to stop this war before it starts."
Marathi nodded solemnly. "And I can only hope they listen."
If the situation weren't so desperate, Laura would've loved the chance to interrogate Marathi for hours. Did spirits have a culture of their own? Did they reproduce? They must have, people kept referring to spirits like Shinrin and Marathi as 'very old,' that implied others were young or newly born. How did that work, and how did a human like Yue turn from her physical form into a spirit?
Where did they come from? Did they evolve naturally? What exactly was the Spirit World? A dimension parallel to their own, or something Colonial science hadn't even thought of yet?
And for all the good intentions Marathi seemed to have, did she understand how much pain those dreams had brought Laura? Did the spirit ever consider her intrusions into the minds of her subjects might be seen as a violation? Was Roslin even in a position to raise such questions while this spirit seemed to be the only one trying to help them?
The number of spirits inhabiting the valley swelled over the next few minutes. One was an odd green blob with a plain white face, another took the form of a fox, and yet another a giant owl.
"We've agreed to humor you, Marathi." Called out one of the spirits, an ominous glowing eye. Almost certainly the Father Glowworm Adama tussled with back on Galactica. "Please just get on with it."
"Show some respect to the elder spirit, Glowworm." A tall, humanoid figure demanded.
"I'll speak as I please, Old Iron. Especially when it concerns mortals who show no respect for us."
Marathi stomped one of her hooves into the valley, shaking the ground hard enough to catch Laura off guard. "Not now, you two. I've asked you here to show you the truth behind these visitors who have caused such chaos in our realm. You all know they hail from a place in the physical realm, but have you even wondered what series of events led them here in the first place?"
"Actually," started the owl. "I'm quite curious how her people got here. The stars are so far apart, the knowledge you must have to traverse such impossibly vast distances has to be-"
"Not the time, Wan Shi Tong." Marathi silenced.
"What does it matter?" Shinrin, the first spirit Laura had the displeasure of meeting, asked. "Humans have a lust for conquest and exploitation, I don't see why they'd come here for any other reason."
"These people didn't come as conquerors." Marathi looked to Laura. "In fact, her people never wanted to leave their worlds at all. A force even more powerful than themselves destroyed their home, driving them away. Laura, I want you to show them what you showed me."
"Show them what?" Laura begged.
Aang pressed his elbow against her. "Show them the same visions Marathi saw. Let the spirits see what happened to the Twelve Colonies."
"And how in the name of the Gods am I supposed to do that?" Laura pressed.
"I can help you." Marathi offered
The spirit pressed her head against Laura, and a moment later she found herself floating in the void of space. Her homeworld of Caprica was the principle subject of this vision, its surface inflamed by dozens of nuclear detonations across every continent.
She saw the farms of Aerilon burn to cinders, and the plains of Leonis turn to lifeless valleys. Laura watched tsunamis slam into the coastal cities of Caprica, while great skyscrapers collapsed into crowds of panicked people. The shipyards of Scorpia turned to fiery debris, surrounded by the remnants of what little resistance the Colonies had offered.
"What are we looking at?" Asked a disembodied voice.
Aang actually spoke up before Laura had the chance. "These people lost their home. A race called the Cylons destroyed it, just like the Fire Nation destroyed mine."
"Fifty billion people, that's how many lived in the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. On this day, fifty billion people died at the hands of an enemy who knew no mercy. Even after our government offered a total surrender, the Cylons remained intent on completely annihilating the human race."
Her conversation with Bill Adama that fateful day ran through Laura's mind, and played out for the spirits to see. "We have fifty thousand people left and that's it. If we are going to survive - as a species - then we need to get the hell out of here."
"So you ran?" Another spirit asked.
"Staying would've been suicide. We ran, and we haven't stopped running since."
"Such destruction…" A third voice chimed in. "Whole words turned to lifeless shells, death on this scale is difficult to fathom."
Marathi appeared beside Laura and Aang. "Imagine the sorrow these people must endure every day, having their whole world taken from them."
"I don't have to imagine." Aang declared defiantly. "I know what it's like to lose your civilization, I know what that does to a person. Laura showed me their people mourn for their dead, just like we do."
"When a wild animal is desperate and hungry, it lashes out." Marathi spoke. "These Colonials are a desperate, broken people, and they've lashed out just the same. That doesn't make them evil."
