The Rising Red- Chapter 3
Mar. 8th, 2008 09:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
splodge04
BSG Fic- The Rising Red
(It's also uploaded at Survival Instinct for those who prefer that format.)
Summary: An angsty and slightly AU fic surrounding Adama and Roslin. The President's life is jeopardy and it's only a matter of time until it's too late.
Rated: M
Disclaimer: These character are unfortunatley not mine! I'm just puttin them into my own little storyline to keep me entertained until Season 4!
It's set after Epiphanies and before Sacrifice in Season 2.
Thanks to my lovely betas
laharah and trickalicious78 for helping me out with these. This is for you :DChapter 3- Loving Restraint. -Word count 9500
Chapter 1 can be found here.
Chapter 2 can be found here.
A cool draft of air washed over Bill’s face, making him stir slowly towards the surface of a deep and peaceful sleep. When he finally became conscious of his surrounding he could smell the dry and slightly musty scent of his quarters. They seemed so much stronger than last night. He took a deep breath and then he realised that the sweet scent that had been all around him before was no longer around. When he opened his eyes he looked down to see the throw he had placed on Laura across his own body. The sweet flowery smell of her perfume was long gone and so was she. His arm was cold and it made him realise how much he missed the warmth she had provided.
His alarm sounded in the distance and he sat up, working his hands over his neck as he realised that maybe sleeping practically upright wasn’t the best thing he had ever done. As he stood up he stretched, inhaling and stretching his arms out to loosen his muscles. He was very surprised by the fact that he had slept through the whole night without waking, It then began to bother him that he hadn’t woken when she had left. Why had she decided to abandon his side after commenting on its comfort? He decided that after having a shower he was going to drop by and make sure she was ok.
****
Laura sat exhausted at her table, wrapped in her comforter with a pen in her hand and a piece of paper on the dark mahogany surface. It had occurred to her hours before, after trying her hardest to sleep so that she could ignore the pain in her neck, that maybe she could spend her free time writing about her experience. She was, after all, awake well over twenty hours a day, and with someone out to kill her, she couldn’t just go walking around late at night on her own. Even with her guard she felt much safer going out during the daytime when more people were around.
The pen wove fluently over the paper, speaking of everything that she had encountered over the
past few weeks. She had heard on many occasions, psychiatrists talking about how putting pen to paper can be of some use. So there she was, putting it to the test.
“…and then he pulled me into a warm embrace, comforting me to a point that I had forgotten
possible. If only he knew how appreciative I was of his actions. Even if I expressed it verbally, there would still be an element in my words which lacked my true emotion and gratitude.”
The pain in her neck had reduced to a pitiful throb, but her hand still sat there trying to ease it out of her muscles. The writing had been successful in diverting her attention from the pain and she had been very surprised by the amount of writing that she had gotten through. It was always odd to see your feelings written down on paper. There was almost a sense of unfamiliarity about it, as if someone was writing fiction. But only when you looked deeper between the lines could you truly understand yourself and what others had done for you. It was like analysing text, but your own. You could truly grasp what the writer was saying because it was you who had written it. There were no assumptions, just hard fact.
“If it hadn’t been for the pain I could have easily stayed there the whole night in his arms. It was a selfless act on his part. He had given up a perfectly good rack and a comfortable nights sleep so I could rest. Sometimes he makes me want to feel love again, and to feel that affection and respect that I have so clearly forgotten. There was an uncontrollable feeling of emptiness as I left his arms, craving his warmth as I left the room. I found that when I was lying alone in my bed that everything seemed much bigger and colder. Bill Adama gives me strength and an unconditional devotion that I am most thankful for. One day, I’ll be able to repay his kindness.”
Her hand paused on the paper and she let out a sigh. How would she repay his kindness? There were certain limitations when it came to having relationships with people when in a critical position in the fleet. Even being his friend had difficulties. There was always the chance of falling out or getting into a dispute. The closer someone got, the more there was to lose and the easier it was to lose it. Her position in the fleet and her status with Bill always weighed heavily on her mind and heart. She yearned for him as a person and it hurt her often when she denied herself what she desired. It was a selfless act she knew, it was a better position to be in when trying to save the lives of all the people around her. It was what she knew was right. It had also crossed her mind about how Bill would react, given her current situation. He was someone who stood by her side, and she also knew that when she was hurting he felt something too. It made her feel selfish, as if it was her fault for what he would feel when the situation planned out. She wished that when things happened to her they wouldn’t affect the people around her.
“After last night I should feel like I can talk to him more, but there is still something there that stops me. I don’t know whether it is this undesirable feeling of not wanting to make him worry about me or just that I don’t want to have to put him through this. I know that even with the cancer I was never alone, but it broke my heart when I saw the pain in his eyes. It’s something I don‘t want him to feel again. There will be pain, but I would rather it be all on me then spread across to the people that I have grown to love. Maybe if I keep my distance then I can somehow ease the pain that I know is going to grip both Bill and Billy if I do die. Maybe that is what I can do to repay his kindness- take the full brunt of his pain and worry. Try and lift his burdens and restrain myself.”
She pondered on her last sentence before shaking her head and running a sharp line through her words. She didn’t want to shut Bill out, as he was such a continual rock for her. She sharply jabbed the knib of her pen into the paper and let the ink bleed into it. How could she be so selfish? The words she had written were indeed true and she was going to do her best to do exactly that- block him out from what she was going through.
She pulled her briefcase up off of the floor and placed the papers in a small pocket on the inside, zipping it up the whole way before putting the case back on the floor. When she gazed up at the clock she was shocked to see that it as already 5am, and she had spent a very long time writing and expressing herself in the form of words. As she sat there she pondered what the day would bring and what she was going to do with herself. It was early, but not too early to actually go somewhere…with her guard of course. She always admired the way that military ships worked. There was always people around and always someone to talk to. She rubbed her neck again and decided that she should go and see Doc’ Cottle. The pain in her neck, although now a dull throb, still made her feel very uneasy. She didn’t like to bother people, but she didn’t want ignore the signs. After all, Baltar did say it would bring pain.
*****
Bill stepped out of the shower and quickly dried himself. The shower had relaxed his tense muscles and he was feeling very refreshed and ready to take on the day. It didn’t take him long to get dressed- it never did. Due to being in the military for so long he was programmed to be quick and efficient. It never seemed right to dawdle or take his time when it came to such trivial things. His attention always had to be diverted to his plans of action and fleet situations. Even when the twelve colonies were still in tact and he rarely had to do anything as remotely difficult as he does now, he would still work to the same beat. It was how it had always been and he was pretty sure that’s how it was always going to be.
The dull buzzing noise of his phone chimed in the distance and he fastened the last of his buttons up and walked over to the corner in which it was situated. The receiver felt cold against his cheek as he brought it to his ear.
“Adama.”
“Bill…I wasn’t sure if you were going to be awake…” Laura was quiet on the other end of the receiver, obviously waiting for him to speak.
“I was just about to come and see you, actually.” Bill picked up the book that he had left the other day from the table near his bed and looked at the spine. It was the book he was going to give to her before everything had gotten so hectic.
“You were? Well, there’s no need. I’m just about to go and see Cottle.” Her tone was awkward, he noted, and it didn’t make sense. He thought that it might be due to the previous night and what had gone on.
“Cottle? Are you feeling ok? Is that why you left last night?” Bill was ready to fire out as many questions until he was able to find out why she was going there. He hoped deep down that it was nothing but her going to check up on the status of Baltar’s and Cottle’s tests.
“It’s nothing. I was just going to see if they have new information. I’m not going to be long, I have to prepare for a meeting later with Zarek.”
“I can come with you.”
“It’s only a short trip to the sick bay, and don’t forget about all the men you have assigned to me. I’ll be fine.”
“Well, I’m coming to the meeting at least.”
“Of course.”
“I’ll be in the CIC until then and you are more then welcome to come by.” Bill wasn’t liking the overall tone of the conversations. Yes, it was friendly like most of their conversations, but there was some sort of distance between them. Maybe he would get the chance to talk to her before the meeting.
“Ok.”
Bill’s quarters filled with a sharp resonating noise which he knew to be the familiar knock of Tigh. Bill gritted his teeth and redirected his attention back to the phone. “Are you sure you’re ok, Laura?” There was a small pause at the end of the line and a small intake of air. Bill didn’t know whether to take that as a gasp or the beginning of a sigh so he pressed again. “Laura?”
“Bill, it’s nothing. I have to go. Goodbye.” The line went dead and Bill put the receiver back on the wall totally unsatisfied with the conversation. It made him wonder if she was ok. He thought that he had bridged the gap between them the night before, making it clear that she could talk to him nor have to appear so strong. When she had talked to him in the past about how she was feeling, last night was the furthest it had ever gone. Now, however, he felt as if were starting back at square one. There were reasons floating around in his head but he put them aside when he heard Tigh knock again, obviously getting impatient.
“Admiral,” Tigh said as Bill opened the hatch. “We need you down in CIC, we have a situation onboard one of the civilian ships.”
“Why did you come all the way down here to tell me?” Bill said picking up his glasses.
“I’d rather not have had to frakking come down here, but they couldn’t get through to you and the stupid intercom isn’t frakking working.” Tigh scrunched up his face and turned around.
Bill pulled his hatch to and looked down the hall towards Laura’s quarters as he quickly sped off down the corridor. As he ran around the corner he caught sight of her leaving her room, her eyes looked worried. He slowed slightly.
“Admiral!” Tigh groaned.
Bill returned his attention to the man before him and began making his way down to the CIC.
*******
“One explosion, two explosion, three explosion four…five explosion, six explosion, seven explosion, how about some more?” He laughed menacingly before pushing the little red button at his side. “Nothing like some fireworks early in the morning to start the day.”
The room was empty but he still sat and spoke to himself as if surrounded by an audience. His other hand rested on a red book which he carefully guarded.
With explosions becomes awareness. They will finally begin to realise that the power in which they carefully ignore is a force not to be reckoned with.
He grinned happily as he recited the words from his memory. If the day went according to plan then the people with the call signs Apollo and Starbuck would come to a painful demise, leaving his path clear so he could start making the final plans go forward.
