~ The Rescue ~
by AJ Marks
The lone figure made his way toward a run down shelter. His clothes had started to tear and his hair was down to his shoulder blades. He had a beard and mustache that looked to be a couple of months old. He kept up his visual watch of the night sky, hoping he would see the familiar outline of an approaching spacecraft. He wished to be rescued so he could finally attain his revenge to those who had confined him here. His supplies that he had been left with were almost gone and his original shelter had been destroyed in a storm that ravaged this planet.
He had been able to secure a new shelter that would withstand the storms of the planet. It was not as comfortable as the old shelter, but was stronger and kept him dry during the storms. The nearby lake had plenty of fish that he could eat, but no intelligent life for him to communicate with.
He had also been able to put together a distress beacon from some of the supplies he had received from the Galactica before they had left him alone on the planet. The only problem he had with his homemade beacon was it was severely underpowered. He estimated the range of the signal to be just around the planet; if they were passing by the solar system they probably would not hear the signal.
"Adama, one day I will destroy you and the Galactica, I promise!" Baltar said looking up into space. "Someday the Cylons will come for me, and when they do you're finished Adama."
He retired into his 'living quarters' and decided to eat some of the fish that he had caught earlier in the day. He hoped that the Cylons had not yet been able to destroy the Galactica; he wanted that honor to himself.
He was getting quite sick of fish, and the other larger animals on the planet were not good to eat, they tasted terrible, he wondered how the carnivores of this planet managed to eat them.
An unexpected noise brought him up from his cooking and outside. He walked out the door and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Most of the time the larger animals, and the larger carnivores would approach his shelter and he would scare them off with rocks. Holding a rock he carefully scanned the tree line for anything out of the ordinary. He heard nothing more and decided that whatever creature it was it had run off into the night.
Balter went back into his shelter and resumed his cooking. It was not long before the fish was ready and he quickly ate like he normally did. An inspection of the shelter was next on his list, something he always did before going to sleep. He walked around the shelter looking for any signs of cracking in the wall or roof. Satisfied that the structure would last the night he went back in and settled down to another nights sleep. He fell asleep with dreams of vengeance on his mind.
Three figures made their way towards the small human camp that they had noticed. They did not bother to be quiet or hide as they approached. They broke out into the clearing and saw one human standing there. A smile came to his lips as he called out to them.
"Cylons!" Baltar said looking at the three centurions standing before him. "It took you long enough to find me!" He exclaimed.
"The centurions were a bit confused at the development, usually they fled in fright or fought them, not acting like they were glad to see a Cylon.
"Surrender human!" The leader of the group said.
"I am Baltar centurion! You will take me to your basestar commander at once." Baltar ordered.
The centurion recognized the voice as Baltar, the human commander of a baseship. "By your command, Baltar." The centurion said as Baltar smiled.
A short while later Baltar stood in front of the baseship commander.
"So you are the one they call Baltar." The Cylon commander said looking down on the human that stood in their midst. He really did not look that impressive he thought, but if the imperious Leader thought that he could help the Cylon race destroy the human's then he would help.
"Yes I am." Baltar said looking up at the baseship commander. "Where is your Imperious Leader?" He asked the baseship commander.
"Our exulted Imperious Leader is on Gamoray at this moment." The commander replied. "Our outer capital city that has been rebuilt in the last yehren."
"Take me him at once." Baltar ordered.
"As you wish Baltar, set course for Gamoray, maximum speed." The commander said to one of the centurions.
"By your command!" The centurion replied and left to carry out the commander's orders.
'Excellent!' Baltar thought to himself. "I require a place to wash up."
"Of course." The commander replied and motioned a centurion forward to lead Baltar to the prison area, the only area on the basestar that had the facilities for humans.
A short while later Baltar, having shaved away his beard and mustache decided to get some sleep before they reached Gamoray, and his return to the Cylon Empire. He would have preferred the quarters on his basestar, but the brig area would do for now, at least it was clean and there were now animals to worry about. The Cylons did a good job keeping their ships clean. He was always impressed that a race of machines would copy the organic life they sought to destroy, they had developed civilians, their warships had hallways and crews quarters, and they even had a holding area for organic life forms they captured. For now he was grateful that they did have such 'lifestyles'.
"Report commander?" The Imperious Leader ordered when he had heard that the basestar was headed toward Gamoray.
"By your command," The Commander replied. "We had found the human know as Baltar, and are headed to Gamoray for your instructions."
"I will speak with this human." The Imperious Leader said. "When you arrive have him brought down to the surface for my questioning."
"By your command." The commander said signing off.
