Shadows In The Mirror (01)

SotF

Well-Known Member
#1
AAS Republic, Earth Orbit
Offices, be they in a building or in the ship the Alliance used as a capital, always seemed to keep the same apparent look over the centuries, he mused.

"It's been some time old friend," the man behind the desk commented while staring out the observation window at the green and blue jewel below.

"Yes, nearly a century Conrad," John responded as he settled into one of the chairs, "To many old demons from long ago."

"Yes," the older man responded, though looking barely in his thirties rather than the nearly five centuries he'd lived, "The return of the Architects was unexpected, and the awakening of X within you once more..."

Both of them were psions, Conrad Archer the sole remaining prime and of the physical adept strain while John was something more, one of the two survivors of something granting pieces of all three strains. Physical immortality was one of the benefits both would have sacrificed if they weren't still needed.

"Anyway," John Hunter pressed, "What's this about?"

Sliding a folder across the desk to his compatriot, Conrad grinned slightly.

"Would you believe we might have encountered others tied to the Ancients?"

"With all of the crap encountered since before World War II, it wouldn't surprise me," he answered while picking up the file and flipping it open, "Any hints from the Guardians or Thule?"

"The Guardians of the Whispering Knife have nothing on it, and the library of Thule is the same," the man commented, "However, there had to have been a reason for why it had the basic info on the higher travel rites."

"So how do we play this one now?"

"Well, they're on their way to the Sentinel system at the moment," Conrad paused while slipping an amber bottle and two glasses from a desk drawer, "Lothario is on his way to meet them on DaVinci Station during quarantine when medical gets a chance to go over them."

A brief pause as the younger of the two blinked in realization.

"They seem to be clones and you want me to go," he asked.

"I'd hoped so," Conrad answered while pouring the liquid into both glasses, "Your integration with One should help you understand them."

"Why didn't you send Two?"

"He's otherwise occupied with Raymond on a project of theirs, Aurora is there as well."

"So I'm stuck with this because you're kids are up to something," John grunted before accepting a glass.

"No," he stated, "The arrival of these Cylons means that we may need to speed up the design phase of the next generation of ships."

"You have them working on getting the command ship series going," he asked with a groan, "It figures, and I'm the one least likely to start a fight of those you'd send."

"And to keep an eye on the Lord of Mysteries."

"What has Algernon done now?"

"Lothario is more concerned that this is another Architect plot than in diplomacy."

A brief pause as both took a drink.

"And besides, your granddaughter was on the ship that met them."

"There is a damned good reason I didn't want a family and didn't want to stay in contact?"

"Her death wasn't your fault John."

"Just like the actions of Villain X weren't my responsibility?"

"Let go John, you have a family. Don't throw them away."

"It's not throwing them away that's the problem," the other stated, "I'm not willing to have their deaths on my hands if the strains resonate."

A brief pause as he downed the rest of his drink.

"This is some good stuff," he commented, "What is it exactly?"

"Mead actually," the older man commented, "Jacob got me hooked on it after giving me a bunch of it as a prank a decade ago."

"Figured you hung out in the mead halls when you were his age?"

"Something like that."

A brief pause as he set the glass on the desk, "So when do I leave?"

Conrad just grinned in response.

xXx

AAS Fafnir, Sentinel System

The world rippled as the ship passed through the wormhole his ship generated after watching the newly arrived Dragon open and maintain one for the Cylons.

Wormhole or gate drives were interesting, and while Jacob didn't have the mentalist strain''s gifts nor any sort of real understanding of the Fringe tech that mixed to create the drives, he understood the basics.

It was a serious power drain to form a wormhole, but once formed as long as something solid was inside of it, it remained open. That allowed the use of a more energetic fuel that burned to quickly for normal use but could give the momentary burst needed to form the wormhole, something more of a throwback to the solid fuel rockets of early space exploration and some of the weapon systems still in use.

Slugs of refined fuel were used, each allowing a single jump.

The other limitations of the drive had dictated several rules for ship design, such as the egg like shape even with the engines flattening the rear and the curved winglike pontoons that extended wider than any other point on the ship to open the gate large enough for them to pass through.

While the Fafnir wasn't large enough to open a gate for the Base Stars, the Dragon was fully capable of it, and had even been designed to open gates for some of the larger things needing passage between the stars.

However, the Dragon and other carriers of its class had always made him feel small, especially in a patrol craft like the Fafnir.

"Sir," Erika commented, "Sentinel Control is giving us course orders."

"Send the path to the pilots well," he ordered while the path simultaneously appeared as markers upon the holo, "Forward the ones for the Cylons as well."

It wouldn't do for those people to have survived what they said and to die because they disobeyed traffic patterns in a military system.

Sentinel was the only Colony to not have a true voice, or even really be recognized as one.

It was essentially a military base, all inhabitants retained voting rights in their home systems and beyond military personnel, there weren't that many inhabitants other than on the Gulag moon that still served as one of the primary prison complexes of the Alliance.

Of course, he supposed, DaVinci station was primarily a civilian station, but it operated more as a central medical organization and hospital that could be moved with the Dragon to any colony needing its aid.

"The Cylons have confirmed coarse."

"Good," Jacob stated, "We're almost home people."

He paused for a moment, "Have Gamma flight launch and head to the repair yards as soon as we clear the gate zone."

"Sir?"

"Of the on board squadron, their ships are due for heavy maintenance," he commented, "Might as well send them out now rather than forcing them to triple the distance at DaVinci."

"Get us a link with DaVinci," he continued, "Make sure they have the translation protocols before we dock."

"Understood."

xXx

Cylon Base Star
For a moment she felt sick, the gates these people use for FTL was disorienting and for a moment she couldn't feel the network, a moment of feeling as if half her senses were lost.

And then she felt them again.

The other had joined them when these humans proved not to be an enemy, at least on the surface.

Their tech was different, an entirely different source of ideas leading to even a different way to travel the stars.

Eight's eyes widened as she saw what was around them.

Hundreds of ships of different shapes and sizes milling about in system, they seemed to have the almost angelic, swept wings arching forwards either open wide, folded next to the hull, or in the process of shifting between positions.

Others stood beside her, simply watching as the sun seemed to rise over the nearest planet.

Was this the new home they had hoped for?

xXx

Colonial Battlestar Pegasus, Picon
Cain frowned as she read the report.

The hunting fleet had been forced to temporarily fall back in order to refuel and rearm before continuing the tracking of the cylon escapees.

Toasters that still needed to learn their place

"Don't you agree?" she asked with a grin at the figure curled up in the corner, "Gina dear?"

A shudder when through the cylons features reminding the admiral of just why she'd burned so many favors in order to keep that specific Six.

"What mistress?" the fire had already died from her toy.

"That the rest of your kind still need to learn their place," she grinned at the defeated form, "At their rightful masters feet."

Gina closed her eyes and hid the anger for a moment, there wasn't a choice in how to respond.

An affirmative was the only answer she could give that would limit her former lovers response from the more dangerous options.

Cain was inventive when annoyed or angry, and since being captured and then bought, those actions had already killed her three times.

"Yes mistress."

She couldn't let herself cry.
 
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