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Big Bang Fic: Part Eleven, BSG/Babylon Five, Wheel Turns
All disclaimers and other information can be found on the Prologue.
Part Ten
Felix wasn't sure what else he was supposed to do. He'd contacted Babylon Five, he'd reassured the rest of the fleet, he'd given Gaius a station to broadcast from, and he'd sent several raptors to scan the giant ship that had appeared. It wasn't like he could move mountains, or know all of the secrets of the universe, but that's what Adama apparently wanted.
The Admiral had been pacing for a while, ranting about not having his ship, not being a part of the fight. The Cylons were steering clear of him, though a dark-haired Six had muttered about tranquilizing him before she'd disappeared to join her sisters in taking out two raiders to inspect the ship.
"There's a transmission from the strange ship," one of the Eights said suddenly. "It's not very strong."
"Put it on speaker," Felix suggested, and the speakers crackled to life around them. "...Dualla, can anyone hear me?"
Dee. It was Dee. Felix felt his whole body stop for a moment, before a smile split his mouth wide, "Can we respond?"
"Go ahead," the Eight said.
"Dualla, Gaeta. We read you, though not very well. What's the sitrep over there?" And how the hell are you alive, and is Louis with you? But he didn't ask that. Business, first, even now.
As much as he hated his training, he had to admit that the personal generally didn't have much use in the midst of battle. Dee's reply was slightly clearer, and she sounded relieved, "Gaeta, good to hear your voice. I've got eight survivors over here, and an alien race that wants to take over the Cylons. Over."
"It's good to hear yours, too. Is there anyway you can get the owners of that ship to back off? They're making everyone a little nervous." Understatement, really.
"Not at the moment. I need to check on Anders, I'm going to pass the phone to Hoshi, Felix."
He smiled again, reminding himself to thank her later, as the radio crackled, and then Louis's voice came through clearly, "It's a mess over here, Felix. But it's good to see the rest of the fleet survived."
"We made some new friends, too," Felix replied. "I'm going to patch in the Babylon Five control people, see if we can't work out what to do next."
"Sounds like a plan."
Felix raised his eyebrows at the Eight, feeling as though he could hug her when she grinned at him, "I've already got Corwin trying to put us on hold."
-=-
"Ivanova, we've got Captain Gaeta on the line again," Corwin called.
"Commander, it looks like the Cylon ships are maneuvering again--" Kingsley's voice almost over-rode Corwin's, and both looked up at Susan with consternation.
"Are the ships moving to fire on us?" demanded Susan, going for the priority that mattered.
"It's impossible to tell--"
D'Anna interrupted them, her voice sounding surprised, "They're running. Cavil knows he could take us, but he's running."
"How can you tell--" Susan was surprised when she turned back to find that the large ship had moved, drifting upwards and away from the station. The star-shaped Cylons ships shifted formation, three of them seeming strangely off-kilter.
And then they jumped, simply disappearing as fast as they'd appeared.
"Can we track them?"
"Not that I know of," was D'Anna's reply, "Cylons have tried, and we can work out a probability for likely coordinates, but it's not foolproof. And using it to predict Cavil is another matter entirely."
"Dammit."
"Commander, Captain Gaeta says that he's established contact with the other ship."
"Just what I wanted to hear, put him on."
-=-
Eight basestars had been lost to the Suppron infection before Four had devised a way to eradicate it, then it was a simple matter of transmitting the counter virus, and locking the Suppron out. They hid in a few Fives and Fours, until forced out into the open where they babbled in ways that made Four roll his eyes and One think strongly about purging the universe of all life but himself.
Still, eight basestars, stolen right out from under their noses by nothing more than a sophisticated computer virus.
And they'd lost Mother, the fleet, and Morden, not to mention discovered a whole new universe that thought One and Cavil were a threat to it, and would probably set out to destroy them, given a chance.
"That went well," Cavil said, his tone sarcastic.
One scowled at him, then kicked over the table containing Mother's precious fruit. The apples scattered across the floor, picking up bruises and dust. "If Morden--"
"It appears that Mr. Morden may have more to deal with than he'd initially thought, if the information the Suppron contained is correct." With distaste, Cavil considered the implications of God-like aliens. He didn't like them, and he didn't like the idea that he wasn't the most powerful being in the universe anymore.
"Do you believe that imperfect creatures like humans can ascend to a higher state of being?" Scoffing, One dropped into the chair, ignoring the apple his foot nudged. "That sounds like the sort of hogwash a Six or a Two would go on about. Be rational, brother."
"I am. Ascension isn't simply a matter of faith, but of technology, as well."
There was a moment where the two gazed into the middle distance, though it was possibly more that they were both trying to think of a politic way to say what they were both thinking.
"What was it you said, about being a supernova?" One was sarcastic again, "That was a wonderful line, brother."
"Yes."
The silence lasted a lot longer, this time.
-=-
Between them, Dee had long thought there wasn't a communications system she and Louis couldn't conquer. The Suppron ship proved not to be an exception to the rule, and she was pleased to hear Felix's voice on the other end of the phone.
Whether Sam's punch had been especially potent, or had merely come at the right time, Laird was no longer on his feet. In fact, and Dee didn't look at him again if she could help it, Laird no longer had much of a face. He was finally resting in peace, though she wasn't sure he'd be grateful to her for causing it.
But the cloaking and holographic technology was another matter entirely. Dee poked at the keyboard and control surfaces, trying to locate the panel that controlled them. With the Suppron busy, banished, or gone for good, she was willing to take the chance that there'd be no time for them to do to her what they'd done to Laird. Still, she kept a wary eye out for shifting in the panels.
The systems were fascinating, in a way that didn't follow the lines of human ideas for what should be coupled where. Dee finally located what seemed like the correct console and dropped down to pull open the panel on the front of the plinth. Fiddling around with the other had been the only way to being communications online. A mass of filaments criss-crossed the inside, some of them glowing with color, others merely white-hot. With a sigh, Dee peered in and up, then began tracing lines from the keyboard, trying to untangle which did what.
-=-
Facing down things inside of her Cylon husband's head wasn't really the way Kara had thought her day would go. She couldn't remember the last time she'd slept. It was almost insane of her to consider that this was reality, but she couldn't deny that it felt real. And that Sam was just as oddly-convinced about it as she was didn't make her suspicious. As much as she wanted to hate him, disbelieve and doubt him, he was sill Sam. Her Sam, if she let herself be maudlin.
