Chapter 28I - On the Rising Star

[LucianG]

A few centons after arriving on the Rising Star, Lucian was lost in a strange corridor, and a tall man in a red jumpsuit was asking him, “Warrior, what in the Nine Hells are you doing here?”

Lucian, sensing that skullduggery might be afoot, played his hand as realistically as he could. “I took a wrong turn somewhere, and ended up down here. Can you tell me where to find the crew cabins? I just came in on the shuttle and I’m looking for a friend.”

The tall man moved his hand further away from his weapon and helped his friend stand upright again. “Back down this corridor, take a right at the third connecting corridor. Can’t miss it.”

Lucian said, “Thanks for the directions. If you don’t need any help, I’m off to find my friend.” He turned and moved down the corridor, listening carefully for any sound of a weapon being drawn, but he heard nothing. When he rounded the corner, he continued walking for a way, then stopped, slipped off his boots, and then silently crept back to the turn. Listening intently, he heard the smaller man softly cursing the panel until he suddenly whispered, “Got it!” to his partner. Lucian heard the slight scrape of a weapon being drawn, and he peeked around the corner as the door swished open and the two men ran forward into the space. Lucian grabbed his boots and then, on stocking feet, he bolted the few meters down the corridor, drawing his laser pistol as he ran, until he ended up by the side of the open door. He quietly sat the boots by the door as he stopped. Seeing it sliding closed slowly, probably due to the electronic tampering initiated by the smaller man, and hearing a female voice scream inside the quarters, Lucian figured that was all the invitation he needed to enter. He entered silently and stepped to the side, just as the door thumped closed. He slid sideways in the shadow of a corner, since there was little light in the entry room.

[LucianG]

From deeper inside the suite, Lucian heard one of the men say, “You’d better get your fat astrum up now and get to the Council Chamber, or I’m going to start blasting off parts until you’re light enough that I can carry you. He’s depending on you to be there, so get up!” To accent his order, a small hand laser fired once, then twice.

The reply was muffled, as if someone had a hand over her mouth, but Lucian could tell that she was screaming. Faced with two probably well-armed opponents intent on violence, Lucian increased the intensity on his laser pistol by one setting. If he had to fire, which he was finding increasingly likely, he wanted whatever he hit to go down, most likely alive, but definitely not capable of firing back.

The verbal abuse of the woman continued for a few microns, until suddenly one of the men screamed, “This bovine bit me! I’m taking off some toes for that.” Thrashing noises, and a shouted, “Hold her foot still!” indicated that the men were indeed struggling to keep the woman still as she continued to scream, now from behind a pillow stuffed over her face.

Since he had no way of getting help, Lucian knew he had to even the odds. He considered firing one round just over the two men, but thought better of it. These men were abusing a woman, so in Lucian’s mind, they’d given up any right to a fair fight. As he tip-toed forward silently, he picked up a small object off a table and pitched it over to the side, causing the larger man to turn toward the sound and raise his weapon toward it. Lucian pulled the trigger….

[LucianG]

Lucian pulled the trigger, hitting the bigger man in the chest, just below his outstretched right arm. The blast knocked him over and caused him to drop the weapon, which went spinning behind some furniture. He was moaning in pain as the second man released the pillow over the face of the woman and drew his weapon as he turned, faster than Lucian had expected. Lucian and the man pulled off a shot each as the woman on the bed threw the pillow away and seemed to thrash to get away as she screamed. Lucian was forced to duck behind a piece of furniture as the other man fired off another three shots in his general direction. Lucian scampered sideways and low, trying to get to better cover where he could get a clear shot, but the man kept firing.

Suddenly, a loud crash put an end to the firing. The woman immediately raised the light intensity to normal room level from sleep mode, and Lucian saw her standing over the man with the remains of a large vase scattered all around him. Turning to Lucian she demanded, just as the other man succeeded in standing and stumbling out of the room, “Now who are you, what are you doing in my quarters, and how are you going to pay for this damage?”

