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Zac's death. Thetwo brothers had been devoted to each other and thereseemed no gentle way to break
the news.
"Father," Apollo said, desperation in his voice, "I lefthim...just hangingthere... his ship was damaged...!
didn't know what else to do. I've made my report...if I don't go back...."
Suddenly, staring into his father's eyes, Apollo perceived their sad message.
"Zac?" he said in a weak voice. Tigh came to his side andspoke.
"Captain Apollo. Zac's ship was destroyed just short ofthe Fleet."
"But...but... I left him."
"You had no choice," Adama said gently.
Apollo turned away, his face pale. Adama recalled the fewtimes when Apollo, as a child, had shown
such excruciatingpain. He wished he could take the man into his arms as he hadonce embraced a crying
boy. But Apollo would, he knew, only brush off any sympathetic touch at this moment, andAdama knew
enough to let his son come to terms with hisown pain. Telling Apollo again that he had had no choice, the
commander quickly scanned the screens of the communica-tions panel and ordered Tigh to report.
"Captain," Tigh said, "we must know how many baseships we're dealing with."
 "No base ships," Apollo replied, some strength comingback into his voice as he attended to duty. "Only
attack craft.Thousands of them. 1 saw them hovering over-"
"You must be mistaken, Captain," Tigh said. "1 mean,fighters couldn't function this far from Cylon
Warbasewithout base ships. They don't carry sufficient fuel and-" "No base ships!" Apollo shouted
angrily. "Just fighters.Fighters lined up from here to hell. I saw them. Maybe athousand, maybe more,
maybe-"
"How do you explain it, Apollo?" Adama said, forcing hisvoice to remain normal in order to quell his
son's naturalanger.
"1 don't know," Apollo said, his voice calming. "Wepicked up an empty tanker on our scanners. My
guess is theCylons used it to refuel for the attack. They flew to the tankerfrom wherever their base ships
are right now."
Adama's brow furled as he processed the informationApollo was providing. It was just the data he
needed, it shedlight on the elusive riddle of this sudden ambush and the fakepeace conference. The
thought that had been nagging himever since the alert had been sounded came into the forefrontof his
mind. Tigh was speaking.
"Why operate so far from base ships when-" "It makes sense," Adama said. "It's more important thatthe
base ships be someplace else. Get me the president. Now!"The president's blood-drained face flashed
onto the proper screen before the echo from Adama's shouted command had faded from the bridge.
Behind Adar, fireraged on theAtlantia bridge. Adar was frightened-Adamahadn't seen a look like that
on his face since that day at theacademy when they sweated out the senior finals.
"Mr. President," Adama said, striving to control hisvoice. "I request permission to leave the Fleet."
"Leave the Fleet!" Adar screamed hysterically. "That's acowardly-"
"Adar! I've reason to suspect our home planets may face imminent attack."
The president, his eyes clouding with desperation, movedout of view for a moment. TheAtlantia's
camera readjusted,caught the broken man leaning against a wall.
"No," Adar muttered. "You're mistaken. Got to be. It's not-not possible-I couldn't have been that
wrong. Not that wrong."
"Adar, this is not time to debate the-"
"Shut up, Adama. Don't you... can't you... I've led the human race, theentire human race to ruin, to-"
"Stop considering your place in history. We.'ve got to act,man! We've-"
"I can't... can't act... can't even think straight...can't-"
"Look, Adar, it's not your fault. You didn't lead us to thisdisaster. But wewere led."
"Led? But wh-Baltar?"
"Of course Baltar!"
 "No, Commander, that couldn't be. I don't believe it. 1won't-"
A deafening explosion drowned out the rest of Adar'ssentence. The camera, blown off its moorings,
momentarily caught a picture of a section of the command bridge being ripped open, then engulfing flame
rushing across, thennothing. Adama shifted his attention to the starfield, wherehe could see the flagship
cruising in the distance. Fires couldbe seen blazing inside it. Suddenly, with a burst of blinding light, it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]