Categories > TV > Battlestar Galactica > Battlestar Galactica: Homecomings
XI
The fever that was consuming Captain Nicholas Bond was increasing. He had surmised that a piece of the composite metal must still be in his rear-end, and it was festering the wound. His arm would make it, he knew, but it was getting harder and harder to stand up and walk, as the effects of the wound in his butt had spread down his leg.
He had gone over the scene where the Raptors had blown so many of these men, and a few women, to Kingdom Come. Their shotguns wouldn't do him much good, but some of them had sidearms, and he had found loads of ammo for the make of weapon and had added that to his arsenal, taking two of the weapons with him.
He was moving almost exclusively during the night hours, which, in fact, only lasted about four hours this time of year. With the fever and the injury, it was slow going, but he kept his thoughts on Natalia and his family to keep going.
His big worry is that the fever and the infection probably would affect his sense of judgment and direction before too long, and that frightened him. He needed to either find his way out of the mountains, or be rescued, and soon. He was about a mile or so West of where the firefight had taken place, and he had no idea that the Western edge of the Spec Ops team was back there. He had never thought about turning Eastward. He kept moving toward his own lines.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Lee and Kara went to see Doctor Patel when she announced she was finished with her autopsy on the two men who had been brought aboard.
"Admirals, thank you for coming so quickly", she said in a businesslike tone, taking them towards the autopsy room.
The bodies were already on ice in the freezers, but the Doctor had two bullets from one of the men's bodies. She began her brief.
"As was mentioned by our forces, these two were shot center-mass, classic military style for engaging an enemy", she said, looking up from her notes, "We didn't find any of the shell casings or rounds on the ground-whoever shot them probably confiscated them."
"Conclusion on the weapon used?", Kara was first to speak.
"The bullets are UED issue, sirs", she said with a smile coming across her face.
Kara knew it wasn't a time to celebrate, but she made a small jump and smiled despite the tenseness of the last twelve days. "Lee, he could still be alive out there", and her demeanor broke for a moment, tears in her eyes.
"That's what we're going on, Admiral", Lee smiled back and looked at Starbuck. "You go tell your family about this. I need to go to CIC and tell the Spec Ops team to double-time down that slope."
___________________________________________________________________________________________
He called his fiefdom "Helios", in honor of the Suns that were arrayed around the Twelve Colonies. The nickname for his creation was The Kingdom, as he ruled like a King of old over his followers. His name was unknown to most of them. He had grand plans for the Twelve Colonies if he could ever get to the other planets, but for the time being, he enjoyed his reign in the Caprican Mountain Range.
He went by the name The Crown.
His followers numbered approximately fifteen thousand, men, women, and children. That didn't include the "guest workers" that he had acquired through threat and occasional violence to serve his followers. Most of those he had enslaved were men, but a few women had been acquired as well. As had been the case throughout The Colonies after the Cylons came, more than a few had gone sterile. He had plenty of women who could conceive, but he, and most of his loyal subjects had gone sterile after the radiation fell.
He did have a name. He had once gone by the name of Clevin Monteith. He was in his early sixties, as people on Earth would count. He had been a nobody on the day of the attack, but circumstances that still burned within him today compelled him to be a somebody afterward.
He had been just outside Caprica City when the attack happened. A small handful of survivors from the initial attacks had made it away from the city and had fled to the countryside, hoping to escape the death was approaching.
The survivors had come over a hill and had seen a Colonial Raptor on the ground near them, and they had approached the ship, hoping to get off of the dying world. The two officers onboard the ship had recognized one of the group as a famous scientist and had taken the place of one of the officers. Clevin had tried to jump onto the Raptor as it started to take off, but the officer who stayed behind had shot him.
He had cursed the Military since that day, robbing him of the life he thought he deserved. Since there was no military around anymore, he slowly began to bring power to himself over the years. He had served others, now he wanted people to serve him.
Then the Military had shown up. And three dozen of his followers had died as a result. And they had died because the Military was defending a downed pilot. His people had found the Raptor but hadn't touched it, for fear of what might happen. But they could tell someone had survived. He wanted that survivor. He wanted him or her so he could keep the Military at bay and away from his stronghold.
Clevin Monteith had never scared easy. And he was laying plans to search for that pilot again.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
The prisoner that had been lifted from the surface of Caprica had sung like the proverbial canary. He went simply be the name of Enoch and refused to give a last name. He had told the interrogators all he knew. He had given him the approximate numbers of followers and "guest workers" who inhabited the hidden mountain redoubt; he didn't know the leader's name, only the name he went by. Yes, a group had found the aircraft, had seen the two dead crew members and had surmised a third was on the loose as there were bloodstains away from the ship. Yes, The Crown wanted this pilot to bargain with against the Military. No, he didn't think they'd accept the Military control of Caprica, and certainly not of the hidden stronghold.
