Heroes Tears

Boomer fired off a single round when the Nomen drew
his knife back and caught him square in the chest.
Starbuck saw a bright flash of light as the Nomen's
blade pierced his side then he was pulled to the
ground.  He groaned then wished that he hadn't.  Even
taking in a breath was suddenly painful.

"Starbuck!" Apollo called out as he and Boomer raced
to their friend's side.  "Are you okay?"

"You tell me," Starbuck returned in a strained voice
as Apollo checked for the Nomen's pulse.

Boomer dropped down onto his knee and pulled
Starbuck's shirt up so that he could see the wound on
his back and shook his head.  "It's hard to tell, but
I don't think it's too deep."

Starbuck looked back over his shoulder at him.  "You
couldn't fire a micron sooner?"

Boomer screwed up his mouth as he looked up at Apollo.
 "Appreciative snit rat."

"Come on," Apollo said as he reached down for
Starbuck's hand.  "We've got about fifteen microns to
get out of range of that bola."

Starbuck gritted his teeth as his friends pulled him
up then the three of them started running.  They had
only gotten a few metrons when the bola exploded,
knocking them off their feet.  Apollo and Boomer were
unscathed, but Starbuck struggled to take in a breath
as his stomach fought to send its contents in the
opposite direction.

"That was a little too close for comfort," Boomer
remarked as he stood then reached for Starbuck's arm.

"Give me a centon," Starbuck pleaded with what little
air he could drag in.

"I'm afraid we don't have it buddy," Apollo returned
and helped Boomer pull him to his feet while the
battle continued around them.

"Apollo!" Bojay called out as he hurried in their
direction.  He paused long enough to send off several
volleys from his weapon before joining them.  "Giles
is talking to a kid who says there is a tunnel that
goes straight through to the ruins."

"Are we anywhere near the entrance?" Apollo asked in
return.

Bojay nodded.  "We're practically standing on it.
It's camouflaged by bushes."

Apollo looked back to where Bojay was pointing and
could only see a rock wall surrounded by shrubs.  "Get
everyone heading in that direction.  I'll go back to
get Athena and the others."

~~~

"There's coming from everywhere!" Omega said as they
watched the bright blue balls of light streak by the
viewer.

"Can you get a reading?" Adama asked.

Omega shook his head.  "It's the same as before.
Nothing is coming up on our scans."

"What about long range?"

"Still not operational sir."

"Dr. Wilker is doing what he can to get the long range
sensors back on line," Tigh reported.

"Is the surface still under attack?" Adama asked.

Omega tapped at his keys.  "Yes sir, but there's
something strange about the ships."

"Explain," he ordered.

"They're not like the ships of light.  I'm getting
some sort of strange reading off of them.  It's almost
like our scans are bouncing back."

"Can you get a fix on them?"

"No sir," he returned.  "I can't even seem to get a
life reading."

"Could they be drones?" Tigh asked.

"I've got no way of telling," Omega returned.
"There's some sort of seismic field that distorts any
information we receive."

"That's not Cylon technology," Tigh remarked.

"Highly unlikely," Adama concurred.  "That kind of
field would disrupt the centurion's sensors as well."

"Commander, we have a serious problem," Dr. Salik said
as his image came up on the bridge monitor.

"We have several at the moment Doctor," Adama
returned.

"It's the agro children," Salik persisted.  "They've
gone into some sort of trance like state and I'm
unable to rouse the ones here in the Life Center."

That caught Adama's attention.  "How many of the
children are affected?"

"I've got two of them here and I have received several
calls from the other parents.  All of them seem to be
reacting the same way."

"Dr. Wilker's on his way to the bridge," Tigh informed
Adama softly.  "Long range sensors coming back on
line."

"Do what you can Doctor," Adama ordered Salik before
signing off.  "Get me a readout on those ships," he
ordered Tigh.  "I want to know who we're dealing
with."

~~~

"Are you certain that there is another way out of
here?" Apollo asked.

