"What're those?" he said to Starbuck.
"Looks like some sort of vegetable patch to me, but—"
"My God!"
They simultaneously perceived the humans inside the pods. Starbuck crouched down by a nearby pod and touched the plumpish young woman bound inside it.
"I think—I think I was playing hi-lo with this woman that first day I found the casino. Her name was—was—God, I forgot it already."
"Is she alive?" Apollo said.
"She's breathing. She's got a pulse. Let me see if I can—oh, God!"
"What is it?"
"Her body. It's stuck here. Not only stuck. It's becoming part of the pod, blending with the leaves. Underneath, she's—Apollo, the back of her head and shoulders, they're breaking up into matter, into—"
"We can't stay here. C'mon."
"But this woman. The others. We can't just leave them, we—"
"And we can't sort out who's salvageable. We'll send a team back. Right now there's the Cylons. C'mon. Follow Muffit, he seems to know where he's going."
They crossed the chamber, carefully stepping over the pods, trying not to look at their contents.
Ahead of them, a group of Ovions entered the cavern, carrying four new pods. Apollo grabbed Muffy and crouched behind the nearest pod. Starbuck and Boxey fell to the ground beside Apollo.
"What's going on there?" Starbuck whispered.
"I think they've been siphoning off people from the casino, bringing them down here. That's the reason for the casino, the reason they keep everybody winning and happy and fat."
"But why? Why are they wrapping them in these pods and—"
"I'm not sure. Perhaps we're a source of food for the Ovions, maybe—"
"Food? Do you mean the casino is a foodlot? The Ovions are a race of cannibals?"
"No, Starbuck, that's not—"
"What do you mean, it's not—"
"Cannibals are species that eat of their own species. Ovions aren't eating Ovions here, they're—"
"You choose a fine time to nit-pick. You mean they're just fattening us up, like cattle, like—"
"That may be it. Those first pods they just brought in, the men in them look familiar."
Starbuck squinted at the pods, which were being delicately held up horizontally while Ovions attached tubing to them.
"They're the three men we were looking for!" Starbuck said.
"I thought so. Even from here the uniforms look like bad fits."
"And the other one—my God! It's Cassiopeia!"
Starbuck had stood up and begun to run before Apollo could stop him. He rushed toward the pod carriers like a competitive runner, leaping over the pods underfoot as if they were hurdles. With a last running jump Starbuck hurled himself on one of the Ovions who had just propped up the pod containing Cassiopeia for the attachment of its tubing.
Starbuck's move seemed to activate Muffit Two, who ran after him. Naturally, Boxey followed the daggit. Apollo, still crouching behind the pod, muttered, "Damn!" then started crawling toward Starbuck, around and over the pods.
Seetol, alerted to the disturbance by a messenger, rushed into the pod chamber. From another entranceway came Lotay, accompanied by the tall Cylon spy.
One of the humans, the brash young man Starbuck, was struggling in the grip of two Ovion warriors. As Seetol approached, she heard him say:
"You bastards! You can't turn her into—into food!"
"Not food precisely, Sir," Seetol said. "Although your nutrient substances are part of what is absorbed. They are diluted, in fact, into a liquid used to feed our babies at the time they hatch from the eggs."
Starbuck appeared to be sick.
"Ovion bitch!" he said. "You're lower than—" He saw the Cylon approaching. "Lower than a Cylon!"
Seetol showed no reaction to his insult as she continued.
"Within these pods we are able to extract all that is best in your race. And other races, for that matter. Minerals, life-giving liquids, bones for building materials. We can even extract knowledge from your brains, information from your bodily cells. You might say, we use every bit of you usefully."
The Cylon centurion laughed harshly.
"Impossible to see a piece of human vermin as useful," he said.
Barking and yelling distracted Seetol's attention. The young human boy was pulling at the uniform on the leg of one of her warriors, while his detestable pet was biting at the Ovion's leg. The queen, clearly amused by the situation, walked to the scene, and with her long arms pulled the boy away from the soldier.
"I have special plans for this child," she said to the warrior, who had drawn a weapon. "He's mine. But, if you wish, you may dispose of the animal."