The Imperious Leader was curious about what had happened to Baltar. He might also know what happened to the human fleet and the Galactica. Their efforts to locate the human fleet so far had turned up nothing. The only thing they had located was a couple of minor human inhabited planets that were of no threat to the Cylon Empire, and therefore he had allowed them to survive, for now. The last sighting was by a basestar that was destroyed one yehren ago. Unfortunately the basestar had been unable to give the location of the fleet because the Galactica had ambushed the ship. The leaders of the Cylon Empire had quickly plotted a course from Gamoray to the destroyed basestar and patrolled the area that was beyond, but the fleet had obviously mislead the Cylons and used a different route, by the time they had realized it the fleet could have been anywhere.
He thought of Baltar and decided to give him a chance to find the fleet, or else Baltar would lose his life and no amount of pleading would save him this time.
"Centurion, tell Lucifer's basestar to head for Gamoray at once at the fastest possible speed." The Imperious Leader ordered having decided to give Baltar back his old basestar, that way he would not have to order another basestar to be modified to house a human.
"By your command!" The centurion said as it turned away to carry out its orders.
Lucifer turned to the communications screen. He was told that there was an incoming message for him. He wondered what the message was; he had not done anything to insure the wrath of the Imperious Leader. He was a bit off course but that was because he thought that the human fleet might have taken a large turn away from their last sighting, something he had thought of right away. His peers had thought that he was malfunctioning, but it turned out that he had been correct. He credited his thinking to his previous commander, Baltar, who had taught him many things about human thinking.
"By your command!" Lucifer said.
"By the command of our Imperious Leader you are to move with all due speed to Gamoray for an important assignment." The centurion told Lucifer.
"We will set a course immanently." Lucifer replied.
As the communication ended he wondered what could be so important for him to return to Gamoray. He must be picking up something important, something he could boast to Specter about. His old nemesis was now a commander of basestar like he was, however Specter was off across the Cylon Empire exploring a dull part of space without any excitement or a thrill of combat. He ordered the basestar to move at the fastest speed possible to Gamoray.
Baltar felt better than he had in about a yehren, now that he was no longer a prisoner or alone on that wretched planet that Adama had placed him on after his help in destroying a basestar. His spirits had been lifted when he first saw the centurion; perhaps the Cylons had improved their capital ships and fighters. As it was it required about two basestars to defeat a single battlestar, even then he was not sure if that would be enough to defeat a battlestar commanded by a commander like Cain, or Adama. The Cylons had only used three basestar fighter compliments at Cimtar against five battlestars. The big difference there was that he had been able to keep most of the fleet's vipers from launching, only the Galactica had managed to launch her fighters before the attack started, otherwise the outcome might have been different.
He got up and stretched his stiff muscles and wondered how long he had been sleeping. He walked over to the door, which was open and spotted the nearest centurion.
"Report centurion!" Baltar ordered.
"By your command." The centurion replied. "We will arrive at Gamoray in twenty centons."
"Excellent." Baltar smiled. "Lead me to my processions." The centurion turned and led Baltar to a small storage room where they had deposited his processions, including some remaining food. Baltar quickly opened up the last pouch of food he had from the Galactica and ate it. He had been saving it for a while.
When he had finished he was notified that they had arrived at Gamoray and the Imperious Leader was waiting for him on the planets surface. He had to ride down in a raider because the Cylons did not have shuttles to transport people with. Upon touchdown he was received by a couple of IL series Cylons and a command centurion.
"Welcome Baltar, I am Thedius, you companion while you are on Gamoray." The closest one said.
"Thedius?" Baltar said the name not familiar to him. "What about the last commander that was here?"
"He was dismantled for his failure to destroy the Galactica." Thedius replied making Baltar just a bit nervous.
"What are your orders Thedius?" Baltar asked.
"To take you to the Imperious Leader himself."
"Then carry out your orders!" Baltar said.
Thedius led Baltar and the other IL series Cylon into the building. They entered the room that the Imperious Leader was in; he was sitting upon his chair and watched as they entered the room.
"Baltar, it is good to see you still alive." The Imperious Leader said.
""What do you wish of me?" Baltar said allowing some of his fear to creep into his voice and he lost come of his cocky attitude he had displayed with Thedius earlier.
"We require you services Baltar." The Imperious Leader's comment caught Baltar's attention and his eyebrow's went up. "Since the battlestars Galactica and Pegasus attacked Gamoray we have lost contact with the human fleet."
"So you require my help in finding them again?" Baltar inquired pointing at himself; inwardly he was rejoicing that the Cylons had not destroyed the Galactica and Adama yet.
"Yes, their logic is still mysterious to us." The Imperious Leader said. "I have Lucifer on route here with your basestar."
"When will he arrive?" Baltar asked.
"Midday tomorrow, for now please review the information we have on the fleet." He said to which Baltar bowed and started out the door only to be halted at the door. "And Baltar, this time I will not tolerate failure as much as I have in the past."
"Of course." Baltar said swallowing hard as he swept his hand and bowed to the Imperious Leader, before leaving the room.
'Revenge', the thought echoed around his mind as he made his way to the records room.
The End.
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