The Fall of Iconia

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

It was early morning in New Caprica City. Laura Adama had spent the better part of the last two weeks in Camelot, the capital city of Iconia Prime, with John Evansville, Moros, John Cavil, and Sulu. Their time had been spent working out trade agreements, and Laura was pleased that the Iconians and Federation had been more than generous. The Colonials had little to trade, but many needs. "Actually," Sulu had told her, "many of the items we will obtain from you will be from the military. I think you'll end up sharing plenty."

Now, she was standing in front of the stargate in her own capital city. She had been talking quietly with Bill, but snapped her head toward the gate when she heard it begin activating.

The puddle formed, and there was a pause for a moment, then two people stepped through. One was a human, and the other a cylon. She stepped forward and embraced her son-in-law, Karl, then turned and did the same to Cy.

In her time on Camelot, she had gotten to know the cylon, and actually was growing rather fond of him. She was still somewhat uncomfortable embracing him, but did it for the sake of peace.

"It's good to see you again, Cy," she told him.

"It's good to see you too," came the monotone response from the robot.

A loud buzzer sounded from the column standing beside the gate, and they turned to watch. A beam shot from the top of the column to create a gateway in front of the event horizon. A moment later, they watched as things started to come through the gate, and disappear into the gateway.

"Look!" came a shout from a bystander.

Laura turned her head toward the shout and saw a young woman pointing skyward. She looked up and saw several one man fighters appearing, seemingly out of nowhere, nearly a thousand meters above the ground. Rather than open the space gate, the gateway had been opened where people could see the fighters appear.

The pilots flying the starfighters and Federation fighters were an elite squadron led by Ka'Ra and Ka'Rel. They were going to teach Iconian and Federation tactics to the Colonial Warriors, who would, in turn, teach them Colonial tactics.

After nearly fifty of each type of fighter appeared, five strange looking craft emerged. They were cylindrical, and looked as if they would just fit through the stargate. "What are those?" Laura asked Bill.

"Those are Iconian Puddle Jumpers," he explained. "They're a shuttle, similar to our raptors."

"Our pilots need to know how to fly them?" she asked.

"From what I understand, one jumper could do considerable damage to a battlestar," he replied.

The gateway shut down, and one more human stepped through the stargate before it closed as well. He looked around for a moment, then walked up to the Adamas.

"Hello," he said in a thick accent, similar to the one spoken by Scotty, "I'm Doctor Carson Beckett. I'm here to test for the ancient gene among your people."

"Hello, Doctor Beckett," Laura said, shaking his hand. "I'm still a bit unsure about this ancient gene thing, but welcome to Jord anyway."

"Thank you, Madam President," he said smiling. Then, he turned to Bill and grasped his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Commander Adama."

"Likewise," Bill said.

Later in the day...

Beckett was set up in a laboratory owned by Gaius Baltar, and in fact, the owner was watching, extremely interested, as Beckett was preparing for his first tests.