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Battlestar Argo

By

AJ Marks

Legend's Beginning

Ares glanced out of the window for about the hundredth time. So far all they could see was pitch blackness. There was little that they could do except head straight though. Troy had said that to get to Kobal they needed to head though a great void. The end of the void would be a bright light leading them out of the darkness.

He was still trying to figure out what created this darkness. There was no viable explanation for it. It was almost as if the Argo had entered a black hole. There was little for everyone to do except to wait until they reached the end of the void. He did wonder as to how the survivors of Kobal had made it through the void as even they were struggling. Troy said that it was the light of a distant star that led them out of the void. Ares wondered if it was not all just a fable even though the void did seem to exist.

"Commander," Pratt said gaining Ares attention. "Take a look commander," he said pointing out to the window. There in the view was a single light almost as if it was a beacon.

"Helm, make a new course and head towards that light," Ares said to which the helm replied.

It did not take as long as Ares thought until they came out of the void and he could see stars all around now. The star that had led them out of the void had several planets around it and one seemed like it had held life at one time. The other strange thing was it had ancient buildings on the planet's surface. Troy was almost begging to go the surface of the planet. After a few minutes Ares finally relented and allowed a small team led by Troy to go down.

Troy approached the shuttle that also had five other people. The group consisted of a scientist, another technician and three warriors. The scientist and technician Troy did not know but the three warriors he did now. They quickly boarded the shuttle which was given permission to launch and they made their way to the surface of the planet.

"What do you think we'll find," one person said. Troy looked over to see that it was Bri who had said something. He could remember that her real name was Gabrielle, but everyone called her Bri instead.

No one was really sure what they would find on the planet's surface. A couple of them thought that this planet could be Kobal but there was no way of knowing just yet. Troy thought that privately everyone hoped that it was the legendary planet as it might contain some clues to where the thirteenth tribe had gone.

"So where do you think we should go," the pilot asked. Everyone glanced out the window to see what was out there. It was something that Troy was sure everyone had been thinking about already. They were looking around when someone noticed what appeared to be pyramids in the distance. Deciding that it might be the best bet they made their way there.

Settling down on the surface of the planet the shuttle doors opened and they were able to see what the pyramids looked like up close. There were three of them and each was quite large and grand looking.

"Well," Bri asked the group. They all looked at what was before them.

"Tell you what, lest split up," Troy said. "We can cover more ground that way, just be sure to keep in radio contact."

"Good idea," the scientist said. "I'll go to one pyramid, my assistant to another and you to the third."

"And we'll each take a warrior with us just in case," Troy said.

Troy paired up with Bri and together they walked off towards the far pyramid. The sun was not too hot even though it was still on its journey up. Troy figured that it would only get hotter as they continued to approach the pyramid.

"What are we looking for," Bri asked as her green eyes scanned the pyramid.

"I'm not sure Bri," Troy replied as they continued their trek. It was something that he had been thinking about himself. He would have rather gone to the large pyramid but the scientist had taken that one instead so he was left with this one.

"Do you really think that this is Kobal," Bri asked him.

"Well, I'm not sure but it could be," Troy replied to her question. They continued to walk as Bri talked almost the entire time. He had learned that she had been an orphan early in her life thanks to the Cylons. She had wanted to serve in the Colonial forces ever since. She wanted to one day command a battlestar but had ended up volunteering for this mission as something told her to.

Troy only had to nod his head and say yes or no as Bri continued to talk to him. He had found out that the woman was not shy about anything. He had wondered if he would be able to talk to her but now realized that he would not have to say anything.

"Wow, it's huge, not as large as the grand one but it’s still massive," Bri said as she looked at the massive building in front of them.

"I guess we should walk along the outside and see if we can find anything," Troy said logically.

Together they walked along the base of the pyramid looking for anything they might be able to use.

The two of them had been searching for a while when Bri noticed something. She pointed it out to Troy who decided that they should get a closer look at whatever it was. Troy decided to communicate with the others to tell them that they might have found something. From the sound of the other groups nothing had been discovered yet.

On the bridge of the Argo Ares paced back and forth while waiting for anything to happen. He was not sure what they would encounter while they were stopped by the planet. He just did not want to chance anything just yet. Their mission had just started and he knew that the trip would not be smooth sailing. He just did not want trouble just yet.

The report then came in that Captain Troy and Lieutenant Bri had found something by the pyramid that they were looking at. Ares though that this was good news. Now if only they could find something that would help them find Earth and the thirteenth tribe.

Ares was already thinking about what to do if there was nothing on the planet. From what he had been told by Troy the thirteenth tribe had set out on a different path than the other twelve. That meant that they might have gone in the opposite direction then the other twelve.

Ares did realize that being just a little off course would mean that they could miss Earth by hundreds of light years depending on how far out the thirteenth tribe had traveled.

