Complications

Written by Rebecca Stephens

Parts 5-7

(NEW) Part 8

Part5

The Mik'baran cruiser was traveling towards the Zenkarai system when
something caught the young helm cognizer's eye. "Lyrahmi," she said, looking
at their leader, "I've got something on scan."

"Can you tell what it is, Serisa?" the older female asked.

"A very small craft. I believe it may be damaged." Just then she
got a more detailed reading. "There is a living being on the craft."

"What species?"

"Unknown."

"Let's look into this. Stop when we get to it."

"Will do."

Within moments they were approaching the craft. "Send a message.
Standard welcome," Lyrahmi said.

A few moments later the young cognizer reported, "No response."

"Well, the ship is damaged. Let's bring it aboard."

A few moments later they --and several others-gathered outside the
cargo bay. As soon as the cargo bay was pressurized they entered.

They were shocked by what they saw. Then one of the younger ones
spoke, "I didn't expect it to be that small. There's no room to carry food
or water. And surely only one being could fit."

The doctor responded, "Maybe they don't need food or water or
exercise. Their physiology could be totally different from ours."

They managed to open the cockpit of the viper. There they saw a
strange, somewhat short, being. They noticed that it didn't seem conscious.
They turned to the doctor.

The man ran a scanning device over the body while the engineer
examined the craft. The doctor then spoke, "He has suffered a blow to the
head, but I think he'll be alright. I believe it was the lack of oxygen that
caused him to become unconscious."

Just then the engineer voiced his suspicions. "This technology is
very unfamiliar to me, but I do believe this craft is about to explode."
Oddly enough, his tone was more curious than afraid.

Lyrahmi immediately took charge. "Doctor, To'joura, get him out of
here. Serisa, get the equipment."

Her orders were instantaneously followed. Within seconds they--and
Lt. Boomer--were out of the cargo bay. "Eject craft," Lyrahmi directed. A
few moments later the viper erupted into flames, which abruptly dissipated
without oxygen.

"Now what?" questioned To'joura.

"Take the alien to sickbay, immediately," said Lyrahmi.

"Of course," answered the doctor.

"Since this being is now under our care, it is our responsibility to
make sure he arrives at his destination. As soon as I get back to the
command deck I shall see that our heading is changed to match the craft's
trajectory."


Meanwhile, two viper pilots searched for their friend. After a few
centons they arrived at a portion of space littered with debris.

"You don't think . . ." Starbuck began only to have his voice trail
off as the implications of the scene before him sunk in.

"It's remnants of a viper, all right," Apollo said, "and a raider,
too," looking at his scanner.

"Come on, Starbuck. Let's get back to the Galactica," said Apollo,
his heart heavy with sadness. Another friend lost to the Cylons.

Starbuck followed, uncharacteristically solemn. Boomer had been a
friend of his as well.


Athena sat on the bridge, waiting for Apollo and Starbuck to return.
She'd already finished directing the pilots to land and, truth told, there
really was no reason for her to still be at the console.

Nonetheless, she remained. Her replacement hovered over her,
probably assuming she was awaiting news on Boomer's condition. Actually,
that was accurate, even though her motivation was not that of concern for a
fellow officer.

At that micron two vipers appeared on her screen. 'Only two vipers,'
she noted. She knew what that meant. Still, she felt as if her heart were
being ripped out when she heard the words.

Her brother's voice came over the comm. system. "Lieutenant Boomer's
viper was destroyed, along with a Cylon raider. He's gone, but he destroyed
the raider."

With these words a wave of sadness went through the officers on the
bridge. Athena stood and left the bridge in a daze. She walked through the
corridors in a state of shock. She went to Boomer's quarters and keyed in
the access code. There were things that needed to be done.

The young woman gathered up her brush and the few other personal
items she'd left here. Then she fell too her knees in the middle of the
floor and cried. Great wracking sobs came, as if torn, from her body. She
couldn't breath and her chest burned. A burning lump clogged her throat.
Tears poured down her red face. It was an out-pouring of grief. But despite
the intensity, the ferocity, of her grief, it did not begin to relieve even a
drop of her despair.