Son of a bitch, Lee thought to himself, Fifteen thousand? At the very most, he could field twenty thousand ground troops, if he combined the fleet again, not counting Raptors and Falcons. Those weren't great odds against an enemy he knew little about. This group could, and already had, thrown a huge monkey wrench into his timetable for the scouting of the Twelve Worlds. But Caprica had to be settled. Eventually, the other worlds would find out about what was going on here. It was inevitable. But if Caprica were slice away on its own, there would be no hope of re-establishing the Twelve Colonies.
He had told this Enoch that he was to be set free. "I'm giving you a message to send to The Clown", he mocked to get a rise out of the man.
"It's The Crown, you idiot!", the man said far too loudly. Lee simply smiled at him.
"Your to give him the message I will send with you. There will soon be a new Colonial Government, and Caprica City will be the Capital. We will not allow this man, or any other man, to hold slaves on this or any other of the twelve planets", he paused to add emphasis, "I will meet him at the location where our downed aircraft is. I will have sentries with me, and he may bring sentries as well.
"He won't take the bait, Admiral", the man said defiantly.
"That may be, but the offer is there. How long will it take you to get back to this guy?"
"If you can drop me off at first light, I can be there by mid-day", the man said honestly, "How long does he have to meet you?"
"Two days to the minute after I drop you off", Lee confirmed, "As I said, he can bring his own guards, but I guarantee, if they start trouble, we'll end it."
Enoch believed the man in front of him.
First light would be in two hours. The man agreed to find his leader.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Ensign Natalia Schrevrenko had not yet told anyone other than Admiral Adama, Captain Wimbusi and the Bond family about her relationship with Nicholas Bond. But she found herself strengthened by the support and love shown to her by Nick's family. The first wave of grief had passed. The news that Nick had apparently shot two men dead about five days ago buoyed her hope that her guy was alive and would make it back to her.
Governor Bond was still on the ship, as was Admiral Thrace-Bond. Admiral Adama had told them that there were some sticking points on Canceron, but that Commander Carrico had the situation on that side of the Colonies under enough control for the moment. He needed Kara here for now. No one complained.
The Governor had invited Natalia to join the family for dinner when she could. Her schedule that day had her off by 1830, and she sauntered over to the Governor's VIP quarters. The Governor and Admiral were not there, but Judith Bond was.
"Natalie, it's nice to see you, my dear", Judith smiled warmly and hugged the young lady, "is work going better?"
"Yes, ma'am", she said with confidence, "I'm still scared, but I'm more myself now than I have been since this unpleasantness began."
"I'm glad to hear that, Natalie", Judy said with sincerity, "Can I get you a drink?"
"I would like that", and she tentatively smiled, "Do you have any Vodka around?"
Judith wasn't expecting that, and almost laughed, but held back, "I think we do, let me check."
The Ensign saw the look on The First Lady's face, then reassured her, "I'm not planning to get plastered, Mrs. Bond, but I could a small glass to unwind", and she did laugh.
Judith Bond looked relieved, and that made both of them laugh. "I've got a bottle right here, Natalie", then she stopped and looked at her, "but one glass! I don't want the Governor and Admiral to come here and see us both drunk." That made Natalia laugh again.
"You drink Vodka, Mrs. Bond?" She was actually surprised.
"I've had it once or twice, but if I stay to one glass, and so do you, we won't be laughing uncontrollably when the other's show up." She poured them both about two fingers of the drink, and then Judy decided to make a toast, "To the safe return of Nicholas."
Natalia raised her glass without a word, then they clinked their glasses together.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
By his reckoning, Nicholas Bond had been on the run for thirteen days now. He was losing the battle against the infection, his lack of hunger and lack of water. He was lucky if he could get a five hundred yards before collapsing in agony. The only thing that kept him going was thinking of those he loved that were above him.
The Spec Ops team was about three miles behind him, but he had drifted a little Southwest of their line of march. Captains Thomas Dalbott and Grey Solis had heard more commotion to their right, and it had slowed their progress, as they didn't want to be ambushed. Grey Solis told Dalbott that he felt something was in the air.
Enoch had gotten home, and taken the message to The Crown. Clevin Monteith didn't like the idea, but he didn't see a choice that was any better. He set out for the rendezvous point early the next morning.
Before leaving, he had sent another force of his to the South. He ordered them to veer West before breaking that hotly contested tree break. He wanted that pilot.