That also brought another thought to his mind. How long should they travel before turning around and come back. Would there be anything left to come back to. If they did would there be peace between the colonies and the Cylons or would one of the two have won the war. The questions were just too many for him to think about right now. He would cross that bridge when he got to it.

Troy and Bri walked towards what appeared to be an entrance in the pyramid. It actually stood out a bit from the rest of the pyramid. As they approached it they could hear over the intercom that another group had found something similar on another pyramid. It was looking like they would be able to find something out about this planet after all.

They reached what they hoped was an entrance. Glancing around they looked for a way to open the door. Troy looked at the side of the area for anything that might look like a key that would open the entrance. After a few moments Bri thought she had found something on her side.

Troy walked over to the spot and had to admit that it probably was the entrance key. There was a small indention in the panel. The shape was vaguely familiar to him as he looked at it. He then realized what it was.

Reaching up he pulled out a necklace that had a medallion on it that was shaped the same as the indentation. Bri watched as Troy placed the medallion in the indentation and the stones began to move. After a moment the stones had moved aside to reveal a tunnel that led into the pyramid.

"This is Captain Troy, we've found an entrance into the pyramid. We're going inside to see if we can find anything," Troy said to the others. They replied that they were still looking at their pyramids to see if they could get inside.

Troy grabbed a light as they began their decent into the pyramid. The air was stale inside the small corridor. He made his way down the corridor with Bri right behind him. They both wondered what they would find at the end of the corridor as they could not see anything just yet. The walls were bare of anything and Troy wondered where they were heading.

After a while of walking which Troy was now sure that they had walked though the Pyramid and were about to come out the other side the corridor turned almost completely around and descended down a long hallway. The two made their way down the slope carefully as the floor was covered in pebbles that threatened their traction. The last thing either of them wanted to do was slide down to the bottom. They finally reached the bottom and were about to continue down the corridor when Troy noticed another indentation on the wall.

"This looks familiar," he said to Bri who nodded her head in agreement.

Troy took out his medallion again. They had to spin around at the sound of movement behind them. The wall that had been behind them had risen up to reveal another room. Inside the room was a large tomb in the center of the room. The walls were lined with writings that Troy figured would take a while to decipher. Troy began to look around while Bri also glanced around at the wall. There was another light along the far wall which she lit to have more light in the room.

Together they looked over everything that was in the room. They had found out that the tomb was the resting place of the wife of the last ruler of Kobal. That had been exciting news to uncover. There were standing on the planet of their ancestors. The rest of the walls read like a book of the history of their rule. The planet had been dying due to several things. The thirteen tribes decided to leave the planet in search of a new beginning.

"Over here," Bri said excitedly. Troy walked over to see what she had found hoping that it was really something worth it. He glanced at what she was looking at and realized that she had found a big clue as to the departure of the thirteenth tribe. He did not have the knowledge to understand it though.

"This is Captain Troy come in," Troy said into his communicator waiting for a response. It took a few microns before someone replied.

"Have you found anything captain," came the voice of the scientist. From the sound of his voice Troy knew that they had not found anything at the other pyramids.

"We've found something inside the pyramid. Looks like it was the wife of the last ruler of Kobal," Troy replied listening to the excited sounds from the others. They said that they would be right there. Bri volunteered to lead them down to the room while Troy continued to search the room.

Ares listened to the report as they came in on the bridge of the Argo. They were waiting to see if the groups would find anything. So far is seemed like Troy and Bri were the most likely to find something. He listened as Troy's latest report came in from the communicator. He mentioned something about the last ruler's wife of Kobal.

The words stunned the bridge for a few microns as the words sunk in along with their meaning. Then a cheer rose up as people realized that they had found the planet Kobal. This is where everything had started from. This is where the thirteen tribes had left to go across the stars and make new homes.

The news was really a revelation for Ares. He had never put too much faith into the religions. He had assumed that the colonies had been a local colonization with the mention of Kobal and Earth as myths and legends that had been updated over time. Now he was wondering if the texts were based on some kernel of truth. The question now was would there be enough information to get a direction for the thirteenth tribe. Even then he realized that there were several factors that would factor into their finding Earth, if it existed.

They would have to account for the rotation of the galaxy as well. If they new where the thirteenth tribe had gone the scientist would be able to narrow down the possibilities and hopefully find the missing tribe.

"This is good news," Pratt said as he stood beside Ares.

"Yes it is," Ares replied. "We might also be on the watch for any religious complications that this might bring."

"Complications," Pratt asked now sure that he followed what Ares meant.

"Everyone believes in the story of Kobal a bit differently. They might take this as a sign that they're way is the right way. I just don't want any religious wars going on aboard my ship," Ares said.