After some time, centons or centars, she could not say, Athena came
back to herself. She grabbed her things and went back to the barracks. She
quietly prepared for bed and slipped into her bunk. She silently cried
herself to sleep. The last thought to cross her mind before she was
enveloped in darkness was that she wished she could awaken to find that the
day's events had been some horrible dream.


Boomer's head pounded. He couldn't seem to open his eyes. He heard
unfamiliar voices around him. They were talking about an alien. 'What
alien?' his mind asked. Slowly and carefully he opened his eyes--then
blinked to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

Boomer was surrounded by several members of an alien species. They
were all tall, perhaps two and a half meters in height. They had grey skin
with darker grey fingernails. One of them said, "He is awake, Doctor." Then
another came over and looked at him.

"Are you alright? Are you suffering from dizziness or blurred vision"

"No," Boomer replied, "I think I'm alright."

"Well, that's good," the --apparent-- doctor replied in a friendly
tone. Boomer waited for him to say more, but he seemed to think the
conversation was finished.

"Doctor," the pilot said.

"Yes?" he asked in an amicable tone.

"Where am I?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry. You are aboard the Expedition, a Mik'baran
exploratory vessel. I am Dr. Ralise."

"Oh, well. . .how'd I get here?"

"We detected your ship on our sensors two days ago and decided to
investigate. When we arrived at your coordinates we discovered that your
ship was disabled. We came to the conclusion that you were adrift and
tractored you aboard. I'm afraid we had to eject your vessel out into space
before it exploded." Then, as an after-thought, Dr. Ralise said, "It wasn't
supposed to explode, was it? We didn't interfere in any ceremony, did we?"

For the first time the alien looked directly at Boomer. His eyes
--of which the "whites" were dark purple and the irises were a metallic
green-- showed genuine distress. "No, no," Boomer quickly assured him. "My
viper, ship, I mean, was damaged in combat. It's lucky for me that you
showed up when you did."

"Glad we could help."

"I need to speak to whoever is in command about contacting my ship."

A confused look marred Dr. Ralise's face, "But your ship exploded."

'Something happened to the Galactica?!' Boomer's mind immediately
supplied, but then he realized what the doctor was saying. "That was just a
small combat vessel. I actually serve on a much larger ship."

"Oh, that explains a lot. I'll contact Lyrahmi right away." The
doctor then hurried away leaving Boomer to wonder exactly what explained what
and who Lyrahmi was.

Boomer saw a younger male walking by. "Could you tell me who Lyrahmi
is?"

"She is the primary Pathchooser."

"What is a 'Pathchooser?"

"A Pathchooser is one who decides where a ship is going and what
course of action is taken once it arrives at its destination."

"So she's in command of the ship?"

"I suppose so. I've never thought of it like that before." He then
abruptly said, "Is there anything else?"

"No, that's all," Boomer replied.

"Very well then," the younger man said, and left.

A few centons later Boomer was given his clothes and escorted by the
younger alien to what appeared to be a study. It was a fair-sized room with
a desk, couch, and coffee table. There were three chairs: one behind the
desk and two in front of it. There was another door on the left wall.

Just then a woman entered the room. "Welcome," she said, "I am
Lyrahmi."

"Lt. Boomer," he answered, instinctively holding out his hand. She
seemed somewhat familiar with the custom, for she placed her hand in his. He
shook her hand, and as he did so noticed that her fingers had an extra joint
--that is to say, a joint more than humans had-- and her fingernails were a
bit longer than a human would keep.

"I understand you wish to speak about sending a message to your ship?"

"That's right," Boomer answered. "I need to send a message to the
Galactica. I've been out of sorts for two days and if the Cylons destroyed
my viper they probably think I'm dead.

"We have been following the trajectory of your vessel for two days
now, but we have not yet detected your. . .Galactica."

"You've been following the trajectory I was on when you found me?"
Boomer said, alarm rising within him.