******
“Lee, I want you and Starbuck to co-ordinate this. I need you to get down there and see what’s going on. We know there have been explosions and there is a small scale riot onboard. Take some marines and get down there.” Bill put the receiver back down and gazed around at all the bright lights in the CIC. Saul was looking at him intently, as were many of the other men and women in the room.
“Well it looks as if things have calmed down a little bit. Compared to earlier it’s like a petting zoo.” Tigh gripped hard against the side and looked again at Bill. “Do you think we need to send that many men down there?”
“Yes. Lee knows what I want him to look for. The marines are there to calm the people down and Starbuck and Lee are going to scout the ship and take a detailed look at the explosion sites. Once the place has calmed I want all the civilians taken to other ships until the damage has been repaired.” Bill flicked through some paper.
“How bad is the damage?”
“It’s not too bad. The ship can manage with the people onboard, but I think it will go much faster if they aren’t in the way. We need every ship in working order if we are going to make it to Earth in one piece.”
“Do we know how the explosions started?”
“No, that’s why Starbuck and Lee are investigating. I will not have anymore disruptions in this fleet.”
“Damn straight.”
Bill looked at the clock and then turned to Dualla. “Get me Tom Zarek on the line.”
“Yes sir.”
It seemed that with everything going on, ships and people could be trusted very little and he didn’t want to put Laura in any more danger, so making Zarek come onboard Galactica seemed like the best plan of action. He would need to get word to her when he had arranged everything.
*****
“Well, young lady, what can I do for you?” Cottle said, taking another drag of his cigarette whilst watching Baltar who was sat with at least a dozen test tubes next to him.
Laura could feel her neck pulsate with pain again, making her clench her jaw as it spread eagerly down her back and up to the back of her head. “I was just enquiring on your progress.”
Baltar sifted though his notes and picked up a sheet of rough, scribbled notes. “We’re doing everything we can, Madam President. But, as I predicted, it’s beginning to get very difficult. With the substance continually increasing in strength it is very hard to get a handle on it. It has to continually be diluted so I can take proper look at it. Myself and Doctor Cottle are testing it against as many combinations of drugs as we can, whilst trying to see if we can alter its shifting strength. If we were able to prevent it from increasing in concentration then it would give us more time to figure out what to do with it. Obviously, if the antidote was available then it would be much better-”
“Of course. That would be the easiest option, but how would anyone go about something like that when they are in the position of unawareness? Myself and Admiral Adama have no inclination about who would do this and why. It’s a very awkward situation indeed.”
“Yes, I understand. We’ll do what we can. We’re making some progress at least.” Baltar paused and picked up his pen and made a few more notes.
“How are you feeling, Madam President?” Cottle said, pulling out his torch and pen. “How’s the sleeping?”
Laura took a seat on the stool that was situated at the table and placed her hands on her knees. “Sleep? If you call the hours of unrest sleep, then there is plenty of it. I am finding it increasingly difficult to switch off and relax, never mind get any shut eye.”
“We could try you on some sleeping pills. Baltar has tested a number of the different variations we have just to see if there are any side effects. We have a few that will give you a few hours rest at least.” Cottle shined the light in her eyes and placed his other hand on her wrist to check her pulse. “That’s up to you though, but I would recommend it. The more sleep you get the better you will feel.”
Laura nodded her head and felt another searing pain run through her neck. “I was wondering if you could prescribe some pain meds?”
Baltar looked up from his paper. “Pain meds?”
Cottle leaned forward. “Well, young lady, why didn’t you tell me you’d been experiencing pain?”
“I just thought I’d slept funny. It did decrease into a dull throb, but since then it’s just increased.” Laura could tell that they were worried by the way that Baltar gripped his pen until his knuckles turned white. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“No, I don’t think so. You should have come to us when you first started feeling it. I want you to do that from now on. If you feel strange or different, I want you to bring your presidential ass down here so I can take a look at you…Now, tell me where you’re feeling the discomfort.”
“My neck, down my spine and up to the back of my head,” she said, her voice breaking slightly as she gripped her neck.
“Central nervous system, maybe,” Baltar mumbled before jotting it down onto pad. Laura looked nervously at him and waited for an explanation for his random outburst, but she never got one, he continued to write frantically on the paper he had almost filled.
“I’ll start you on some mild painkillers which are very unreactive with other substances. You can have two pills up to three times a day, no more, no less. Do you understand?”
“Yes, yes of course.” Laura took two small boxes from Cottle’s hand and placed them in her pocket, feeling slightly overwhelmed with everything as she looked around at all the equipment.
“You better get some rest. I’ll let Admiral Adama and Billy know that you’re going to put all your meetings to one side until the pain subsides and you get some sleep-”
“No, no you don’t have to tell them about this…I’d rather keep that to myself.”
Cottle looked at her with an uncertain expression. “Madam President, you need as many people around you as possible at the moment.”
“I’ll take my meds. You don’t need to get people to check up on me,” she said , her voice defensive. “I have to go now. Thank you, gentleman. Keep me informed.” She grimaced as she stood up, taking the glass of water from the side and popped two pills in her mouth. She nodded courteously and walked out of the room. Not entirely sure on what she was going to do for the next few hours.
******
Billy knocked on Laura’s hatch, eager to discuss the days schedule and the meeting with Tom Zarek. After nearly ten minutes he gave in and walked down the corridor to see if he could find out where she was. The corridors were unusually cold today and he had to wrap his arms around himself as he walked as quickly as he could towards his usual source of information, the communications officer Dualla.
A small gathering of armed men were situated in the corridor and Billy had to wait patiently whilst they assembled themselves in a more organised group. Finding the president onboard a ship of such a size was usually so straight forward, but due to being so far away from her quarters he had been completely unaware of her whereabouts. He knew that her meeting had been rescheduled aboard Galactica as ordered by the Admiral himself, and at the current moment he was trying to find her to let her know. Tomorrow he was going to make sure he was at her room before she left.
If he was to think about how distant she had been with him since the previous day he could easily come to the conclusion that it was all taking its toll on her. He was her aide, and he was meant to do as much for her as he possibly could, keep her schedule in order and basically cater to her every wish. How could he if she was acting so unlike herself? How could he if she was going about her own business without even getting word out to him.
A strong arm crossed his path, knocking him back slightly as he tried to squeeze past a rather large marine who was staring angrily at him. “Did you not hear me? I said you can’t go past here,” the marine said, his voice as deep as Billy had thought he had ever heard.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I just need to go through that hatch there. You see, I’m looking for the President as I need to give her some vital information.” Billy peered nervously at the gun in the marine’s hand.
“This is exactly why you can’t go past. We’re the President’s guard and she is currently using the room beyond that hatch. We can’t permit you to go through without clearance from the Admiral himself.” Two other marine’s closed in front of the door and watched Billy with hawk-like eyes.
“So, that door doesn’t lead towards the CIC?”
“No, that was the last turning.”
Billy mumbled and put his hand in his pocket. “I am the president’s aide. My name is Billy Keikeya. If she is in there I need to give her some information.”
“Not without the Admiral’s say so you can’t. You’ll have to take the matter up with him. Now be on your way,” he said, moving Billy back a few steps.
Billy looked up to the sign above the door and noted that the president was in the religious room, something she didn’t do very often, but only in times of crisis. This made him a little bit anxious so he turned and headed back towards the right direction so he can get clearance from the Admiral.
****
As the men worked around him, Bill stood reading through some papers, waiting until Lee had his crew ready so he could send them off. Sometimes, like at that very moment, the CIC offered some sort of comfort to him. It was a place he had stood for many years, watching over the fleet, his pilots and the stars. Familiarity, to Bill, was like an old friend in situations like these, the constant buzzing of the monitors, the faint mumbling of voices, the flashing of lights and the general feeling of this room reminded him of what he was there to do. He was there to command.
The papers he had in his hand were placed absentmindedly down on the dark surface of one of the CIC compartments as he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. One day he wouldn’t have to stand here anymore and command the fleet. One day he wouldn’t feel the pressure of the thousands of people lives which he was meant to protect. No more split-second decisions, second guesses and bloodshed. He hoped that when they did eventually get to Earth that he would be able to retire like he had planned to.
“You have a visitor by the looks of it, Admiral,” Tigh said, standing to one side so Bill could see through the glass door of the CIC.
Billy was stood outside, his face red with frustration as he tried to reason with the guard outside. His arms gripped his hips as he said something to the guard, his eyes gazing over the door in the look of defeat. When he looked through the glass he caught Bill’s eyes and that was signal enough for Bill to go and see what was going on. Bill looked to Tigh, who nodded his head and made his way up towards the entrance. “Is everything ok out here?”
Billy nodded his head. “Sir, I know I really shouldn’t come bother you with such trivial matters.”
“Is there something bothering you, Billy?” Bill put his hand on Billy’s arm and pulled him to one side, dismissing the guard outside who moved inside to the CIC.
“I can’t go and see the president, sir.” Billy said bitterly.
“What do you mean? Is she ok?”
“I don’t know. I can’t get into the religious room to find out, sir. Her guard won’t permit me to enter. I don’t have the right clearance. I was told that if I got the order from you I could go and do my job.”
Bill nodded. “Of course, Billy, of course. I’m sorry you had to come all this way to get clearance from me. It’s a pain I know but with everything that’s going on I think you can appreciate that they are doing their job.” Bill called the guard back outside. “I want you to escort Billy down to the religious room and tell the marines there that I’ve given him clearance.”
“Yes, sir,” the guard said, moving to Billy’s side.
“Thank you, Admiral Adama.” Billy nodded his head and walked down the hallway with the guard.
Bill called upon another officer to replace the guard and entered back into the CIC, his mind full of thoughts as he walked back down to the centre of the room. He knew that Laura was religious type, but he couldn’t remember the last time he had known her go in there. The last time she had gone down there was when she was aboard Galactica and her cancer was well progressed.
“Admiral, Apollo’s on the line, everything’s ready.” Tigh pulled the receiver up and handed it to the man in command.
*****
Lee hoisted his gun up onto his shoulder and sat patiently at the back of the raptor as it came to a hard stop on the hangar deck of the Carina. Apart from his raptor he had another one which was filled with a few more marines and Starbuck, who had already landed.