The landscape of his mind was a strange combination of pyramid courts, battlestar corridors and green fields. It sort of fit him in a way that Cylon didn't. But as she had learned, Cylons came in a lot of shapes and flavors.
Creeping forward, listening for the slightest change in the murmurs from ahead, Kara wondered if this was really the last group. They'd had them on the run almost from the beginning, and she was more than a little smug about that, even if she was surprised. After all, the Suppron had acted as though nothing could stop it.
It hadn't really surprised her that the thing had taken over Laird and then tried to destroy Sam.
She froze and glanced cautiously around the corner, keeping herself low to the ground. A flicker of movement across the corridor drew her gaze, and she went still as one of the things slithered from one side to the other, muttering to itself.
A few had tried to tempt them with attractive bodies and smiles. But they'd stopped that about the time Kara shoved C4 down the pants of a Suppron brain-thing (Sam had claimed she made his ears ring with the resulting explosion).
Her hand dropped and she reached back to catch at Sam, absently groping him without realizing it. For an instant, he moved to lean into her, and her eyes widened.
Whoops. Carefully, she moved her hand and he shifted away a little. Her fingers tapped out a beat of five and she turned her head, one eyebrow going up. He nodded in response, eyes slightly pained, and all of him full of tension.
They were trying to take over his head. Kara could understand the tension.
She raised one side of her mouth in a half-smirk, and then slipped around the corner and headed for the opposite corner, as they'd planned to use on the two of them.
Halfway there, the hairs on the back of her neck prickled, and she dove for cover barely ahead of the projectiles that suddenly screamed into existence, fired from both sides of the corridor.
There was a confused blur of movement and she rolled to her feet and fired, taking out three slugs and nailing another when it broke cover in a desperate attempt to drop her.
From his corner, Sam fired as well, and a moment later, they had the remaining Suppron caught in the crossfire they'd been planning to use.
Turning the tables on them made her grin fiercely.
-=-
"Thank you," Tory said. It wasn't awkward at all to talk to Caprica, she convinced herself. Just because Caprica was the only other Cylon who'd had Gaius Baltar meant nothing (unless Ellen had, and Tory didn't know what she'd do with that knowledge).
"For what?"
"Helping with Dr. Baltar."
Caprica looked surprised, her fingers straying to her belly.
Tory knew that rumor, too. It was one she hadn't mentioned to Boomer. Speaking of which... "We have another problem. I don't think attack was Cavil's only plan."
"What do you mean?"
With care, Tory reached out and touched Caprica's arm, pulling her to one side of the corridor and into her projection. "I mean that Cavil sent her to take Hera. He wants Resurrection, and he thinks we have it."
"Do you?" Caprica was looking around the office, her gaze interested, as though she catalogued such experiences.
"Boomer didn't exactly confirm it, but yes."
Something bumped Tory's arm, and a Two suddenly appeared. He looked intrigued to find them there, "Sorry, I was looking for the bathroom."
"Don't be stupid," Tory snapped, dropping the projection and stepping away from them both. She still wasn't sure what to make of the way the other Cylons treated her. Especially the Twos. Or one in particular. Though, peering at this one, she didn't think it was her personal stalker.
"Tory," said Leoben, "Don't mistake obfuscation for the truth."
He was gone before she could ask him what he meant.
-=-
Kara woke with a serious feeling of deja vu, and swore. Her voice sounded rusty, but she could talk without having to kiss anyone. With a groan, she struggled to sit up and opened her eyes.
"Thank the Gods," Dee dropped down next to her and touched her shoulder. "You've been out for half an hour. We were beginning to think you weren't going to wake up."
Feeling the warmth against her side, Kara glanced down and found Sam starting to wake up.
"What happened?" Kara asked, finally looking around. The control room seemed different somehow, but she couldn't tell if that was because of being in Sam's mind (something she was beginning to have a hard time believing), or if things really had changed. "Where's that thing?"
Dee pointed behind Kara wordlessly.
Twisting around, Kara almost gagged at the sight. Laird's body was mostly intact, but his head was gone. It was the sort of wound that said someone had blown his head off, at point-blank range. "I wasn't expecting that."
"Neither were we," Dee said softly. She stood up and held out a hand. "We've established communications with the fleet, Gaeta's sending a raptor to pick us up."
Kara let Dee pull her up, and wriggled her shoulders in an effort to stretch a little. "What about Cavil?"
"Apparently, he decided we were too big to take and ran away."
A groan issued from the vicinity of their feet, and Kara smirked down at Sam, "Wakey-wakey, Sammy. We still have work to do. No slacking."
He opened his eyes and glared a little, then patted her leg and sat up. "I'm awake." He looked past her at Dee. "Good job, Dee."
"Do I need to shoot you in the head?" she asked him, one eyebrow raised.
"No. No, Kara and I..." He trailed off and looked at Kara with an unreadable expression in his eyes. "We got 'em," he finally said.
Dee looked at him, then shook her head, obviously not wanting to know. "I've been working on the holographic generator, trying to take it down so the raptor can find the correct airlock," she told them, changing the subject easily. "Unfortunately, there's no manual, and unlike a communications system, I don't have any prior knowledge of the technology involved."
With a frown, Sam pushed himself to his feet. "There should be a switch," he pointed out, moving towards the half-dismembered plinth, and tilting his head to look at the looped wires. "Right... here."
Looking surprised, Dee followed him. Kara considered staying on the floor, but it was hard and cold, and although she was a little out of it, moving was a good thing. Being alive was pretty damned awesome, really. She moved to peer over Dee's shoulder as Sam poked three buttons and gave a satisfied grunt. "This like raptors, Sammy? You just magically know how they work?"
"You do not," Dee informed her, "want to know how hard he drilled to get raptor systems down to keep up with Racetrack's class."
"Bake him cookies, Dee?"
Sam snorted, "More like held a frakking whip." He glanced at another panel and reached over to tap it, "the engines on this thing are idling right now, but I think there's a good chance we could make it fly."
We? Kara narrowed her eyes at him, "You do, huh?" Her fingers itched to reach down and pull her side-arm for a moment before she reminded herself that they'd been successful.
"At a guess, yeah," Sam rubbed a hand over his face and looked confused. "I just... it was there, and now it's drifting away. Maybe some sort of echo of the Suppron still in my head from earlier?"