"That's correct," Lyrahmi replied, confused by his alarm.

"I was heading away from the Galactica when my viper was hit."

"Oh my, I'm so sorry. We just assumed that you were heading towards
a specific destination and so we decided to take you there."

"Oh," Boomer said, wondering what to do now.

"If you could give us the coordinates and bearing of your Galactica
we could change course and try to catch up with them."

Boomer weighed his choices. If he was ever to get home he was going
to have to reveal the fleet's current heading. But, if the aliens were
hostile it would put the entire fleet in danger. Boomer made his decision
and gave them the fleet's coordinates and speed. The aliens had shown no
hostile intentions thus far.

Lyrahmi relayed his information to the bridge. A voice came back
over the intercom; "Given their speed and heading they are approximately four
days ahead of us. Their speed is nearly equal to our own, so we probably
won't be able to catch up until they stop or slow down for some reason."

Lyrahmi seemed to consider this, "Change our heading to match
theirs." She turned to Lieutenant Boomer; "We will do everything in our
power to get you back to your vessel. Ka'lyne will escort you to guest
quarters."

"You're changing course just like that," Boomer asked, "Don't you
have to get clearance from your superiors first?"

"Superiors?" Lyrahmi asked.

"Don't you get your orders from somewhere?" Boomer asked. "A
government or a company?"

"Oh, not at all," Lyrahmi said in a slightly odd tone of voice. "We
decide where to go and when. Sixty yahrens ago we left our homeworld on an
exploratory trip. Our people love to explore. We'll go home when we feel
it's time."

"Oh," Boomer said, a little overwhelmed.

"And you don't mind upsetting your travel route to take me back to
the Galactica?"

"We don't have a 'travel route.' We go where we want, when we want.
It's silly to restrict exploration. It wouldn't be as interesting to work
that way. We haven't been in the direction of your vessel and so it will
provide us with an excellent chance for exploration, not to mention the
possibility of setting up new trade. And besides, what sort of people would
we be if we didn't at least try to get you home?"

"Well, thanks." It was all Boomer could say. He could tell
associating with these people was going to give him a distinctly different
outlook on things.

Part 6

Apollo and Starbuck looked at each other as the dark-haired man held
a picture in his hands. The picture was of their lost friend, Boomer,
wearing his newly-acquired uniform. He was grinning and beside him stood an
older woman, obviously his mother. She looked proud of her son. Apollo put
the picture in the box between them, where the rest of Boomer's possessions
had been placed. These quarters had to be prepared for their next occupant.


Meanwhile, Boomer was getting acquainted with his new surroundings.
He was enjoying a spectacular meal and unbelievable surroundings. He was in
a common area. He was surrounded by tables. The room itself was two-level,
he was on the bottom level. The second floor had a large absence of floor in
the center. People looked down through the opening and viewed those on the
bottom level. There were no tables on the top level, just people milling
around and enjoying themselves. Boomer was directly beneath the opening. He
could see straight up to the ceiling of the second level. It was completely
transparent. It didn't even look like glass, from which light would have
bounced off. He could see straight out into space. It was breathtaking.

Boomer heard his name being called and reluctantly drug his eyes back
to his companion. Across the table from him sat Ka'lyne, a male Mik'baran of
about twenty-nine yahrens. Ka'lyne had rather short pale fire-orange hair
woven in with the occasional streak of silver. His eyes were the color of
gold, the most common color among the Mik'baran, Boomer had learned. The boy
was talking rapidly. He was firing questions with such eagerness, curiosity,
and speed that it was hard for Boomer to keep up.

"Wait a centon," Boomer said in an exaggeratedly aggrieved tone,
"aren't you supposed to be answering my questions?"

"Oh, yeah, of course," Ka'lyne answered, having the grace to look a
little sheepish. "What would you like to know?"

"Well," Boomer said, "first of all I'd like to know what I'm eating."

"You have some prika grain seasoned with masil, some sweet bread, and
baraka meat, oh and some cold prer juice."

"Okay," Boomer said, "could you tell me what exactly all of that is?"