The door opened slowly and Lee walked steadily out of the raptor, his gun raised as a sign of authority as he scanned the area for anything out of sorts. Starbuck was stood briefing the five marines that were with her, letting them know that they are to control the situation onboard.
“Kizerksi and O’Kane, you are with me and Lieutenant Thrace to scout the ship. The rest of you I want to go down to where the civilians are out of hand. No rounds to be shot. I just want the situation maintained and controlled. Once we have found out what me need to know we will come and join you. If anything goes wrong then you can talk to us through the comms system,” Lee said, finishing off Kara’s instructions.
“Lets get this over and done with, I have a card game I need to win,” Kara said, walking off towards the hatch at the other end of the hangar. She wasn’t completely happy with the detail that she had been assigned. It was a routine job that anyone could do, but there was the Admiral sending her and Lee onboard to do something she wasn’t completely familiar with. She knew what she was looking for, but she was also sure that there were more qualified people that he could have called upon. Lee had told her that the Admiral ‘trusted them’ and that ‘he didn’t think it was an accident.’ She grumbled and walked through an open hatch.
Lee shook his head, sent the men off and followed her. “Look, we need to get this done, find out what caused the explosions, it shouldn’t take too long.”
A tall man with dark long hair stood before them with a folded piece of paper in his hand. It looked as if he was a member of the Carina’s crew sent to give them the map of the area in which the explosions were detonated. When he saw them he straightened up, his height increasing another inch. “Captain Adama?” the man said, peering down at the people around him.
“Yes. Do you have the map?” Lee said, eyeing him up suspiciously.
“Yes, sir,” he said, unfolding the paper. “The red points are where the explosions took place and the blue spot is our current location. The ship’s captain has already sent men down there and they think it was something to do with the heating system. But, of course, you’ll be able to see that when you get down there.”
Kara looked at him carefully. He was incredibly large for such a small ship. Men like him usually worked in engine rooms and the military, not as messenger boys. He was nearly seven feet tall and broad with well defined muscles which she could see clearly through his fitted white uniform. His eyes were deep pools of brown and hard, matching his facial expression. He was like an old wrestler in his features, but you could tell he was young. A deep purple scar ran down the side of his face, it looked raw which signalled that it was new. “That’s a fine looking scar you have there- what did you say your name was?”
“Geoffrey, sir…I got it when I fell down the stairs a few weeks ago, bashed it against the edge of a lining tray.” He rubbed his hand over it and turned away from them. “The first explosion was at the other end of the ship. This way please.”
“You’re coming too?” Lee said, confused. “Then why give us a map?”
“The captain thought it was necessary. This ship has many corridors and long passages, we wouldn’t want you to get lost. The map was there out of convenience, just in case I have to leave.”
Lee wasn’t totally convinced so he turned and nodded to Kara who was looking as confused as he was, she put her hand against her gun and moved forward.
As they rounded around a sharp corner Lee could smell a distinct odour of burnt rubber and heated metal, it made his nose wrinkle and his hand came up to shield the strong smell. When they veered around the last corridor he had to pull out his torch as the lighting wasn‘t very good.
The light from the torch didn’t do much but they could see distinct scorch marks spread across the bulkhead with deep holes and broken bits of unknown objects. Kara moved close to the bulkhead, leaning forward so she could take a decent look at the area. “Nah, this wasn’t anything to do with the heating, look…” she said pointing to the fragments which had blown inside the bulkhead. “If it was to do with exploding pipes or anything like that, it would have forced all the fragments this way, into the corridor. Can you see, all the bits have blown inwards.”
“Something’s not right here. This was done on purpose. Is this the same throughout the other sites?” Lee turned to Geoffrey and shone the light in his face.
“I don’t know, sir, I’m just the guide. I can go and get someone else that can give you some more answers. Someone a bit more technical?”
“I want to talk to your highest in command, now!”
Geoffrey gulped slightly and turned and headed off down the corridor.
“Lee, something isn’t right here. How could that be mistaken for a heating malfunction? The whole bulkheads been blown through.”
Lee turned to the marine who was stood a few feet away. “I want you to go and see what’s going on with the other marines. See how they are handling the situation with the civilians. If they have everything under control tell Gibson and Tyrell to stay behind, get the others to wait by the raptor. Now.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kara kneeled and looked closer at the bulkhead. “Lee, can you see that?”
Lee leant forward, getting as close as he could without making the bulkhead out of focus. A small distinct symbol was imprinted on the metal just above where the bulkhead had caved in. Against the silver and charred metal surface it shone out at them like a drop of blood on a piece of paper. The red was crimson and strong. “What do you think it is?”
Kara rotated her head and peered at it, running her fingers over the surface. “That can’t be right.” She took the small camera out of her side pocket and took a snap of it, and of the whole area.
“I thought the same thing.”
“It looks like a toaster’s head.”
“Exactly what I was thinking.”
A loud bang filled the corridor and Kara jumped up, her gun at her side. Deep and powerful footsteps came tumbling down the corridor. Lee, Kara and O’Kane moved backwards into a small line and stood waiting for whatever was going to come around the corner.
“Sir, we need to get off of this ship, or at least call for backup,” Kizerksi said, sweat lining his upper lip and his eyes wide with something Lee couldn’t put his finger on.
“What’s the situation?”
“They’re dead, sir. All of them.”
“The civilians?”
“There are no civilians, sir. The whole room was empty, I didn’t get chance to look around, but the other marines are dead.”
“Ok. Let Galactica know through your comms system. We need to get off of this ship.” Lee moved off down the corridor, followed by Kara and the two marines, a sick feeling of dread moving around in the dark depths of his stomach.
When they had gotten further down the entry a sharp high pitched noise sounded around them, making them all put their hands to their ears. A thick metal door came down from the ceiling right in front of them, blocking their way towards the hangar bay. The lights turned off and they were plunged into darkness. They were stuck and alone on an unfamiliar ship with a map and a torch. “Frak,” Lee yelled before turning to the people behind him. “How’s the comms system?”
“I can’t get a signal, sir. I can’t get through to Galactica.”
“FRAK!! Kara yelled before kicking hard against the nearest bulkhead. “This was a frakking trap. The Admiral was right to suspect foul play but now we’re stuck on this frakking ship with four dead marines and no way out! We need to find a way out of here, give me the frakking map.” She pulled the map and torch out of Lee’s hand and stared at it, her face scrunched up with anger and frustration. Her hand ran through her hair and she stamped her foot on the floor. “There are about fourteen corridors around here and only one of them leads towards the hangar bay. Lets hope for our own sake that the frakking things isn’t blocked.”
A deep resonating boom filled the long corridor making all four of its occupants look up in surprise. Lee stood up and shone his torch down both of the corridors that was adjoined to the corner in which he stood, but nothing was visible. “What was that?” He lifted up his gun and walked deeper into the darkness.
Kara followed him, taking note of the fact that they were heading towards the only available exit. What if someone was waiting for them at the other end?
Another deep boom came from the other direction making them turn around. “I think we need to get to the exit, and fast, I don’t like the sound of those noises.” Kara lifted the map up once more and pointed in the right direction.
“Agreed. Let’s go. Be alert and keep an eye out for anything.” Lee started off on a brisk trot, his gun pointing in every angle as he tried to make out his surroundings.
Another boom.
The torch in Lee’s hand flickered before turning off, the whole hallway turning pitch black.
“Please tell me you charged that thing before we came here, Lee.”
“It was fully charged. I’m sure of it.” He tapped it off of the bulkhead and it flickered shining a few more stray rays into the darkness.
“Frak, Lee.” Kara grabbed Lee’s arm and began pulling him away.
“Starbuck, get off,” he pulled his arm away and looked down the corridor and he stepped back.
A thick cloud of red smoke was moving down the corridor, engulfing everything that it came into contact with. “What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not sticking around to find out.” Kara grabbed his arm again and all of them began running down the corridor as fast and carefully as they could, the torch ceasing its light again.
Kara was cursing herself inside as she moved quickly along a very long and cold metal walkway. She could feel Lee behind her, trying to work the torch as they glided blindly in a single direction. She had to think. They needed to get out and the only way they were going to do that was if they could get the torch to work so they could get a look at the map, although she was pretty sure they wouldn’t be able to plot themselves on the map anyway. Her hand skimmed the surface of a small metal object sitting on the wall. She gripped it and she could make out the thick outline of a receiver. “Lee, it’s a phone!” she yelled, pulling it clean out of its place. “We can send out a call to Galactica through this, I’m sure of it.”
“Yeah, Kara, and how are we going to do that with no light,” he said angrily bashing the torch off of the bulkhead again. As soon as the casing of the torch came in contact with the bulkhead it shone brightly in Kara’s face making her squint and recoil.
“Thank the Gods,” she said pulling it out of his hand and shining it onto the console. “Do you remember the frequency?”
“Try frequency four, and quick,” he said nervously, quickly shining the light behind them, the thick red smoke moving steadily behind them. They didn’t have long. “Come on, quick,” he mumbled returning the torch to the console.
“Galactica.”
“Frak. This is Starbuck. We have a situation onboard the Carina and we need urgent assistance.” She turned to see Lee looking at her with a worried expression, the thick red smoke was very close.
“Kara, we need to move, now,” he said coughing as he felt the smoke line his throat. He pulled on her arm and she pushed him off.
“Go. I’ll catch up.”
“No, we have to go now. Kara, this smoke could be anything,” he coughed again.
“We have to let them know!” She moved away from him and coughed as she breathed in the thick red smoke.
Lee shook his head and stepped back from the smoke, watching as it moved swiftly around Kara.
“We have four marines dead, it was a trap” she coughed again, a sharp stabbing pain ripped up her throat and back. “Situation is critical…ugh,” she let go of the phone and her whole body shook with the searing white hot pain that was travelling through her muscles. “Arghhhh,” she moaned, before falling to the floor.
“Starbuck!”
******
Laura and Billy sat across from Zarek who was sporting a navy suit, a red tie and a worried expression on his face. Two of his men stood distantly behind him with blank expressions. At the current moment Tom was staring at Bill who was stood behind Laura and Billy, his arms folded and a sceptical look on his face.