"Better just be an echo," Kara warned. He gave her an unreadable look, then turned away, and Kara fought down the urge to pull her gun out and shoot him in the head. This was Sam, he wasn't a Suppron, he was a Cylon. And he was safe.
"Dee, the raptor pilot wants to know how they're supposed to land to pick us up." It was Hoshi, looking somewhat uncomfortable to be near Kara and Sam.
Kara didn't blame him, she'd come back from the dead and Sam was a Cylon. She grabbed Sam's arm. "Let's go see if I was right about opening the hangar up."
"I'm sure you were," he muttered.
-=-
Blowing out a breath, Hot Dog eyed Dee as she joined him while he ran pre-flight checks. The raptor was in good shape, even if he'd almost scraped one side of the hangar on the way in. He was doing his best to ignore the planes tethered off to the side, not sure if he liked the look of them. "Nice to see you, Lieutenant."
She groaned and dropped into the co-pilot's seat. "You say that now, what happens if Starbuck's presence kills the engines on this raptor?"
Wide-eyed, he glanced back into the cargo section where Starbuck was arguing with Anders about Gods knew what, then shook his head, "No way."
"Would you put it past her?" Dee sounded amused, not to mention tired.
Hot Dog groaned and got back to his checks, he hoped he was lucky enough to survive carting Starbuck around.
The objects of their discussion were trying to have a conversation of their own. Well, sort of. "Now?" Kara was muttering, "You pick now, when we're surrounded?"
"Best way to keep you from shoving me out an airlock," Sam shot back, although he was comfortable enough to figure that Kara would only threaten that half-heartedly. She would miss him, if she got rid of him, after all.
She snorted and dropped down next to him, apparently tired of looming over him, "You say that like the others wouldn't hold the hatch for me."
When he didn't immediately reply, she glanced up at him to find his expression shuttered.
Good, now he'd drop his stupid idea of having things out while they were both exhausted, and there were people everywhere. She absently settled closer, grateful that he was warm. It was probably the sleepiness, but she was freezing.
Sam grunted and slung an arm over her shoulder, "See? You do still like me."
"You're useful as a heater," she shot back icily.
"Thanks," he muttered, but he relaxed into the bulkhead and closed his eyes. "So. Are you gonna shoot me in the head?"
"Jury's still out."
"Good enough."
Kara shifted, then suddenly asked, "How was I in your head?"
"I don't know," he shrugged, hands still restless, plucking at his pants, then settling as he threaded his fingers together. "Maybe, proximity--or you were sensitive to them. Remember when they tried to get you to open the hangar door?"
Kara was silent for a moment, then grabbed his hands, stopping them. It was annoying. "Yeah, yeah, fine. That was it."
There was no point in worrying about it, anyway. He started to say something else and got caught in a yawn.
The damned thing was contagious, and Kara felt her jaw crack as a yawn of her own escaped. "Ow." She closed her eyes, deciding she didn't care what it was Sam wanted to talk about.
"Wake me when someone wants a report," Sam mumbled before his body relaxed into sleep.
"You'll know when they shove a rifle in your back," was her sleepy comment before she, too, drifted into a sleep. They had things to talk about, but they were going to have to wait. Besides, Kara hated talking about shit. Pretending nothing was wrong was a lot more fun, in the long run.
-=-
"Telepathy, huh?" Athena was curled up next to Helo on the ramp of their raptor. Roslin would be joining them, and they'd be able to take her back to Colonial One. D'Anna was staying on as a sort of liaison, but Athena wanted to get out of Babylon Five. Their encounter with Lyta Alexander had unsettled her more than Cavil and the strange ship had.
Helo shrugged, "Yeah, I guess."
They both looked down at Hera, asleep again, her head pillowed on Athena's knee.
Sharon sighed. "We knew she wasn't going to be an easy kid to raise.
"Yeah," Karl grinned at her, then shook his head. "Guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it"
"If it's real."
"Yeah." But he didn't seem to doubt, and she was finding it hard to doubt, herself. For the moment, at least.
Anymore discussion would have to wait, as Roslin bustled in with several of Ivanova's staff-members keeping pace with her, answering questions as she click-clacked across the decking. "Time to go, kiddo," Sharon murmured, scooping up Hera before she stood with Helo's help and stepped into the raptor to start the pre-flight checks.
-=-
It was a relief to return to Colonial One. As much as she'd been fascinated by Babylon Five, Laura had felt surrounded by too much, there. She was worried about the rest of the fleet, once the reality of life really got home to them. There were entire races they'd never heard of: aliens with strange clothing and bones in their heads, lizard-men who made speeches of welcome, and furry things which squeaked. Laura wasn't entirely sure that she was handling the transition well. Until one day ago, humans and Cylons had been all she knew. Now there was an entirely new set of life-forms to learn about.
Sleep, and consultations with D'Anna (who was grudging in her respect, but reduced in the same way Laura felt), Caprica and Adama left Laura feeling refreshed again, however.
Reading Kara Thrace's report on the giant alien ship made her appreciate not killing her earlier in the year. Whatever Captain Thrace was, she had an undeniable knack for finding things that were unsettling, and occasionally proved useful.
Still, that left Cavil and his Cylons, and the ships that had been infected by this Suppron, not to mention the Shadows Delenn and Ivanova had discussed with them.
The universe was huge, and everyone was out to get them, Laura reflected wryly before she began to make her way through the stack of requests from the ship captains. Somewhere in there, she might find nirvana of some sort, but she doubted it.
-=-
Where is my husband? Ellen had been smiling when she asked. She wasn't smiling anymore, she was simply tired as she sat in one of the many disused chambers, the echoes in the hallway outside reminding her of months spent in captivity.
Saul was dead. Correction, Saul was missing, presumed dead. Gaeta hadn't tried to hold out false hope, but with the discovery of Giana and the others, it was possible... If she had faith.
In who, the Gods? God? She hadn't ever really been the religious one. That'd been Sam--and Tory, too. Ellen could remember them praying, voices twisted around each other (Ellen's heard stories, she knows that Sam and Tory replicated those years spent in travel at least once).
This Babylon Five, and its myriad aliens and humans?
Ellen wanted to laugh at the very idea, but the universe was already vast to her. She'd known there was more to it for a long time, even if she hadn't wanted to believe it.
Perhaps there was divine inspiration out there.
Perhaps there wasn't.
