Disclaimers: ‘Battlestar Galactica’ and its characters belong to
Universal City Studios,
Send Comments to: AJMarks01@aol.com
Battlestar
Argo
By
AJ Marks
Political Allies
Robert sat as his desk watching the dust particles float though
the sunbeam that was near his computer.
He had listened to Nall and Becca talk while they were waiting for this mysterious
message. Robert was not sure if anything
would come or not. Robert kind of liked
this young man and really hoped that what he said was true. Another part of him thought the guy was
loony.
A sudden beeping sound from his computer caught his
attention. He quickly got ride of the
screen saver that had been on the screen replacing it with the program which he
quickly scanned. His eyebrows would have
gone to his hairline if he had had one.
"What is it," Rebecca asked from where she was getting
up from her computer to see what was going on.
"It seems our friend here is right," Robert
replied. "We're getting a weak
signal on this wavelength. I'm going to
start recording it," he stated as he clicked a few keys on his keyboard
and began to study the signal. "Becca, give me a distance point."
Rebecca quickly sat down and swiveled to her computer and began to
run the program that was designed for just a thing. It took a few minutes until the computer spit
out the answer for her.
"Oh my goodness," Rebecca said as the answer appeared on
her screen.
"What is it," Robert said as he quickly walked over to
her computer. He stared at the screen
for several seconds before finally regaining his speech ability. "That can't be right!"
"I'm running it though the computer again just in case,"
Rebecca said. A moment later the
computer gave the same answer as it had before.
Robert turned to look at Nall. "You were telling the truth weren't
you," he said a bit amazed at what he had just seen.
"Yep," Nall replied.
"Then this just might save us," Robert said sitting down
in his chair. He also realized that if
everything Nall had told them was true then they
could be in danger as well. He needed to
call his representative that oversaw his division.
Ares and Pratt were waiting to see what type of answers they would
receive once Nall had finished talking with Rebecca's
boss. She was quite optimistic about the
entire thing something that Ares was not too sure about right now. There were still too many things that could
go wrong with this.
Renee looked up from her station and informed Ares that a
communication was coming through from Lieutenant Nall. Ares said to put it up to his station and
waited to hear Nall's voice.
"Commander Ares," Nall's voice
said over the intercom.
"What have you found out lieutenant," Ares asked
wondering what the man would say.
"I had a good meeting with Rebecca's boss, Robert. He and Rebecca make up the entire division
along with the help of some volunteers.
They were able to pick up the signal from the colonies which is great
for us," Nall said.
Ares agreed. Even now there
were a lot of people that were flocking to the news room to see what was going
on back at the colonies.
"Anyway, Robert is setting up a meeting with someone from the
local government. I was wondering if you
wanted to come," Nall asked. He had gotten a first step into the door and
now was wondering if this was good enough to begin the meeting process.
Ares thought about this for a few more minutes. He was going to have to get involved sooner
or later. The question was how soon did he want to get involved.
He realized that if he wanted to make sure that things were done right
then he would have to be involved in the process as soon as possible.
"All right, I'll be down for the meeting. Come on back to the Argo and then you can go
back," Ares said to him.
"Yes sir," Nall replied then
hung up.
"Colonel Pratt, you have command of the ship until I return
from the planet," Ares said to his friend.
"Yes sir," Pratt said watching as Ares left to get
ready.
Nall walked into the room behind Robert who he had
been following down the hallway. Nall was not sure what type of person they would be meeting
but talking with Rebecca the person seemed to be a scoundrel that she did not
want anything to do with. Nall figured that the person had to be a politician. He was a bit glad to hear that somethings did not change.
Nall looked around the room and noticed that there
were three other people in the room.
Each man was an older man with graying hair and one was bald as well on
top but kept his hair cut short so it did not look bad. Robert sat down across the table from the
three men and Nall sat down next to him.
"All right let's begin, I don't have all day to spend with
this wasted project," the balding man said sounding a bit impatient to Nall.
"I thought we were to meet with three people, I see only
two," another man said.
"The third one is delayed a bit," Robert replied. "I told you that the time for the
meeting was too tight for the third one to meet us."
"Whatever," the bald man said. "Let's get to business then. What is it that you want?"
"I've come across a new discovery," Robert said sliding
a picture across the table.
The three men looked at the picture then back at Robert. "And what is this supposed to
prove. We all know what technology can
do these days."
"That is a picture taken by the Leo probe," Robert
said. "And the picture was not
doctored at all. That is a true picture
of two ships."
"Bah, what a waste of time. I should have known that you would do
anything to keep you division alive," the bald man said.
"He's telling the truth," Nall
said. "What you're looking at is
viper class fighter."
"Now your getting actors to help you
out," the man on the right said.