“Madam President. I know we haven’t seen eye to eye in the past but you have to believe me. This whole fleet is in danger. The book that I speak of will cause a lot of havoc to you all.” He stood up and put his hand inside his bag and pulled out a wad of paper that was stapled at the top, it had to be nearly 300 pages long.
“Why are we to believe you, Tom?” Laura said, taking a sip of water.
“Read for yourself,” he said, opening it and holding it up. “They would know that what we speak of to be true, the leader, the woman, would fall. She would fall due to a human creation, designed to keep the user awake. It would run through her like a plague making her lose control of her body and mind and finally make her succumb to a horrible and-”
“That’s enough,” Bill said, moving forward and pulling the pages out of his hand. “I think someone is having you on, Tom, and you are fuelling the words by getting paranoid about it.”
Zarek ran his hands over his face and shook his head. “I really think you need to listen to me on this one. With all due respect I think that you are perhaps not giving this idea much thought. I came to you so that I could enlighten you, make it so you knew what was coming. If you read that book it preaches of a force with a red eye which we must bow down to and respect so that we can all survive. It runs in day order, going all the way to the 27th day of bombardment. The explosions, the flyers…it all fits. I’m a sceptic myself but I just can’t ignore this.”
Laura watched him avidly as he pleaded with the Admiral. She knew Tom, and this was certainly out of character. The words he had read had brought about a certain feeling of dread within her. It was highly accurate and could only possibly be written by someone who knew about her current condition, and at present that applied to very few people. Maybe it was the person or people had done this to her? Maybe it was a clue, something they had planted among the fleet? It was almost like a game. “Tom, where did you get this?”
“Over the past few weeks I’ve been hearing things amongst the people, things that I couldn’t believe I’d heard. There are people out there who believe that we should be worshipping the cylons. I’m sure you’ve heard of them. But, then there were flyers and now civilians are being pulled in to these ridiculous ideas. There’s a small movement. I’d heard someone talking about a book called, ‘The rising red.’ These people are treating it like the religious treat the scrolls.”
“These people are playing the civilians against their own fear. At the moment, many of them will believe anything just so they know they will survive. It’s a horrible tactic.” Laura said, her voice cold and hard as she thought about poor and innocent people being pulled into such a movement.
“I agree, Madam president. I sent someone out to see if they could find out more about this book or even get hold of a copy. There are two copies, each guarded heavily and it was nearly impossible to get hold what I have here. The original is at a unknown destination aboard the fleet, probably with the ring-leader. This is just a copy and it doesn’t go to the end.”
“I’m inclined to think that maybe with all the stress and everything that you might be losing it,” Bill said, bending the sheaf of papers and tucking them under his arm. “I certainly think that this is just a load of fiction made to make people turn against the government and military.”
“Fiction or not, Admiral, the things in there are coming true. Whether it be due to chance or due to someone making it happen, it is. You can keep it. Read it if you need proof, I’m sure you’ll find something very interesting in there, sir. Today is day twenty.”
“I think it’s time you left.” Bill signalled to the guard to open the door.
Zarek closed his eyes in defeat and shook his head. “I hope that you can finally come to your senses before it’s too late.” He picked up his bag and went to leave before hesitating and walking over to the president. “Laura, I know that we don’t see eye to eye, but if something is going to damage this fleet then it is in my own interest to make sure that I survive.”
“I know, Tom.” Laura slid her glasses further up her nose.
“Take care of yourself. I hope, for your sake, that it is a load of fiction.” Laura looked away and fiddled idly with her thumbs. Tom leaned forward some more. “You are ok, aren’t you?”
Bill moved forward and grabbed Tom by the arm. “I really do think that it’s time for you to head back to your ship.”
Tom pulled his arm out of the Admirals’ grip and walked rapidly out of the hatch, nearly walking into his escort and off down the corridor towards the hangar bay.
“Don’t listen to him. I seriously think that this isn’t worth the reading time.” Bill chucked the papers on the table and sat down. “I don’t know what is going on in this fleet anymore.”
Laura reached out to the papers and ran her fingers over the dull black ink on the paper. “I think that we need to read this.”
Bill looked up, his eyes scrunched up as they did when he analysed her. He could see the worry in her eyes and he knew that Zarek’s words had touched her. “You believe him, don’t you?”
“You heard what he said. The book may be fiction, but how many people know about my condition? How many people know that someone out there is trying to kill me? Bill, how do we know that this book wasn’t created by the person that is doing this to me?” Her stomach knotted and she took off her glasses. The whole situation was just getting worse. She had to agree with Bill, she didn’t know where the fleet was going and it made her sad and angry.
Bill nodded his head becoming very aware of the logic in which she was speaking. It was true that very few people knew about her condition and it was troubling. He was going to have to read it and see what he could make of it. “Ill concede your point. I’ll give it the once over and see what I make of it. I’m sure that it’s just a coincidence. I’d rather not take the word of something like this. Our future isn’t written in stone, Laura, or paper.”
Laura sighed, “But it is, Bill. All of this has happened before and-”
“-all of this will happen again. I know. I think that maybe in these circumstances it might be a little different. But in any case, I am going to read it and I am going to do the best I can to stop all of this.”
“I’d also like to read it.”
“Well, I think that we can both read it. As soon as I’ve seen to my duties.”
Laura nodded her head and stood up, waiting for Billy to do the same. He had remained quiet throughout the whole thing and she didn’t know why. “I have to go and do some paperwork anyway. I’ll be in my room until then, so you know where I am when you come to read it.”
“Of course,” Bill said, watching her carefully. She began walking out of the room. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” she lied, subconsciously holding on to the pill boxes that were still in her pocket. She walked out of the hatch and into the hands of her armed guard and walked down the corridor to the left.
Bill shook his head, tightened his grip in the papers under his arm and headed into the corridor himself. He knew she was lying. He may be getting old but he could certainly read people reasonably well. He had noted that she was holding herself funny, like someone who had slept awkward would tend not to move their neck so much and take their time when it came to certain movements. He’d have to go and talk to Cottle when he had a chance. He began his walk back towards the CIC when he heard sharp and powerful footsteps on the metal. He turned to see some officers heading in his direction.
“Admiral, we have a situation. We need you back in CIC.”
“What is it?”
“It’s Apollo and Starbuck, they’re in some sort of trouble on the Carina, sir.”
Laura could hear the commotion as she headed down towards her quarters and she paused, turning around to see the men talking to Bill at an alarming rate. She watched as his face hardened and his whole body move speedily off towards the CIC. Something wasn’t right. She decided that maybe she should go and help.
When she finally arrived at the CIC the room was silent and Bill was leaning on the console listening to something. She walked inside and made her way down towards where he was standing.
“Frak. This is Starbuck. We have a situation onboard the Carina and we need urgent assistance…Kara, we need to move, now *cough* *cough*…go. I’ll catch up…no, we have to go now. Kara, this smoke could be anything *cough* *cough*…we have to let them know…we have four marines dead, it was a trap *cough* *cough* situation is critical…ugh…argh *clatter* *thud* Starbuck!”
Laura stood with her hand over her mouth, her eyes fixed upon Bill’s gaze. His stoic expression signalled to her that he was trying to keep himself together as he pondered on what had happened.
“Have we heard anything more since the broadcast?” Bill said, turning to Dualla.
“No, sir. We haven’t heard anything and we can’t make contact with the ship. I’ve tried several times but there doesn’t seem to be any response.”
“What are we going to do?” Tigh was stood opposite him with a worried expression on his face.
“We need to send some men down there and get them back. If we have to cut into the ship then we will.”
Laura zoned in on the folded paper which Bill had left on the side of the console, she leaned forward and picked it up, keeping her eyes on Bill as he shouted orders out around the CIC. The paper was notably rough and she lifted it up towards her face and opened the pages. Once she had located in the contents where she would find day twenty she flicked through until she saw a big bold heading with day twenty written across it. People were scurrying around here and she read, wide eyed at the words beneath her.
And on the 20th day, the pain would start. Soon she would be no more.
Laura held her hand against her mouth, feeling her stomach churn beneath her as she reread the words. Today was day twenty and there she was in the early hours of the morning, pain rushing up her neck. She shook her head, trying to remember the fact that maybe the book was written by the person or people that were out to get her. They would know how quickly the drug would act and what it would do, it would make sense for it to be in here.
Apollo and Starbuck, the child and surrogate who would cause severe disruption when we overcome the leaders. A road to victory has many obstacles and to overcome them you must get them out of the way. The red smoke of the Diroxylo will wipe them out. Trapped like animals within a southern constellation which forms part of the old constellation of Argo Navis.
Laura threw the book down on the console and stepped away from it. “Oh Gods,” she whispered before turning to Bill who was staring at her with an intense puzzlement. “A southern constellation which forms part of the old constellation of Argo Navis. Argo Navis is said to be a constellation which is near Earth, but nobody has ever seen it. It has another name, the Carina.”
Bill pulled the paper up off of the console and pulled it open, his eyes gazing down onto the words. They sunk into him like a nail into wood. There was something very odd and unnerving about the words on the paper.
“The red smoke of the Diroxylo legends. It was an old folks tale, I remember hearing it when I was a child. The smoke would come about whenever a new leader was anointed when the colonies were still young. It would come out and get rid of people who were against the newly appointed leader. I always thought it was there just to stop people questioning new authority, especially children.”
“It’s just an old folks tale, you just said so yourself.”
“What did Lee say in the recording, Bill. ‘This smoke could be anything.’ Regardless of whether it is an old folks tale or not, the smoke was mentioned in there and that is what is going on aboard the Carina.”
“We have a transmission from the Carina, Admiral. It’s Apollo,” Dualla shouted, looking down to the red faced Admiral.
“Put him on.”
“*cough* This is Lee…*cough* argh, we need assistance ASAP.”
“What’s your condition?”
“Starbuck is down, sir and the two marines are barely on their feet, *cough* we need some assistance now. Arghhh…”
“Apollo!” Bill shouted.
“Ugh, *clank*…”
“Lee!”
His alarm sounded in the distance and he sat up, working his hands over his neck as he realised that maybe sleeping practically upright wasn’t the best thing he had ever done. As he stood up he stretched, inhaling and stretching his arms out to loosen his muscles. He was very surprised by the fact that he had slept through the whole night without waking, It then began to bother him that he hadn’t woken when she had left. Why had she decided to abandon his side after commenting on its comfort? He decided that after having a shower he was going to drop by and make sure she was ok.
