[Episode 244710] [Episode 244710]The planet Cylonia (third world of the star Eos Omega)…
Located at the coreward edge of the Cyrannus stellar cluster just outside the borders of the Milky Way proper, the solar system containing the homeworld of the Cylon race — and by extension, those humans descent of Kobol who had come to live amongst them — was like many systems both within and around said galaxy. A single primary that would be given the spectral classification F0V on Earth, which made the star a brilliant white when viewed from Cylonia's surface and a pale blue from outer space. Eleven planets in all, including six solid worlds intermixed with five gas giants that were massive enough to ensure any stray meteorite would never threaten the only Kobol-like planet there. The planet itself was the same general mass as Caprica, with eighty-one percent of its surface covered in seas rich with life. And, thanks to the advanced technology that had been brought here in the wake of the Liberation War, little of the planet had been altered by its new inhabitants; only the northern of the three continents that existed on this world was inhabited full-time by permanent residents, though exploration bases were situation on the two southern continents to allow the Cylons a full and complete understanding of the remarkably diversified life forms that had evolved here.
On the northern continent, in a green valley fed by a mighty river that flowed from the mountains eastward to the oceans, lay Graystone, the capital city of the Free Planet of Cylonia. Named in tribute to the family whose patriarch and matriarch had been the driving force behind the artificial race's creation five decades before, the city was, in essence, an oversized country town that wouldn't be too different in the eyes of any rural native of Caprica. The only large buildings in the centre of the city were the Hall of Advisors (the seat of government) and the Graystone Mausoleum, where the mortal remains of Daniel and Amanda Graystone — both killed in the early stages of the Liberation War — as well as the mortal remains of their birth daughter had been interred by a grateful people who had, even if they still felt a burning outrage over what had happened at their creation, would NEVER forget the Heavenly-blessed visionaries who made their existence a reality.
Watching that couple's second daughter kneeling before the three sarcophagi, Lee Adama could only bow his own head as he whispered his own prayers for the family that had interacted with his through his late grandfather Joseph, the civil liberties lawyer (and member of the infamous Tauron crime syndicate Ha'la'tha) who had helped spearhead his friends' eventual takeover of Graystone Industries before the Liberation War. Standing beside him was his now-fiancée: Patricia Malach-Wakefield, the Number Six who had brought the Sagussan Revelation to Armistice Station and would be hailed (though she would gladly deny any desire to claim such an accolade) as a "Heroine of the Cylon" — so anointed by the First herself — by her people for organising the mass exodus of Colonial refugees to Cylonia in the wake of the collapse of the government of the Twelve Colonies and the outrageous murder of Richard Adar. That was a well-earned title in Lee's mind as he felt Tricia's hand squeeze his own, and then he turned to give her a warm kiss. Despite her personal desire to be boxed — the Cylon version of committing suicide — at the time because of the vicious murder of Ryan Wakefield and his wife Allana when everything was going to Hades in a hand basket, Tricia had kept her mind straight as she called for thousands of reinforcements from Cylonia to assist. And while the blonde beauty now sharing his bed still felt the deep pain of the loss of her first true human friends outside those she had made on her homeworld, she clearly was determined to make a new life for herself both as the future Mrs. Lee Adama and the adopted mother of Troy Wakefield.
Everyone in the crowd at the bottom of the steps leading into the Mausoleum were quick to sense the First then stand, her prayers completed. Flanked to both sides by Elder Priestess Elosha Gale (who was the senior priest of the Kobol faith alive now on Cylonia) and the Holy Mother of the One Lacy Rand (Zoe's oldest and dearest friend), the raven-haired, blue-grey eyed Jewel Warrior of Cylonia then turned to descend down the stairs, holding her companions' hands in a show of solidarity that always filled the crowds that came to the Mausoleum every time the First was there with a sense of hope. That despite the renewing tragedy that had overwhelmed the Colonies over a year before that final peace WOULD come and that Cylon and Kobalite — as the natives of the Colonies were often respectfully called when there was no need to use a specific colonial name — could chart a future together as siblings and allies to face the great galaxy beyond.
Once amongst the crowd, Zoe was quick to greet people that she had never seen in previous visits to her parents' tombs. Watching her, Lee and Tricia could only smile as they noted that the First simply didn't seem to care about the origins of those she took time to speak to. Whether it was to the newest line of IL series administrative android and gynoid Cylons (they had just come out recently to take the place of senior 005 model Centurions to command the field forces of the Free Planet; the last veterans of the Liberation War and afterward would soon be resurrected as humanoid Cylons), the newest born of the numbered humanoid Cylons (a recent policy had been instituted that would allow the newest of those particular lines to be permitted to experience a sort of "childhood" so they could better understand humanity as a whole), refugees from the Colonies she had never met before — or those who didn't fit ANY of the above descriptions — Zoe was warm, always with a smile on her face, willing to pose for pictures and quick to prove that despite what she was, she was truly human deep in her heart and soul.