"You're making excuses for them." The voice of Shinrin echoed. "They were warned by the Earth Kingdom to stay out of my forest. They refused to heed those warnings, then they burned half of it to the ground."
"Laura tried to make things right!" Aang pointed out. "You're not being fair to her."
"I don't think you'd blame the cat-deer for striking back against a wolf." Marathi fumed. "Their worlds didn't have beings like us, they would've assumed any warning was just another myth."
"I was angry at them, too." Aang emphasized. "For a while, I wished they'd never come here. They almost killed my friend, but then they did everything they could to save her."
Before another spirit could respond, a new, uniquely horrific creature emerged from the darkness. The Starlight reflecting off its long, insectoid body gave Laura the faint impression of a giant centipede - complete with an eerily human face.
"Koh." Aang said flatly. "They call him the Face Stealer, you can't show any emotion at all around him."
"It's touching how much you've done to help these people." Koh's menacing voice took Laura off guard. "You've even forsaken some of your people's most sacred values just because they gave you a shortcut to end your mortal war. I wonder if Avatar Aang would be so willing to help these people, if he knew just how much they've stolen from him."
---------------------------------------------
It was official, the Fire Nation's forces near Omashu had been routed. The Earth Kingdom had wasted no time launching a desperate counter attack, rolling over the scattered and disorganized remains of their front lines, and were set to retake their second largest city by day's end. The war was lost, Azula knew that was beyond question at this point. Even if their forces could regroup, they'd be out of supplies within weeks. Very few ships were coming, and hardly any new troops from the Home Islands would be offering relief.
Though even if the war was lost, revenge could still be hers. Azula would still have the chance to destroy these Colonials who had ripped everything from her, some of them at least. The deaths of her father, Ty Lee, and Mei would be repaid a thousand fold, even if she had to drag the whole world down with them.
Ten thousand troops wearily marched towards the Colonial settlement established just a couple days travel time from their current position. Fire Lord Azula did what she could to mitigate any further damage - Her troops marched in very loose formations, spaced out as much as could be managed while maintaining their cohesion. The hope was, when the Colonials noticed they were coming, they'd be able to mitigate the damage. When Azula had spoken with Kara Thrace, she'd made the Colonials sound like a broken people barely in a position to feed themselves, let alone fight a war. She could only hope they didn't have the firepower to sustain their offensive for long.
Soon, Azula thought to herself, it wouldn't matter what became of the Fire Nation, or even the world. All that mattered was making sure the Colonials burned with them.
---------------------------------------------
"Stole?" Aang half-stuttered. "What are you talking about?"
"I can see the future, if you recall." Koh remarked while his body twisted around Aang, Roslin, and Marathi. "Without fail, my predictions have always come true. Throughout your world's history, events have unfolded just as foretold, that is until these Colonials made themselves known."
Koh's face came within inches of Roslin's before he spoke again. "In the future I saw, Ba Seng Se was saved by the avatar and his friends, not by your Zarek. In my future, Aang ultimately stopped the Fire Lord himself, restoring balance to the world. Instead, how many tens of thousands of humans are dead because of your arrival? Quite frankly, I think Aang and his friends would've been better off if your people had died slow, cold deaths in the emptiness of space."
"You can't know that for sure." Aang countered. "You said it yourself, you didn't see the Colonials coming, who knows what else you could've missed!"
"Ask your past incarnations how often I've been wrong before." Koh said simply. "The fact is, these Colonials have already destroyed the original path the physical world was on, and we have no idea what else their arrival will herald. They can't be allowed to stay."
"And that's what really scares you, isn't it Koh?" Marathi taunted. "Spirit Kind dealing with the unknown - the real unknown - for the first time in eons."
Koh looked down at the echoes of Caprica burning amongst the stars. "These humans aren't so different from the ones we already knew. Did you know the Colonials brought their ultimate destruction upon themselves? They built the Cylons that ultimately destroyed their civilization. They created them to be their slaves and wage their wars, and their creation annihilated them. The Cylons are still out there Marathi, still hunting these last few survivors. For all we know, if we don't drive them off now, the Cylons will bring the same destruction to our world as they did to the Colonies."
"They won't even need the Cylons." Shrinrin added snidely. "The Colonials have the same devastating weapons, they'll make more, and they'll teach the three nations to make them, too."
"There's one more, very worrying fact that must be raised." Koh started again. "My magic doesn't work on Cylons. If it came to actual fight, it's questionable how well we could even defend ourselves."