****
Laura sat exhausted at her table, wrapped in her comforter with a pen in her hand and a piece of paper on the dark mahogany surface. It had occurred to her hours before, after trying her hardest to sleep so that she could ignore the pain in her neck, that maybe she could spend her free time writing about her experience. She was, after all, awake well over twenty hours a day, and with someone out to kill her, she couldn’t just go walking around late at night on her own. Even with her guard she felt much safer going out during the daytime when more people were around.
The pen wove fluently over the paper, speaking of everything that she had encountered over the
past few weeks. She had heard on many occasions, psychiatrists talking about how putting pen to paper can be of some use. So there she was, putting it to the test.
“…and then he pulled me into a warm embrace, comforting me to a point that I had forgotten
possible. If only he knew how appreciative I was of his actions. Even if I expressed it verbally, there would still be an element in my words which lacked my true emotion and gratitude.”
The pain in her neck had reduced to a pitiful throb, but her hand still sat there trying to ease it out of her muscles. The writing had been successful in diverting her attention from the pain and she had been very surprised by the amount of writing that she had gotten through. It was always odd to see your feelings written down on paper. There was almost a sense of unfamiliarity about it, as if someone was writing fiction. But only when you looked deeper between the lines could you truly understand yourself and what others had done for you. It was like analysing text, but your own. You could truly grasp what the writer was saying because it was you who had written it. There were no assumptions, just hard fact.
“If it hadn’t been for the pain I could have easily stayed there the whole night in his arms. It was a selfless act on his part. He had given up a perfectly good rack and a comfortable nights sleep so I could rest. Sometimes he makes me want to feel love again, and to feel that affection and respect that I have so clearly forgotten. There was an uncontrollable feeling of emptiness as I left his arms, craving his warmth as I left the room. I found that when I was lying alone in my bed that everything seemed much bigger and colder. Bill Adama gives me strength and an unconditional devotion that I am most thankful for. One day, I’ll be able to repay his kindness.”
Her hand paused on the paper and she let out a sigh. How would she repay his kindness? There were certain limitations when it came to having relationships with people when in a critical position in the fleet. Even being his friend had difficulties. There was always the chance of falling out or getting into a dispute. The closer someone got, the more there was to lose and the easier it was to lose it. Her position in the fleet and her status with Bill always weighed heavily on her mind and heart. She yearned for him as a person and it hurt her often when she denied herself what she desired. It was a selfless act she knew, it was a better position to be in when trying to save the lives of all the people around her. It was what she knew was right. It had also crossed her mind about how Bill would react, given her current situation. He was someone who stood by her side, and she also knew that when she was hurting he felt something too. It made her feel selfish, as if it was her fault for what he would feel when the situation planned out. She wished that when things happened to her they wouldn’t affect the people around her.
“After last night I should feel like I can talk to him more, but there is still something there that stops me. I don’t know whether it is this undesirable feeling of not wanting to make him worry about me or just that I don’t want to have to put him through this. I know that even with the cancer I was never alone, but it broke my heart when I saw the pain in his eyes. It’s something I don‘t want him to feel again. There will be pain, but I would rather it be all on me then spread across to the people that I have grown to love. Maybe if I keep my distance then I can somehow ease the pain that I know is going to grip both Bill and Billy if I do die. Maybe that is what I can do to repay his kindness- take the full brunt of his pain and worry. Try and lift his burdens and restrain myself.”
She pondered on her last sentence before shaking her head and running a sharp line through her words. She didn’t want to shut Bill out, as he was such a continual rock for her. She sharply jabbed the knib of her pen into the paper and let the ink bleed into it. How could she be so selfish? The words she had written were indeed true and she was going to do her best to do exactly that- block him out from what she was going through.
She pulled her briefcase up off of the floor and placed the papers in a small pocket on the inside, zipping it up the whole way before putting the case back on the floor. When she gazed up at the clock she was shocked to see that it as already 5am, and she had spent a very long time writing and expressing herself in the form of words. As she sat there she pondered what the day would bring and what she was going to do with herself. It was early, but not too early to actually go somewhere…with her guard of course. She always admired the way that military ships worked. There was always people around and always someone to talk to. She rubbed her neck again and decided that she should go and see Doc’ Cottle. The pain in her neck, although now a dull throb, still made her feel very uneasy. She didn’t like to bother people, but she didn’t want ignore the signs. After all, Baltar did say it would bring pain.
*****
Bill stepped out of the shower and quickly dried himself. The shower had relaxed his tense muscles and he was feeling very refreshed and ready to take on the day. It didn’t take him long to get dressed- it never did. Due to being in the military for so long he was programmed to be quick and efficient. It never seemed right to dawdle or take his time when it came to such trivial things. His attention always had to be diverted to his plans of action and fleet situations. Even when the twelve colonies were still in tact and he rarely had to do anything as remotely difficult as he does now, he would still work to the same beat. It was how it had always been and he was pretty sure that’s how it was always going to be.
The dull buzzing noise of his phone chimed in the distance and he fastened the last of his buttons up and walked over to the corner in which it was situated. The receiver felt cold against his cheek as he brought it to his ear.
“Adama.”
“Bill…I wasn’t sure if you were going to be awake…” Laura was quiet on the other end of the receiver, obviously waiting for him to speak.
“I was just about to come and see you, actually.” Bill picked up the book that he had left the other day from the table near his bed and looked at the spine. It was the book he was going to give to her before everything had gotten so hectic.
“You were? Well, there’s no need. I’m just about to go and see Cottle.” Her tone was awkward, he noted, and it didn’t make sense. He thought that it might be due to the previous night and what had gone on.
“Cottle? Are you feeling ok? Is that why you left last night?” Bill was ready to fire out as many questions until he was able to find out why she was going there. He hoped deep down that it was nothing but her going to check up on the status of Baltar’s and Cottle’s tests.
“It’s nothing. I was just going to see if they have new information. I’m not going to be long, I have to prepare for a meeting later with Zarek.”
“I can come with you.”
“It’s only a short trip to the sick bay, and don’t forget about all the men you have assigned to me. I’ll be fine.”
“Well, I’m coming to the meeting at least.”
“Of course.”
“I’ll be in the CIC until then and you are more then welcome to come by.” Bill wasn’t liking the overall tone of the conversations. Yes, it was friendly like most of their conversations, but there was some sort of distance between them. Maybe he would get the chance to talk to her before the meeting.
“Ok.”
Bill’s quarters filled with a sharp resonating noise which he knew to be the familiar knock of Tigh. Bill gritted his teeth and redirected his attention back to the phone. “Are you sure you’re ok, Laura?” There was a small pause at the end of the line and a small intake of air. Bill didn’t know whether to take that as a gasp or the beginning of a sigh so he pressed again. “Laura?”
“Bill, it’s nothing. I have to go. Goodbye.” The line went dead and Bill put the receiver back on the wall totally unsatisfied with the conversation. It made him wonder if she was ok. He thought that he had bridged the gap between them the night before, making it clear that she could talk to him nor have to appear so strong. When she had talked to him in the past about how she was feeling, last night was the furthest it had ever gone. Now, however, he felt as if were starting back at square one. There were reasons floating around in his head but he put them aside when he heard Tigh knock again, obviously getting impatient.
“Admiral,” Tigh said as Bill opened the hatch. “We need you down in CIC, we have a situation onboard one of the civilian ships.”
“Why did you come all the way down here to tell me?” Bill said picking up his glasses.
“I’d rather not have had to frakking come down here, but they couldn’t get through to you and the stupid intercom isn’t frakking working.” Tigh scrunched up his face and turned around.
Bill pulled his hatch to and looked down the hall towards Laura’s quarters as he quickly sped off down the corridor. As he ran around the corner he caught sight of her leaving her room, her eyes looked worried. He slowed slightly.
“Admiral!” Tigh groaned.
Bill returned his attention to the man before him and began making his way down to the CIC.
*******
“One explosion, two explosion, three explosion four…five explosion, six explosion, seven explosion, how about some more?” He laughed menacingly before pushing the little red button at his side. “Nothing like some fireworks early in the morning to start the day.”
The room was empty but he still sat and spoke to himself as if surrounded by an audience. His other hand rested on a red book which he carefully guarded.
With explosions becomes awareness. They will finally begin to realise that the power in which they carefully ignore is a force not to be reckoned with.
He grinned happily as he recited the words from his memory. If the day went according to plan then the people with the call signs Apollo and Starbuck would come to a painful demise, leaving his path clear so he could start making the final plans go forward.
******
“Lee, I want you and Starbuck to co-ordinate this. I need you to get down there and see what’s going on. We know there have been explosions and there is a small scale riot onboard. Take some marines and get down there.” Bill put the receiver back down and gazed around at all the bright lights in the CIC. Saul was looking at him intently, as were many of the other men and women in the room.
“Well it looks as if things have calmed down a little bit. Compared to earlier it’s like a petting zoo.” Tigh gripped hard against the side and looked again at Bill. “Do you think we need to send that many men down there?”
“Yes. Lee knows what I want him to look for. The marines are there to calm the people down and Starbuck and Lee are going to scout the ship and take a detailed look at the explosion sites. Once the place has calmed I want all the civilians taken to other ships until the damage has been repaired.” Bill flicked through some paper.
“How bad is the damage?”
“It’s not too bad. The ship can manage with the people onboard, but I think it will go much faster if they aren’t in the way. We need every ship in working order if we are going to make it to Earth in one piece.”
“Do we know how the explosions started?”
“No, that’s why Starbuck and Lee are investigating. I will not have anymore disruptions in this fleet.”
“Damn straight.”
Bill looked at the clock and then turned to Dualla. “Get me Tom Zarek on the line.”
“Yes sir.”
It seemed that with everything going on, ships and people could be trusted very little and he didn’t want to put Laura in any more danger, so making Zarek come onboard Galactica seemed like the best plan of action. He would need to get word to her when he had arranged everything.
*****
“Well, young lady, what can I do for you?” Cottle said, taking another drag of his cigarette whilst watching Baltar who was sat with at least a dozen test tubes next to him.
