Part 1 Battlestar Galactica: Back To The Colonies: Of Droughts And Grudges

Chapter 2

II

Three Months Later, July 2042

Cherokee, New Caprica was sweltering once again. It was July which was normally the second hottest month of any year in these parts, but since the drought that had begun 30 months ago had taken hold temperatures year 'round had skyrocketed. The temperature was currently 102 degrees Fahrenheit and as dry as it was hot. In normal times Cherokee would see about 31 inches of precipitation in a given year. Since the drought broke, the average had dropped to 18 inches. And this year, the estimates were saying that they would receive about 12 inches of precipitation. The crops weren't dead, but they were on life support.

Diana Seelix lived in Cherokee. She had taken up farming after arriving on Earth. She had wanted to escape the confinement of being stuck on a Battlestar, and even more importantly, to escape the confinement of a small cell on the Prison ship Astral Queen. She had craved open spaces ever since, and a farm definitely provided that.

Former Lieutenant Diana Seelix, Call Sign "Hardball" had been flying Vipers off of Galactica for a year when she made the decision that changed her life. Like most at the time on Galactica, she hated Cylons with a blinding passion and, like many, had become disillusioned with Admiral William Adama's alliance with the rebel Cylons. On top of that learning that Sam Anders and Galen Tyrol, among others, were Cylons had made her even more vengeful. She had fought side-by-side with Anders on the world New Caprica during the Cylon occupation; she had also fought next to Tyrol on both Kobol and New Caprica. And on top of that Chief Tyrol had been instrumental in getting her into Viper training.

But all of that meant nothing to Seelix after she found out they were Cylons. And those series of events led her to join the attempted Coup d'etat that Felix Gaeta and Tom Zarek had launched to overthrow and kill anyone associated with Admiral Adama or Laura Roslin. She had lured Sam Anders into a trap where he was severely beaten by two other mutineers. She was certain that the Adama's and Roslin would be taken care of and the Cylon alliance ended.

It hadn't worked that way.

She had been lucky, or so she thought. Gaeta and Zarek had both been executed for their plot, so had about 75 other people as well. Most of the conspirators had been imprisoned on the Astral Queen-numbering more than 900, all confined in single-person cells; put on menial rations with no apparent hope of parole. When Adama had come looking for volunteers for the mission to rescue the half-Human, half-Cylon child Hera from The Colony, many of those incarcerated jumped at the chance and returned to duty. Her friends Racetrack and Skulls didn't hesitate. They both lost their lives in that battle.

Hardball had refused. She had wanted nothing to do with any operation that was run in part by Cylons to rescue a half-Cylon child. Lee Adama had even visited her to beg her to reconsider but she refused. The fact that Sam Anders was a Cylon was all that mattered. She stayed in prison.

She had been released from the prison barge 18 months after the arrival of the fleet at Earth. She was offered a position in the old ship's hangers working as a mechanic on the Vipers and Raptors. It was clear that she would never be an Officer again and would never fly any birds. That career had died the day she joined the mutiny.

She had become an outcast among the crew just like any other surviving member of the mutiny that had remained on the ship upon release from prison. Beyond the basics of her job, no one wanted to have anything to do with her. Even once-good friends shunned her. She ate alone; she drank alone; she slept alone, a persona non grata among her own people. After 10 months back in the hangar she had requested a transfer and was sent to Offutt Air Force Base in the United States to do the same job.