Book 4:Chapter 32 “The end?”
24 hours ago. Admiral Lawson is in bed, tossing and turning.
It was a dark night, there was a cold, howling wind. Lightning flashed often, sometimes illuminating the priests body. Sometimes masculine, sometimes feminine. Sometimes both.
They were dressed in rags. They seemed impervious to the cold. Their clothing was tattered and there was dirt smudged on their face. Their hair was dirty. Their eyes were clouded until they focused on the admiral, who was dressed in her pajama bottoms and a brown, sleeveless military issue tee shirt.
“Don’t need kamalah to see your soul. Major Eva Lawson. No. Commander, now fleet admiral.”
Lawson: “What the frak are you doing in my dreams? I am not religious.”
“You have said that all your life. Now you have doubts. You are not sure that God does not exist.”
Lawson: “Don’t you mean Gods? I thought you were a priest. Um priests????”
“I have seen many things. I have seen human and Cylon reach, marry, have children and die. Some day Hera will have billions of descendents. I have seen her die.”
Lawson: “You are speaking in riddles. I am going to get up and open my eyes next.”
“Beware of Kera Thrace, she will lead humanity to its end.”
“She’s dead. At least gone nearly thirty years.You really should invest in a calendar.”
“May I have some water, admiral?”
The priest’s eyes were suddenly clear and they made eye contact with Lawson. Lawson was kneeling, trying to absorb more warmth from the fire. They reached forward, towards Lawson’s stomach.
“Something new! Forty years. Something has changed. What is in there. Sun? No, it is a son.” The priest rubbed Lawson’s belly and then raised a hand to her forehead.
“I need my sleep” Lawson pushed the young priest’s hands away.
Did I not tell you that you would meet Admiral Adama? You met Adama didn’t you? True or false?”
“I had a frakked out dream.I know it’s not true.”
“Your journey will span many centuries when you arrive on earth.”
“Maybe I should take the kamalah,” Lawson opined.
“Do not harm the baby. You need a taste.”
The priests touched the Admiral on her cheeks. The scene went dark.
Lawson awoke in some kind of motor vehicle. It was barreling along a highway. There was some kind of loud music blaring out of the car radio. She could see trees going by and recognized the paved highway for what it was.
A voice began to speak. “Another day has gone by and President Reagan’s star wars plan has not led us to Armageddon.”
“I will be back with ten songs in a row and no commercials. This is WPLR 99.1 FM. Classic rock. New Haven” Static blocked the rest of the word.
“What the frak?” Lawson asked from the right hand seat.
“Mom, why are you making up words?”
CIC Mercury.
“This is Major Langer, XO Saturn, We will send you our planes, and fight until the ship is mostly evacuated. If by some miracle, we survive until the FTL is fixed, we will execute an escape jump.”
“Negative Saturn, this is Mercury Actual. We will fight together and if the Cylons are victorious today, we will make the price so high they will never threaten New Helios.”
Admiral Lawson’s hand naturally fell to her stomach. She no longer looked self conscious.
“Roger that wilco Mercury Actual.”
“It may be a hopeless dream, but I think we will survive.”
“How admiral?”
“I have a prophecy to fulfill.”
Deck Officer: “More contacts, Cylon heavy ships jumping in.”
Alternate CIC:
Commander: “Could we get the FTL to spool faster. Inject some radiation.”
Major Langer: “We are having a hard enough time keeping the ship from exploding. I think we should stick with the repair plan.”
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Battle continues. The Defender jumps away.
Task Force Demeter jumps in.
“Admiral, ten Colonial ships just jumped in. Codes are authentic. The task force is led by the Battlestar Demeter.”
Admiral: “What the frak? Send challenge codes including the last battle of operation magic trick. See that the pilots IFF will work.”
XO: “Main guns salvo mode, target the nearest carrier!!!”
Task Force Athena jumps in.
Admiral, ten more Colonial ships just jumped in!!!!!
Codes are authentic!!!!!
Vice Admiral Evan’s of the Colonial has a priority one message on the military channel!!!
The Battlestar Athena is confirmed!!!
“This is Vice Admiral Steven Evans of the Colonial fleet. “All ships are ordered to immediately cease fire. All planes are to return to their base ships The Colonial government and the Cylon collective have reached a cease fire. All ships and plans, prepare to RTB. Return to base!”
“The agreement between the New Helios Colonies and the presidency of the Cylon Collective puts distance between us, and sets aside a large area so that there will be no encroachment anywhere near Galactica’s destination.”
“Though the sacrifice will be great, the time has come for the war with the Cylon Collective to end once and for all. I was pulled out of retirement to command this one mission. War between humans and Cylon ends today.”
“The Era of fingerpointing and blame must end now. The choice between survival and mutual extinction is upon us. We can continue to fight, or we will become extinct.”
“As the ranking officer, appointed by the president of the Colonies of New Helios, I am taking complete command of this fleet. We will make repairs, update the FTL Navigation Database and jump all of you home.”
Commander’s Quarters,Battlestar Mercury.
Admiral Evans was alone with Major Jacobs and Admiral Lawson.
“Rear Admiral Eva Lawson, I am in possession of your medical report. Due to your current medical condition, according to Colonial Fleet Code of Military Justice, you are immediately relieved. I will need Major Jacob’s in CIC to represent me. Athena is short staffed and I need to be there for the jump.”
“Admiral Lawson. I respect you as a hero. You and your team saved humanity and avoided the complete slaughter of humanity. Your doctor wants you on bedrest. The rules are clear. With this cease fire the emergency that has permitted you to remain on duty will terminate as soon as Mercury returns to the shipyard.”
“As part of the agreement to end the war Admiral your active duty service will end. I will be fighting the president on that, tooth and nail. You will be a commander in the Colonial reserves. If in command of Colonial Fleet Reserves,you travel beyond one Light year from New Helios, that will be considered an act of war.”
Admiral Lawson:
“Are you letting the Cylons determine your decisions on command officers?”
“I am ashamed to admit it, but partly, yes Admiral. When these negotiations began, the only demand the toasters made besides stop shooting was you in a body bag.”
“Steven!!!!! That is reason enough to question their motives. They don’t want a cease fire for any other reason other than to face the Colonial fleet without me.”
“Look Admiral, reserve duty is 120 days a year. As a commander, you will be paid enough so you won’t have to work any other job. You can raise that family you and Wheelchair started and have a life. You saved humanity. You have earned a break.”
“What happens WHEN the Cylons break the treaty?”
“Then task force Mercury will be trained up and well maintained for you to jump right in and kick their asses.”
“This is wrong Steven. We lost 39 years, bumped into some Cylons and they immediately fired on us.”
“There was an informal cease fire when you escaped the star’s gravity well after the nap. They claimed you provoked the conflict by attacking their supply chain.”
“Of course we did, There was no ‘Do not disturb the cease fire’ sign up. They could have given us the situation report just like you did when you jumped in,”
“I did not agree with the decision. We might be able to get it overturned.”
“This is their pattern. They wait forty years and they build a war machine and wipe us out, How many times do we have to get nuked in order to understand that the toasters want us dead,
“You established the precedent that even in an existential crisis, the military will follow legal orders from the civilian government. I have a written order in my hand that leaves absolutely no wiggle room”.