The fever that was consuming Captain Nicholas Bond was increasing. He had surmised that a piece of the composite metal must still be in his rear-end, and it was festering the wound. His arm would make it, he knew, but it was getting harder and harder to stand up and walk, as the effects of the wound in his butt had spread down his leg.
He had gone over the scene where the Raptors had blown so many of these men, and a few women, to Kingdom Come. Their shotguns wouldn't do him much good, but some of them had sidearms, and he had found loads of ammo for the make of weapon and had added that to his arsenal, taking two of the weapons with him.
He was moving almost exclusively during the night hours, which, in fact, only lasted about four hours this time of year. With the fever and the injury, it was slow going, but he kept his thoughts on Natalia and his family to keep going.
His big worry is that the fever and the infection probably would affect his sense of judgment and direction before too long, and that frightened him. He needed to either find his way out of the mountains, or be rescued, and soon. He was about a mile or so West of where the firefight had taken place, and he had no idea that the Western edge of the Spec Ops team was back there. He had never thought about turning Eastward. He kept moving toward his own lines.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Lee and Kara went to see Doctor Patel when she announced she was finished with her autopsy on the two men who had been brought aboard.
"Admirals, thank you for coming so quickly", she said in a businesslike tone, taking them towards the autopsy room.
The bodies were already on ice in the freezers, but the Doctor had two bullets from one of the men's bodies. She began her brief.
"As was mentioned by our forces, these two were shot center-mass, classic military style for engaging an enemy", she said, looking up from her notes, "We didn't find any of the shell casings or rounds on the ground-whoever shot them probably confiscated them."
"Conclusion on the weapon used?", Kara was first to speak.
"The bullets are UED issue, sirs", she said with a smile coming across her face.
Kara knew it wasn't a time to celebrate, but she made a small jump and smiled despite the tenseness of the last twelve days. "Lee, he could still be alive out there", and her demeanor broke for a moment, tears in her eyes.
"That's what we're going on, Admiral", Lee smiled back and looked at Starbuck. "You go tell your family about this. I need to go to CIC and tell the Spec Ops team to double-time down that slope."
___________________________________________________________________________________________
He called his fiefdom "Helios", in honor of the Suns that were arrayed around the Twelve Colonies. The nickname for his creation was The Kingdom, as he ruled like a King of old over his followers. His name was unknown to most of them. He had grand plans for the Twelve Colonies if he could ever get to the other planets, but for the time being, he enjoyed his reign in the Caprican Mountain Range.
He went by the name The Crown.
His followers numbered approximately fifteen thousand, men, women, and children. That didn't include the "guest workers" that he had acquired through threat and occasional violence to serve his followers. Most of those he had enslaved were men, but a few women had been acquired as well. As had been the case throughout The Colonies after the Cylons came, more than a few had gone sterile. He had plenty of women who could conceive, but he, and most of his loyal subjects had gone sterile after the radiation fell.
He did have a name. He had once gone by the name of Clevin Monteith. He was in his early sixties, as people on Earth would count. He had been a nobody on the day of the attack, but circumstances that still burned within him today compelled him to be a somebody afterward.
He had been just outside Caprica City when the attack happened. A small handful of survivors from the initial attacks had made it away from the city and had fled to the countryside, hoping to escape the death was approaching.
The survivors had come over a hill and had seen a Colonial Raptor on the ground near them, and they had approached the ship, hoping to get off of the dying world. The two officers onboard the ship had recognized one of the group as a famous scientist and had taken the place of one of the officers. Clevin had tried to jump onto the Raptor as it started to take off, but the officer who stayed behind had shot him.
He had cursed the Military since that day, robbing him of the life he thought he deserved. Since there was no military around anymore, he slowly began to bring power to himself over the years. He had served others, now he wanted people to serve him.
Then the Military had shown up. And three dozen of his followers had died as a result. And they had died because the Military was defending a downed pilot. His people had found the Raptor but hadn't touched it, for fear of what might happen. But they could tell someone had survived. He wanted that survivor. He wanted him or her so he could keep the Military at bay and away from his stronghold.
Clevin Monteith had never scared easy. And he was laying plans to search for that pilot again.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
The prisoner that had been lifted from the surface of Caprica had sung like the proverbial canary. He went simply be the name of Enoch and refused to give a last name. He had told the interrogators all he knew. He had given him the approximate numbers of followers and "guest workers" who inhabited the hidden mountain redoubt; he didn't know the leader's name, only the name he went by. Yes, a group had found the aircraft, had seen the two dead crew members and had surmised a third was on the loose as there were bloodstains away from the ship. Yes, The Crown wanted this pilot to bargain with against the Military. No, he didn't think they'd accept the Military control of Caprica, and certainly not of the hidden stronghold.