[LucianG]

Lucian shook his head in disbelief. He possibly saved the woman’s life and she was concerned about the mess! He ignored her question, and asked, “Do you know who those people were and why they broke in here?”

“Do you know who I am, Warrior? I am Councilwoman Nyeeta of Scorpia, a member of the Quorum of Twelve. You are not to speak to me like that. Who are you anyway, and why did you break into my room?” she asked.

Since he had been involved in repairs while she was aboard the Callisto, Lucian had never seen her in his life until the shuttle ride to the Rising Star. He’d had about all he felt like taking from the pompous woman. “Listen, lady, Councilor, whatever you are, your door was wide open,” a minor stretch since it had actually been closing as he stepped into the room, “and you were in here screaming as the two thugs I’d just seen enter were about to have at it with you. If you’d like, I’ll leave, but I suspect they may be back soon, and with friends, so if you want my help, you’d better be straight with me, starting right now.” Again, he didn’t even bother giving her his name.

[LucianG]

Nyeeta regained a little of her composure and said, “Warrior, you’re right, unless I do what they want immediately, I am sure they’ll be back.”

“So, who are they, and why are they after you?” asked Lucian skeptically. “I assume it has something to do with your position.”

Nyeeta looked contemptuously at Lucian for not being familiar with her as she replied, “Warrior, it has EVERYTHING to do with my position. Those men are members of Councilor Troian’s private security force. I suspect he’s probably got over twenty men with him on this trip. When they come back, there will be a lot more of them, and they’ll be armed to the teeth. You won’t stand a chance.”

[LucianG]

Lucian ignored the inference that he would fight her battle for her again. “You answered half the question. Why are they coming after you?”

“Because they need my vote to remove President Tigh. If I show up, with Councilwoman Athena and him missing, Troian will have a quorum and be able to call for the vote. Even if I vote against Tigh’s removal after being announced as present, Troian will still win,” said Nyeeta.

Lucian hadn’t heard about the plot to remove Tigh, so he was surprised. “Remove President Tigh? Why, when he’s not here to defend himself?” asked Lucian.

“That’s exactly why! He’s not here to defend himself! With the Galactica missing, it’s not even known whether Tigh is alive or dead,” explained Nyeeta. “You think the rumors of the Galactica’s destruction at Pangara started on their own? No, Troian’s had people spreading that bilge all over the fleet. I think he’s even bought off the IFB the way that bubbleheaded anchorwoman keeps going on about it. With Tigh not present, he’s not able to defend himself, so it should be an easy task to remove him from office. Once he’s out, Troian is in, simple as that!”

[LucianG]

“Incredible! Sounds like pretty high stakes,” said Lucian, shaking his head in disbelief. What some people would do for power. He wasn’t familiar with Troian, but the Councilor didn’t sound like a very savory character. “They could be back any moment, so we better get out of here. Do you have anything less conspicuous you could throw over your gown? Perhaps something with a hood?”

Nyeeta grabbed a hooded robe out of the closet, then turned to Lucian and said, “Warrior, you’re pretty conspicuous yourself in your uniform. Unfortunately, I don’t have anything in my closets to give you.”

Lucian nodded and they ran out the door and down the hall together. He could tell that the Councilwoman had not run in a long time, if ever, but she seemed determined not to be caught. As they scrambled down a corridor, Lucian heard people approaching, so he whispered, “Quick, through that door.” They entered and closed the door behind them. Moments later, they heard the group pass by. As the noise receded, Lucian slid the door back open just in time to see the last couple of red-suited people, one male and one female, turn the corridor. He slid it shut then turned to Nyeeta and said, “Listen, lady, you never did tell me whether you planned to vote for President Tigh’s removal. What’s the answer?”

Nyeeta stared stonefaced at him and said, “Well, Warrior, I guess that’s going to depend on whether you let those people catch me.”

