Rituals

Rituals

Chapter 1

Bill Adam stood in CIC awaiting a report from the Chief on the surface below. The last message he had been sent had mentioned something about Aphrodite, and then the Chief had asked for an hour to make sense of the room they had found on the planet's surface.

Dee glanced over, and promptly nodded and handed the Old Man the head set.

"Sir?" the Chief's voice echoed over the com.

"What did you find out?"

"In order to take the eye of Jupiter, a ritual has to be enacted, Apollo thinks it's like the Tomb of Athena where the room will change after…from the hieroglyphs that seems about right."

"Hieroglyphs?'

"On the walls, sir, they seem to depict a fertility ritual."

'What sort? Costumes and chants?"

A female voice spoke from the background, it might have been Cally, "Ritual sex act." This sentence was punctuated by a giggle.

"It seems to promise fertility to the fleet sir, and is necessary to retrieve the eye."

"What?"

"Sir, the fleet needs to perform a fertility ritual, two people on the altar of Aphrodite, the quorum of 12, and what I think has to be the leader, uh, president."

"Are you telling me, in all seriousness that Laura Roslin has to have sex on an altar?" Bill whispered into the telephone set.

"No sir, she'd be require to lead some sort of religious ceremony…a chant if you will, while two people…err…couple on the altar, with amulets on their wrists…the amulets are here in what seems to be some kind of font containing water…"

"Sex?'

"Yes, sir, sex."

The people in the CIC looked up at the word 'sex'

"Oh come on." Admiral Adama said to them, "Just because I'm over 50 does not mean I don't think about sex!" He turned back to the headset. "This is Actual….So you are saying that we have to have some sort of sex rite?"

"Yes, and it looks like they promise twins to whomever has sex outside the temple while the ritual is in progress…"

"Do you mean we have to have to get people to agree to perform in a fertility right?"

"Don't worry about that Sir, Cally and I are volunteering.." A loud female voice was heard in the background.

"What the FRAK???"

Admiral Adama cleared his throat. "Perhaps the two of you should talk it over a bit more."

"No Sir, it's fine Cally is nodding at me now…she always wanted to have twins…"

"I'll send raptors with the president and the quorum, I'll notify the fleet…" Admiral Adama finished lamely, than turned to Dee, "Can you broadcast the news of the fertility rite to the president, quorum and civilian ships, and get Starbuck, Athena and Racetrack to take raptors to the surface with the president and quorum delegates."

Bill rubbed his temples, sex, just what we need. Then he paused, thought about the human population and smiled before repeating aloud, "Yes, just what we need."

The faces in CIC smiled as they heard Dee broadcast the news to various people, hiding giggles under their hands.

"Back to work kids, none of you are getting off this ship to go and frak around on the surface." Bill rolled his eyes to the disappointed groans.

A few hours later, a voice was heard over the com.

"Sir, Laura Roslin on the surface requests permission to speak with Galactica actual."

Bill grabbed the headset, "Galactica Actual here."

"Bill, your son Lee is a gigantic pain in the ass. The fonts containing the amulets had catches at the bottom, and before either Chief Tyrol or Mrs. Tyrol could get the amulets, your son volunteered to help, before we could stop him, the managed to trip the catch on the amulet, which is firmly attached to his wrist. Mrs. Tyrol; of course, immediately pulled out her hand, she was quite upset. Chief Tyrol was on the verge of smacking Lee."

"Very well, I'll send Dee to the surface with Hotdog."

"Bill, unfortunately that won't be necessary, you see, Captain Thrace is also a gigantic pain in the ass. As soon as we discovered that Apollo must take part in the ritual, she pushed Cally out of the way and got the other amulet firmly attached to her wrist. In other words, our two participants are ready, we're just waiting for sunset now."

"Laura, Lee's wife is standing right beside me and can here every word we're saying."

"Oh yes. And one of your pilots, Racetrack requests that you send Hotdog down to the surface in a raptor immediately."

"With who?"

"According to Athena, Karl Agathon….apparently they intend on participating outside."

Bill groaned slightly, his pilots had gone ritual-crazy. "Mr. Gaeta, get Hotdog and Helo and let them know they're needed," Bill emphasized this word with sarcasm, "on the surface."

Gaeta looked up from patting a sniffling Dee on the shoulder, and walked towards the nearest phone.

Bill rolled his eyes as he handed the headset back to Dee, it's not like he could ban his pilots from having sex.

"Sir, the president wants to let you know that your presence will not be required on the surface, given that your son will be one of the celebrants." Dee choked out the last ten words angrily.