"Hello, there, Sheba. I see you've met Tricia's son."
"Indeed I have, Great Lady," came the polite voice of a brown-haired girl — gazing on her, Lee was quick to find it next to impossible to determine what model number she actually was as she bore the physical traits of the Threes, the Sixes and the Sevens — now standing beside Boxey. "Troy and I have been interacting at the educational institution for our maturity level since I was resurrected in this form," Sheba Lockhart stated. "Be assured, it is a most positive relationship for both of us."
Boxey tried not to choke at that admission, which made Tricia herself blush. "What?" Lee whispered as he leaned over to allow her to rest her head on his shoulder.
"I'm afraid Boxey's of the age that girls are no longer 'icky,'" Tricia whispered back.
Lee blinked, and then he nodded. "Right."
"You ARE being a gentleman about that, are you, Boxey?" Zoe then asked.
A rapid, firm nod. "Yes, ma'am! Always, ma'am!"
Laughter filled the crowd around them as Boxey — as if to prove his assertion — offered his arm to his new girlfriend. Sheba — now being able to see the right side of her face, Lee was quick to see a brown birthmark the shape of a scar trailing across her cheek from the bridge of her nose to the curve of her cheek — was quick to accept his offer and they both walked off to the nearby dessert bistro, which was a popular hangout for children as it was run by a retired farmer and his wife from Aerilon who had come here after the Liberation War. "That was Scar!" Lee breathed out.
"Yes, it was," Tricia said with a smile. "It surprised all of us that she elected to start at such a young age when she resurrected."
"Kara's gonna be pissed when she gets back here."
"Why?"
"Because she wanted to adopt Scar herself."
"She can still do that, Dear," Tricia stated. "Even if she has taken a different family name and is in the form of a young teenager, Sheba is still seen as mature enough to live on her own." A hum. "Besides…"
"What?"
"Do you actually envision someone like Kara Thrace being a mother?"
Lee blinked, and then he chuckled. "Good point. Sharon and Grace need to work on her some more to calm her down enough so she can stand the pregnancy."
Both of them laughed. "I just pray to the Lords that young Sheba there doesn't turn around and make you grandparents before you're ready to accept that," Elosha stated as she walked up to join them, accepting Tricia's hug — the Number Six had been personally responsible for rescuing Laura Roslin and her party (including Elosha) on the ship later designated Colonial One from attacking terrorists the day Galactica was destroyed — before giving Lee a blessing with her hands as he bowed politely to her. "It's frightening how young they start these days, isn't it?"
"As I never really had a childhood or adolescence, I can't judge that, Your Grace," Tricia stated as they turned to walk some distance away from Zoe, who was currently meeting with a small group of IL units, all of whom Lee recognised as the current commanders of the city's civic guard (they wore individually-patterned robes over their bodies to tell them apart). "Still, given that Boxey wants to follow his father into the armed services, he does feel he owes it to his future career to learn how to behave properly as an officer and a gentleman. I don't think we'll have much to worry about him and Sheba giving us grandchildren for some years to come."
Everyone then laughed…
…as the sound of a hover-bike echoed through the air. "MADAME PRESIDENT!"
People turned as a harried-looking Billy Keikeya drove up, landing close to the crowd around the First. "Billy! What's going on?!" Zoe demanded.
The harried aide to Laura Roslin came up, nodding thanks to the ILs that had stood aside to allow him to approach her. "Forgive me, Madame President…" — as Zoe's position hadn't been given a formal title, the young Caprican was quick to address her as a moral and diplomatic equal to his current boss — "…but President Roslin was accompanying Major Cottle to the Hill of Heroes so that he could visit Commander Adama and the others lost on Galactica. We…" He took a deep breath. "We saw that there were two people near one of the unused parts of the cemetery digging out two side-by-side graves. Madame President, one of those people was TOM ZAREK!"
"Tom Zarek?!" Lee called out as the other Colonials all gaped in shock. "What the frack is he doing here?! Hell, how did he GET here, anyway?!"
"Wait!" Zoe called out. "Who is Tom Zarek?"
"Some would call him a freedom fighter, Zoe," Elosha stated. "Others gladly denounce him as a terrorist. He's a Sagittaron that has fought for greater economic equality and humane treatment for his people for years. He was imprisoned for destroying a government building almost twenty years ago. Laura's predecessor offered him a pardon if he renounced his beliefs, which Mister Zarek refused. And quite rightly so."
Zoe hummed. "A man of conscience. Lucifer?"
One of the ILs tensed. "Great One?"
