Disclaimers: See Part 1
To Stop Running
by
AJ Marks
Part 4
"Cylons?" Admiral White repeated. He had never heard of the race, or group, but it was obvious to him that the man in front of him had encountered them before. Judging by the expression on the man's face it was not good either.
"Are you sure about this picture?" Apollo asked as he held the picture in his hands.
"Yes, it was taken from the security camera of the station that was destroyed. The camera was found in the remains and this picture was found. We assumed that it was yours, possible a bomber." The admiral replied and thought about what he had just said. He did not recall seeing any such ships in the landing bays that he was in. His thinking was interrupted by Apollo talking.
"I must warn my fleet about this. They are in great danger." Apollo said not knowing what type of reaction he would get from the man sitting across from him.
Admiral White sat there thinking about what Apollo had said. Did he trust Apollo that much as to let him contact his fleet. There had to be a way to gain some trust between the two groups, because if what Apollo was saying they would be joining forces soon.
"I'd like to see your hangers please." The admiral said.
Apollo thought about the strange request and decided to go on ahead and show the man the hangers. Apollo led the man through the hangers and was watching to see what the man was trying to do. It was a bit dangerous, what if they were in contact with the Cylons and using this as an opportunity to find out what the defenses of the fleet were. He had been given the photo moments before he had left the Pacifica and knew that after looking around the hanger bays that this ship and its crew were not the ones who had attacked their outpost.
"Its quite an impressive ship commander." The admiral said after they got back to Apollo's office.
"Call me Apollo, I never quite got used to the commander thing." Apollo said wondering what the man was thinking.
"Call me John, and tell me more about these Cylons that you spoke of earlier." John said.
"The Cylons are the ones who have chased us across the galaxy for more than fifteen yehrans now. We were at war with them for a long time before they managed a surprise attack that wiped out most of our battle fleet. They used the ruse of peace to make us lower our defenses and then crushed our fleet and our home worlds." Apollo told the admiral who sat there listening to Apollo. "They are ruthless machines who desire nothing more than wiping us out. We thought that we had left them behind some time ago, but it looks like we were mistaken."
"So they attack you because of what you are?" John asked to try and clarify the statement.
"That's about it, they don't like any kind of organic life." Apollo told John.
"We are at risk then." John said and Apollo nodded his head. "Then it appears that we have a common enemy, and there's a saying among my people, the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
Apollo had to laugh at the logic of the statement, only because it made a little bit of since. He also had to agree with the statement, and it looked like for right now they had made a friend.
"I need to contact my fleet." Apollo said and John agreed and they went to the bridge of the Pegasus.
Admiral John White glanced around the bridge, it was spacious but very functional and easy to get around. He followed Apollo to the middle of the bridge where there was a raised platform that was for the captain of the ship. Very smart, John thought seeing that the captain could overlook the entire bridge and see what was going on with a glance, very efficient.
"Get me the Galactica." Apollo said to his communications officer and only had to wait a second before the order was carried out.
"We're receiving a communications form the Pegasus commander." Omega said to Tigh.
"Put it through, maybe we can get some answers that we can use against the council in their attack against Apollo." Tigh said and watched as Apollo appeared on the screen just as councilman Ziers walked onto the bridge and Tigh could only groan.
"Tigh, I have some bad news." Apollo said before being interrupted by the councilman.
"Commander Apollo, and I use the term commander in the loosest sense, you are ordered by the council to return and stand trial in front of the council." Ziers proclaimed in front of the entire bridge. He had expected Apollo to be shocked or something, but the mask that Apollo wore betrayed nothing.
"Tigh, there's a problem, our new allies have informed me that they were just attacked today by the Cylons." Apollo said ignoring the councilman as his statement echoed throughout the bridge.
"Are you sure about that Apollo?" Tigh asked with some concern as he forgot all about the councilman on the bridge.
"I'm sure about it, they were afraid that we were the same ones who attacked them, looks like it was the Cylons, but how they were able to catch up with us so fast without us knowing is still a mystery." Apollo replied.
"This is serious Apollo, we need all of the information that you can get to us about this." Tigh told him taking charge of the situation. "If it is Cylons then things have just changed drastically."
"I know." Apollo said as Admiral John White watched in fascination of the two men ignoring the other man, who seemed to be part of a governing council continue to talk.
"I demand that you step down now, and if this continues then I'll ask for you to Commander Tigh." Ziers said his face starting to turn red from his anger. "There is still no evidence that the Cylons have caught up to us."
"NO EVIDENCE!" John roared silencing the councilman. "Are you saying that thirty-five of my men have died and its not evidence, unless you attacked them!" John said challenging the man.
"Who are you and what are you doing on our ship?" Ziers said trying to make since out of this person.
"Lets get a couple of things straight. One, this ship has surrendered to me, and is now under my command, second Commander Apollo will remain in command of the ship until I decide that he is no longer fit, which from what I've heard won't be happening anytime soon." John said with authority in his voice making Ziers back down.
