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Battlestar Argo

By

AJ Marks

A Commitment Together

Troy sat down next to Bri at the cafeteria where a lot of the crew was eating new food from Earth. Most of it tasted quite good. The meat was something they had not had in a while, at least fresh meat. It was something called beef, and he had been told it came from an animal called a cow. There was also meat from a chicken, or bird. He was told that birds fly, but chickens did not. He wondered why call an animal something when it did not do something that the others did. There was a lot to learn about Earth.

"This isn't bad," Bri said biting into the sandwich that had been made. The Earthers called it a hamburger. Bri offered a bit to Troy who found out he liked it as well.

"That is different," Troy said. "I think I could get used to these."

"Me too," Bri said.

"We should be at the new base shortly after we finish eating," Troy said. "Green squad is to scout the area more while shuttles are sent down to begin the construction of the base."

Bri nodded her head in agreement. Looking around she could see quite a few Earthers on board. Most of them had been around areas where they could look outside. It was unlike anything they had ever seen before. Bri realized that she would be doing the same thing if she was in their position.

There seemed to be a mix of different people on board. They could make out some who appeared to be construction workers while others were planners. They were probably going to be working closely with Doctor Weaver in setting up the construction area. At the moment he was working on the secret that had been uncovered not that long ago.

"So what do you think so far," Bri asked Troy.

"So far everything is going as planned, which made people nervous," Troy answered. Whenever everything went as planned something happened to mess it up. He was wondering what it would be this time.

"Well, personally if everything goes this smoothly I'll be happy," Bri said.

"I know what you mean," Troy said.

Ares stood watching the activity of the bridge as the Argo made its way though space to the planet that would become their new base of operations. A few people had offered ideas of names for the planet and so far he had come to like a few of them. He was leaning towards Centari One. For some reason the name just felt right to him.

"Commander," a voice said behind him making him turn to see Senator Williams walking towards him.

"Jack," Ares said as the man approached him.

"Ares, boy that sounds strange," Jack said. "To me Ares is a Greek god of war."

A few muffled chuckles could be heard across the bridge as what Jack had said floated through the bridge. Ares himself was a bit amused by the name on Earth.

"Well, I'm sure some of my staff probably feel the same way," Ares said. "I am in command of a warship and my people are in a war against the Cylons."

"True, but I just think of ancient Greece and the weapons of the day, spears and swords," Jack said. "But I'll get over it. I wanted to come up here as we should be near the planet, or Centari One, soon."

"Yes, we're about to enter the system right now," Ares said. "We should begin our preparations now for landing on the planet."

"Good, I'll go let my people know," Jack said.

Ares watched the man go and realized that the more they talked the more they had in common and the more they did not have in common. The basic emotions and feelings were the same along with a lot of ideas. They were different in the way they viewed computers. It was a bit of a shock to realize that Earth was more advanced in that area then they were. That would have to be tested against what they knew of the Cylons.

"Take us into orbit around Centari One," Ares said to the bridge crew. He walked out to join Jack in briefing the group in what they were going to be doing on the planet in this first stage.

Nall and Rebecca walked towards the briefing room where a group of them would be briefed on what the procedure was going to be for scouting the planet for spots to begin construction of their bases. Nall was still amazed at the things Rebecca's laptop could do. They had spent the majority of the trip playing a game that she had on it. Nall was simply amazed at the detail that the computer was able to generate.

He noticed Troy and Bri already in the room standing off to one side. He walked over to where they were as Rebecca followed them. Bri gave him a smile which he returned back to her.

Troy watched the upcoming interaction as Nall and Bri said hello to each other with their normal bantering interaction. He was looking more at Rebecca as she looked at Bri. He could see that she seemed to be a bit jealous of what Bri was doing. He found it a bit funny considering Rebecca did not have to worry about it.

Troy also realized that it was something that he probably did when he was first getting to know Bri. He wondered if he should do anything just yet or let it go and watch it for now. With a shake of his head he realized that he was becoming like them in this regard. The two of them had sucked him into their world of teasing and he never really knew it.

"Thank you all for coming," Ares said in front of the room. Beside him Colonel Pratt and one of the senators were standing waiting for their part of the presentation.