It didn't matter; Ellen was going to search for Saul, and if she found him, she'd thank whomever was responsible. Until then, she would simply live her life as best she could, remaining herself in glorious vitality.
First up on the menu: a chat with Laura and Bill. Someone had to get them up to speed, now that Cavil had been scared off for a time.
Or maybe a drink. A toast to those whom had fallen. Ellen laughed softly and closed her eyes. She was one who had fallen, and she hadn't hit bottom yet.
-=-
It seemed like it was all over, for the moment. Susan Ivanova glared through the window at the scattered, but distant, colonial fleet. Roslin and D'Anna had returned to their respective ships while a contingent of G'Kar's best security personnel (he had pointed out that the League didn't doubt Susan's neutrality, but just to be on the safe side... and Zack had agreed, with something like relief) were overseeing a hastily-assembled team of technicians as they went over this new ship. The Suppron had apparently run off, or been defeated. There were conflicting reports on that, and Susan wasn't sure she really believed Roslin's people when they said one of their own had turned off the cloak through luck.
There were robots who looked human, with factions that would do the League of Worlds proud in their inter-territorial squabbles. And that was before they discovered they weren't the last people in the entire universe.
Human nature sucked, even in human-created robots. Then again, it wasn't as though the alien races were all that different, Susan reflected.
There was still no word from the White Star fleet that had gone to search the area around Z'Ha'Dum, but Susan wasn't sure if she was expecting any. Delenn probably was, and Lyta was beginning to walk around as though her shadow made her flinch. No word on Garibaldi, either, and Susan was beginning to wonder if he'd decamped for less volatile climes.
Refugees, though. Susan glared a little harder at the distant fleet. If Earth had still been considered an ally, she might have tried to get them off her hands. As it was, she had the League after her to get rid of them, G'Kar wanting to know more about their lives, and Londo decamping for Centauri Prime. On top of which, after his one appearance in the Council Chamber to wave at a little girl, the new Vorlon ambassador wouldn't attend meetings.
It was enough to drive a woman insane.
"Commander, there's a communication from Colonial One." Kingsley sounded as though she'd managed to get some sleep at some point.
With a last glare, Susan turned away from the window, "Send it to my station, Kingsley."
"Ma'am." With a cheerful smile, Kingsley turned back to her station, fingers flying over the board as she murmured something to the mic at her throat.
Absently tugging at her tunic, Susan moved to the side and sat down, even though no one could see her, since the colonials were still behind in some areas of their technology (in others, Susan knew scientists who were already salivating over their FTL drives). Reaching out, she keyed in the channel, "Ivanova here, go ahead, Colonial One."
-=-
Cavil had to admit his plans had been a little grandiose, this time. He would have to learn from his own humanity, if there was such a thing. The idea made him scowl a little as he walked past the room that was installed on every base ship. His siblings thought it was storage, if they thought of it at all.
Storage it was, of course, the kind that was useless to him now.
Out of habit, he waved a hand, opening the door, and found that the light had changed. Brighter, as though to accommodate an actual occupant.
His frown deepened, and he stepped inside.
There was a man, crouched at the base of the resurrection tank. He had two eyes again.
Really, Cavil hadn't thought that sort of thing worked anymore, but if it did for them, perhaps there was hope. And here he'd thought everyone of significance had survived Morden and his friends. He felt his mood lighten and tried to decide which tack to take. The soft approach hadn't really worked for Mother.
Then again... he had a history, here.
He pasted on a sardonic smile and closed the door, so no one could interrupt them. "Hello, Father."
Things were looking up again, and so was Saul Tigh.
-=-
After everything that had happened, Roslin finally realized she had ignored the quorum for far too long. She had the feeling they were used to it by now, but that didn't excuse it. D'Anna and Delenn supported her when she went, both with propositions for the remnants of the twelve colonies. There were ships they might have to look for, those that had run during the anti-climactic battle. It had been more a confrontation than all-out war. There were planets they could settle on, provided they followed the governments and regulations. There were more ideas, spinning out from her conversations with Ivanova and Delenn. And there was her own illness, eating her from the inside-out with no cure.
They were sitting at their table, watching them with wariness and distrust, save for Lee Adama who merely looked tired. And Tom Zarek, who looked oddly satisfied.
Laura faltered, then firmed her step, determined to ignore the cancer eating away at her energy and life. "Nothing," she said into the silence after she'd reached her seat, "Has been decided. But there are several offers on the table."
The quorum members didn't let her continue, raising questions and objections, some of them demanding D'Anna and Delenn be expelled. Laura let them shout. Sooner or later, they'd have to listen.
She just wasn't entirely certain whether they'd decide for the good of the universe or the good of the colonies.
-f-
Master Post
Part Ten
Felix wasn't sure what else he was supposed to do. He'd contacted Babylon Five, he'd reassured the rest of the fleet, he'd given Gaius a station to broadcast from, and he'd sent several raptors to scan the giant ship that had appeared. It wasn't like he could move mountains, or know all of the secrets of the universe, but that's what Adama apparently wanted.
The Admiral had been pacing for a while, ranting about not having his ship, not being a part of the fight. The Cylons were steering clear of him, though a dark-haired Six had muttered about tranquilizing him before she'd disappeared to join her sisters in taking out two raiders to inspect the ship.
"There's a transmission from the strange ship," one of the Eights said suddenly. "It's not very strong."
"Put it on speaker," Felix suggested, and the speakers crackled to life around them. "...Dualla, can anyone hear me?"
Dee. It was Dee. Felix felt his whole body stop for a moment, before a smile split his mouth wide, "Can we respond?"
"Go ahead," the Eight said.
"Dualla, Gaeta. We read you, though not very well. What's the sitrep over there?" And how the hell are you alive, and is Louis with you? But he didn't ask that. Business, first, even now.
As much as he hated his training, he had to admit that the personal generally didn't have much use in the midst of battle. Dee's reply was slightly clearer, and she sounded relieved, "Gaeta, good to hear your voice. I've got eight survivors over here, and an alien race that wants to take over the Cylons. Over."
"It's good to hear yours, too. Is there anyway you can get the owners of that ship to back off? They're making everyone a little nervous." Understatement, really.
"Not at the moment. I need to check on Anders, I'm going to pass the phone to Hoshi, Felix."
He smiled again, reminding himself to thank her later, as the radio crackled, and then Louis's voice came through clearly, "It's a mess over here, Felix. But it's good to see the rest of the fleet survived."