The Ovion coolly pointed the weapon at Muffit Two, who was now leaping in anger. Squeezing one of its two triggers, she shot the daggit at the high point of a leap. Sparks flew from Muffit's hide as it fell to the ground in a crumpled, inert heap.
"Muffy! Muffy!" Boxey shouted.
"Why, you—" Starbuck shouted. Twisting his body violently, he pulled out of the eight-armed grasp of the two Ovion guards. Leaping up suddenly to Seetol's left, Apollo fired at the Ovion who had shot the daggit, sending a killing beam through her neck. Starbuck, in reaction, rolled to his left and came up shooting. His aim was true, as he sliced the Cylon's helmet in two. Suddenly the two men were blasting away, and an Ovion warrior seemed to fall with each shot.
Seetol ran recklessly through the fire toward Lotay, to protect her. Lotay held the child, who was now crying fiercely as he looked down at his fallen pet, tightly in her arms.
The firing behind her stopped. Looking back, she saw that all of her warriors had been killed by the two humans. Starbuck was now advancing toward her and Lotay.
"Stop right there, you ugly insect bitch!" he cried.
Seetol moved sideways, placing herself deliberately between the two men's weapons and her queen. Whatever else happened, Lotay must be protected. It would be final proof of Seetol's love of her queen to die for her.
"Starbuck, stop!" Apollo shouted.
"I want to kill both of them. We haven't got time to—"
"You might kill Boxey, too."
Apollo's cautionary message seemed to make Lotay hold the boy all the more tightly.
"Disarm them, Seetol!" Lotay screamed, her voice shrill. Conditioned to respond automatically to an order from her queen, Seetol jumped at Starbuck. The man, surprised at the Ovion's lunge, nevertheless got off a shot at her which burned through one of her left arms. She finished her leap and knocked Starbuck off balance. Seetol grabbed at his arm to try to wrest the man's sidearm from his fingers. The move jostled his arm, made him accidentally fire the weapon. A high-pitched scream behind her ended in a gurgle. She turned to see Lotay falling, her head half-severed from her neck by the chance shot. Seetol's scream took up where Lotay's left off, and she ran to her fallen queen. Boxey, having been released from Lotay's arms as they went limp, ran to Muffit. Starbuck aimed his weapon toward Seetol's head.
"No, Starbuck," Apollo shouted. "We've done enough. Take care of Cassiopeia."
Starbuck ran to the pod containing Cassiopeia as Apollo rushed to the sobbing boy.
As soon as Cassiopeia had been released from the pod, she fell into Starbuck's arms, drugged, half-conscious, but alive. He hugged her to him briefly, then set her down while he released the three men in the Galactican uniforms. He was about to interrogate them, but he could tell from their glazed eyes they were in no state to produce any explanations at that moment.
At first Apollo did not know what to do about Boxey. He figured that the crumpled daggit-droid's body must remind Boxey of the death of the real daggit back on Caprica. Only this time nobody had shielded the boy from his pet's fallen form. Would the boy be able to get over such a loss again? Or did it have to be a loss? Perhaps not.
"We've got to go, Boxey. We can't stay here."
"I won't leave Muffy."
"I know what you're thinking, b
ut are you a Starfleet trainee officer or not?"
"Yes, but—"
"Then get moving, young man. I'll bring Muffy, I promise you that. Now let's go or I'll have you keelhauled."
Boxey, responding to the authority in Apollo's voice, sprang to his feet. Gently Apollo picked up the daggit-droid. A few wires inside it hung out, frayed and burned. Ordering Boxey to start moving, they collected Starbuck, along with Cassiopeia and the three uniformed men, all of whom could respond to orders in a robot fashion. They made, Apollo thought, an odd-looking platoon as they trudged toward the entranceway of the chamber. Starbuck brought up the rear, looking back with his weapon raised at the mourning Seetol. He took aim at her, but Apollo said to leave her in her sorrow. She was no threat now.
Seetol, aware of their departure, made no move to follow them. There seemed no point. Lotay was dead. As in all deaths of Ovion queens, the tiny sharp points on the skin of her body had faded to a dull, nearly whitish, yellow. Soon they would retract into the skin.