Son of a bitch, Lee thought to himself, Fifteen thousand? At the very most, he could field twenty thousand ground troops, if he combined the fleet again, not counting Raptors and Falcons. Those weren't great odds against an enemy he knew little about. This group could, and already had, thrown a huge monkey wrench into his timetable for the scouting of the Twelve Worlds. But Caprica had to be settled. Eventually, the other worlds would find out about what was going on here. It was inevitable. But if Caprica were slice away on its own, there would be no hope of re-establishing the Twelve Colonies.
He had told this Enoch that he was to be set free. "I'm giving you a message to send to The Clown", he mocked to get a rise out of the man.
"It's The Crown, you idiot!", the man said far too loudly. Lee simply smiled at him.
"Your to give him the message I will send with you. There will soon be a new Colonial Government, and Caprica City will be the Capital. We will not allow this man, or any other man, to hold slaves on this or any other of the twelve planets", he paused to add emphasis, "I will meet him at the location where our downed aircraft is. I will have sentries with me, and he may bring sentries as well.
"He won't take the bait, Admiral", the man said defiantly.
"That may be, but the offer is there. How long will it take you to get back to this guy?"
"If you can drop me off at first light, I can be there by mid-day", the man said honestly, "How long does he have to meet you?"
"Two days to the minute after I drop you off", Lee confirmed, "As I said, he can bring his own guards, but I guarantee, if they start trouble, we'll end it."
Enoch believed the man in front of him.
First light would be in two hours. The man agreed to find his leader.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Ensign Natalia Schrevrenko had not yet told anyone other than Admiral Adama, Captain Wimbusi and the Bond family about her relationship with Nicholas Bond. But she found herself strengthened by the support and love shown to her by Nick's family. The first wave of grief had passed. The news that Nick had apparently shot two men dead about five days ago buoyed her hope that her guy was alive and would make it back to her.
Governor Bond was still on the ship, as was Admiral Thrace-Bond. Admiral Adama had told them that there were some sticking points on Canceron, but that Commander Carrico had the situation on that side of the Colonies under enough control for the moment. He needed Kara here for now. No one complained.
The Governor had invited Natalia to join the family for dinner when she could. Her schedule that day had her off by 1830, and she sauntered over to the Governor's VIP quarters. The Governor and Admiral were not there, but Judith Bond was.
"Natalie, it's nice to see you, my dear", Judith smiled warmly and hugged the young lady, "is work going better?"
"Yes, ma'am", she said with confidence, "I'm still scared, but I'm more myself now than I have been since this unpleasantness began."
"I'm glad to hear that, Natalie", Judy said with sincerity, "Can I get you a drink?"
"I would like that", and she tentatively smiled, "Do you have any Vodka around?"
Judith wasn't expecting that, and almost laughed, but held back, "I think we do, let me check."
The Ensign saw the look on The First Lady's face, then reassured her, "I'm not planning to get plastered, Mrs. Bond, but I could a small glass to unwind", and she did laugh.
Judith Bond looked relieved, and that made both of them laugh. "I've got a bottle right here, Natalie", then she stopped and looked at her, "but one glass! I don't want the Governor and Admiral to come here and see us both drunk." That made Natalia laugh again.
"You drink Vodka, Mrs. Bond?" She was actually surprised.
"I've had it once or twice, but if I stay to one glass, and so do you, we won't be laughing uncontrollably when the other's show up." She poured them both about two fingers of the drink, and then Judy decided to make a toast, "To the safe return of Nicholas."
Natalia raised her glass without a word, then they clinked their glasses together.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
By his reckoning, Nicholas Bond had been on the run for thirteen days now. He was losing the battle against the infection, his lack of hunger and lack of water. He was lucky if he could get a five hundred yards before collapsing in agony. The only thing that kept him going was thinking of those he loved that were above him.
The Spec Ops team was about three miles behind him, but he had drifted a little Southwest of their line of march. Captains Thomas Dalbott and Grey Solis had heard more commotion to their right, and it had slowed their progress, as they didn't want to be ambushed. Grey Solis told Dalbott that he felt something was in the air.
Enoch had gotten home, and taken the message to The Crown. Clevin Monteith didn't like the idea, but he didn't see a choice that was any better. He set out for the rendezvous point early the next morning.
Before leaving, he had sent another force of his to the South. He ordered them to veer West before breaking that hotly contested tree break. He wanted that pilot.
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