Laura could feel her neck pulsate with pain again, making her clench her jaw as it spread eagerly down her back and up to the back of her head. “I was just enquiring on your progress.”
Baltar sifted though his notes and picked up a sheet of rough, scribbled notes. “We’re doing everything we can, Madam President. But, as I predicted, it’s beginning to get very difficult. With the substance continually increasing in strength it is very hard to get a handle on it. It has to continually be diluted so I can take proper look at it. Myself and Doctor Cottle are testing it against as many combinations of drugs as we can, whilst trying to see if we can alter its shifting strength. If we were able to prevent it from increasing in concentration then it would give us more time to figure out what to do with it. Obviously, if the antidote was available then it would be much better-”
“Of course. That would be the easiest option, but how would anyone go about something like that when they are in the position of unawareness? Myself and Admiral Adama have no inclination about who would do this and why. It’s a very awkward situation indeed.”
“Yes, I understand. We’ll do what we can. We’re making some progress at least.” Baltar paused and picked up his pen and made a few more notes.
“How are you feeling, Madam President?” Cottle said, pulling out his torch and pen. “How’s the sleeping?”
Laura took a seat on the stool that was situated at the table and placed her hands on her knees. “Sleep? If you call the hours of unrest sleep, then there is plenty of it. I am finding it increasingly difficult to switch off and relax, never mind get any shut eye.”
“We could try you on some sleeping pills. Baltar has tested a number of the different variations we have just to see if there are any side effects. We have a few that will give you a few hours rest at least.” Cottle shined the light in her eyes and placed his other hand on her wrist to check her pulse. “That’s up to you though, but I would recommend it. The more sleep you get the better you will feel.”
Laura nodded her head and felt another searing pain run through her neck. “I was wondering if you could prescribe some pain meds?”
Baltar looked up from his paper. “Pain meds?”
Cottle leaned forward. “Well, young lady, why didn’t you tell me you’d been experiencing pain?”
“I just thought I’d slept funny. It did decrease into a dull throb, but since then it’s just increased.” Laura could tell that they were worried by the way that Baltar gripped his pen until his knuckles turned white. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“No, I don’t think so. You should have come to us when you first started feeling it. I want you to do that from now on. If you feel strange or different, I want you to bring your presidential ass down here so I can take a look at you…Now, tell me where you’re feeling the discomfort.”
“My neck, down my spine and up to the back of my head,” she said, her voice breaking slightly as she gripped her neck.
“Central nervous system, maybe,” Baltar mumbled before jotting it down onto pad. Laura looked nervously at him and waited for an explanation for his random outburst, but she never got one, he continued to write frantically on the paper he had almost filled.
“I’ll start you on some mild painkillers which are very unreactive with other substances. You can have two pills up to three times a day, no more, no less. Do you understand?”
“Yes, yes of course.” Laura took two small boxes from Cottle’s hand and placed them in her pocket, feeling slightly overwhelmed with everything as she looked around at all the equipment.
“You better get some rest. I’ll let Admiral Adama and Billy know that you’re going to put all your meetings to one side until the pain subsides and you get some sleep-”
“No, no you don’t have to tell them about this…I’d rather keep that to myself.”
Cottle looked at her with an uncertain expression. “Madam President, you need as many people around you as possible at the moment.”
“I’ll take my meds. You don’t need to get people to check up on me,” she said , her voice defensive. “I have to go now. Thank you, gentleman. Keep me informed.” She grimaced as she stood up, taking the glass of water from the side and popped two pills in her mouth. She nodded courteously and walked out of the room. Not entirely sure on what she was going to do for the next few hours.
******
Billy knocked on Laura’s hatch, eager to discuss the days schedule and the meeting with Tom Zarek. After nearly ten minutes he gave in and walked down the corridor to see if he could find out where she was. The corridors were unusually cold today and he had to wrap his arms around himself as he walked as quickly as he could towards his usual source of information, the communications officer Dualla.
A small gathering of armed men were situated in the corridor and Billy had to wait patiently whilst they assembled themselves in a more organised group. Finding the president onboard a ship of such a size was usually so straight forward, but due to being so far away from her quarters he had been completely unaware of her whereabouts. He knew that her meeting had been rescheduled aboard Galactica as ordered by the Admiral himself, and at the current moment he was trying to find her to let her know. Tomorrow he was going to make sure he was at her room before she left.
If he was to think about how distant she had been with him since the previous day he could easily come to the conclusion that it was all taking its toll on her. He was her aide, and he was meant to do as much for her as he possibly could, keep her schedule in order and basically cater to her every wish. How could he if she was acting so unlike herself? How could he if she was going about her own business without even getting word out to him.
A strong arm crossed his path, knocking him back slightly as he tried to squeeze past a rather large marine who was staring angrily at him. “Did you not hear me? I said you can’t go past here,” the marine said, his voice as deep as Billy had thought he had ever heard.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I just need to go through that hatch there. You see, I’m looking for the President as I need to give her some vital information.” Billy peered nervously at the gun in the marine’s hand.
“This is exactly why you can’t go past. We’re the President’s guard and she is currently using the room beyond that hatch. We can’t permit you to go through without clearance from the Admiral himself.” Two other marine’s closed in front of the door and watched Billy with hawk-like eyes.
“So, that door doesn’t lead towards the CIC?”
“No, that was the last turning.”
Billy mumbled and put his hand in his pocket. “I am the president’s aide. My name is Billy Keikeya. If she is in there I need to give her some information.”
“Not without the Admiral’s say so you can’t. You’ll have to take the matter up with him. Now be on your way,” he said, moving Billy back a few steps.
Billy looked up to the sign above the door and noted that the president was in the religious room, something she didn’t do very often, but only in times of crisis. This made him a little bit anxious so he turned and headed back towards the right direction so he can get clearance from the Admiral.
****
As the men worked around him, Bill stood reading through some papers, waiting until Lee had his crew ready so he could send them off. Sometimes, like at that very moment, the CIC offered some sort of comfort to him. It was a place he had stood for many years, watching over the fleet, his pilots and the stars. Familiarity, to Bill, was like an old friend in situations like these, the constant buzzing of the monitors, the faint mumbling of voices, the flashing of lights and the general feeling of this room reminded him of what he was there to do. He was there to command.
The papers he had in his hand were placed absentmindedly down on the dark surface of one of the CIC compartments as he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. One day he wouldn’t have to stand here anymore and command the fleet. One day he wouldn’t feel the pressure of the thousands of people lives which he was meant to protect. No more split-second decisions, second guesses and bloodshed. He hoped that when they did eventually get to Earth that he would be able to retire like he had planned to.
“You have a visitor by the looks of it, Admiral,” Tigh said, standing to one side so Bill could see through the glass door of the CIC.
Billy was stood outside, his face red with frustration as he tried to reason with the guard outside. His arms gripped his hips as he said something to the guard, his eyes gazing over the door in the look of defeat. When he looked through the glass he caught Bill’s eyes and that was signal enough for Bill to go and see what was going on. Bill looked to Tigh, who nodded his head and made his way up towards the entrance. “Is everything ok out here?”
Billy nodded his head. “Sir, I know I really shouldn’t come bother you with such trivial matters.”
“Is there something bothering you, Billy?” Bill put his hand on Billy’s arm and pulled him to one side, dismissing the guard outside who moved inside to the CIC.
“I can’t go and see the president, sir.” Billy said bitterly.
“What do you mean? Is she ok?”
“I don’t know. I can’t get into the religious room to find out, sir. Her guard won’t permit me to enter. I don’t have the right clearance. I was told that if I got the order from you I could go and do my job.”
Bill nodded. “Of course, Billy, of course. I’m sorry you had to come all this way to get clearance from me. It’s a pain I know but with everything that’s going on I think you can appreciate that they are doing their job.” Bill called the guard back outside. “I want you to escort Billy down to the religious room and tell the marines there that I’ve given him clearance.”
“Yes, sir,” the guard said, moving to Billy’s side.
“Thank you, Admiral Adama.” Billy nodded his head and walked down the hallway with the guard.
Bill called upon another officer to replace the guard and entered back into the CIC, his mind full of thoughts as he walked back down to the centre of the room. He knew that Laura was religious type, but he couldn’t remember the last time he had known her go in there. The last time she had gone down there was when she was aboard Galactica and her cancer was well progressed.
“Admiral, Apollo’s on the line, everything’s ready.” Tigh pulled the receiver up and handed it to the man in command.
*****
Lee hoisted his gun up onto his shoulder and sat patiently at the back of the raptor as it came to a hard stop on the hangar deck of the Carina. Apart from his raptor he had another one which was filled with a few more marines and Starbuck, who had already landed.
The door opened slowly and Lee walked steadily out of the raptor, his gun raised as a sign of authority as he scanned the area for anything out of sorts. Starbuck was stood briefing the five marines that were with her, letting them know that they are to control the situation onboard.
“Kizerksi and O’Kane, you are with me and Lieutenant Thrace to scout the ship. The rest of you I want to go down to where the civilians are out of hand. No rounds to be shot. I just want the situation maintained and controlled. Once we have found out what me need to know we will come and join you. If anything goes wrong then you can talk to us through the comms system,” Lee said, finishing off Kara’s instructions.
“Lets get this over and done with, I have a card game I need to win,” Kara said, walking off towards the hatch at the other end of the hangar. She wasn’t completely happy with the detail that she had been assigned. It was a routine job that anyone could do, but there was the Admiral sending her and Lee onboard to do something she wasn’t completely familiar with. She knew what she was looking for, but she was also sure that there were more qualified people that he could have called upon. Lee had told her that the Admiral ‘trusted them’ and that ‘he didn’t think it was an accident.’ She grumbled and walked through an open hatch.
Lee shook his head, sent the men off and followed her. “Look, we need to get this done, find out what caused the explosions, it shouldn’t take too long.”
A tall man with dark long hair stood before them with a folded piece of paper in his hand. It looked as if he was a member of the Carina’s crew sent to give them the map of the area in which the explosions were detonated. When he saw them he straightened up, his height increasing another inch. “Captain Adama?” the man said, peering down at the people around him.
“Yes. Do you have the map?” Lee said, eyeing him up suspiciously.
