Part 5 Battlestar Galactica: Back To The Colonies: Homecomings

Chapter 4

IV

General Seth Trevor had his scout teams about a mile inside the Hades city limits. They had only seen a few people, but those had run away before there was any real contact. They had been in the city for two days now, and their nerves were a little thin-not for what had happened, but because nothing had happened. They thought there would be more of a welcoming party in this town.

Raptors and Falcons flew overhead every so often, simply to keep the ground troops notified of anything that might sneak up on them. Nothing had so far.

It was late in the Afternoon on Canceron when the General received a call on the radio unit within his helmet. "Ground Ops, Raptor 656. General, I have a fairly large group of people moving your direction, about two thousand yards out. I have your location fixed, and they're to your One o'clock. Hi-res glasses show no weapons apparent at this time."

"Six-Five-Six, how big is 'fairly large'?" There was mild amusement in his voice.

"Rough guess, sir, is about perhaps two hundred."

"Raptor 656, I copy that, stay overhead and monitor." The General then turned into the inter-unit frequency and informed his forces. "All units, large force estimated at two hundred just to my One o'clock." He gave orders to different units to close near his position as he moved southwest towards where this crowd was coming from.

In about ten minutes, the two groups were coming down what had to be one of the main thoroughfares in Hades. It was a good thousand feet wide, looking akin to the approaches to the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The group was moving towards his troops, and they didn't seem to be in a hurry. The General had set up defense-in-depth behind their positions and to their flanks so that they wouldn't be surprised by any unexpected movement.

At about five hundred yards, a man near the center of the crowd in the front pulled out a white flag or handkerchief from his pocket and raised it over his head.

Cory Mathers had her hi-res eyes out. "I guess that flag is the same just about everywhere, isn't it?"

"It is, Captain", he got on the radio and told his troops to stay sharp, despite the parlay flag. The General carried a white cloth for just such occasions and pulled it out, to indicate that, yes, we see your flags, and that I'm the guy you want to meet with.

The man with the flag turned around, and apparently spoke to the others, and they all stopped. He and a woman that was with him continued forward. Seeing that, the General had Captain Mathers accompany him after telling everyone else to stand-to for the moment.

In about three minutes they were within twenty yards of each other and the two natives stopped, as did Trevor and Mathers.

They looked at each other for a few moments. The man seemed to be about six foot three, and built like an Ox; the woman was about three inches taller than Cory but had a very rough-hewn look on her face.

After the stare down lasted for a few moments, Trevor spoke in Caprican, which had been the Universal language of The Colonies. "Hands out to the side if you please, are you armed?"

The man smiled. "Well, you obviously are, so why shouldn't I be?" Trevor actually laughed slightly.

"Yes, we are. We are soldiers from the Colonial Government. My name is General Seth Trevor. This is Captain Cory Mathers."

"It's nice to meet you General", the man said evenly. "Actually we are not armed at the moment. May we approach your location?"

Trevor nodded. "Slow and easy if you please?" The twosome approached to meet them face-to-face. Upon the closer inspection, the man seemed to be in his fifties and the woman not much younger than he was.