Giles shrugged his shoulders.  "The kid seems to know
what he's talking about and his father got pretty
angry with him for going to the ruins after telling
him not to."

Boomer and Apollo exchanged a look.  That wasn't much
to trust with their lives, but they had little choice.
 Boomer sighed heavily and gave a slight shake to his
head.  "Let's close it up."  Boomer and Apollo
adjusted their lasers than aimed at the opening of the
cavern while Giles moved down the tunnel.  "Get ready
to run in case this comes down on us."

Apollo gave him a nod then they fired.  Only a small
section dropped at first then a cascade effect began.
Apollo and Boomer quickly covered their faces with
their capes and started to run up the dark corridor.
Through the mounting dust, Apollo could just make out
the tiny light coming from Giles' palm torch.  He
could hear the rumble behind them subsiding as they
darted up the twisted passage.

Once they reached Giles, they stopped and began
coughing from the dust they had inhaled.  "You guys
okay?" Giles asked as they tried to shake the debris
from their uniforms.  When they nodded, dust filled
the air around them.

"Let's catch up with the others," Apollo said.

~~~

Sheba and Bojay turned when they heard the rumble.
They could just make out the sound of the group
erupting in worried chatter somewhere behind them as
it echoed off the rock.  "They probably just closed
the entrance," Sheba said and Bojay's light came
around so that he could see her face.

"I'm sure he's okay," he reassured her.

Sheba gave him a curious look.  "I wasn't worried."

He let out a burst of air.  "Yeah, okay," he returned
then started back up the uneven path.

"What's that suppose to mean?" she asked as she
followed.

Bojay laughed.  "Oh come on Sha.  I've never seen you
this starry-eyed over a guy before."  He stopped at an
intersection and turned back to look at her.  "Even
me."  He beamed his torch on the walls to search for
the subtle arrow they were to follow.

Sheba stopped next to him as she smiled wistfully.
"You haven't called me Sha in a long time."

Bojay looked at her out of the corner of his eye.  "We
haven't been alone in a long time."

"That's not true.  We."  She stopped abruptly as her
mind continued to wander back through time.

"Yeah, see?"  He spotted the arrow on the wall next to
Sheba and marked it more heavily with the stone he had
found before continuing up the passage.  "You don't
have time for your old pals now that you've got new
friends to hang out with."

"You almost sound jealous," she accused him as she
fell into step behind him.

"Jealous?" Bojay laughed at the suggestion.

"What then?"

"I just meant that you've been a little scarce
lately."

Her eyes narrowed as she kept pace.  "That's not it."

He chuckled as he shook his head.  He felt like they
had teleported back four yahrens.  "So tell me what
I'm feeling Sha," he insisted.  "You were always good
at that."

"Now what's that suppose to mean?"

"Argument number two," he stated and shook his head.

"Will you stop that?" she begged.  She hated it when
he pointed out how many arguments they had going at
one time.

"Come on Sha.  Your record is five."

She began to fume.  "You can be the most infuriating
man."

"Some things never change," he shot back then shook
his head.  "Then again, you use to have a sense a
humor."

Her back straightened.  "Excuse me for being a little
on edge when we've got people trying to hunt us down
like daggits."

He stopped and looked back at her.  "When in the last
several yahrens haven't we been hunted?"

"So why are you giving me such a hard time?"

"I wasn't!  I just said that you haven't been around
lately and you went off on one of your tangents.  Or
was that two?"

"All right, all right.  I surrender."

~~~
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"I'm picking up some kind of spacial anomalies on the
outskirts of the Fleet," Omega reported.

"More of those ships from the planet?" Adama asked as
he leaned over Omega's shoulder.

"It's the same sort of disruption, but on a much
larger scale."

"Baseships," Adama said with certainty.  "That must be
where those fighters have launched from.  Can you
enhance the scan?"

"Negative."

"All squadrons reporting in," Tigh interrupted.  "They
can't pick anything up on their attack scanners.
We're starting to suffer some loses."

"They will have to rely on visual until we can figure
something out," Adama returned.