"Would you rather we go look at the harvest areas after you eat?"

"Yes, I would like that."

They finished their meals and then Ka'lyne took Boomer to the harvest
areas. They went inside a large door and Boomer saw where they grew their
food. The bay was bigger than he could see, at least with all the crops
about. They hung from the ceiling and water seemed to drip onto them. More
plants were on the ground. There was soil on the floor for them. There
appeared to be only two types of plants. "I thought you had several types of
crops," Boomer commented.

"We do," Ka'lyne replied, "the other crops are in other bays."

Boomer was at first astounded by the amount of food that must
produce, but then realized that this ship was huge and must have at least a
hundred thousand people on it.

"So what grows here?"

"Prika grain. Those bunches hanging from the ceiling can be opened
up and there is about two pounds of prika grain in each. It can be boiled
and seasoned, or it can be fried or baked without seasoning. It can also be
dried and eaten in salads.

"In the ground are rifs. A rif is a fruit similar to a prer, but
sweeter. Sometimes a little is ground and put into caffe, but it is most
often eaten fresh by adults and made into juice or candy for children."

The next bay had trees. Boomer was confused until he noticed that
they seemed to bear nuts.

"These are vlahnut trees. They produce an abundance of nuts that can
be eaten plain or roasted, made into candy or used in muffins or other
sweets. Also, the bark of each tree is stripped every five years to make
vlah, an alcoholic beverage."

Next they came to a bay with rows and rows of plants. "This is miro,
the staple of our diet. It can be eaten raw, cooked, or smoked. It has
plenty of flavor and tastes different for every way it is cooked. Also, it
has the majority of the vitamins we need to remain healthy. It grows quickly
and is harvested every month."

'That would be perfect for the Galactica,' Boomer thought.

They toured the rest of the harvest bays and when they were through
Boomer had only one question left. "Where do you get the meat?"

"We buy it or barter for it when we stop at other worlds. We don't
eat meat often, so we don't need much of it."

Boomer looked at his chrono and realized they had been touring for
centars. It was late. "Well," Boomer said, "it's getting late. I'm going
to my quarters."

"Of course," Ka'lyne responded. "I'm rather tired myself, and so
I'll let you be on your way."

Boomer went to his quarters and took a long hot shower, something he
didn't get the luxury of often at home. He couldn't deny that this place was
great. In fact, it was probably better than the Galactica, but he wanted
desperately to be back on the ship. With his friends and with Athena. He'd
already decided that if -when-he got back, he was going to tell her how he
felt. He was going to ask her to get sealed. He had no doubts that he
wanted to spend the rest of his life with her and could only hope that she
felt the same way. If she didn't want to get sealed, he didn't know what he
would do. Wouldn't let himself think of what he would do.

He climbed into bed -a bed that was much softer and wider than his
bed on the Galactica-and went to sleep. The next thing he knew he was
dreaming again. Again he was surrounded by grey mist, and again her heard
Athena call to him. "I love you," she said, and he could only hope that his
subconscious was right about that.

Part 7
Athena pulled herself out of bed after yet another sleepless night.
She hadn't slept more than a few hours since Boomer's death. It was hard for
her to believe it had only been half a secton; it seemed like yahrens. She'd
barely eaten these past few days. She cried herself to exhaustion some
nights, but could never sleep. She always hid her tears from the others in
her barrack.

Her grief was doubly difficult because it could not be shared. She
couldn't bring herself to break her agreement with Boomer even though he was
gone. She couldn't show her pain, and so she kept it inside, and it ate away
at her. Already she'd lost weight and the faint circles under her eyes had
become dark bags.

Last night had been especially hard, because she knew that her brother and
Starbuck had cleaned out Boomer's quarters. She longed to ask to keep his
possessions, especially the picture of him and his mother. It had been taken
right after he finished the academy. He looked so young in that picture and
you could see the hopes in his eyes as easily as the pride in his mother's.
He'd once said that it was his favorite photograph of him and his mother
because she felt pride in him that day rather than the disappointment he knew
she must have felt a few years earlier. He'd gotten into more than his share
of trouble as a teenager, but when he'd gotten older he'd turned his life
around.