"I see," Pratt replied. He had not fully understood what Ares meant until then. "We'll keep our eyes open."

Troy did not have to wait very long until the other four came into the room led by Bri. They also carried lit torches for light. The scientist quickly walked over to where Troy was standing looking at one of the walls.

"What have you found," he asked Troy.

"It seems to be an account of where the thirteenth tribe is going," Troy replied to him.

"Interesting," the man said peering at the writing on the wall as his assistant came over to help as well.

The three men seemed to look at the wall and talk it over among themselves leaving the other three warriors standing on the other side of the room. One of the men was tall and blonde the other had black hair and not quite as tall.

"What do you think," one of the men asked Bri as they looked at the wall.

"I don't know. I’m not much of an archeologist though," the man replied. "I know enough history to know what I believe."

"Really Martin," the other man said. "I thought you lived for this."

"Ha-ha," Martin replied. "Not really. I hope we find something though. It might make our trip quicker."

"True," the other man replied. "Do you think Earth really exists then?"

"Yes," a voice said from across the room. "It’s mentioned right here," the man said pointing to a spot on the wall where a lot of writing was.

"Good, does it tell us how to get there," the dark haired man said.

"Or how long it will take," Martin asked.

"That is what we are working on right now," Troy said from where he was standing looking at the writings.

"Look here," the scientist said. "It says they took two ships, the Hermes and Celesta."

"That doesn't sound like a lot," Troy replied looking at the writings.

"No, probably only a couple of hundred people," the scientist replied.

"Seems like that they wanted to get away from everyone else. That would explain why they didn't settle near the other twelve," Troy said.

"Then how do we know they will even remember the other twelve colonies," Martin asked logically.

"We don't," the assistant replied for everyone. "There may not even be anyone left alive on Earth."

"That's comforting," Bri replied.

"I think we'll need the Argo's astrological charts to accurately predict where they went. It will be able to account for the movements of the stars. That and this information here should give us a good starting position," the scientist said.

"Good work Dr. Weaver," his assistant said.

Troy looked at the information and realized that Weaver was right in his speculation. The Argo would be able to give them a better direction of where the group went. The only problem was with the movement it would decrease the possibilities of missing Earth but a little bit.

"Let's head back to the Argo," Troy said. Everyone agreed and they began walking back to the shuttle. The sun was now overhead and the temperature had risen quite a bit making them all sweat before they got a little bit away from the pyramids.

"Yuck," Bri said as she walked. "I hate sweating like this, now I'll have to take a shower when we get back."

"Need any help," the dark haired warrior said with a waggle of his eyebrows.

"Ugh, no thanks Nall," Bri replied giving him a push.

"Ah, come on. I won't peak, much," he replied with a grin.

Bri rolled her eyes at Nall and continued to march off leaving the rest of the group behind a bit. Troy could only watch as Bri and Nall bantered back and forth. He was a bit jealous of the way the two of them seemed at ease with each other. He found Bri to be quite attractive and had hoped that maybe he might be able to gain her attention.

"Haven't you learned anything by now," Martin said to Nall.

"Nope," Nall replied as he quickened his pace to catch up with Bri.

"All right but when you're face down in the sand don't say I didn't warn you," Martin replied with a chuckle.

Troy and the other two looked at Martin hoping that he would tell them what was going on. Martin noticed that they were looking at him and knew that he would have to say something.

"We were all assigned to the Atlantia after training and Nall prides himself on being a ladies man. Bri was able to resist his charms and that was the beginning of the strangest friendship I've ever seen," Martin replied. "I know Bri isn't interested in him and he knows it. I guess that's why he is more obnoxious around her than others. It's almost like a comedy duo."

"I see," Troy said feeling better at this looking back ahead to see Bri plowing Nall face down in the sand with a smile on her face.

"I told you," Martin said as Nall stood up spitting sand out of his mouth and brushing it out of his mustache.

Ares waited as the shuttle landed on the landing bay of the Argo a bit impatiently. He wanted to know what they had found on the planet's surface, besides several large pyramids. He really hoped that they had found a direction to travel to see if this legendary planet really existed.

The door to the shuttle opened letting all six occupants out of the craft. He saw Troy was one of the first ones out of the shuttle and Ares could only hope that he had good news. He did not want to stay too close to the colonies in an effort to avoid any Cylon contact.

"Well," he asked when Troy got near enough for them to talk.

"We just night have found something commander," Troy replied with a smile. "It seems that the thirteenth tribe left Kobal in two ships, the Hermes and the Celesta."

"That is interesting news," Ares replied.

"There is more. It seems that the thirteenth tribe was a loner tribe. Not very big but basically kept to themselves. That is why they went a different direction than the other tribes," Troy told him.

"So," Ares said knowing that there was more to the story than just this.