[LucianG]

Lucian needed help, and the only place he knew to get it was from the Callisto. He had no idea where to find the other Warriors who were on furlon to the Rising Star, so he had to contact Commander Sheba. She might be able to send help and stop Councilor Troian’s thugs. Therefore, Lucian was leading Nyeeta through a maintenance corridor in the general direction of the ship’s communications center. He’d been there once long ago with Mar-nee’, so he was hoping they’d be able to find it when they got closer to the front of the ship. If he could get them there without being seen, there was a chance. To give them a chance of getting there, he needed to change clothes so every thug on the ship wouldn’t recognize him as the Colonial Warrior who had thwarted Nyeeta’s kidnapping.

“Where’s the ship’s laundry?” he asked Nyeeta, who looked at him in contempt as if such a place was beneath her. Lucian stared at her with a frown and added, “Come on, lady, you don’t live on a barge like this for this many yahrens without knowing where the laundry is, even if you’ve only passed by it from time to time. Now, where is it?”

Soon they took a series of turns and began walking in what Nyeeta said was the general direction of the laundry center. She persisted with the statement that she didn’t know exactly where it was, but Lucian suspected otherwise, and let her know with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. Then, between complaints about being dragged through the ship and pushed around like a common criminal, Nyeeta started filling him in on Troian’s plans. “Troian wants us to find a backwater planet, well away from the Cylons, and build a new world. He says that the ships of the Fleet are in desperate need of repairs, and that people will soon start dying in large numbers as ships disintegrate around them if we continue to push the Fleet as hard as we have for the past twenty-six yahrens. It wouldn’t take much to convince the people, whether or not it was true. An accident or two, even if staged, a few hundred or even a few thousand people dead, and everyone would be ready to get out of the ‘ships of death.’ Troian will be able to do WHAT-EV-ER he wants.”

[LucianG]

Lucian was amazed that some people never learned; every time someone tried to negotiate with the Cylons, people died. The only chance the human race had to survive was to keep moving and someday find the lost colony called Earth. Now, Nyeeta made it sound as if Troian would ruthlessly wipe out portions of the Fleet, killing untold people, just to get his way.

“Why would he do such a thing?” Lucian asked. “To be willing to kill all those people, he must believe he’ll be getting something significant out of it. What is it?”

Nyeeta shook her head slowly at Lucian’s apparent lack of understanding of those who thirst for power. She replied, “Warrior, beyond power and prestige, I’m not sure, but for people like Troian, that’s often all it takes.”

[LucianG]

They entered the ship’s laundry, and Lucian breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no one at reception. The sign said, “Ring bell if you want something.” He whispered to Nyeeta, “Don’t even think about ringing that thing. Step over into that fitting room and stay out of sight. I’ll be back in a couple of centons.”

The main area of the laundry was hot and humid, so it was in the rear as Lucian suspected. The completed laundry was kept in the “clean room” near reception, just off the main corridor to the rear. He slipped down the corridor and into the clean room without being seen. There were a couple of people at the rear of the clean room who were folding and hanging completed laundry for storage in the room until it was distributed around the ship. Lucian slipped between a couple of racks, looking at the hanging clothing until he found something that looked about the right size and was at least a little less easy to pick out in a crowd. Hiding between the racks, he slipped out of his pants and tunic, and then into the borrowed clothing. He hung the uniform on the rack, and noted the hang number. He slipped his laser pistol into the band at the back of his pants so it would be hidden in the small of his back. A jacket from a nearby hanging area covered it up. He grabbed another set of clothes on a hanger, and he quickly walked out of the clean room and back out to the reception area.

When he entered the main area, an elderly man asked, “May I help you?”

Lucian, somewhat surprised to see someone at the desk replied, “I’m sorry, no one came when I rang the bell so I stepped to the back and they helped me find my clothes.” The elderly man, whose nametag read “Kelvin,” eyed Lucian suspiciously and then looked at the clothes. “You sure that one’s yours?”

Lucian glanced down at the pants that were for a far taller man than himself, and a shirt that appeared much larger, too. “Felgercarb, these aren’t mine. We must have gotten the wrong number after all!