And now it was over. Just the thought was almost enough to send Athena into
tears once more. Suddenly Athena straightened her spine and squared her
shoulders. She had a shift.

The young officer put on her uniform and her makeup, taking extra care to
conceal the bags under her eyes. She brushed her hair and then looked in the
mirror. She had to admit that the end result wasn't bad, her uniform was
only a little loose and her makeup did a fair job of masking her sleepless
night. She heard the buzzer and looked around at the other women getting up.
She really didn't feel like listening to the usual talk and so she decided
to take a walk before her shift began.


Adama looked up as the first shift arrived, his daughter among them. He was
an observant man and couldn't help but notice his daughter's recent weight
loss and the dark circles she tried to conceal with cosmetics. Most people
probably wouldn't notice, but he knew his daughter to well to be fooled. She
looked tired. What bothered him most was that it had come on so suddenly.
One day his daughter was fine, better than ever in fact. She had a look
about her that he hadn't seen in a long time, then it seemed as if she had
lost her spirit over night. However, despite her apparent fatigue, her job
performance had not been affected. As her commander he had no reason to
approach her or question her about whatever was bothering her. As her
father, though, he wished he could. Adama settle in for another day on their
journey.


Unlike Adama, Cassie wasn't averse to intruding on territory where she wasn't
welcome. She ambushed Athena after her shift. "What's the matter?" she
asked.

"Nothing," Athena answered, directing her gaze in the other direction.

"You expect me to believe that?" Cassie returned, her voice tinged with
irritation. "You're losing weight and look like you haven't slept in days."

"Gee thanks," Athena answered wryly, trying to insert some humor into the
moment.

Cassie was not so easily dissuaded. She grabbed the brunette by the arm and
said, "You're not getting away that easy. You're going to eat lunch with me
and then you're going to take a nap."

After that Cassie would accept no excuses. After she and Athena got their
food Athena tried to fool Cassie into thinking she was eating her food when
she was just pushing it around her plate, but Cassie went into med-tech mode
and made her eat every bite.

All through the meal Cassie tried to pry information out of Athena, but the
warrior wouldn't tell her anything. As soon as the meal was over Athena
jumped up, ready to make any excuse so her friend wouldn't keep badgering
her. As she did so she was hit by a wave of dizziness and had to grab hold
of the back of the chair to keep from falling. Cassie noticed immediately
and said, "Athena, are you all right?"

"Fine," Athena answered.

"Why don't you come to lifebay and I'll check you out?"

"Really, that's not necessary. I just stood up to quickly. I didn't get
much sleep last night, that's all."

"Dammit Athena, you are not all right. Just come to lifebay and let me check
you out."

Admonished by the tone in her friend's voice Athena agreed.


As Cassie looked at the results of the scan Athena said, "Too little sleep
and not enough to eat, right?"

"Not quite," Cassie said, "do you mind if I run the scan again?"

"No," Athena said, though she really did mind. Was something really wrong
with her?

Cassie ran the scanner over her again and then sighed and said, "There's no
mistaking these results. Athena," the med-tech took another deep breath,
"you're pregnant."

Athena felt the world whirling out of control around her and reached out
towards Cassie to steady herself.

Cassie reached out to steady her friend. Athena was obviously shocked by the
news. No more than she herself was, Cassie thought, a little hurt that her
friend hadn't told her that she was seeing someone. She quickly squelched
that emotion, reminding herself that Athena had every right to keep her
private life private. She looked at her friend once more and saw tears
streaming down the other woman's face. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked.

"I'll be fine," the other woman answered somewhat shakily.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Cassie asked while she handed the woman a
tissue.

Athena looked up at her and Cassie was struck by the misery in her eyes.
Athena shook her head and then nodded it.

"Want to go to my place?" the blond woman asked gently.

Athena nodded then seemed for the first time to notice the tissue she was
holding. She dried her tears and collected herself, then she and her friend
left lifebay.