"Commander!" Dr. Wilker called out as he ran onto the
bridge.  "Scanner control?"

"Trey," Adama said simply and one of the men in the
pit of computers surrounding the control tower stood
from his terminal.

Dr. Wilker rushed over to the station and started
typing furiously.  "Try the infrared scan," he
ordered.

Omega sat a little straighter in surprise and brought
up the new scanning systems.  "Coming on line," he
announced then a red screen appeared on his console.
"I'm reading the ships in the Fleet, but nothing
else."

Wilker continued to type furiously.  "Go to
ultraviolet."

"Ultraviolet?" Omega returned.

"Ultraviolet doesn't work on long range," Tigh
commented.

Wilker turned from his work station as he held his
arms wide.  "It does now."

"Commander.  I'm picking up a six ships approximately
one parsec outside of the Fleet."

"Run the images against the war book."

Omega shook his head.  "The images are coming back
blurry.  I can't make out any distinctive features."

"Let me have a try at that," Wilker said as he
suddenly appeared at Omega's side.  He tapped at the
keyboard for a moment then adjusted the dials on the
console until they received a clear image.

Omega took over once more as he ran the scans against
the Galactica war book.  "Sir."  He turned in his
chair.  "They're Alliance Destroyers," he said in
disbelief.

"What?" Tigh spit back.  "They can't be.  The Alliance
doesn't have the technology to make a trek this far
out."

"What about the fighters?" Adama asked.  "Focus your
scan on them."

Omega was finally able to see the overwhelming numbers
that their Vipers were up against.  "Dome shaped
craft," he reported.  "Two man."  He shook his head.
"We don't have any record of them in the war book."

"Make a new entry and collect all the data you can,"
Adama ordered.  "Tigh.  I want you to reset our gun
turrets to the ultraviolet scanners."

"Yes sir.  I just wish we could do the same for our
Vipers."

~~~

"How's he doing?" Apollo asked Cassiopia as she
bandaged Starbuck's wound with a strip of material off
of her dress.

"It missed his kidney, but it's still pretty deep,"
she returned.

"What about the others?" Boomer asked as he glanced at
the cluster of people disappearing around the bend of
the cavern.

"Burns, cuts, broken bones.  You name it," Cassiopia
said as she shook her head.

"Where's Athena?" Apollo asked.

"She's gone further up the tunnel to try to help."

Apollo shook his head.  He should have known that she
would be right in the middle of things even though he
had warned her not to.  "Do what you can to help, but
we need to keep these people moving."

"Noooooooo!"

Everyone straightened when the horrific scream echoed
off the walls.  Boomer and Apollo started up the
narrow passage first, but their progress was
agonizingly slow so Starbuck and Cassiopia had no
trouble keeping pace.  They could hear a woman begging
for help, her soulful pleas haunting the air.

"One side people!" Boomer ordered as they fought to
get through.  The sound of his voice was enough to
spur the warriors into action and they assisted in
moving the civilians to one side of the passage.

The scene that they finally came upon was
heartrending.  The grieving widow was kneeling on the
ground with her husband in her arms rocking back and
forth while their little girl lay across his stomach
begging him to wake up.  Cassiopia immediately dropped
to his side and checked for vital signs then looked up
at Apollo a few microns later to shake her head.

The gathering crowd suddenly parted and Athena joined
them.  "Bomoh!" the woman cried out and reached for
Athena as tears streaked down her cheek.  Athena
turned her eyes on Cassiopia and saw her shake her
head.  There was nothing she could do.  He was already
gone.

"Bomoh!" the little girl cried and leapt to her feet
to grab Athena's hands.  "Please help my daddy," she
begged.  "I know you can save him.  Please, Bomoh,
please!"

Athena's stomach wrenched when she recognized the
little girl as the one who had given her a flower.
"I'm sorry Sasha, but there's nothing I can do."

"Please Bomoh!  You have to try!" she insisted as she
tugged on Athena's hands.  "I know you can help him!
I know you can!"

She looked down at Sasha's mother and wished that
there was something, anything that she could do to
take away their pain.  She felt responsible for what
was happening.  If only she had understood her dreams
none of them would be there.

When Croft came up behind Athena and placed his hands
on her shoulders, Sasha realized that she wasn't going
to help and threw her hands off.  "I hate you!  I hate
you!" she screamed then dropped down onto her father's
chest once more.

Tears pricked at Athena's eyes as she wrapped her arms
around her stomach.  If only she had seen through
Leto's schemes or if she had listened to Apollo,
Sasha's father may still be alive.  How many others
never even made it into the cave?  How many other
deaths was she responsible for?  "I'm sorry," she
breathed.