Tigh had watched in amazement as this man finally put the stuck up councilman in his place and there was not a thing the man could do about it except huff about it.
"I think we should raise the alert levels and patrols of the fleet commander." Apollo said to Tigh knowing that with the Cylons near it would only be a matter of time before the Cylons found them.
"I'll see to it immediately." Tigh said signing off.
"This action is not approved by the council!" Ziers said trying to regain control of the situation.
"You go to the council, you tell them what's going on, I'm going to increase patrols now before they find us." Tigh said turning to Omega and telling him to ready a flight of patrols.
Apollo looked at the admiral and wondered what was going on through his head.
"How good is your military?" Apollo asked wondering if they should try to help them.
"Up until twenty years ago our military was limited to planetary forces, that's when we were attacked by an unknown race." John stated retelling the story that led them to where they were now. "We were able to defeat them with some superior computer technology that was developed. We then created a new space military for the purpose of repelling any further attacks by them."
"Were they machines?" Apollo asked wondering if it was the Cylons.
"No, they were organic beings who only wanted destroy us." John replied. "They did have some awesome military technology that we were able to us. We currently have over a hundred ships available for combat."
"Perhaps we can help each other out of a jam." Apollo said to John.
"I need to talk to my fleet." John said as a communications link was established.
Ziers walked back into the council room and noticed that most of the council members were still there. They looked up when he stormed into the room.
"They've really gone to far this time." Ziers said with a sneer on his face and it made Markus wonder what had happened to the man's plan.
"It seems that Commander Apollo has managed to get himself and the Pegasus captured by an enemy force." Ziers said before continuing. "And it seems that Commander Tigh is going to do nothing about it." Ziers said and Markus could not believe what he was hearing
Markus noticing that there was not a full council decided to get the information straight from the source rather than from Ziers. He did not trust the man to tell the truth and even now was wondering how much truth the man was saying.
He got up and walked out excusing himself to go to the bathroom and then he went straight to the bridge.
Ziers watched as Markus left and knew that he had to act fast while the man was out to get the council to vote in his favor and began to outline his plan to the council.
Starbuck and Boxey were lead into a small cell that Starbuck recognized as the equivalent to their brigs. They were put in the same one and Starbuck sat down on the bench while Boxey aced in the small cell.
"Sit down kiddo, we are not going anywhere." Starbuck replied to his wing mate.
They waited a few more minutes before a guard came up and motioned for Starbuck to come out and follow him. Starbuck gave Boxey a grin and followed the guard out of the area. They walked a bit further down the corridors before they arrived at a small room with a table and a couple of chairs. Starbuck recognized it for what it was, an interrogation room.
"Have a seat." The man sitting down in one of the chairs said. Starbuck sat down across from the man.
"Do you recognize the ship in this picture?" The man said tossing a picture to Starbuck.
Starbuck looked at the picture and felt his blood go cold. "Cylons."
"Who are the Cylons?" The man asked.
"A race of machines who want nothing but total domination of all organic life, they destroyed my home world some time ago." Starbuck replied.
"So they are a threat to us as well?" The man asked.
"Yes, they'll keep attacking until you're destroyed." Starbuck replied.
The man remained quiet looking at the paper in front of him. So far this pilot had answered the question the same as the commander of the captured ship had. It further established that they were not behind the attacks on the listening outpost and that there was another race that was bent on destroying them.
He let Starbuck go and sent for the other pilot who's name was Boxey. This one was younger and less experienced. He would be able to gather some better information from him.
The interrogator asked the same questions to Boxey and the young pilot answered the same, with a bit of variance but that was to be expected. The younger man would have a different point of view than the older pilot. He guessed that Boxey was just a boy when the attack happened, a thought that was verified by the pilot himself a bit later on. He also learned form Boxey that Starbuck had been present when the Cylons had destroyed their fleet. And Boxey had watched as the Cylons destroyed the city that he lived in.
The interrogator could sympathize with pilot. He had watched as his own planet had come close to being destroyed by an alien invader not that long ago.
He walked back to the cell with Boxey. Now that they knew the truth the two men would not be held in the cell, but let go and given quarters until things were straightened out.
Starbuck saw that Boxy was on his way back this time with the interrogator. He looked Boxey over to make sure that there was no injury to the man.
"It you'll follow me I lead you to some better quarters. It appears that we have a common enemy, the Cylons." The man said to the two pilots.
"I figured." Starbuck said as they started to walk out of the room.
"Well, we've been attacked once, but this time we won't allow Earth to invaded again." The man said and almost ran into Starbuck as he abruptly stopped.
"Did you say Earth?" Starbuck asked in a bit of amazement.
"Yes." The man replied puzzled.
"By all that's holy." Starbuck whispered. "Can you get me in touch with my commander."
"The man thought about it, then agreed that he could.
A few minutes later Apollo, standing next to another man who Starbuck did not recognize was on the screen.
"Good to see that you're in one piece Starbuck, how's Boxey?" Apollo asked.
"He's fine, but they're from Earth!" Starbuck said.
"Earth!" Apollo repeated.
End Part 4
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