"He's no actor," Robert said already tiring of the
politics of everything.
"Yeah right," the bald man said.
"He is telling the truth, I am Lieutenant Nall
of the Battlestar Argo, from the colony Gemini," Nall
said to the three men.
"Yeah right, and I'm Gumby from Triton," the bald man
said again.
Nall wanted to punch the man for what he was
saying. He had spent his entire live
proud of his position and now it was being mocked by a person who did not even
understand. He was about to say
something when a knock at the door interrupted them.
Rebecca stuck her head into the room to see what was going
on. Nall was
sure glad to see her. Not only did he
like her but it also meant that his commander would be here now.
"Ah Becca, is our other guest here
then," Robert said.
"Yes," she replied opening to the door to allow a new
person to walk into the room. He was
wearing a blue uniform that no one in the room had ever seen before. For the three men it was not the uniform but
the man's presence that took them by surprise.
The bald man narrowed his eyes a bit at the man in blue. This man was not one to take lightly that was
for sure and it could ruin his plans.
"Hello, my name is Commander Ares, and I am the commander of
the Battlestar Argo," Ares said not waiting to be asked to sit down. He glanced at the three men with a critical
eye. The one in the middle, the bald man
was the one that concerned him the most.
He looked to be career politician much like the one on the right. The other one was sitting there quietly and
was harder to judge. Ares would wait to
see what his game was.
"Commander Ares is that the best you could do Robert,"
the bald man said turning to look at Robert.
"It’s a traditional family name, and what is your man
sir," Ares said crisply but with authority that came from his yehrens of leadership.
"As if you don't know," the man sniffed. "I am Senator Trillia. Let's get this meeting over with. I have an important meeting with the UWCC in
one hour."
Ares frowned a bit not knowing what time
increment that was for him but turned his attention back to the man. "So the destruction of your entire
planet would not mean anything to you then," Ares said to the man.
"Listen, I don't know how much Robert here is paying you but
I'll double it just to get this over with," the senator said. "I don't like anyone wasting my
time."
"Neither do I," Ares said his voice dropping to an ice
pitch. "And I don't like being
called a liaer either."
"Whatever, name your price," the senator replied.
"Are all people on Earth this stupid," Ares said turning
to Robert who just shrugged.
"I can make it that you will never work in
"Go ahead, I'm not from Earth. That and I've already got a job that I take
very seriously, do you," Ares said leaning forward to challenge the
senator.
"Yes I do and this is just a mockery. I am still canceling your funding," the
senator said standing up and walking out of the room. The man on the right hesitated for a second
before he too left leaving just one man left.
"I'm Senator Jack Williams," the man said speaking up
for the first time. "You just made
an enemy out of Trillia."
"He seems to be a piece of felbercarp,"
Ares said. John watched Ares for a
second. The way Ares had said it was
just like the way anyone else would have said something that they were
comfortable with even though Jack had never heard the phrase.
"Well he's got a lot to gain in this," Jack said.
"Yeah," Robert replied.
"I can't believe that no one in the government is looking into
this. He controls the majority interest
in the company that would be taking the contract for what I do."
"We've been over this Robert," Jack said with
patience. He had tried to get people to
look into this but no one wanted to go against the senator.
"If you don't do something you might regret it later,"
Ares said.
"What do you mean," Jack asked.
"I'm from a group of twelve worlds that are quite a distance
away. I command a warship called the
Argo and we are fighting for our survival against a race of machines called the
Cylons," Ares said.
Jack silently watched the man while he talked. He had thought himself a good judge of
character. Right now he liked this man
who was sitting across from him.
"Is there anyway you can back up your claims."
"I can take you to the Argo and give you a tour," Ares
said. He was sensing an ally here with
this man. If might be good if the man
did go the Argo.
"All right, how long will it take," Jack asked.
"About three of your hours, perhaps more," Nall replied. He was
going by what Rebecca had told him.
"Very well, let me clear my schedule," Jack said.
Bri made her way around the hallways looking for
one person. She spotted the familiar
figure standing by a window looking out into the vacuum of space.
"Hey," she said gently as she got near him.
"Huh, oh sorry Bri,"
"So what's going on in that mind of yours," she said
giving him a nudge with her hip.
"Nothing much," he replied. "What did you think of Rebecca," he
asked her.
"She seemed to be nice, I guess I like her," Bri said wondering why
"Me too,"
"I wonder who that is," Bri
said.
"Let's go find out,"
"I must say that I was a bit skeptical about this but now the
more I see the more I'm convinced that it’s real," Jack said as he
continued to look around. It was the
little things that were making up his mind about all that he was seeing. The people who looked at him strangely and
their reactions could not be faked very well.