~~~

"Viper Seven, you have two at zero three point six,"
Rigel transmitted to the pilot and saw him easily take
out both ships.  "Viper Three, you have one at one
five point two."

Adama walked down the line of computers as the bridge
crew became the eyes for their Viper squadrons.
"Viper Eight, you have one incoming," Trey conveyed.
"Directly ahead."

"It's working Commander," Tigh reported as he called
down from the top of the control tower.  "The slower
ships aren't able to match the Viper's maneuverability
and they are taking heavy casualties.  Even the gun
turrets are tallying an unusually large kill ratio."

"They're designed to track Cylon Raiders, some of the
fastest ships in the galaxy," Adama returned.

"Commander!" Omega called down to him.  "Long range
sensors are picking up several ships moving away from
the Fleet."

"Which ships?" Adama demanded.

Omega shook his head.  "Their electro-identification
system has been turned off."

"Pull up our visual data log," Adama ordered as he
hurried up the short flight of steps.  "I want to know
which ships those are."

Tigh turned his attention to the ensuing battle on his
computer screen.  "Commander.  The domed ships appear
to be retreating."  He typed in a request for the
projected destination.  "It looks like they are
rendezvousing with the ships on the outskirts of the
Fleet."

"What is the Viper's fuel status?" Adama asked as he
glanced back over his shoulder at the colonel.

Tigh input the proper commands.  "Most will be tapping
into their reserve fuel sources within the next five
centons."

Adama shook his head.  The Vipers had enough to meet
up with the ships pulling away from the Fleet, but not
enough to return.  "Recall all squadrons."

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Status: RO

"Oh this is lovely," Sheba commented as she shined her
palm torch on the slowly moving water.

"That must be what's left of the river that made this
place," Bojay returned as he glanced around for the
thin chalky arrow the young boy had made with a rock
to find his way.

"It's a little narrow through here.  I hope that no
one falls in."  She turned her torch to the wall to
help Bojay search for the mark.  "I wonder how
everyone is fairing back there."

He shot her a glance then shook his head.  Since they
had caught a faint sound of what they thought was
someone screaming, Sheba had talked of little else.
"Everyone or Apollo?"

She dropped her arms to her sides.  "Don't start that
again."

"Okay, okay," he returned with a chuckle as he edged
further along the passage.  "Watch your footing here
there's a lot of loo."

Bojay didn't even get the warning out when his boots
slipped out from under him and he landed hard against
the rocky ground.  He bit back a curse as he quickly
rolled onto his back and grabbed his side.

Sheba practically fell on top of him when her feet
slipped on the tiny rocks as she hurried over to him.
"Are you okay?"  When he started to cough, she shined
her light down the length of his body and saw that
much of his uniform was a dark brown.  "What happened
to you?"

Bojay fought to stop his cough.  "I was standing a
little to close to a bola when it exploded."

She quickly reached for the edge of his shirt to pull
it open and her chin dropped.  The right side of his
chest was bright crimson.  "Where else are you
burned?" she asked as she tugged at his shirt to pull
it free of his belt.

"Stop!  Stop!" he begged and all but sighed in relief
when the material no longer rubbed against his raw
skin.  "It's my left side mostly.  I was able to
shield my face with my arm."