"We made some new friends, too," Felix replied. "I'm going to patch in the Babylon Five control people, see if we can't work out what to do next."
"Sounds like a plan."
Felix raised his eyebrows at the Eight, feeling as though he could hug her when she grinned at him, "I've already got Corwin trying to put us on hold."
-=-
"Ivanova, we've got Captain Gaeta on the line again," Corwin called.
"Commander, it looks like the Cylon ships are maneuvering again--" Kingsley's voice almost over-rode Corwin's, and both looked up at Susan with consternation.
"Are the ships moving to fire on us?" demanded Susan, going for the priority that mattered.
"It's impossible to tell--"
D'Anna interrupted them, her voice sounding surprised, "They're running. Cavil knows he could take us, but he's running."
"How can you tell--" Susan was surprised when she turned back to find that the large ship had moved, drifting upwards and away from the station. The star-shaped Cylons ships shifted formation, three of them seeming strangely off-kilter.
And then they jumped, simply disappearing as fast as they'd appeared.
"Can we track them?"
"Not that I know of," was D'Anna's reply, "Cylons have tried, and we can work out a probability for likely coordinates, but it's not foolproof. And using it to predict Cavil is another matter entirely."
"Dammit."
"Commander, Captain Gaeta says that he's established contact with the other ship."
"Just what I wanted to hear, put him on."
-=-
Eight basestars had been lost to the Suppron infection before Four had devised a way to eradicate it, then it was a simple matter of transmitting the counter virus, and locking the Suppron out. They hid in a few Fives and Fours, until forced out into the open where they babbled in ways that made Four roll his eyes and One think strongly about purging the universe of all life but himself.
Still, eight basestars, stolen right out from under their noses by nothing more than a sophisticated computer virus.
And they'd lost Mother, the fleet, and Morden, not to mention discovered a whole new universe that thought One and Cavil were a threat to it, and would probably set out to destroy them, given a chance.
"That went well," Cavil said, his tone sarcastic.
One scowled at him, then kicked over the table containing Mother's precious fruit. The apples scattered across the floor, picking up bruises and dust. "If Morden--"
"It appears that Mr. Morden may have more to deal with than he'd initially thought, if the information the Suppron contained is correct." With distaste, Cavil considered the implications of God-like aliens. He didn't like them, and he didn't like the idea that he wasn't the most powerful being in the universe anymore.
"Do you believe that imperfect creatures like humans can ascend to a higher state of being?" Scoffing, One dropped into the chair, ignoring the apple his foot nudged. "That sounds like the sort of hogwash a Six or a Two would go on about. Be rational, brother."
"I am. Ascension isn't simply a matter of faith, but of technology, as well."
There was a moment where the two gazed into the middle distance, though it was possibly more that they were both trying to think of a politic way to say what they were both thinking.
"What was it you said, about being a supernova?" One was sarcastic again, "That was a wonderful line, brother."
"Yes."
The silence lasted a lot longer, this time.
-=-
Between them, Dee had long thought there wasn't a communications system she and Louis couldn't conquer. The Suppron ship proved not to be an exception to the rule, and she was pleased to hear Felix's voice on the other end of the phone.
Whether Sam's punch had been especially potent, or had merely come at the right time, Laird was no longer on his feet. In fact, and Dee didn't look at him again if she could help it, Laird no longer had much of a face. He was finally resting in peace, though she wasn't sure he'd be grateful to her for causing it.
But the cloaking and holographic technology was another matter entirely. Dee poked at the keyboard and control surfaces, trying to locate the panel that controlled them. With the Suppron busy, banished, or gone for good, she was willing to take the chance that there'd be no time for them to do to her what they'd done to Laird. Still, she kept a wary eye out for shifting in the panels.
The systems were fascinating, in a way that didn't follow the lines of human ideas for what should be coupled where. Dee finally located what seemed like the correct console and dropped down to pull open the panel on the front of the plinth. Fiddling around with the other had been the only way to being communications online. A mass of filaments criss-crossed the inside, some of them glowing with color, others merely white-hot. With a sigh, Dee peered in and up, then began tracing lines from the keyboard, trying to untangle which did what.
-=-
Facing down things inside of her Cylon husband's head wasn't really the way Kara had thought her day would go. She couldn't remember the last time she'd slept. It was almost insane of her to consider that this was reality, but she couldn't deny that it felt real. And that Sam was just as oddly-convinced about it as she was didn't make her suspicious. As much as she wanted to hate him, disbelieve and doubt him, he was sill Sam. Her Sam, if she let herself be maudlin.
The landscape of his mind was a strange combination of pyramid courts, battlestar corridors and green fields. It sort of fit him in a way that Cylon didn't. But as she had learned, Cylons came in a lot of shapes and flavors.
Creeping forward, listening for the slightest change in the murmurs from ahead, Kara wondered if this was really the last group. They'd had them on the run almost from the beginning, and she was more than a little smug about that, even if she was surprised. After all, the Suppron had acted as though nothing could stop it.
It hadn't really surprised her that the thing had taken over Laird and then tried to destroy Sam.
She froze and glanced cautiously around the corner, keeping herself low to the ground. A flicker of movement across the corridor drew her gaze, and she went still as one of the things slithered from one side to the other, muttering to itself.
A few had tried to tempt them with attractive bodies and smiles. But they'd stopped that about the time Kara shoved C4 down the pants of a Suppron brain-thing (Sam had claimed she made his ears ring with the resulting explosion).
Her hand dropped and she reached back to catch at Sam, absently groping him without realizing it. For an instant, he moved to lean into her, and her eyes widened.
Whoops. Carefully, she moved her hand and he shifted away a little. Her fingers tapped out a beat of five and she turned her head, one eyebrow going up. He nodded in response, eyes slightly pained, and all of him full of tension.
They were trying to take over his head. Kara could understand the tension.
She raised one side of her mouth in a half-smirk, and then slipped around the corner and headed for the opposite corner, as they'd planned to use on the two of them.
Halfway there, the hairs on the back of her neck prickled, and she dove for cover barely ahead of the projectiles that suddenly screamed into existence, fired from both sides of the corridor.
There was a confused blur of movement and she rolled to her feet and fired, taking out three slugs and nailing another when it broke cover in a desperate attempt to drop her.
From his corner, Sam fired as well, and a moment later, they had the remaining Suppron caught in the crossfire they'd been planning to use.