A new form - The Princess Yue from before - flickered into existence besides Koh. "It's good to know the endless wisdom of the Spirit World starts and ends with our own preservation. Honestly, both you and the Colonials have been insufferable. Yes, the Colonials could have been more careful before entering Shinrin's forest, but if he wanted them to leave so badly, he could have asked."
Laura was elated to have another potential ally in her corner.
Yue's harsh glare at Roslin snapped that feeling away. "And you have been more than eager to turn to violence when it's the most convenient option. You could have gone back to the Earth Kingdom to learn more about the spirits before burning the forest down."
"You weren't there." Laura offered in her defense. "You can't understand what kind of pressure me and Admiral Adama were under. I'm not going to pretend we're a perfect civilization, we do have a violent past, but you need to dig deeper than that. When the Cylons threatened to destroy us fifty years ago, the Twelve Colonies united as one people to fight them. When the Cylons offered peace, we jumped at the opportunity, and honored the armistice we signed for forty years. We tried making peace with your kind in the forest, and I have personally risked my life twice now just for the possibility that our two kinds can coexist peacefully."
"She wants peace, the spirits want peace, what more is there to say?" Aang proclaimed. "We can put an end to this conflict right now, before any more people die."
"I know Laura Roslin, and her people, more intimately than any of you." Marathi professed. "She's a damaged, flawed individual, like all mortals. However, she was willing to sacrifice her own people's future if it meant keeping the mortal world safe from their Cylons. They deserve a place there."
The various spirits - most of their eyes only barely disguisible from the starfield, Yue and Marathi the only exceptions - took their time letting the conversation simmer. Then, one by one, various spiritual forms twinkled into existence around them. Shinrin, the owl, the baboon, and many even more oddly shaped creatures Laura could hardly begin to describe.
"This human was willing to leave?" Shinrin asked disbelievingly.
Aang pointed his staff towards Roslin. "She was willing to leave our world forever if it meant protecting my friends."
The following silence was unsettlingly long, as each spirit gave astonished glances to one another. It was the owl who spoke first: "Mortal inventions have never interested me before, but I wouldn't mind adding their knowledge of the stars to my library. Their kind may be inherently violent, but I think they at least deserve a chance to prove themselves."
"I've met humans who've proven themselves to be noble and selfless." A lemur-shaped spirit added to Laura's defense. "I'm willing to at least give them a shot."
"Hmmm." Koh growled deeply, his human face frowning deeply. "I still can't see what a future with their kind holds, and I don't know if I ever will. Their arrival brings an uncertainty Spirits haven't dealt with in eons, life for us won't be the same."
"We'll face it anyway." Marathi jabbed as she raised her elongated head above the crowd. "It's decided, The humans will be allowed to remain on the mortal world without our interference. There has been much suffering on both sides since the start of our conflict, and plenty of misunderstandings, but it ends today."
Laura felt as if she were about to faint. Finally, finally something looked as if it were actually going right. "I'm honored to have had the chance to meet you, all of you. There has been a great deal of misunderstanding, from both of us, but it doesn't need to continue. I vow to do everything in my power to ensure our people live in harmony with your world."
"I know you will do all you can." Marathi said before turning to Aang. "Avatar, these people are a part of your world now, they have a place in the balance of all things."
"They won't let you down, and neither will I." Aang gave a warm smile at the spirits, but it faded just as swiftly as it came.
"You should go, your people are still in danger." Princess Yue warned. "When you return, please tell Sokka I've never forgotten him?"
"Of course I will." Aang replied. "Yue is right, we need to leave."
Roslin awoke to find her clothes drenched in swamp water, and most of her people in the same awkward predicament. Sharon was dutifully checking on every man and woman as they came to, still unaffected by the Spirit's magic just as Koh had said.
"What the frak happened?" Sharon demanded while helping Laura onto her feet.
"I think-" Laura coughed out some of the swamp's morbid tasting water. "I think we just bought ourselves a reprieve."
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"That's five hours without a peep from the surface team." Saul Tigh remarked with disdain. "Bill, I know how much you want her to be right, but we've only got so much time until that turtle is close enough to-"
Adama was quick to silence his XO. "We've got time. If Laura can't negotiate a peace with the Spirits, nothing we do up here will matter in the long run."