Without her queen, Seetol was without function. There was nothing she could do to assuage her misery. Wounded by Starbuck's shot, she could only sit and allow the life to drain out of her body. For a long while she bent over the dead queen and muttered prolonged, high-pitched sounds that were the Ovion version of keening. Eventually, unconsciousness relieved her misery and she fell forward across Lotay's body.
"I think I've got my bearings now," Starbuck announced, after they had traveled some distance from the pod chamber. "The elevator's that way."
"So's that bunch of centurions," Apollo shouted.
"Oh, damn!"
Pushing the dazed men in uniform against a wall and forcing one of them to hold the inert form of Muffit Two, Apollo and Starbuck took cover behind a pair of jutting wall-rocks as the Cylons opened fire. Laser fire blasted chunks of rock from the wall. Starbuck and Apollo returned the fire, and two centurions fell.
"Do you have another weapon?" Cassiopeia, who had crawled up to Starbuck, said blearily. "I can handle a laser pistol. One of my many—"
Starbuck started to tell her to get back, she was still too drugged. Instead, he said, "See if one of those zombies has a pistol in his holster."
He pointed to the three uniformed men, then turned and shot at the centurions blocking the corridor that led to the elevator. His and Apollo's shots kept finding targets, and soon there was a pile of Cylons with nobody fighting back.
"Damn!" Cassiopeia said, unsteadily pointing the pistol she'd liberated down the corridor. "It's a fake. These guys are carrying fake pistols!"
"I'm not surprised. Let's get out of here. That shootout's got to draw some curious intruders."
Before he waved the group on, he touched the wall beside him. It was illuminated with a dim, but increasing, glow.
"Apollo!" Starbuck said. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Yeah. With all this Tylium starting to burn, this could grow into a fire that could turn this whole bloody planet into a bomb."
"Um, let's tiptoe out of here, huh? This way, c'mon."
"Are you sure?"
"This is no time for a vote. Let's move."
A lone Cylon leaped out at them from behind the pile of corpses. He released one shot toward Starbuck which ignited more rock. Starbuck reacted quickly and killed the ambushing alien.
Maneuvering around the corpses, they traveled down another short corridor and into the lobby containing the elevator bank.
"What'd I tell ya, Captain. We're saved."
The door to the elevator that Apollo and Starbuck had tampered with opened suddenly, and a bemused-looking Boomer stepped out. He smiled broadly when he saw that Starbuck and Apollo were standing across the lobby from him.
"Hey, guys," he said. "What's going on? You guys hotwire this elevator? I looked all over—"
He was interrupted by laser fire emerging from the darkness of a corridor to his left. His weapon was immediately drawn and he went into a crouch as he fired at the source of the attack. Boomer's fire proved a cover by which Apollo and Starbuck could lead Cassiopeia, Boxey, and the three men across the open area. When they reached the elevator and herded their people in, Starbuck shouted, "We might get trapped in that thing!"
"Does it matter?" Apollo shouted back. "If those fires combine and spread and explode the Tylium, it doesn't matter where we are. Get in. C'mon, Boomer!"
Starbuck joined Boomer to allow him extra firepower in backing into the elevator. As Starbuck leaped into the elevator between the leading edges of the closing doors, a centurion appeared just in front of the car and took dead aim on the young lieutenant. The doors closed just in time but flamed briefly as the centurion's shot hit them dead center.
Serina had searched throughout the whole room for Boxey, and was rapidly becoming frantic. She tried to obtain Colonel Tigh's help but the commander's aide, intent on a small electronic device concealed in his hand, waved her away. She didn't know what to do. If Apollo would only return, she thought, he would know what to do.
On the podium Uri had brought the crowd to several cheers and a couple of ovations. He had reached the main point of his speech.
"And so I implore you all to join with me in the spirit of this great communion and put your faith in me and go to the Cylons. For I tell you that this night will be remembered as the foundation upon which the floor of peace was laid, to last for eternity. I give you the hope that—"
His speech was stopped abruptly by the charging of Apollo, Starbuck, and Boomer from the elevator. Apollo pointed his gun toward the ceiling and fired. Everyone in the room turned toward him.