Turning the tables on them made her grin fiercely.
-=-
"Thank you," Tory said. It wasn't awkward at all to talk to Caprica, she convinced herself. Just because Caprica was the only other Cylon who'd had Gaius Baltar meant nothing (unless Ellen had, and Tory didn't know what she'd do with that knowledge).
"For what?"
"Helping with Dr. Baltar."
Caprica looked surprised, her fingers straying to her belly.
Tory knew that rumor, too. It was one she hadn't mentioned to Boomer. Speaking of which... "We have another problem. I don't think attack was Cavil's only plan."
"What do you mean?"
With care, Tory reached out and touched Caprica's arm, pulling her to one side of the corridor and into her projection. "I mean that Cavil sent her to take Hera. He wants Resurrection, and he thinks we have it."
"Do you?" Caprica was looking around the office, her gaze interested, as though she catalogued such experiences.
"Boomer didn't exactly confirm it, but yes."
Something bumped Tory's arm, and a Two suddenly appeared. He looked intrigued to find them there, "Sorry, I was looking for the bathroom."
"Don't be stupid," Tory snapped, dropping the projection and stepping away from them both. She still wasn't sure what to make of the way the other Cylons treated her. Especially the Twos. Or one in particular. Though, peering at this one, she didn't think it was her personal stalker.
"Tory," said Leoben, "Don't mistake obfuscation for the truth."
He was gone before she could ask him what he meant.
-=-
Kara woke with a serious feeling of deja vu, and swore. Her voice sounded rusty, but she could talk without having to kiss anyone. With a groan, she struggled to sit up and opened her eyes.
"Thank the Gods," Dee dropped down next to her and touched her shoulder. "You've been out for half an hour. We were beginning to think you weren't going to wake up."
Feeling the warmth against her side, Kara glanced down and found Sam starting to wake up.
"What happened?" Kara asked, finally looking around. The control room seemed different somehow, but she couldn't tell if that was because of being in Sam's mind (something she was beginning to have a hard time believing), or if things really had changed. "Where's that thing?"
Dee pointed behind Kara wordlessly.
Twisting around, Kara almost gagged at the sight. Laird's body was mostly intact, but his head was gone. It was the sort of wound that said someone had blown his head off, at point-blank range. "I wasn't expecting that."
"Neither were we," Dee said softly. She stood up and held out a hand. "We've established communications with the fleet, Gaeta's sending a raptor to pick us up."
Kara let Dee pull her up, and wriggled her shoulders in an effort to stretch a little. "What about Cavil?"
"Apparently, he decided we were too big to take and ran away."
A groan issued from the vicinity of their feet, and Kara smirked down at Sam, "Wakey-wakey, Sammy. We still have work to do. No slacking."
He opened his eyes and glared a little, then patted her leg and sat up. "I'm awake." He looked past her at Dee. "Good job, Dee."
"Do I need to shoot you in the head?" she asked him, one eyebrow raised.
"No. No, Kara and I..." He trailed off and looked at Kara with an unreadable expression in his eyes. "We got 'em," he finally said.
Dee looked at him, then shook her head, obviously not wanting to know. "I've been working on the holographic generator, trying to take it down so the raptor can find the correct airlock," she told them, changing the subject easily. "Unfortunately, there's no manual, and unlike a communications system, I don't have any prior knowledge of the technology involved."
With a frown, Sam pushed himself to his feet. "There should be a switch," he pointed out, moving towards the half-dismembered plinth, and tilting his head to look at the looped wires. "Right... here."
Looking surprised, Dee followed him. Kara considered staying on the floor, but it was hard and cold, and although she was a little out of it, moving was a good thing. Being alive was pretty damned awesome, really. She moved to peer over Dee's shoulder as Sam poked three buttons and gave a satisfied grunt. "This like raptors, Sammy? You just magically know how they work?"
"You do not," Dee informed her, "want to know how hard he drilled to get raptor systems down to keep up with Racetrack's class."
"Bake him cookies, Dee?"
Sam snorted, "More like held a frakking whip." He glanced at another panel and reached over to tap it, "the engines on this thing are idling right now, but I think there's a good chance we could make it fly."
We? Kara narrowed her eyes at him, "You do, huh?" Her fingers itched to reach down and pull her side-arm for a moment before she reminded herself that they'd been successful.
"At a guess, yeah," Sam rubbed a hand over his face and looked confused. "I just... it was there, and now it's drifting away. Maybe some sort of echo of the Suppron still in my head from earlier?"
"Better just be an echo," Kara warned. He gave her an unreadable look, then turned away, and Kara fought down the urge to pull her gun out and shoot him in the head. This was Sam, he wasn't a Suppron, he was a Cylon. And he was safe.
"Dee, the raptor pilot wants to know how they're supposed to land to pick us up." It was Hoshi, looking somewhat uncomfortable to be near Kara and Sam.
Kara didn't blame him, she'd come back from the dead and Sam was a Cylon. She grabbed Sam's arm. "Let's go see if I was right about opening the hangar up."
"I'm sure you were," he muttered.
-=-
Blowing out a breath, Hot Dog eyed Dee as she joined him while he ran pre-flight checks. The raptor was in good shape, even if he'd almost scraped one side of the hangar on the way in. He was doing his best to ignore the planes tethered off to the side, not sure if he liked the look of them. "Nice to see you, Lieutenant."
She groaned and dropped into the co-pilot's seat. "You say that now, what happens if Starbuck's presence kills the engines on this raptor?"
Wide-eyed, he glanced back into the cargo section where Starbuck was arguing with Anders about Gods knew what, then shook his head, "No way."
"Would you put it past her?" Dee sounded amused, not to mention tired.
Hot Dog groaned and got back to his checks, he hoped he was lucky enough to survive carting Starbuck around.
The objects of their discussion were trying to have a conversation of their own. Well, sort of. "Now?" Kara was muttering, "You pick now, when we're surrounded?"
"Best way to keep you from shoving me out an airlock," Sam shot back, although he was comfortable enough to figure that Kara would only threaten that half-heartedly. She would miss him, if she got rid of him, after all.
She snorted and dropped down next to him, apparently tired of looming over him, "You say that like the others wouldn't hold the hatch for me."
When he didn't immediately reply, she glanced up at him to find his expression shuttered.
Good, now he'd drop his stupid idea of having things out while they were both exhausted, and there were people everywhere. She absently settled closer, grateful that he was warm. It was probably the sleepiness, but she was freezing.