"Sir," Gaeta said with the briefest of salutes. "I'm afraid we have another problem for the pile. We've been keeping a close eye on the rogue settlement, there's a huge mass of troops headed straight for it, definitely Fire Nation."
Adama grabbed the sheet of paper his officer offered up, depicting formations of armored soldiers marching through roads and forests. "How many troops?"
"Ten, maybe twenty thousand. It looks like they pulled just about every battalion off the front lines for whatever it is they're planning. They're approaching from several fronts, but the settlement is definitely their destination."
Tigh was next to examine the oncoming army. "It wouldn't take a genius to figure out we were the ones who brought Ozai down, they might be eager for some payback."
"This isn't just payback, it's revenge." Adama observed. "If they've pulled this many troops, they've probably abandoned any hope of maintaining their hold on the Earth Kingdom. I don't think whoever's leading this charge has any goal beyond simple vengeance."
"So we just tell the settlement to pack their bags and launch their ships while we sweep up the mess." Tigh suggested.
"Get on the horn, see if they'll even listen to what we have to say this time." Adama ordered. "This might actually be good for us, they're putting what's left of their front line forces in one, convenient area. I think it's time to ask Kara Thrace for one more last-minute plan of action."
"Admiral!" Cried out CIC's comms officer. "The President and her surface team are reporting back, they're requesting to speak with actual."
"Put it over the loudspeaker. Adama grabbed his receiver. If he were a believer, now would've been a good time for a prayer. "This is actual."
"Admiral, we've negotiated a peace with the Spirit World. Repeat, our mission was successful!" Laura's voice was like a breath of fresh air - and the jubilant cheering around CIC seemed to confirm the feeling was mutual.
"I was starting to think we weren't allowed to have good news up here anymore. Get your asses back up here, we've still got a terrorist to track down and an angry empire to deal with."
"Aang seems to believe the Lion Turtle will be turning back on it's own, have a Raptor verify that. We're launching for Galactica now, and Lords do we have a lot to tell you."
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"All vipers form up on me, line formation, let's go score some target practice." Starbuck bellowed into her MK VII viper's wireless set. She'd always preferred the older MK II's that made up most of Galactica's air wing, but the more modern craft was far more suited for this last offensive operation. The sleek, grey fighter was designed from the ground up for atmospheric entry, and the slew of weaponry underneath it would make short work of what little resistance the Fire Nation had left to offer on the mainland.
"Don't know how you plan on having fun toasting guys who can't shoot back, doesn't seem like Starbuck's style." Hotdog teased.
"Look at it this way, you might actually hit something for a change." Starbuck shot back. "Alright, enough chatter, this is still a combat mission. Remember, they can't hit us in the air, but you do not want to make friends with a bunch of firebenders on the ground today. Bug out and return to base if your bird gives as much as an engine light, and for the love of the Gods do not start daydreaming and plow into the ground. Starbuck out."
Before their squadron even entered the planet's upper atmosphere, Starbuck's DRADIS produced a number of odd returns in the vicinity of the Fire Nation's army. Big returns, easily the size of a small civilian ship. She knew the Fire Nation had a sort of primitive war balloon, some of them even had wireless sets installed in them now.
Ninety clicks out from the spear of the Fire Nation army, Starbuck broke wireless silence. "All vipers, weapon's free. Break formation and engage your targets, let's light them up."
A soft, constant tone alerted the captain to a missile lock on four of the twelve Fire Nation zeppelins. With a cold, emotionless squeeze of her trigger, she signed the death warrants of a hundred men and women.
Hotdog was right, these people couldn't defend themselves. Honor had no meaning when you were fighting for the fate of your civilization, but Starbuck couldn't help but regret the cold, detached nature of the Fire nation's defeat. In the last few days, tens of thousands of their people had been snuffed out of existence. Every single one of them might have had a family, many probably had children they were planning on coming home to. There was no question the Fire Nation had brought this destruction upon themselves, but that wouldn't make the daughter who'd just learned her mother was never coming home cry any less. That girl would grow up to hate Kara and all her kind just the same.
They'd won a home for themselves, but the cost was greater than she could've dreamed.
Kara didn't let her reflections distract her from the mission at hand, as her Viper's payload shot through the sky, producing a set of barely visible explosions far off in the distance.
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The shadow of a dozen bulbous war zeppelins dimmed the sun above Azula, and the roar of tanks from every direction made communicating with her generals more than a little difficult. They were mere hours from the Colonial's settlement, hours from avenging Mai and Ty Lee.