"We are now in orbit around Centari One, this planet will form the basis of our new base. To my crew I wish to say that the voyage has been long and we will soon have a new base, friends and home. To those from Earth I welcome you aboard for this mission. Many of you don't know what's going on only that your skills are required and what you have heard from my crew," Ares said to the group looking out at everyone. "First off, yes, this ship and its crew are not from Earth. We are from a group of Twelve Colonies far away from here. They are currently struggling for survival which is why we are here. It's a two fold mission, one to warn you in case we lose our war, the second is to see if you'll help."

Ares looked around the room as he said that watching a couple of the faces frown at that comment. He knew that part of the mission would take time for those on Earth to understand. If Earth had been a bit more advanced in space travel then it might have been easier for them to believe.

"We're going to have those of you who are construction experts with the first group to scan the planet. What we need is a good place for a military base," Ares said.

"How large," one man said.

"As large as possible," Ares said. "Our enemy, the Cylons will not stop if they get by our military. The Earth will need a large military to stop them."

The senator stepped out next to the commander. "Ben, Greg and Ryan will stay here to discuss the preparations of a space dock, the others will split up between the shuttles to scan the planet. Once done and sites have been identified then we'll discuss where to begin construction of the base," he said to the group.

"All right, the pilots for the shuttles will be, Troy and Bri," Ares said watching as the two stepped forward. "Nall and Jax, Gunther and Cronus, and Markus and Jason."

The group split up and headed towards the hanger. The people from Earth split up quite evenly to go with the four shuttles. There were also a few people from Weaver's team along in each shuttle to help out and give their input as best as they could. Most of the pilots did not know much about construction so they would not help much for this mission.

Rebecca said good-bye to Nall watching as he left with Bri and the others. Her eyes narrowed a bit as Nall and Bri bumped each other as they walked out of the room. Rebecca realized that she wanted Nall she would have to get that blonde floozy out of the picture.

"Hey Nall, I hear you've been spending time on Earth," Jax said as she walked up to him after leaving the room. She had seen the dark haired woman that had walked in with Nall and the look that she had given Bri as the two of them walked out.

"Yeah, I was the contact for the senators on Earth to the Argo," Nall said. "I stayed with Rebecca, she's a nice person."

"Is that the tall dark haired woman that walked in with you," Jax asked.

"Yeah, why you know her or something," Nall asked.

"No, just wondering," Jax said. "So is she your latest fling?"

"No," Nall said a bit too quickly and Jax had her answer. "She's just, well she's nice to spend time with."

"And I'm not," Jax said putting a hand over her chest in a mocking gesture that she was crushed.

"No, no," Nall said. "Its just she's nice, that's all."

"All right," Jax said turning so Nall would not see her grin. Jax had the feeling that Nall liked this Rebecca more than he was saying. Perhaps this would be the person to tame the untamable Nall after all.

They entered their shuttle along with the other passengers and settled down in the pilot's seats.

"So how many times have you done this," one man said to them.

"Don't worry, you're perfectly safe. We've done this a lot of times," Nall replied as he started up the shuttles engines.

"Core command to shuttle Argo three, you're clear for launch, launch when ready," Renee's voice said over the intercom.

"Shuttle three to core command, we copy," Jax said as she made sure the flight controls were loaded into the computer. "All right, buckle up everyone."

With a glance into the passenger cabin to make sure everyone was sitting Nall turned back and nodded to Jax. They hit the thruster button and the shuttle launched out of the shuttle bay of the Argo and headed towards the planet.

Four shuttles made their way towards the planet that was designated Centari One. Ares could only hope that the group found a good place to begin their operations. They needed two things, fuel and supplies. Some supplies were going to be coming from Earth, but other supplies were going to be produced right here on this planet. He knew that it was going to be a challenge but he looked forward to it.

"How long do you think it will take your engineers to figure out where to build and mine," Pratt asked the two men as he walked up to the command platform where Ares and the senator was standing.

"I think it all revolves around ho w many people we have working and how easy it will be to get the ore out of the ground," Jack said from where he was standing.

"We need fuel and materials to build ships and the base," Ares said.

"Right," Jack said knowing that unlike the base on the moon this one would be a bit easier. With the technology that the Colonials had it would make building in space a bit easier. They had a few people who were skilled in it that could teach them.