Sheba shined her light on the back of his arm as he
raised it and saw that the material was also dark
brown.  "Let's get your shirt off," she insisted and
reached out to help him to stand.

Instead of trying to tug his shirt out of his pants,
Sheba unhooked his belt and Bojay grinned.  "You'd
better hope Apollo doesn't show up about now."

She gave him a saccharine smile as she continued her
work.  "I'm sure he would be relieved to know that he
has so little to live up to."  She had to laugh at the
stunned expression on his face as she reached up and
unhooked his cape.

"I can't believe you just said that."  He winced as
she pulled his shirt away from a sensitive area.  "And
now you're going to torture me on top of it."

Sheba darted a look at his face and saw that he wasn't
joking.  "Sorry.  Let's get your right arm out first."
 He was easily able to slip his arm out as she walked
around him then grimaced when she started to peel his
shirt off of his left side.  "This looks pretty bad.
Why didn't you say something?"

"What would be the point?  I can't do anything about
it at the moment."

"We can pour some water on it to cool it off for now.
Hopefully there will be a medkit in the shuttle."

"If the shuttle is still at the ruins and if the Nomen
haven't found it already."

"There's the optimistic Bojay I know and love.  Come
on," she instructed as she gathered his clothes.  They
sat down next to the running water and Sheba dunked
his shirt into the stream before wringing it out over
Bojay's body.

"Frack!"  Bojay couldn't help himself and the curse
slip out.  Instinctively he jerked away when the icy
water touched his skin, but then forced himself to sit
still.  "So what exactly is going on between you and
the good captain?"

"You don't really expect me to answer that, do you?"
Sheba winced at the expression on his face as she
poured more water over his tender skin.  She hadn't
seen him hurting that bad since he had gotten shot in
the leg on Gamoray.

"Come on Sha.  Give me something to take my mind off
of this," he begged.  "Is he treating you okay?"

She gave him a smile.  She was touched by his concern.
 "He has been a perfect gentleman."

Bojay grunted as she lightly pressed the damp material
against his skin.  "Unlike me."

Sheba shook her head.  "I'm not comparing you."

"At least he's the commander's son and won't have to
worry about your father's approval."

She chuckled when she thought about the incident where
the legendary Commander Cain had cornered Bojay on a
turbo lift to lay down the law as far as his daughter
was concerned.  She had been furious at the time
because Bojay was intimidated to the point that he was
afraid to touch her in public.  "Father never did cut
you any slack, did he?"

"Slack is not in Cain's dictionary."

She chuckled once more.  "Believe it or not, he did
like you."

"As long as you and I weren't dating."  He stared at
Sheba for a long moment while she administered to his
burns.  When faced with the wrath of Cain, he had
taken a hard look at their relationship and found it
wanting.  The only thing that they really had in
common was their love for a good fight.
Unfortunately, when they weren't able to take it out
on the Cylons, they ended up arguing with each other.
In the end, they decided that they were better friends
than lovers.  "You let me know if Apollo steps out of
line and I'll knock the pogees out of him."

She smiled broadly.  "You'd better bring a backup
because I think he can take ya."