"What are the latest intelligence reports from Sagittaron?"
"Very confusing, Great One." Lucifer was not offended by the First's questions as the senior military leadership of the Free Planet didn't really want to bother Zoe about events that did not directly threaten Cylonia or another world (such as Earth). "Until about a month ago, it appeared that those forces in control of space warships in the Colonies were quite successful in keeping Sagittaron suppressed so that the continued exploitation of the planet's natural resources could continue without interference of the new Provisional Government, set-up by Thomas Zarek and his former allies of the Sagittaron Freedom Movement. However, for reasons unknown, the military forces of the other colonies were forced to withdraw from the planet, thus allowing the Provisional Government to put a full halt to all trade not sanctioned by them. We are unaware as to why."
"I think I can answer that, Commander."
Lucifer turned to gaze on Billy. "Do explain, William."
A sigh. "Madame President, Sagittaron now has a Jewel Warrior," he declared. "President Roslin, Major Cottle, myself and the others of our party did see the device in question around the neck of the young lady that is now with Zarek on the Hill. We also noted her uniform is the same as yours — in the colours native to her planet, of course — and she has a sword exactly like yours as well."
Silence.
"Zoe, couldn't you sense…?!" Lacy demanded.
"That's the problem when a sister comes to visit, Lace," Zoe cut her off. "We can't sense each other even if we visit planets where other Jewel Warriors are active." A sigh. "Anything else you can tell me, Billy? Her name or anything like that?"
"Yes, ma'am. Her name is Serina Frankenburg. And…" Here, Billy took a deep breath. "Madame President, I believe Miss Frankenburg is a second-generation humanoid Cylon. I saw the caskets opened before they began to dig the graves. The father was a Number Two, the mother a Number Three. We didn't want to disturb them; the look on Zarek's face when he noted we were there was nothing short of ugly."
"But wouldn't have they resurrected?!" Elosha demanded.
The First sighed. "Some didn't make it, Auntie. Normally, that happened whenever they suffered fatal electrical shocks that destroyed the parts of their brains where the downloading mechanisms were located." She tapped the back of her neck, right where the skull met the spinal column, in emphasis. "And the Sagittaron Jewel would have sensed it before it elected Serina to be its Host." She then closed her eyes for a moment before she turned. "Matthew?"
One of Lucifer's brother ILs perked. "Great One?"
"Have a full burial detail muster at the Hill at once."
A deep bow. "By your command."
"Phillippa?"
A female-shaped IL then perked. "Great One?"
"Find out the names of whoever we lost on Sagittaron. See if we get a match."
A deep bow. "By your command."
The Hill of Heroes, an hour later…
"Your honour us with your presence, Lady Graystone."
Zoe breathed out as Tom Zarek straightened himself from digging the second grave, turning to smile at her as he gave her a respectful bow. "You rather surprised us with your own presence, Mister Zarek. Or is that now 'President Zarek?'"
"I would prefer 'First Citizen' myself," the Sagittaron stated before he turned to continue digging. A glance to the grave told Zoe that it was almost ready. "But that's ultimately not my choice to make in the long term. I never sought to be the leader of a free Sagittaron. My people are still deciding how they would desire to govern themselves. It's a pretty intensive affair. Then again, given that willingness to hold onto one's beliefs even if they fly in the face of reality is one of my people's strongest traits…"
Zoe nodded. "My friend Lacy had a guide from your world; Sister Clarice Willow."
He paused, and then nodded. "I remember seeing that name on the list Madame Malach brought with her to Armistice Station when she met Colonel Wakefield." He turned to gaze over to the eastern side of the hilltop cemetery. "I'm glad she's here. While I don't know Sister Clarice's whole story, I understand how much she inspired your friend to pursue her own beliefs as they grew and evolved, both on Caprica and here." He then took a deep breath. "Would you please excuse me, Lady Graystone? We need to finish."
"Can I help?"
Tom smiled. "It's appreciated, but…no. Thank you, though," he said as he shook his head. "Much that she is a daughter — no, granddaughter! — of this world, Serina sees herself first and foremost as a daughter of Sagittaron. I never had the privilege of meeting her parents; I was on the Astral Queen approaching Caprica for my parole hearing when they were killed in Tawa. But when she joined my cell when things started to get too hot a year ago, Serina told me how much her parents proudly supported our drive for equality even before their memories were restored and they realised they were Cylons." He then smiled at her. "We have a lot in common."
A nod. "Will you adopt her?"
"We've already agreed to it."