Cassie led Athena -who seemed to be in somewhat of a daze-to her
quarters. When they got inside the med-tech sat the other woman down on the
couch. She sat down beside Athena and patiently waited for her friend to
begin speaking, and slowly she did.

"It wasn't supposed to be this way," the dark haired woman began haltingly.
"A couple of sectars ago I began a relationship of sorts with a pilot. It
wasn't about love, or lust exactly, but about having someone. We both agreed
to those terms. We kept it private and both agreed that we wouldn't be upset
if the other party became interested in someone else."

Cassie heard the pain in her friend's voice and thought she knew what was
coming. She knew Athena wasn't cut out for casual relationships.

For just a second Athena looked directly into Cassie's eyes. "I fell in love
with him." Cassie nodded as though that was she had thought all along. She
reached out and grabbed her friend's hand. "I didn't tell him," Athena
continued, "and then the relationship ended." Athena felt guilty for
deliberately misleading her friend, but she couldn't bring herself to betray
her agreement with Boomer.

Cassie cautiously asked, "What are you going to tell him about the baby?"

"Nothing. He's not on the Galactica, and this was never part of our
agreement."

Cassie started to say something, then changed her mind. It wasn't the right
time to talk. Besides, Athena could be very stubborn and Cassie knew she had
no hope of changing the other woman's mind at this point in time. For now,
Cassie would just comfort her friend as best she could.

Part 8

In the time Boomer had spent with the Mik'baran he had
learned a lot about them. Ka'lyne and he spent a lot of time together. It
hadn't taken Boomer long to realize that Ka'lyne was young, perhaps
twenty-nine or thirty yahrens old. At first Boomer thought that Ka'lyne's
curiosity was extraordinary, but he had since learned that all Mik'baran were
that way, the older ones were just more subtle.

Ka'lyne was apparently a student, but it seemed to Boomer
that he spent very little time in school. They boy spent most of his days
with Boomer. He questioned the older man about humans and their culture. He
seemed to find everything about Boomer's culture fascinating. He asked about
cultures from every planet in the colonies, and Boomer felt somewhat penitent
when he realized they he himself had never thought to ask such questions
regarding not the culture of people he'd never met, but people he worked
beside every day.

Boomer, in return, asked questions about Mik'bara. He
learned that Mik'bara was a virtual paradise. According to Ka'lyne it was
habitable, and in fact pleasant, in all areas except the extreme polar
regions. Plants and animals were plentiful, though Mik'baran preferred
plants. Farming was almost effortless, and many edible plants grew wild.
Their planet was peaceful and tranquil. There was plenty of drinking water
and plenty of land. Because there was never a struggle for resources,
industry had little hold on the planet. There were no wars in recorded
history and the Mik'baran had always been a peaceful people. Without wars,
or the struggle for survival to keep their minds occupied the Mik'baran tuned
to art and philosophy. Despite the utopia they lived in many of the
Mik'baran began searching for new lands to explore. Once the planet had been
completely mapped, they took to the stars.

The Mik'baran were possessed of a need to explore, to
discover, and to learn. Their curiosity was insatiable. Boomer learned that
there were many ships like this one. It would seem as though people like the
Mik'baran would be easily conquered by the first hostile force they met.
They had few weapons and even less skill at using them. They were curious
and could easily find themselves in dangerous territory. Yet it seemed that
every group they met was too busy being amazed by them to think about
domination.

Everyone had their own quarters. Food was plentiful and good. They could
have their pick of almost any delicacy. These people chose to explore, yet
made few sacrifices to do so. They had hundreds of trade agreements, it
seemed. Almost every people they met, they learned something from. They
traded foods, fabrics, jewelry, art, and so much more.

Despite their curiosity, the Mik'baran had a strong sense of home. No ship
had ever failed to return home after exploring the galaxy. Some were gone
for twenty years (which Boomer understood was about 29 yahrens), some were
gone for three hundred years (438 yahrens), but always they returned home.

Story continued