Sam grunted and slung an arm over her shoulder, "See? You do still like me."
"You're useful as a heater," she shot back icily.
"Thanks," he muttered, but he relaxed into the bulkhead and closed his eyes. "So. Are you gonna shoot me in the head?"
"Jury's still out."
"Good enough."
Kara shifted, then suddenly asked, "How was I in your head?"
"I don't know," he shrugged, hands still restless, plucking at his pants, then settling as he threaded his fingers together. "Maybe, proximity--or you were sensitive to them. Remember when they tried to get you to open the hangar door?"
Kara was silent for a moment, then grabbed his hands, stopping them. It was annoying. "Yeah, yeah, fine. That was it."
There was no point in worrying about it, anyway. He started to say something else and got caught in a yawn.
The damned thing was contagious, and Kara felt her jaw crack as a yawn of her own escaped. "Ow." She closed her eyes, deciding she didn't care what it was Sam wanted to talk about.
"Wake me when someone wants a report," Sam mumbled before his body relaxed into sleep.
"You'll know when they shove a rifle in your back," was her sleepy comment before she, too, drifted into a sleep. They had things to talk about, but they were going to have to wait. Besides, Kara hated talking about shit. Pretending nothing was wrong was a lot more fun, in the long run.
-=-
"Telepathy, huh?" Athena was curled up next to Helo on the ramp of their raptor. Roslin would be joining them, and they'd be able to take her back to Colonial One. D'Anna was staying on as a sort of liaison, but Athena wanted to get out of Babylon Five. Their encounter with Lyta Alexander had unsettled her more than Cavil and the strange ship had.
Helo shrugged, "Yeah, I guess."
They both looked down at Hera, asleep again, her head pillowed on Athena's knee.
Sharon sighed. "We knew she wasn't going to be an easy kid to raise.
"Yeah," Karl grinned at her, then shook his head. "Guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it"
"If it's real."
"Yeah." But he didn't seem to doubt, and she was finding it hard to doubt, herself. For the moment, at least.
Anymore discussion would have to wait, as Roslin bustled in with several of Ivanova's staff-members keeping pace with her, answering questions as she click-clacked across the decking. "Time to go, kiddo," Sharon murmured, scooping up Hera before she stood with Helo's help and stepped into the raptor to start the pre-flight checks.
-=-
It was a relief to return to Colonial One. As much as she'd been fascinated by Babylon Five, Laura had felt surrounded by too much, there. She was worried about the rest of the fleet, once the reality of life really got home to them. There were entire races they'd never heard of: aliens with strange clothing and bones in their heads, lizard-men who made speeches of welcome, and furry things which squeaked. Laura wasn't entirely sure that she was handling the transition well. Until one day ago, humans and Cylons had been all she knew. Now there was an entirely new set of life-forms to learn about.
Sleep, and consultations with D'Anna (who was grudging in her respect, but reduced in the same way Laura felt), Caprica and Adama left Laura feeling refreshed again, however.
Reading Kara Thrace's report on the giant alien ship made her appreciate not killing her earlier in the year. Whatever Captain Thrace was, she had an undeniable knack for finding things that were unsettling, and occasionally proved useful.
Still, that left Cavil and his Cylons, and the ships that had been infected by this Suppron, not to mention the Shadows Delenn and Ivanova had discussed with them.
The universe was huge, and everyone was out to get them, Laura reflected wryly before she began to make her way through the stack of requests from the ship captains. Somewhere in there, she might find nirvana of some sort, but she doubted it.
-=-
Where is my husband? Ellen had been smiling when she asked. She wasn't smiling anymore, she was simply tired as she sat in one of the many disused chambers, the echoes in the hallway outside reminding her of months spent in captivity.
Saul was dead. Correction, Saul was missing, presumed dead. Gaeta hadn't tried to hold out false hope, but with the discovery of Giana and the others, it was possible... If she had faith.
In who, the Gods? God? She hadn't ever really been the religious one. That'd been Sam--and Tory, too. Ellen could remember them praying, voices twisted around each other (Ellen's heard stories, she knows that Sam and Tory replicated those years spent in travel at least once).
This Babylon Five, and its myriad aliens and humans?
Ellen wanted to laugh at the very idea, but the universe was already vast to her. She'd known there was more to it for a long time, even if she hadn't wanted to believe it.
Perhaps there was divine inspiration out there.
Perhaps there wasn't.
It didn't matter; Ellen was going to search for Saul, and if she found him, she'd thank whomever was responsible. Until then, she would simply live her life as best she could, remaining herself in glorious vitality.
First up on the menu: a chat with Laura and Bill. Someone had to get them up to speed, now that Cavil had been scared off for a time.
Or maybe a drink. A toast to those whom had fallen. Ellen laughed softly and closed her eyes. She was one who had fallen, and she hadn't hit bottom yet.
-=-
It seemed like it was all over, for the moment. Susan Ivanova glared through the window at the scattered, but distant, colonial fleet. Roslin and D'Anna had returned to their respective ships while a contingent of G'Kar's best security personnel (he had pointed out that the League didn't doubt Susan's neutrality, but just to be on the safe side... and Zack had agreed, with something like relief) were overseeing a hastily-assembled team of technicians as they went over this new ship. The Suppron had apparently run off, or been defeated. There were conflicting reports on that, and Susan wasn't sure she really believed Roslin's people when they said one of their own had turned off the cloak through luck.
There were robots who looked human, with factions that would do the League of Worlds proud in their inter-territorial squabbles. And that was before they discovered they weren't the last people in the entire universe.
Human nature sucked, even in human-created robots. Then again, it wasn't as though the alien races were all that different, Susan reflected.
There was still no word from the White Star fleet that had gone to search the area around Z'Ha'Dum, but Susan wasn't sure if she was expecting any. Delenn probably was, and Lyta was beginning to walk around as though her shadow made her flinch. No word on Garibaldi, either, and Susan was beginning to wonder if he'd decamped for less volatile climes.
Refugees, though. Susan glared a little harder at the distant fleet. If Earth had still been considered an ally, she might have tried to get them off her hands. As it was, she had the League after her to get rid of them, G'Kar wanting to know more about their lives, and Londo decamping for Centauri Prime. On top of which, after his one appearance in the Council Chamber to wave at a little girl, the new Vorlon ambassador wouldn't attend meetings.