Bojay's mouth dropped open.  "That's loyalty for you!"

~~~

As soon as the Vipers refueled, Adama had sent out a
full patrol to accompany a search party.  It had been
nearly two centars since the attack on the planet and
there was still no word from their missing warriors.
Only a handful of survivors had been found and Adama
was getting anxious simply waiting on the bridge so he
went in search of Dr. Salik in the Life Center.

When Adama entered the medical facility, he saw Salik
running a scanner over a small child.  "Doctor," he
said simply in greeting as he walked over to the
examination table.

"Ah Commander.  I was wondering if I would be seeing
you."  The doctor straightened and set his instrument
aside.  "Maia, this is Commander Adama," he said
politely to the mother of the young child.  "And this
is Aries," he continued as the strapling grasped his
finger.  He looked back at Adama.  "Can you guess what
their home world was?"

Adama chuckled.  Several of the new parents had chosen
to name their children after their home world.  "It's
a pleasure to meet you Maia," he said as he gave her a
slight bow then reached out to run the back of his
fingers down the child's bare arm.  "And how are you
fairing Master Aries?" he asked with a smile.  The
toddler squealed in response than began to babble.

"He seems to be doing fine now," Maia returned as she
looked down at her son sitting on her lap.  She ran a
hand over his golden hair as she glanced back up at
the Commander.  "It was pretty scary there for awhile
though."

"It was as I suspected," Salik explained.  "All of the
agro children lapsed into a trance like state for
several centons then came out of it on their own."

"Have you determined a cause?" Adama asked in concern.

Salik shook his head.  "I can't find any physical
reason for it.  The children were on various ships and
engaged in various activities."  He tugged at his
finger playfully as the boy tried to use it as a
teething toy.  "All of the parents have brought in
their children.  This was the last little guy that I
had to check and all of his bio systems are
registering as normal."  He looked back over to the
Commander.  "Normal for him, at any rate."

"How long ago did this happen?"

"About two centars ago?"  Salik looked to the mother
for confirmation and Maia gave him a nod.

Adama's brows drew together.  The Fleet had been under
siege at that time and he had to wonder if the
Alliance had even more new technology that they hadn't
detected.  "I'll have Colonel Tigh run an analysis on
all external forces around that time and see if we can
come up with anything."

~~~

"The Illuminati teach you to believe in yourself," the
young man explained to a woman interested in his faith
while they walked slowly along the cavern path.

"Well that doesn't sound so bad," she returned.

"Don't listen to him sweetheart," the man following
directly behind them remarked.  "The Illuminati
brainwash you into believing that you are God.  It's
heresy."

The three of them stopped as they faced each other.
"Must you comment on everything that I say?" the first
man asked.

"If you're going to be spouting that daggit drivel the
entire way, yes I do," the bearded man challenged.

"Why don't you just mind your own business?"

"Or what?  You'll report me to your `god' Iblis?" he
scoffed then stuck out his hands to shake them in his
face.  "I'm so scared."

When the younger man smacked his hands away, that was
all it took for fists to start flying.  Boomer and
Starbuck weren't far behind as they headed to the
front of the line to check on Giles' progress.  They
heard the commotion and rushed to break up the two
men.  Boomer and Starbuck only added to the flailing
arms before they were able to get the men apart then
they continued to struggle against the stone walls.

"See what kind of people the Illuminati are?" the
bearded man yelled.

"You Gemonese are all alike!  You blame everyone else
for your problems!"

"Knock it off!" Boomer yelled over them.  "We've got
enough people trying to kill us without going after
each other."  He pointed over to the man that Starbuck
was holding.  "You.  Go to the front of the line."

"What?  You can't be serious," the young man returned.

"If you're going to act like children, I'm going to
treat you like one.  Now get moving."

Starbuck gave him a little shove in the right
direction and the man walked off mumbling to himself.
Starbuck leaned back against the wall as he looked
over at Boomer still talking to the man he was
holding.  After that rush of adrenaline, he was
starting to feel a bit woozy.  His chest had been
aching for some time, but the struggle deepened the
pain and he started to cough.

Once Boomer was certain that the man understood that
he would tolerate no more fighting, he turned back to
Starbuck.  He frowned when he saw that Starbuck was
having trouble taking a breath as he coughed and
walked over to him.  "You okay?"

Starbuck pulled his hand away from his mouth and saw
that it was covered in blood.  "I don't think so."

Boomer's eyes grew when he saw his hand.  "Cassiopia!"
he called out, his voice bouncing off of the walls.

"Coming!" she returned.  It was some time before she
was able to reach them and, by then, Starbuck was
sitting on the ground with Boomer hovering over him.
"What happened?"

"He's coughing up blood," Boomer informed her.

When Starbuck looked up at her, she could see that he
was dazed and knew that he wasn't getting enough
oxygen.  She swore under her breath for not having a
medkit handy.  "That knife must have punctured his
lung.  We need Athena now!"

~~~