"We are not sure how we will be received when we find them," Weaver said from behind Troy.

"I see, we could be attacked on sight then," Ares said watching as two heads nodded in agreement. "Well then, we'll meet that daggit when we get to it."

"Right," Weaver said agreeing with Ares. "First off we need to analyze the information that we received. Then we should have a pretty good idea as to where the thirteenth tribe went."

"All right, the sooner the better," Ares said. "The last thing we need is for Cylon intervention on this mission."

The group quickly split up and went on their way. Troy told the others that he was going to work with Weaver on the direction that the thirteenth tribe went.

"I'll see you later you three," Troy said giving Martin a slap on the back. He briefly stopped what he was doing to the point that everyone looked at him.

"You all right," Martin asked with a bit of concern.

"Yeah," Troy said shaking his head a bit. "I should get going if I'm going to catch up with the doctor there."

Ares watched Troy wondering what it was that had made him stop for such a moment. He wondered if Troy had seen something about this mission. He guessed that whatever it was he would not withhold it if it was important to the mission. He could only hope that Troy would tell him what happened before it was too late.

Weaver examined the text that they had very carefully. Using the Argo's navigation computers he set up what the universe would have looked like at about the time that the thirteenth tribe would have left Kobal. He noticed that the twelve colonies were a bit further apart at that time but had since drifted closer together.

"Any luck," Troy said as he walked into the lab. He saw that Weaver had already made the calculations of what the universe would have looked like so long ago.

"The computer just finished set up my parameters," Weaver said sitting down at a table.

Troy walked over and sat down as well as Weaver's assistant. The three of them worked over every possible angle that they might have to figure out where they might need to go. They worked for quite a while until they finally agreed on a general group of stars that the tribe would have gone to.

"All right, let's highlight these stars and move it ahead to today’s positions," Weaver said.

After a few moments the universe was back to the present one. Looking at the way the stars lined up they were no longer in as straight a line but all in a general direction which was good for them. That meant that they would not be traveling all over the universe to get where they needed to go.

"Well this is probably some good news," the assistant said.

Troy nodded his head then suggested that they go and tell the commander what they had found. Weaver agreed and they left for the bridge of the Argo.

It did not take long for them to arrive on the bridge where Ares was waiting for them. He was quietly sitting down at his console reading the latest news from the colonies. It was the one thing that would happen. Regular transmissions were sent out in their direction with the hope that it would keep the crew of the Argo in touch with their homes. The only thing that they could not do would be replying to the messages.

Ares was glad to hear that nothing had happened lately on the war front. There seemed to be a small break in hostilities. It happened quite often and was usually a sign that something else was going to happen. It did not mean that no fighting was occurring but just that everything was small at the moment.

Ares looked up when he felt a presence on the bridge. He noticed that the scientist and Troy were making their way over to where he was. He hoped that they had found something that they would be able to use.

"Dr. Weaver, Troy, I hope that you have found a direction that we should head in," Ares said to the two men.

"I believe we have," Weaver replied bringing up the selected stars that the two of them had figured out to be the best bet where the thirteenth tribe had gone.

"Interesting," Ares replied a bit disappointed that there were so many stars to check out. He was hoping for few but decided not to argue.

"These are only a few of the stars, but we isolated the most promising ones," Weaver said.

"All right, and what do you think," Ares asked Troy. He was hoping that the man had some insight as to where to head.

"Nothing sir," Troy replied knowing what Ares was asking.

"What are you two talking about," Weaver asked a bit in the dark about what the two men were talking about.

Ares and Troy looked at each other a bit. Troy finally gave a small shake of his head and so did Ares. They were not going to tell everyone but if Troy worked with Weaver enough with this then the man should know.

"Well," Troy said his voice dropping to a whisper so others would not hear him. "My family has been bless, or cursed depending on how you look at it, with the ability to see images of what might be the future."

"What might be," Weaver asked not really sure he understood what Troy was saying.

"Its possible outcomes of the future. I have no way of knowing when they will occur or what will cause them. It grows stronger as we age. My father already knew what the mission was and gave me this," Troy said taking out the medallion from under his shirt. "It’s been handed down through the generations saying it was important that it would be given to the first born male of the family. It was what allowed me into the pyramid. He told me that it would be needed on this mission to lead the way. I guess he knew."

"Well, whatever it was that he knew, whether it was a dream or not I did help us," Weaver said.

"I guess we should get going then. We have a lot of traveling to do in the next couple of yehrens," Ares said standing up. He walked over the helm officer and gave him the direction of the nearest star.

The Argo's engines powered up and they left at their normal cruising speed for the star and the beginning of their travels. They could only hope that Earth would not be that far away yet far enough to not have been bothered by the Cylons.

End of Legend’s Beginning

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