She was still considering the most optimal attack path when the tell-tale booms of Colonial spaceships rocked the sky. She yelled for her troops to scatter, but they barely had more than a few seconds to react before the great zeppelins above them exploded in fiery infernos. Their debris hadn't even reached the ground before the next wave of Colonial weaponry exploded overhead, shredding through the armor of the tanks in front of her, and forcing her to curl up into as small a form as the Fire Lord could possibly manage in an effort to dodge whatever she could.
Azula thought she heard screams from somewhere around her, but it was drowned out by the roar of Colonial ships mixed with the flaming metal hulks of their war zeppelins raining around them. She'd taken every conceivable measure to stop this carnage, but it hadn't been enough. Maybe not all was lost, she could still regroup with whatever was left, stage some smaller, more guerilla style-
Azula never had a chance to finish her plot before A zeppelin's still-burning frame slammed into the ground on top of her, ending the young woman's dreams of revenge forever.
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Tom Zarek fought with his haphazard collection of rocks and sticks for what felt like the thousandth time, before finally throwing the collection into the ground in frustration. His people were known for living off the land, scraping by with whatever they could scrounge up. Obviously, fire making was not of the skills to transfer down. He repositioned his electric lamp, wondering how many more nights the battery pack would hold out. He'd managed to find shelter from the growing storm in a damp, funky smelling cave, but the Earth Kingdom could be deceptively cold. Tom Zarek: Man of the People, The titan who brought about the beginning of the end of the Fire Nation, and the man who couldn't remember to pack a blanket.
Zarek was beginning to consider the possibility of detouring to a nearby village for supplies when a rustling sound echoed through the narrow cave. He grabbed hold of his handgun's holster, while reminding himself that his precious, limited ammunition was irreplaceable.
He crouched and squinted at the pitch black tunnel, hoping to make something out. Before Tom even had the chance to raise his weapon, a jet of water slammed into his chest, pushed him into the cave wall, and froze into ice. A set of lights flickered on, then a dozen familiar faces walked into the light.
"Damn nice work, Katara." Kara Thrace remarked with a genuinely impressed inflection. "The ice was a nice touch."
"Don't mention it." Said a young, dark-haired woman beside her.
"Sir, over here!" A marine called out, as the constant buzz of a geiger counter sounded throughout the cave. "This is definitely the warhead, it must've been beat up pretty bad. All of us will need to take radiation meds when we get back to Galactica, just to be on the safe side."
"We're on a roll, Mathias." Starbuck declared. "Have your men secure that warhead, we'll get it back to Pegasus. And as for you…" She turned to Zarek. "You realize you're holding the one and only armed nuclear device on the planet, right? Your cronies must have dropped it a little too hard, we picked up the radiological signature from orbit."
Tom remained defiant, refusing to even acknowledge the group.
"It's alright, you don't have to waste your breath right this second." Kara warned. "You'll have plenty of time to choose your last words before Adama puts a bullet through your head."
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Laura stood across the cell from Tom Zarek, arms crossed, wondering where to even begin with the man. Aang was there, too, after insisting on meeting the person responsible for so much carnage. Zarek had refused legal counsel, accusing the whole trial he was about to be subjected to of being a shame before it could even begin.
"Do you have any idea how many people around Ba Seng Se are dead because of you?" Aang asked Zarek. "People in the outer wall have been getting sick for days now, does that bother you even a little bit?"
Zarek's stillness hung in the air.
"You want to know what I think?" Roslin asked coldly. "I think you're quite pleased with how everything unfolded these last few days. You got what you wanted: A war with the Fire Nation, and eternal fame in the Earth Kingdom. A few farmers and peasants dead of radiation poisoning is a small price to pay for that, right?"
"Of course it is." Zarek barked. "If I hadn't gone down there when I had, there'd be a Fire Nation flag over Ba Seng Se right now. How many thousands more would be dead or dying then? You of all people can respect the philosophy of ends justifying the means, can't you President Roslin?"
Laura leaned into the table. "Your actions not only ripped this fleet apart, and resulted in the deaths of who the frak knows how many Earth Kingdom men, women, and children, they very nearly brought us into a war with the Spirit World."
Before Laura even finished her sentence, Zarek was laughing again. "You still don't get it. This fleet is home to fifty thousand people, we became small potatoes when we found this planet. We all could've gone up in flames and it wouldn't have mattered, as long as we preserved the lives of millions in the Earth Kingdom."