The other thing was what the people were doing. They actually looked like they knew what was
going on and not just there for fluff.
Then there were the people who were just standing around. He asked Ares about it and was told that they
were off duty.
Jack thought about that. If
they really were on a ship then there would be no place they could go that
would be off the ship then. It made
sense to him. He looked up as he spotted
two crewmembers walking towards him.
They were dressed in brown and had a pistol belt on.
"Ah, Captain Troy and Lieutenant Gabrielle," Ares said
as two of his best pilots walked up to him.
"This is Senator Jack Williams of Earth."
"Pleasure to meet you sir," Bri
said as she extended her hand which the man took.
"Well I must say I was not expecting to see such lovely
ladies on board a warship," Jack said.
"She's one of the better pilots on board the Argo,"
"I meant no insult, but on Earth such beauties usually try
and get into the movie business, not the military," Jack said. "Our military is completely open to
anyone, but when you've been at peace for so long people usually head into the
business sector."
"Well when you've been at war as long as we have everyone
joins the military at one time or another," Bri
replied warily. She was not sure what to
make of the man.
Jack thoughtfully regarded that statement that Gabrielle had
made. If they had been at war for a long
time like they were saying they had what would have happened to their
society. He could only guess that it
would be the main focus of everything.
It really would be a total war where every resource would be directed at
the war.
"How long have you been at war," Jack finally asked.
"For almost a thousand yehrens,"
Ares said. "Or a thousand of your
years I believe you call them."
Jack's eyes widened in surprise at that answer. He was not expecting that long of a war. He was thinking that their war had been going
on for a few years, maybe a couple of decades but not a thousand years. He could only wonder at the type of advances
that had made over the years.
"That's a long time to be at war," Jack said.
"With the Cylons there can only be
one winner,"
"Tell me about these Cylons,"
Jack asked.
"They are a race of machines," Ares replied. "They were created by another race
called the Cylons.
Their creations rose against them and destroyed them. In that war the machine Cylons
learned to distrust any organic creatures.
They went on a rampage and attacked one of our neighbors. We went to their aid to try and help
them. Now we're still at war with
them."
"So its either destroy or be
destroyed," Jack replied.
"What about a computer virus?"
"The Cylons are no longer linked
together. That was one weakness we
exploited early in the war. As a result
they now operate much like we do," Ares answered.
"So all you would be doing is infecting one part of
many," Jack said.
"Right," Ares responded.
"It’s come down to an old fashion war. And they have the greater resources right
now. We can't replace our
loses as quickly as they can but we still have an advantage in being
smarter than they are still."
"I would have thought the machines would be smarter than any
of us by now," Jack answered.
"Well, in a way that's true, but their typical grunt soldier
isn't that smart. They figure why waste
the resources on something that will end up being destroyed,"
"Right, just give it enough to perform its duty," Jack
said with a nod of his head.
The door opened and Robert walked in along with Colonel
Pratt. They had taken a different tour
of the ship but Robert looked like he was having fun
"This ship is amazing," Robert said as he walked up to
the group. "What do you think
senator?"
"We have a tough time ahead of us," Jack said thinking
about that. "Tell you what, leg me
see what I can do."
"Just remember, your people could be the ones that tip the
scale of the war," Ares said.
"I'll remember that, but I don't know if I'll be able to tell
my colleagues that, but I have a plan," Jack said returning his gaze to
Robert.
They found Rebecca and Nall so that the
group could head back to Earth. John was
given a communicator so that he could contact Commander Ares when he finalized
what he was thinking about. John had to
talk with a few other senators and people before he could see if his plan would
work. There was a lot of technology here
and he was one who believed that they should prepare. Ares had told him that if the colonies should
fall then the Cylons would end up in their space.
The group boarded the shuttle along with Nall
who would go back with them. The shuttle
left the Argo and headed back to Earth where John would begin his work.
Ares walked along the bridge waiting to see what would happen
next. He had done his part for right
now. He had made contact with someone on
the planet and now he would have to place his trust in another man.
"What do you think," Pratt asked coming up next to him.
"I think Senator Williams is a very intelligent man. He asked several good questions when he was
on board. He was making sure this was
not some sort of hoax," Ares replied.
"I got that feeling from Robert. They want to believe but there is a great
deal of skepticism that they are working through," Pratt replied.
"Yes, but the senator did say that he was one not to wait
until things were too late before doing something about it. I think we found the person who might be able
to help us with this," Ares said.
"I think so too," Pratt said.
"Did Robert say anything to you about what he thought,"
Ares asked Pratt.
"Nothing too much, only that he was amazed at all the
technology that we had. Our computers
were a bit more ancient than theirs he was saying but that would not make much
of a difference," Pratt said.