"The next few years should be interesting," Robert said who was standing just off the command section of the bridge.

Ares had to agree with him with that statement. There were sure to be a lot of different challenges before Earth would be ready to even begin to take on the Cylons in battle. What he wanted to do now was prepare them to build ships and other military supplies that might help in the war.

Ares looked around and noticed that his crew was busy at work and wondered what the future held for them. Would they live the rest of their lives here with the people from Earth, or would they be able to return to the Colonies one day. That was something that he felt only time would tell.

Troy and Bri piloted the shuttle across the surface of the planet while the engineers looked at the scanners and the layout of the surface of the planet below them. They were looking for a place that might be best for them to begin their base of operations. At the moment they were looking for something that was close to raw materials and fuel and still had a flat enough area to build a base.

"Hold it, what about right there," one person said pointing to a place not that far away.

The others on the shuttle glanced at where he had pointed. Troy turned the shuttle over to that area for a closer inspection of the land in question. They looked at the scans and realized that a fuel source was close by, raw materials was a bit further away but it might be the best location at the moment.

"Let's land and check out the area first hand," Bri suggested to them. Troy figured that was a good idea as the shuttle turned down to land in the area. Bri sent up a message to the Argo to let them know that they might have found something.

The group got out and began to wonder around. The atmosphere was a bit thinner than what they were expecting and that was a bit of a concern for everyone. Some of the engineers thought that if they could planet some trees it might help produce the atmosphere better. It was breathable at least just the level of oxygen was a bit below what the scientists would have liked.

Troy looked around the area seeing that it was not quite flat like it looked like from above. There were a couple of areas that the builders would have to build around. A few larger hills than he would have liked but nothing that would not hinder the building too much.

"It’s kind of boring," Bri said looking over to where Troy was standing.

"Yeah, but at least you can see anything that comes your way," Troy said looking around the deserted landscape. "Let's take a soil sample back as well if they are thinking about planting trees or anything else here."

"Good idea," Bri said heading back inside to the shuttle to get the equipment. Troy watched her all the way and back. "What, do I have something on backwards," Bri asked feeling a little bit uncomfortable about Troy staring at her so much.

"Just admiring the view," Troy said with a smile.

"Oh, is that all," Bri said feeling a bit better. Then with a bit more of a swagger in her step she walked over to get a soil sample.

Troy knew that their relationship had grown over the last year and that they did love each other. Now that they had found Earth would it be time for him to ask her. He waged a quick war with himself and realized that if he did nothing he might do nothing for the rest of his life. With a deep breath he walked over to where Bri was crouched down gathering the soil sample.

He waited until she had stood back up and she was looking right at him before he said anything. "Bri, I was wondering, no, I'm hoping that you would do me the honor of joining with me," he said taking her hands in his as he waited for her answer. He was not sure what type of answer to expect and could only hold his breath until she did answer.

Bri's breath caught as she heard the words that he said to her. Her heart began to pound twice as fast as she realized that he really was asking her. She had been wondering about Troy's feelings towards her and a future with him.

"Yes," she finally said causing a smile to appear on his face as he gave her a hug and a kiss to help seal the commitment.

At that moment the rest of the group came up to where they were standing. A few of them had grins on their faces at the scene that Bri and Troy were making. Troy was grinning and Bri radiated happiness as she looked around. Doctor Weaver's assistant looked between the two of them and grinned at them. He had figured out what had happened. Troy had finally gathered the courage to propose to Bri.

"Are we done here," Troy asked the group wondering if they had collected everything that they needed.

"For now we're done," one of the men said. "This spot appears to be just right, but we'll see what the other teams come up with before making a final decision.

The group headed back to the shuttle to continue their exploration of the planet then head back to the Argo.

Nall and Jax continued to fly their arranged path with their group but they had not found anything worth while. They had come across a few scattered fields of resources that would be helpful later on but nothing that would constitute a base like they wanted.

"Well this hasn't been a very successful flight for a base," Jax said as they finished their patrol and headed back to the Argo which was in orbit around the planet.

"Nope, I hope that the others have better luck than we did," Nall replied. There seemed to be just too many mountains in their area for any bases.