“Yes, sir,” he said, unfolding the paper. “The red points are where the explosions took place and the blue spot is our current location. The ship’s captain has already sent men down there and they think it was something to do with the heating system. But, of course, you’ll be able to see that when you get down there.”
Kara looked at him carefully. He was incredibly large for such a small ship. Men like him usually worked in engine rooms and the military, not as messenger boys. He was nearly seven feet tall and broad with well defined muscles which she could see clearly through his fitted white uniform. His eyes were deep pools of brown and hard, matching his facial expression. He was like an old wrestler in his features, but you could tell he was young. A deep purple scar ran down the side of his face, it looked raw which signalled that it was new. “That’s a fine looking scar you have there- what did you say your name was?”
“Geoffrey, sir…I got it when I fell down the stairs a few weeks ago, bashed it against the edge of a lining tray.” He rubbed his hand over it and turned away from them. “The first explosion was at the other end of the ship. This way please.”
“You’re coming too?” Lee said, confused. “Then why give us a map?”
“The captain thought it was necessary. This ship has many corridors and long passages, we wouldn’t want you to get lost. The map was there out of convenience, just in case I have to leave.”
Lee wasn’t totally convinced so he turned and nodded to Kara who was looking as confused as he was, she put her hand against her gun and moved forward.
As they rounded around a sharp corner Lee could smell a distinct odour of burnt rubber and heated metal, it made his nose wrinkle and his hand came up to shield the strong smell. When they veered around the last corridor he had to pull out his torch as the lighting wasn‘t very good.
The light from the torch didn’t do much but they could see distinct scorch marks spread across the bulkhead with deep holes and broken bits of unknown objects. Kara moved close to the bulkhead, leaning forward so she could take a decent look at the area. “Nah, this wasn’t anything to do with the heating, look…” she said pointing to the fragments which had blown inside the bulkhead. “If it was to do with exploding pipes or anything like that, it would have forced all the fragments this way, into the corridor. Can you see, all the bits have blown inwards.”
“Something’s not right here. This was done on purpose. Is this the same throughout the other sites?” Lee turned to Geoffrey and shone the light in his face.
“I don’t know, sir, I’m just the guide. I can go and get someone else that can give you some more answers. Someone a bit more technical?”
“I want to talk to your highest in command, now!”
Geoffrey gulped slightly and turned and headed off down the corridor.
“Lee, something isn’t right here. How could that be mistaken for a heating malfunction? The whole bulkheads been blown through.”
Lee turned to the marine who was stood a few feet away. “I want you to go and see what’s going on with the other marines. See how they are handling the situation with the civilians. If they have everything under control tell Gibson and Tyrell to stay behind, get the others to wait by the raptor. Now.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kara kneeled and looked closer at the bulkhead. “Lee, can you see that?”
Lee leant forward, getting as close as he could without making the bulkhead out of focus. A small distinct symbol was imprinted on the metal just above where the bulkhead had caved in. Against the silver and charred metal surface it shone out at them like a drop of blood on a piece of paper. The red was crimson and strong. “What do you think it is?”
Kara rotated her head and peered at it, running her fingers over the surface. “That can’t be right.” She took the small camera out of her side pocket and took a snap of it, and of the whole area.
“I thought the same thing.”
“It looks like a toaster’s head.”
“Exactly what I was thinking.”
A loud bang filled the corridor and Kara jumped up, her gun at her side. Deep and powerful footsteps came tumbling down the corridor. Lee, Kara and O’Kane moved backwards into a small line and stood waiting for whatever was going to come around the corner.
“Sir, we need to get off of this ship, or at least call for backup,” Kizerksi said, sweat lining his upper lip and his eyes wide with something Lee couldn’t put his finger on.
“What’s the situation?”
“They’re dead, sir. All of them.”
“The civilians?”
“There are no civilians, sir. The whole room was empty, I didn’t get chance to look around, but the other marines are dead.”
“Ok. Let Galactica know through your comms system. We need to get off of this ship.” Lee moved off down the corridor, followed by Kara and the two marines, a sick feeling of dread moving around in the dark depths of his stomach.
When they had gotten further down the entry a sharp high pitched noise sounded around them, making them all put their hands to their ears. A thick metal door came down from the ceiling right in front of them, blocking their way towards the hangar bay. The lights turned off and they were plunged into darkness. They were stuck and alone on an unfamiliar ship with a map and a torch. “Frak,” Lee yelled before turning to the people behind him. “How’s the comms system?”
“I can’t get a signal, sir. I can’t get through to Galactica.”
“FRAK!! Kara yelled before kicking hard against the nearest bulkhead. “This was a frakking trap. The Admiral was right to suspect foul play but now we’re stuck on this frakking ship with four dead marines and no way out! We need to find a way out of here, give me the frakking map.” She pulled the map and torch out of Lee’s hand and stared at it, her face scrunched up with anger and frustration. Her hand ran through her hair and she stamped her foot on the floor. “There are about fourteen corridors around here and only one of them leads towards the hangar bay. Lets hope for our own sake that the frakking things isn’t blocked.”
A deep resonating boom filled the long corridor making all four of its occupants look up in surprise. Lee stood up and shone his torch down both of the corridors that was adjoined to the corner in which he stood, but nothing was visible. “What was that?” He lifted up his gun and walked deeper into the darkness.
Kara followed him, taking note of the fact that they were heading towards the only available exit. What if someone was waiting for them at the other end?
Another deep boom came from the other direction making them turn around. “I think we need to get to the exit, and fast, I don’t like the sound of those noises.” Kara lifted the map up once more and pointed in the right direction.
“Agreed. Let’s go. Be alert and keep an eye out for anything.” Lee started off on a brisk trot, his gun pointing in every angle as he tried to make out his surroundings.
Another boom.
The torch in Lee’s hand flickered before turning off, the whole hallway turning pitch black.
“Please tell me you charged that thing before we came here, Lee.”
“It was fully charged. I’m sure of it.” He tapped it off of the bulkhead and it flickered shining a few more stray rays into the darkness.
“Frak, Lee.” Kara grabbed Lee’s arm and began pulling him away.
“Starbuck, get off,” he pulled his arm away and looked down the corridor and he stepped back.
A thick cloud of red smoke was moving down the corridor, engulfing everything that it came into contact with. “What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not sticking around to find out.” Kara grabbed his arm again and all of them began running down the corridor as fast and carefully as they could, the torch ceasing its light again.
Kara was cursing herself inside as she moved quickly along a very long and cold metal walkway. She could feel Lee behind her, trying to work the torch as they glided blindly in a single direction. She had to think. They needed to get out and the only way they were going to do that was if they could get the torch to work so they could get a look at the map, although she was pretty sure they wouldn’t be able to plot themselves on the map anyway. Her hand skimmed the surface of a small metal object sitting on the wall. She gripped it and she could make out the thick outline of a receiver. “Lee, it’s a phone!” she yelled, pulling it clean out of its place. “We can send out a call to Galactica through this, I’m sure of it.”
“Yeah, Kara, and how are we going to do that with no light,” he said angrily bashing the torch off of the bulkhead again. As soon as the casing of the torch came in contact with the bulkhead it shone brightly in Kara’s face making her squint and recoil.
“Thank the Gods,” she said pulling it out of his hand and shining it onto the console. “Do you remember the frequency?”
“Try frequency four, and quick,” he said nervously, quickly shining the light behind them, the thick red smoke moving steadily behind them. They didn’t have long. “Come on, quick,” he mumbled returning the torch to the console.
“Galactica.”
“Frak. This is Starbuck. We have a situation onboard the Carina and we need urgent assistance.” She turned to see Lee looking at her with a worried expression, the thick red smoke was very close.
“Kara, we need to move, now,” he said coughing as he felt the smoke line his throat. He pulled on her arm and she pushed him off.
“Go. I’ll catch up.”
“No, we have to go now. Kara, this smoke could be anything,” he coughed again.
“We have to let them know!” She moved away from him and coughed as she breathed in the thick red smoke.
Lee shook his head and stepped back from the smoke, watching as it moved swiftly around Kara.
“We have four marines dead, it was a trap” she coughed again, a sharp stabbing pain ripped up her throat and back. “Situation is critical…ugh,” she let go of the phone and her whole body shook with the searing white hot pain that was travelling through her muscles. “Arghhhh,” she moaned, before falling to the floor.
“Starbuck!”
******
Laura and Billy sat across from Zarek who was sporting a navy suit, a red tie and a worried expression on his face. Two of his men stood distantly behind him with blank expressions. At the current moment Tom was staring at Bill who was stood behind Laura and Billy, his arms folded and a sceptical look on his face.
“Madam President. I know we haven’t seen eye to eye in the past but you have to believe me. This whole fleet is in danger. The book that I speak of will cause a lot of havoc to you all.” He stood up and put his hand inside his bag and pulled out a wad of paper that was stapled at the top, it had to be nearly 300 pages long.
“Why are we to believe you, Tom?” Laura said, taking a sip of water.
“Read for yourself,” he said, opening it and holding it up. “They would know that what we speak of to be true, the leader, the woman, would fall. She would fall due to a human creation, designed to keep the user awake. It would run through her like a plague making her lose control of her body and mind and finally make her succumb to a horrible and-”
“That’s enough,” Bill said, moving forward and pulling the pages out of his hand. “I think someone is having you on, Tom, and you are fuelling the words by getting paranoid about it.”
Zarek ran his hands over his face and shook his head. “I really think you need to listen to me on this one. With all due respect I think that you are perhaps not giving this idea much thought. I came to you so that I could enlighten you, make it so you knew what was coming. If you read that book it preaches of a force with a red eye which we must bow down to and respect so that we can all survive. It runs in day order, going all the way to the 27th day of bombardment. The explosions, the flyers…it all fits. I’m a sceptic myself but I just can’t ignore this.”
Laura watched him avidly as he pleaded with the Admiral. She knew Tom, and this was certainly out of character. The words he had read had brought about a certain feeling of dread within her. It was highly accurate and could only possibly be written by someone who knew about her current condition, and at present that applied to very few people. Maybe it was the person or people had done this to her? Maybe it was a clue, something they had planted among the fleet? It was almost like a game. “Tom, where did you get this?”