"He seemed to want to work with us."
"Yes, that was the impression I got," Ares said. "Get Weaver,
"Yes sir," Pratt replied then walked away to carry out
his orders.
"Thank you all for coming.
I want your input on what the next step should be. I think we have an ally down on Earth but we
must have a plan of what to do," Ares said.
"We need to get them to begin building a warfleet,"
Pratt said quickly. This was their
primary mission.
"Yes, but how should we get this operation started. I don't think they are quite there
technologically to undertake such an operation," Ares said.
"I should go down there and find out what I can about what
they would need," Weaver answered.
"Good, but we also need to understand if they are quite ready
for this. I have listened to them at it
seems that they are divided into several countries," Ares said.
"One of the moons had a substantial quantity of fuel and
another moon was full of metals we would need,"
"Yes, I remember that moon, there is a bit of fuel, but no
enough for what we need," Pratt said remembering what he had seen in the
reports.
"What about that planet we passed not long ago and fueled up
at. There were quite a lot of resources
on that planet, and an atmosphere that we could breathe," Gunther replied.
"It would be far enough away from Earth so they would not be
detected,"
"Hmm, it might work, we'll have to see. But it just might work," Ares said. "All right let's go with that for
now. We can use the Argo to transport
people back and forth between the two planets."
Ares dismissed the group feeling much better now that he had a
general plan to use. He would have to
wait to see what John could come up with next.
Jack walked into the office where one of his friends was. He had to wait a second while the man
finished his call but when he hung up he looked over to Jack with a smile on
his face.
"Mr. Williams, to what to I owe the pleasure," the man
said getting up and giving the man a hand shake.
"Something big Sam," Jack said to the man as he closed
the door.
"Well this must be big," Sam said as he sat back down
waiting for what Jack had to say.
Jack sat down before saying anything but he did lean forward. "What if I was to tell you that space
travel is not only possible but much closer to reality than ever before,"
Jack said.
"John, we are already going to the moon, we have two research
facilities up there already. There
really isn't much else to do up there right now," Sam said resting his
elbows on the table.
"Sam, we are about to get involved into something much bigger
than anything we've ever seen," Jack said.
"I personally visited a spaceship, and not just a ship, but a
warship."
Sam's eyebrow's rose with that.
He knew his friend was not one to talk lightly about such things. Now he was wondering what his friend was
thinking about.
"At first I thought that it might be a joke that Robert was
doing to keep his budget. But if it's a
joke it's the most elaborate prank I've ever seen. There were details on that ship that most
people would have never thought about. That and everyone seemed to know what
they were doing," Jack said to his friend.
"That and they did not seem too familiar with our culture. To hire that many actors would be very
difficult to pull off."
"Hmm," Sam said thinking about what his friend had
said. "So we're being visited by
another race."
"Not another race, they are humans with advanced
technology. I don't think even our
military is this advanced yet," Jack said.
"All right, let's say they are real, then what," Sam
said.
"We have an opportunity to gain technology, and there is
something else," Jack said.
"According to them there is a race out there, a machine race called
the Cylons.
They have been at war with each other for almost a hundred years
now."
"Now it's beginning to sound like a Terminator or Matrix
movie Jack," Sam said.
"I know but it’s true," Jack told him. "I believe them. And if what they say is true, we could be
next."
"Next," Sam said his eyebrows rising at that.
"I get the feeling that the war isn't going well
anymore. I also think even if we do
nothing we'll become involved anyways," Jack said to him. "It would be a waste if we don't get
some technology while we can. The only
problem is we can't tell others about it.
I don't think the general public is quite ready just yet."
"I think you're right about that. That would be quite a secret to keep you
know," Sam said but his mind was already thinking about the challenge.
"What do you think," Jack asked finally after a few
minutes of silence.
"It’s a challenge, and it will be hard to do," Sam said
before smiling. "Count me in."
"Great," Jack said.
"Commander, incoming message from Earth," Renee said
turning to look at Ares.
"Put it up here," Ares said turning to his console to
find out what had happened.
"Commander Ares," Nall said.
"What is the situation Lieutenant," Ares asked.
"Senator Williams just called me, or I should say Rebecca
with good news. He's got some people
together and they want to meet with you," Nall
replied.
"That's good news, we've come up
with a plan here as well. I can tell
them about it and see what they think," Ares said and after getting the
information about the meeting they ended the communications.
"Well it was good news," Ares said to Pratt. "Looks like you’re going to be in charge
again for a while."
"Hey, while you're down there, do you think you can get
something to eat for us," Pratt said.
"I'll see what I can do," Ares said with a grin.
End of Political Allies
Return to the Battlestar Galactica Page