"Everyone begin to move quickly and orderly towards the exits. That is an order."
"Stand where you are," Uri shouted from the podium. "I am in charge here."
Before Apollo could respond, a group of Centurions had joined the Ovions at the entranceway and begun firing. Everyone began scrambling for cover.
"Listen to Apollo!" Uri hollered. "Do what he says. He's in charge here."
Boomer and Starbuck wiped out the entire contingent of guards at one doorway, and Uri was the first to hightail it through to the outside. The rest of Red squadron had produced weapons and laser fire crisscrossed in all directions. Voices screamed and lights, hit by random shots, began to sizzle and go out.
Serina dodged around tables and fallen chairs toward the elevator bank.
"Boxey! Boxey!" she hollered.
She discovered the boy cowering behind Apollo. She picked him up in her arms.
"Over that way!" Apollo cried. "That entrance is clear now!"
He led Serina and Boxey through the archway. Outside, rain stung their faces. Beams from Cylon helmets cut through the darkness. Apollo took Serina and Boxey to cover behind the grog fountain.
All around and inside the casino the battle raged.
"We haven't enough firepower," Apollo said to Serina. "There were too many fake guns among that fake Blue squadron."
"What fake Blue squadron?"
Apollo explained about the strange imposters in the squadron's uniforms.
"I don't know what was in my father's mind when—"
Over the hill near the fountain, a landram appeared, with Lieutenant Jolly mounted on a gun turret. The fat lieutenant started blasting away, and a group of centurions began to fall. Jolly had zeroed in on them by the light of their helmet beams.
Telling Serina to stay under cover, Apollo ran to the landram on which Jolly sat. Another two landrams had appeared, and their gunners were firing at centurions and Ovions.
"Assemble squadron!!" Apollo cried, as he reached the landram and scrambled aboard.
"Where in all that's holy did you come from, Jolly?"
"We're here courtesy of Commander Adama, Captain."
"But why—"
"He sent the landrams to cover for you guys in case any fighting broke out in the casino. Clairvoyant your father is, Captain. He also ordered us to collect Red squadron and shuttle them back to the Galactica. He's ex
pecting a fight, he says."
"Red? Why just Red?"
Jolly smiled as he fired off another round, dropping several of the helmeted aliens.
"Blue squadron didn't get to go to the party, sir. Except for Boomer and Starbuck, who had to play hero with you down here at the councilor's little celebration. Guess all three of you had to go so Uri wouldn't get wise he didn't have all the military personnel at the party."
"Well, if the Blues didn't go the party, who were those oddballs wearing their uniforms?"
"Anybody the commander could find up in the fleet to fill the uniforms. You shoulda seen the guy who got mine."
"I think I did, Jolly."
The shooting suddenly stopped. The Ovions were scattering, while the centurions were beating a retreat away from the casino.
"What are those damn Cylons up to now?" Apollo said.
"I'm not sure. Just before hell broke loose, I received a report that air activity had been tracked by scanner on the Galactica. They thought it might be Cylon fighters. Those guys might be returning to their ships."
"Then we better get to ours and damn fast!"
Apollo jumped off the landram. From the main entranceway, the rest of the guests—civilians, warriors, and civilians in warrior uniforms—scrambled out toward the landrams. The authentic warriors were being assembled by Starbuck and Boomer. Apollo joined them, explained as succinctly as he could what Jolly had told him.
"Red Squadron's got to go on ahead in the first landram. We may not have much time. Starbuck, you and Boomer take care of the civilians. Round them up and get them to the shuttles."
"But Captain," Starbuck complained, "I want to get to my ship, too."
"Do what you're ordered, bucko. Get up there fast enough and I'll see if I can save you a couple of Cylon stragglers for target practice."
"Thanks a bunch, Captain."
Apollo gestured for the Red Squadron to follow him to the first landram. Boomer and Starbuck began, with Cassiopeia's help, to calm the panicking civilians and get them organized. Tigh joined Red Squadron. He was holding his left arm, which hung limp at his side.
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