"I hope so too, I did hear that a couple of the others landed to investigate some promising areas," Jax replied as the Argo came into view.

"Yeah, and it sounded like Troy and Bri were a bit excited about something else," Nall said.

"Yeah, they did sound a bit too excited," Jax said thinking about it. "Perhaps they think they found the perfect base."

"Perhaps, but I just don't think so," Nall said thinking about the tone he had heard in Bri's voice.

"I guess we'll find out," Jax said as they piloted the shuttle into the hanger of the Argo.

"I guess so," Nall replied as the shuttle landed on the hanger. They were the first ones back and would be the first to debrief the commander along with the Earth advisors that were on board.

Nall watched as Bri and Troy walked in along with the others from their shuttle. He could see the happiness that radiated from Bri as she walked into the room. Something had happened and he was determined to find out what it was. He listened to what they had found and so far it seemed to be the best spot so far. There was little that he could see that the spot did not have.

Nall kept glancing back to Bri and Troy. Something was definitely up with them making him want to know what it was. He hated to be left out in the dark about things.

"Well they appear to be very happy," Jax said as she leaned over to whisper what she said to Nall.

"Yeah they do," Nall replied. Now he was positive that something had happened nad he was determined to find out what it was.

The rest of the briefing when quite well. They had decided to investigate the landing zone that Bri and Troy had found first. It seemed to be the best one that they had found so far. The group split up as the scientist and construction workers went over the data of the site. Nall made his way over to where Troy and Bri were standing.

"So how are you two doing," Nall said as he walked over and placed a hand on Bri's shoulder.

"Ah ah, better be careful, you're looking at a recently proposed to woman now," Bri said as she stood up to her full height which was still shorter than anyone else in the room.

"Well I'll be," Nall said turning to Troy. "You finally did it, or did she get tired of waiting, I hear that happens to her if you tease her enough," he said with a smile which earned him a sharp elbow to his ribs.

"And just how would you know," Bri said green eyes boring into his own eyes.

"Cause I've been around you enough to know," Nall said putting an arm around her. "Seriously though congratulations," he suddenly said then gave her a hug.

Troy was about to say something when movement by the door caught his eye. He noticed Rebecca walk out of the room and wondered what happened there. Shrugging it off with a feeling that things will work out by his vision he turned back to Nall and Bri.

"So I guess this means you won't be a virgin anymore," Troy heard Nall say to Bri only to see her turn red. "Or are you not so innocent anymore? Do you need me during the honeymoon to give you pointers as well?"

Troy could only laugh at his so to be wife's face as she turned even redder than she had been before. Nall was heading for a comeback from Bri and in a way he only hoped he was there for it. He had come to enjoy their bantering.

"I think you really do enjoy the poundings and humiliation that Bri gives you Nall," Troy finally said breaking the look the two were giving each other. They decided to make their way out of the room to celebrate the soon to be joining.

"Well it's about time," Pratt said from where he was standing watching what had been going on as he turned to Ares after Troy, Bri and Nall walked out of the room.

"I think I have to agree with you there my friend," Ares said having heard most of the conversation from where he was as well.

"You know a lot of people are going to be disappointed," Pratt said with a bit of a smile.

"Oh really," Ares said with a frown on his face. He had not heard of anyone else trying to romance either Bri or Troy.

"Yep, they won't win the contest, when will they get joined, and the which one will ask contest," Pratt said smiling. "I think I have a good chance of winning though."

Ares shook his head not really sure how to reply to that. It really did not surprise him to hear of the contest though. They had contests for just about anything and everything that someone could think of. It was a way to pass the time while they had been in space.

"I need to get back up to the bridge, we're expecting the next news report from the colonies and I want to see how the war effort is going," Ares said to his friend. "Let me know what happens here."

Ares then walked out of the room and headed towards the bridge. Pratt looked around noticing that everyone was busy working on the data that had come from the planet's surface. He had the feeling that they would be making up their minds soon. Walking over to where they were he involved himself in the discussion which was just about to wind down anyways. They had decided where they were going to build the first base. The place where Bri and Troy had landed to inspect a potential spot for a base. With a quick agreement Pratt went to tell Ares what they had decided so they could begin the next part of the mission.

End of A Commitment Together

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