It was enough to drive a woman insane.
"Commander, there's a communication from Colonial One." Kingsley sounded as though she'd managed to get some sleep at some point.
With a last glare, Susan turned away from the window, "Send it to my station, Kingsley."
"Ma'am." With a cheerful smile, Kingsley turned back to her station, fingers flying over the board as she murmured something to the mic at her throat.
Absently tugging at her tunic, Susan moved to the side and sat down, even though no one could see her, since the colonials were still behind in some areas of their technology (in others, Susan knew scientists who were already salivating over their FTL drives). Reaching out, she keyed in the channel, "Ivanova here, go ahead, Colonial One."
-=-
Cavil had to admit his plans had been a little grandiose, this time. He would have to learn from his own humanity, if there was such a thing. The idea made him scowl a little as he walked past the room that was installed on every base ship. His siblings thought it was storage, if they thought of it at all.
Storage it was, of course, the kind that was useless to him now.
Out of habit, he waved a hand, opening the door, and found that the light had changed. Brighter, as though to accommodate an actual occupant.
His frown deepened, and he stepped inside.
There was a man, crouched at the base of the resurrection tank. He had two eyes again.
Really, Cavil hadn't thought that sort of thing worked anymore, but if it did for them, perhaps there was hope. And here he'd thought everyone of significance had survived Morden and his friends. He felt his mood lighten and tried to decide which tack to take. The soft approach hadn't really worked for Mother.
Then again... he had a history, here.
He pasted on a sardonic smile and closed the door, so no one could interrupt them. "Hello, Father."
Things were looking up again, and so was Saul Tigh.
-=-
After everything that had happened, Roslin finally realized she had ignored the quorum for far too long. She had the feeling they were used to it by now, but that didn't excuse it. D'Anna and Delenn supported her when she went, both with propositions for the remnants of the twelve colonies. There were ships they might have to look for, those that had run during the anti-climactic battle. It had been more a confrontation than all-out war. There were planets they could settle on, provided they followed the governments and regulations. There were more ideas, spinning out from her conversations with Ivanova and Delenn. And there was her own illness, eating her from the inside-out with no cure.
They were sitting at their table, watching them with wariness and distrust, save for Lee Adama who merely looked tired. And Tom Zarek, who looked oddly satisfied.
Laura faltered, then firmed her step, determined to ignore the cancer eating away at her energy and life. "Nothing," she said into the silence after she'd reached her seat, "Has been decided. But there are several offers on the table."
The quorum members didn't let her continue, raising questions and objections, some of them demanding D'Anna and Delenn be expelled. Laura let them shout. Sooner or later, they'd have to listen.
She just wasn't entirely certain whether they'd decide for the good of the universe or the good of the colonies.
-f-
Master Post
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Added to the earlier feedback, Sam and Kara working it out without talking it out, and doing the talking later? After killing nanites with their brains? Very awesome.
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Ahahah. I really wanted to write more of Sam and Kara, but managed to end up with nothing left in my brain to write it with. =D
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Captain Gaeta was another nice surprise. His pragmatism in the face of confusion and danger reminded me of New-Caprica!Gaeta, and it was nice to see him get a chance to put things right after what happened with Eight.
I loved the Ones in this, too. Cavil's fearless disdain for the virus ("No, you wouldn't") made me laugh out loud. I was a little confused as to how he came back after it killed him, though... backups, maybe? Or are the Ones simply that similar?
At any rate, great job. I hope you'll continue the story, this is an interesting universe!
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I was a little confused as to how he came back after it killed him, though... backups, maybe? Or are the Ones simply that similar?
I do not have notes on this, which leads me to suspect it was one of the bits I wrote at three a.m. going "I need to finish this and leave more threads open, oh, hey, the cat is snuggly."
I think perhaps some of the Ones are that similar, while others... I don't know. We never saw that many of them, I wonder if One rather enjoyed being more singular than the others? Hrm.
(or, really, *handwave, handwave, handwave* =D)
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Yeah, I could see it both ways. Cavil clearly had a lot invested in the "mechanical copies" view of Cylon society, yet The Plan suggests that the Ones were as capable of individuality as any other Cylon... I think this would have been a constant conflict for him, probably more so than for the other models.
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I loved this story. Everyone was in perfect character from Helo's protectiveness to G'Kar's more contemplative fire. Each person got the chance to shine (and angst) in the manner appropriate to their nature. The plot was quite interesting and I loved how things fell apart and then the pieces got picked up in entirely unexpected ways.
Very nicely done!
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I'm trying to decide what to do next and how I want to explore things (I suspect 'sequel' may be mental code for 'lots of little one-shots that expand things' for me)
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Inquiring minds want to know!
Seriously, very nice crossover of two of my favorite shows.
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Kara and Sam had sex, something about the telepaths and possibly the Shadows having made Cylons the anti-telepath or something, idk. I'm trying not to plan more, for the moment. =DThank you!
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Also, in a fic challenge that was heavy on angst, this was so much fun to read. Great job, and I enjoyed it immensely!
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Thank you so much for your lovely comments. =D
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Thank you =D
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Which is fabulousness. It was excellent seeing the Galactica destroyed. Very tense. Love Boomer's redemption, and using Gianna was really inspired. Bad creepy aliens and fighting in, er, the mental landscape was fun. And Dee's act in shooting Laird was unexpected but something she would do. And poor Susan dealing with all this crap on her own more or less. lol.
love it all!
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<3 Thank you!
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The crossover groups are the most fun because there's no universe where Susan, Laura, D'anna and diplomacy is not THE BEST THING EVER OUT OF A LOT OF AWESOME THINGS, but I love all the great scenes with people who never interacted on the show much, especially Boomer and pretty much everyone. Also, D'anna and Leoben. So much snark! And plot! Kara and Sam shooting nanites in his brain! Entirely awesome in every way. :DDD
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The diplomacy thing still gives me fits over how much I dislike politics and therefore dislike writing them. =D
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Your fic was just the kind of crossover I love, anyway. The way you involved so many characters - there just isn't enough ensemble fic in this fandom, especially not by writers who genuinely get/like all the characters. I really liked Gaeta and Dee, which is totally unsurprising seeing as it isn't hard for me to like those two. Three really fun characters for me also were Tory, D'Anna and Caprica, whom I all found to be very intriguing. Also I enjoyed Londo's small appearances and I'm happy I'm getting to use this icon. :D