Zoe turned to gaze on Serina, and then she gaped as the other woman straightened herself to return her look. While she would seem like the average Number Three in the form of a teenage girl, there were the obvious hints as to what her late father was, especially in the deep mixture of browns in her sunflower hair (tied in a simple ponytail in Serina's case), the deep blue eyes (people like D'Anna Biers often had eyes that were the shade of a clear sky), and the aristocratic lilt in her voice; many Number Twos often spoke with a clipped, polite tone of voice that would have made most Colonials think of them as descent of old Caprican gentry. As they gazed on each other, Zoe then smiled as she walked over to gently embrace the other woman, leaning in to give her a tender kiss on the lips. "You will always have a home here, sister."
Serina shook her head. "I can never live here again, sister."
Zoe nodded. Once one became a Jewel Warrior, one's whole life was pretty much tied to the world the Power Jewel in question had been found on. "Can you stay here long?"
"A day," the other answered. "She who bears the Keystone Jewel stands in my place."
Zoe's jaw dropped. "Dean?! But isn't she…?!"
"She was making her way back to Earth with her friends when she sensed us bond." Here, Serina pointed to the glittering jewel wrapped around her neck in emphasis.
Silence.
"Oh, God…!" Zoe breathed out before a squeal escaped her as she grasped the other woman's arms. "She actually took the time to TRAIN you?! You lucky girl!"
"I am!" Serina then took a deep breath. "I have to finish, Zoe."
"Can I help?"
A shake of the head. "We're almost done."
Zoe nodded…
An hour later…
"They are in the hands of the One."
"They are in the hands of the Lords."
With that, both Lacy and Elosha bowed their heads to the graves of Keith and Frances Frankenburg. The coffins had been placed within the soil by an honour guard of modern Centurions, who all now stood clear as their held their weapons towards the sky; the android warriors' variation of port arms. As the small crowd now gathered behind the two Jewel Warriors and the legal guardian of one of them bowed their heads, Zoe then looked over, nodding at one of Danielle Rand's sisters. The other nodded as she then lifted a strange musical instrument — to many of the people there, the silver device looked like a flattened, looped tube with a bell end — to her lips and began to play.
The Centurions lowered their weapons to forty-five degree angles as they sent out blank shots into the air; given that both of them had not been resurrected in the wake of the collapse of the government of the Twelve Colonies, Serina's parents were posthumously declared "Lost Children of the Cylon" at Zoe's direct order. As the three volleys of shots echoed through the air as the haunting melody played over the Hill of Heroes, Zoe and Serina bowed their heads, their hands reaching for each other's as they waited for the haunting tune to finish. Finally, as silence fell, Zoe raised her head.
As strange words echoed in the air from the lips of the Jewel Warrior from Cylonia, echoed by her counterpart from Sagittaron, Lee — who came to the Hill with his fiancée and many others, even those who had not been in Graystone when the news about what was happening here broke out — leaned over to whisper, "What are they saying?"
"I don't know," Tricia whispered back. "The First has never explained this."
Finally, both women fell silent as their eyes bowed again, followed by Tom and the others there this day. Seeing that, the Number Seven on the trumpet played a more invigorating piece as people seemed to realise that the time for mourning was over.
It was time to get on with life…
Nearby…
"So can we bloody hell FINALLY go home now?"
Hearing her friend's sarcastic words, Dean Raeburn sighed before shaking her head. "Not just yet," the tomboyish, brown-haired, blue-eyed Jewel Warrior of Earth and semi-retired major in Canada's military declared before she gave the lone man of the group that had been by her side for what seemed forever a knowing look. "Why, Martin?" she then asked, a smirk crossing her face. "Are you getting bored now?"
A sigh. "Dean, even if these people think of us as their long-lost 'cousins,' we can't go and fight their wars for them," the gentleman in the Red Serge of Canada's national police force, staff sergeant's stripes on his sleeves, stated as he looked at his old friend and commander, resplendent in her dark green Army DEUs.
"Don't intend to," Dean stated. "But I want to make sure that the Jewels on the other planets in the Helios system don't end up getting abused by the idiots that decided to overthrow the allied government and try to walk on their own."
"Besides, the food is nice," the blonde lady in Air Force blue to Dean's right, also bearing major's rank on her sleeves, stated as she gave Martin Larsden a knowing look.
A moan. "Jessica, for God's sake, is food ALL you care about?"
"There are other things, Martin," the smiling Québécoise in Navy black, she bearing lieutenant commander's stripes on her uniform (without the executive curl as the War Hawks had not been back on Earth in the last decade and the change to the officer rank insignia incorporating Elliot's Eye was implemented just the previous year), noted.
Gazing first at Jessica Dover, and then at Heather Thompkins, Martin shook his head. "Let's go back to our camp," he muttered under his breath.
Dean smirked as a point of light under her tie began to glow.
A second later, the four Terrans had vanished from Cylonia…
Now that Serina has buried her parents, we…
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