"The monks taught me all life is sacred, all life." Aang trumpeted. "You can't just decide some lives are worth less than others, I would've found a way to save Ba Seng Se without you."
"No, Aang, you wouldn't have." Zarek accused with a shake of his head. "Even if you and your friends had been there, it wouldn't have made a difference. You're weak, and your people were weak. They were unwilling to do what's needed to defend their own freedom, let alone anyone else's. You should be on your knees thanking me and my people, you would never have been able to face the Fire Lord, or end this war without our help."
"You're wrong, Zarek." Aang rebuked. "I would've found a way."
"If that's what you need to tell yourself."
Laura put a gentle hand on Aang's shoulder. "You can make all the quipp remarks you want Mr. Zarek, your charisma isn't getting you out this time. Let's go, Aang."
Roslin could tell something about Zarek's words bothered Aang, even through the buzz of activity that made up the rest of their day. The Fire Nation had requested, and been granted, a formal ceasefire with the Earth Kingdom, bringing the war to at least a temporary end while both sides tended to their battered homes. The next step, for the Colonial government at least, would be a formal settlement treaty with the Earth Kingdom. From what Aang said, the Kingdom seemed open to the idea of the Colonials keeping the little chunk of coastline the rogue fleet settled on. Now they needed to negotiate how large that chunk would officially be, before formalizing a treaty and beginning city planning in earnest.
Even when Aang returned from the planet, having met with Earth Kingdom officials to set up a time and date to really pin a treaty down, his usual upbeat mood was still absent.
"It's what Tom Zarek said about me and my friends, that I would never have saved Ba Seng Se or defeated the Fire Lord on my own." Aang confessed. "I know that's not true, because in the future Koh saw, I did do all that. I keep thinking about all those people who died in those Fire Nation factories, or on those ships. I know most of them weren't good people, but that doesn't change the fact that all of them are dead because I wanted to use you as a shortcut."
Laura took Aang's hand. "You told me Koh is a dark, malevolent spirit. For all you know, he could've been trying to manipulate you. War is hard, it's messy, and sometimes there isn't a winning move to play. You did what you thought would save the most lives, and in the end, your actions did help put an end to the war."
Aang gave a faint smile, but it didn't last. "Avatar Roku told me it was my destiny to defeat the Fire Lord and restore balance to the world. I feel like I cheated, and that a lot of people have suffered because of it. Katara even told me I haven't been the same since you helped us, and I just keep thinking…"
"Thinking what, Aang?"
His words felt like a knife aimed for her heart.
"Thinking of what life would be like if you hadn't shown up."
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"Tom Zarek, this panel of Ship Captain's finds you unanimously guilty of high treason, and are sentenced to execution by firing squad."
----
Laura took a puff of smoke off Adama's cigar before handing it back. She didn't ask what he had to barter to get it. "As far Zarek's concerned, he's won. The Fire Nation is defeated, and the Earth Kingdom still thinks of him as the savior of Ba Seng Se. Despite everything he's done, the suffering he's wrought, they'll be singing songs about him for generations."
"Frak Tom Zarek, I don't give a damn what that lunatic thinks." Adama countered. "And neither should you."
----
Roslin tapped on her microphone, ensuring the device was active before clearing her throat to speak. "The military raid on Cloud Nine earlier today was indeed ordered directly by Admiral Adama. As all of you know, fleet security has tightened significantly since the mutiny, leading to security personnel aboard the luxury liner to recognizing a Cylon agent during a routine sweep. The Cylon in question has been apprehended, and while she was in possession of a nuclear device, we have no reason to believe the fleet is in any immediate danger of Cylon attack."
"Madam President, can you comment on the upcoming settlement conference in Ba Seng Se? When will more ships be permitted to join the colony?"
"That's a complicated question, there are a lot of kinks to work out. There are those in the Earth Kingdom government who are still wary of us, but with Aang's help I'm certain we'll reach a compromise. Beyond the settlement conference, I'm also happy to report that my administration has finally established formal diplomatic relations with the Northern Water Tribe, and are in the process of starting talks with the newest Fire Lord, um…"
Laura had to double check her notes.
"Fire Lord Iroh."