“Over the past few weeks I’ve been hearing things amongst the people, things that I couldn’t believe I’d heard. There are people out there who believe that we should be worshipping the cylons. I’m sure you’ve heard of them. But, then there were flyers and now civilians are being pulled in to these ridiculous ideas. There’s a small movement. I’d heard someone talking about a book called, ‘The rising red.’ These people are treating it like the religious treat the scrolls.”
“These people are playing the civilians against their own fear. At the moment, many of them will believe anything just so they know they will survive. It’s a horrible tactic.” Laura said, her voice cold and hard as she thought about poor and innocent people being pulled into such a movement.
“I agree, Madam president. I sent someone out to see if they could find out more about this book or even get hold of a copy. There are two copies, each guarded heavily and it was nearly impossible to get hold what I have here. The original is at a unknown destination aboard the fleet, probably with the ring-leader. This is just a copy and it doesn’t go to the end.”
“I’m inclined to think that maybe with all the stress and everything that you might be losing it,” Bill said, bending the sheaf of papers and tucking them under his arm. “I certainly think that this is just a load of fiction made to make people turn against the government and military.”
“Fiction or not, Admiral, the things in there are coming true. Whether it be due to chance or due to someone making it happen, it is. You can keep it. Read it if you need proof, I’m sure you’ll find something very interesting in there, sir. Today is day twenty.”
“I think it’s time you left.” Bill signalled to the guard to open the door.
Zarek closed his eyes in defeat and shook his head. “I hope that you can finally come to your senses before it’s too late.” He picked up his bag and went to leave before hesitating and walking over to the president. “Laura, I know that we don’t see eye to eye, but if something is going to damage this fleet then it is in my own interest to make sure that I survive.”
“I know, Tom.” Laura slid her glasses further up her nose.
“Take care of yourself. I hope, for your sake, that it is a load of fiction.” Laura looked away and fiddled idly with her thumbs. Tom leaned forward some more. “You are ok, aren’t you?”
Bill moved forward and grabbed Tom by the arm. “I really do think that it’s time for you to head back to your ship.”
Tom pulled his arm out of the Admirals’ grip and walked rapidly out of the hatch, nearly walking into his escort and off down the corridor towards the hangar bay.
“Don’t listen to him. I seriously think that this isn’t worth the reading time.” Bill chucked the papers on the table and sat down. “I don’t know what is going on in this fleet anymore.”
Laura reached out to the papers and ran her fingers over the dull black ink on the paper. “I think that we need to read this.”
Bill looked up, his eyes scrunched up as they did when he analysed her. He could see the worry in her eyes and he knew that Zarek’s words had touched her. “You believe him, don’t you?”
“You heard what he said. The book may be fiction, but how many people know about my condition? How many people know that someone out there is trying to kill me? Bill, how do we know that this book wasn’t created by the person that is doing this to me?” Her stomach knotted and she took off her glasses. The whole situation was just getting worse. She had to agree with Bill, she didn’t know where the fleet was going and it made her sad and angry.
Bill nodded his head becoming very aware of the logic in which she was speaking. It was true that very few people knew about her condition and it was troubling. He was going to have to read it and see what he could make of it. “Ill concede your point. I’ll give it the once over and see what I make of it. I’m sure that it’s just a coincidence. I’d rather not take the word of something like this. Our future isn’t written in stone, Laura, or paper.”
Laura sighed, “But it is, Bill. All of this has happened before and-”
“-all of this will happen again. I know. I think that maybe in these circumstances it might be a little different. But in any case, I am going to read it and I am going to do the best I can to stop all of this.”
“I’d also like to read it.”
“Well, I think that we can both read it. As soon as I’ve seen to my duties.”
Laura nodded her head and stood up, waiting for Billy to do the same. He had remained quiet throughout the whole thing and she didn’t know why. “I have to go and do some paperwork anyway. I’ll be in my room until then, so you know where I am when you come to read it.”
“Of course,” Bill said, watching her carefully. She began walking out of the room. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” she lied, subconsciously holding on to the pill boxes that were still in her pocket. She walked out of the hatch and into the hands of her armed guard and walked down the corridor to the left.
Bill shook his head, tightened his grip in the papers under his arm and headed into the corridor himself. He knew she was lying. He may be getting old but he could certainly read people reasonably well. He had noted that she was holding herself funny, like someone who had slept awkward would tend not to move their neck so much and take their time when it came to certain movements. He’d have to go and talk to Cottle when he had a chance. He began his walk back towards the CIC when he heard sharp and powerful footsteps on the metal. He turned to see some officers heading in his direction.
“Admiral, we have a situation. We need you back in CIC.”
“What is it?”
“It’s Apollo and Starbuck, they’re in some sort of trouble on the Carina, sir.”
Laura could hear the commotion as she headed down towards her quarters and she paused, turning around to see the men talking to Bill at an alarming rate. She watched as his face hardened and his whole body move speedily off towards the CIC. Something wasn’t right. She decided that maybe she should go and help.
When she finally arrived at the CIC the room was silent and Bill was leaning on the console listening to something. She walked inside and made her way down towards where he was standing.
“Frak. This is Starbuck. We have a situation onboard the Carina and we need urgent assistance…Kara, we need to move, now *cough* *cough*…go. I’ll catch up…no, we have to go now. Kara, this smoke could be anything *cough* *cough*…we have to let them know…we have four marines dead, it was a trap *cough* *cough* situation is critical…ugh…argh *clatter* *thud* Starbuck!”
Laura stood with her hand over her mouth, her eyes fixed upon Bill’s gaze. His stoic expression signalled to her that he was trying to keep himself together as he pondered on what had happened.
“Have we heard anything more since the broadcast?” Bill said, turning to Dualla.
“No, sir. We haven’t heard anything and we can’t make contact with the ship. I’ve tried several times but there doesn’t seem to be any response.”
“What are we going to do?” Tigh was stood opposite him with a worried expression on his face.
“We need to send some men down there and get them back. If we have to cut into the ship then we will.”
Laura zoned in on the folded paper which Bill had left on the side of the console, she leaned forward and picked it up, keeping her eyes on Bill as he shouted orders out around the CIC. The paper was notably rough and she lifted it up towards her face and opened the pages. Once she had located in the contents where she would find day twenty she flicked through until she saw a big bold heading with day twenty written across it. People were scurrying around here and she read, wide eyed at the words beneath her.
And on the 20th day, the pain would start. Soon she would be no more.
Laura held her hand against her mouth, feeling her stomach churn beneath her as she reread the words. Today was day twenty and there she was in the early hours of the morning, pain rushing up her neck. She shook her head, trying to remember the fact that maybe the book was written by the person or people that were out to get her. They would know how quickly the drug would act and what it would do, it would make sense for it to be in here.
Apollo and Starbuck, the child and surrogate who would cause severe disruption when we overcome the leaders. A road to victory has many obstacles and to overcome them you must get them out of the way. The red smoke of the Diroxylo will wipe them out. Trapped like animals within a southern constellation which forms part of the old constellation of Argo Navis.
Laura threw the book down on the console and stepped away from it. “Oh Gods,” she whispered before turning to Bill who was staring at her with an intense puzzlement. “A southern constellation which forms part of the old constellation of Argo Navis. Argo Navis is said to be a constellation which is near Earth, but nobody has ever seen it. It has another name, the Carina.”
Bill pulled the paper up off of the console and pulled it open, his eyes gazing down onto the words. They sunk into him like a nail into wood. There was something very odd and unnerving about the words on the paper.
“The red smoke of the Diroxylo legends. It was an old folks tale, I remember hearing it when I was a child. The smoke would come about whenever a new leader was anointed when the colonies were still young. It would come out and get rid of people who were against the newly appointed leader. I always thought it was there just to stop people questioning new authority, especially children.”
“It’s just an old folks tale, you just said so yourself.”
“What did Lee say in the recording, Bill. ‘This smoke could be anything.’ Regardless of whether it is an old folks tale or not, the smoke was mentioned in there and that is what is going on aboard the Carina.”
“We have a transmission from the Carina, Admiral. It’s Apollo,” Dualla shouted, looking down to the red faced Admiral.
“Put him on.”
“*cough* This is Lee…*cough* argh, we need assistance ASAP.”
“What’s your condition?”
“Starbuck is down, sir and the two marines are barely on their feet, *cough* we need some assistance now. Arghhh…”
“Apollo!” Bill shouted.
“Ugh, *clank*…”
“Lee!”
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Date: 2008-03-08 10:51 pm (UTC)I am out if the shower as I said to read!
WoW is like all that comes to mind!
I like these stories with action and mystery! And yours have EVERYTHING! ;)
I actually have wondered why there have been no assassination attempt on Roslin, on show! It is so obvious that The Dying Leader will never see the Earth and bla bla bla!
So I so like all the enigmas you left there!
p.s. you are being too harsh with Laura ;) don't you think so? ;)
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Date: 2008-03-10 01:37 pm (UTC)I'm glad that youa re enjoying it dude!
Harsh? well I suppose I am, but that's what I like to do. There is much more to come, a little more relationship building and more angst :D
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Date: 2008-03-09 01:00 am (UTC)Where's chapter four ::searches through LJ in a blind panic:: PLEASE! Need chapter four!!! NEED!
I am SO getting into this story. I love Laura in this, she's so real and so very in character. Bill is brilliant, the suspence is killing me and the whole thing is just amazing.
Talented person you!
When can we expect more? I look forward to it!
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Date: 2008-03-10 01:40 pm (UTC)I'm glad that you are enjoying the story. the thing with writing fanfic is making sure you keep the characters how they are perceived on the television, you know? So, knowing that I am doing that is nice :)
Nawww, I'm just an angst-loving fangirl who likes to think she can write :)
Give it a week or so :) I'll try get it done ASAP, but with working full time, going to school full time and having other things to do it will be difficult! But I'll try!
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Date: 2008-03-11 09:41 am (UTC)Really enjoyed this, I love a story with mystery and intrigue and this is coming along great. Can't wait for more, well I can but I don't want too!
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Date: 2008-03-11 01:16 pm (UTC)It shouldn't be that long, I hope! I just keep writing and I know there are going to be lots more chapters to come :)
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Date: 2008-03-18 09:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-22 08:03 pm (UTC)