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Fire Lord Iroh clasped a hand on his nephew's shoulder. Zuko was still clutching a tracing of Mei, the woman he'd so dearly loved before his exile years ago. Though the boy didn't show it, Iroh knew the emotions within him hadn't been this strong since the fateful day of his banishment.
"The generals are waiting in the throne room, the ones who are still alive anyway." Iroh explained. "Well, actually it's our living room, but it'll do the job just fine."
"When I said I wanted to be back home more than anything, this isn't what I had in mind." Zuko said stoically. "Grovelling to Earth Kingdom generals while signing a peace treaty was bad enough, but this place doesn't even feel like home, it feels like a shell."
Word of Ozai's death spread through the Earth Kingdom like wildfire. It wasn't long before Zuko and Iroh learned that pretty much the whole royal family was dead, leaving them as quite possibly the only survivors. Long ago, Iroh had been destined for the crown, but he'd assumed that part of his life was over forever. Worried the power vacuum could potentially lead to civil war, it was Iroh who suggested returning home right away. After all, Ozai wasn't exactly in a position to punish them anymore.
"Zuko, I know this isn't where any of us thought our lives would take us-"
"They murdered my father." Zuko yelled out, embers spitting out of my mouth. "The Colonials murdered our entire family, humiliated my country, and if that wasn't enough…" He gripped the portrait of Mei tighter. "They took away everything I ever loved, everything that made my life worth living. I'll never redeem myself in the eyes of my father, so I'll never reclaim my honor. They might as well have killed me off, too."
Iroh kept his trademarked warm inflection. This raw emotion was why Iroh pushed so hard to be instated as the new Fire Lord, even if Zuko was technically next in line. Right now, their nation couldn't afford to be ruled by hate.
"Zuko, Mei was very special to you. I know this hollowness you're feeling, I feel it every time I think about the son I lost at Ba Seng Se. Do you feel the pain in you like a thousand daggers? Do you feel it every time you close your eyes, every time you go to sleep? Is this pain the first thing you think of in the morning, and the last thing before you drift into a dream?"
Zuko clenched his fists so hard they were turning red. He nodded.
"I want you to remember this pain, because you'll be asking a million other people to experience it if you keep pushing the idea of further conflict with the Colonials. Our people have a chance for a new beginning, Zuko. Ozai ruled with fear and hate, but we can build a nation out of compassion and understanding. If you truly wish to learn from this pain, use it to make that not one more soul will have to go through it."
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Ba Seng Se truly was a sight to behold. Laura even had the opportunity to, for the first time in what felt like forever, actually enjoy herself in the metropolis's upper ring. She'd visited a sauna for what had to have been the single most relaxing afternoon she'd experienced since the exodus, and took the opportunity to enjoy a real tea shop with Adama, Katara, and Sokka before making their way to the conference.
The Earth Kingdom insignia adorning the Earth King's great palace caught Adama's attention on the way in. It was the same square surrounded by a large, green circle they'd seen painted on Earth Kingdom armor. "What does it mean?" Adama asked Joo Dee, the official tasked with showing them around Ba Seng Se.
"It represents the many layers of rock Earth Benders control, as well as the depth and diversity of our people." She answered. "I'm certain your flags are just as interesting."
"I have so, so many questions for them." Laura admitted to Adama. "Honestly part of me wants to forget all about the conference and just spend the next three days immersing ourselves in these people's culture. A whole society completely separate from Kobol and the Colonies, what could we learn from them?"
"If all goes well, you'll have plenty of time to find out."
The two bowed as they entered the Palace's central chamber, where Aang and the Earth Kingdom delegation were waiting for them. Curiously, the Earth King was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a balding man with thin, sharp facial hair stood at the center of the Earth Kingdom's delegation.
"My name is Long Feng, Grand Secretariat of Ba Seng Se." The man said with a curt bow. "I'll be filling for the Earth King today, he sends his most sincere apologies that he wasn't able to greet you himself."
Laura shot a confused glance at Aang, who merely shrugged. "It's an honor to have been invited into the palace itself."
"The honor is all ours." Long Feng confessed. "Our two peoples have had a trying relationship, but I think we have a bright future ahead of us."
"I couldn't agree more." Roslin concurred, though she pegged Feng's type right away. He was a bureaucrat through and through. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it meant she'd always have to dig deep to find real meaning behind the man's words.
Aang taped his staff on the ground. "Now that the meet and greet is over, if all of you would kindly take your seats, I think it's time we bring this conference to order."