For Those Hazel Eyes
by Pedro Valle
May 2, 1998

For Those Hazel Eyes

        By the Lords of Kobol, I hope she is all right.  It has all
happened so fast.  I mean, it was all fine this morning.  And a
beautiful morning it was.  The sky was clear and the weather seemed
pleasant.  Even the people seemed happier.  I think it was the news of
the treaty.  Yes.  I think so.  People knew of the treaty.  One could
feel the joy on the air.  Everywhere you turned, the faces of the people
said: "Peace.  Peace.  Peace at last."  It was as if the happiness
inside everybody had flown out and made itself into a glorious morning. 
Yes.  It was just like that.
        Then came darkness.  
        My daggit, seemed restless.  She asked me what was wrong with
him, I told her nothing, daggits sometimes act like that.  She didn't
quite believe me.  She looked at me with those beautiful hazel eyes of
hers and just sighed.  She took her favorite stuffed animal, Gofo, and
was off to her room.
        I was outside doing Hades knows what and I heard I strange
sound, an unusual buzz.  I looked up.  The unthinkable was about to
happen.  I saw a lone Raider approaching.  Its metal plates glistened
with the lights of the city.  I just stood there, speechless.  I could
not believe what was about to happen.  That could not be.  Not Cylons,
not here.  The battlestars were up there.  They protected us.  Then I
remembered.  The battlestars were not up there.  The treaty and the
promise of eternal peace had taken them away.
        Then chaos erupted.
        The instant I saw that lone Raider's lasers fire I jumped
inside.  I screamed for her to take cover and protect herself.  She
screamed in horrible fear and did not move.  I ran to her and took her
in my arms.  I held her tight and we huddled in a corner.  I could hear
the thunder of the Raiders' weapons, the twisted shrieks of brothers
dying, the howls of death of buildings falling.  The world was coming to
an end.  The Cylons had won.  We would all die.  For an eternity we
huddled there, she, me and Gofo.  We were hearing apocalypse outside. 
I closed my eyes.  My thoughts were only of how this had happened.  How,
by trying to make a better world for her, for them, we had destroyed
it.  How could we have been so foolish.  How....
        Then silence.
        After what seemed like a thousand yahrens, the storm calmed
down.  I finally gathered up the strength to open my eyes.  I looked at
her.  She was still very frightened and crying.  I could not do anything
to help her.  I looked up and saw that our house was partially
demolished.  It had been by pure chance that we had survived.  I got up
and saw the destruction around me.  The whole city laid in ruin.  A
civilization down to rubble.  I whistled for my daggit and he didn't
come.  I looked around and I found him.  He was dead.
        Then hope.
        It was my neighbor, the only surviving one, that told me of the
arrival of a battlestar.  He told me how the people almost killed the
Colonial Warriors because they weren't here.  He also told me that
almost every battlestar had been destroyed.  That the president was
dead.  That our nation had been lost.  I cried.  Yes, for the first time
in my life, I cried like a baby.  There was no way to go, no way to
escape.  I told my neighbor so.  He said no, that there was a way.  He
said that the commander of the last battlestar, Adama, had called all
available ships to evacuate survivors.  He said we could still make
it.   I believed him.  We all did.  We all had to.  It was our only
hope.  
        We ran towards the evacuation point were an old small ship, the
Oberon, waited for refugees.  I sighted, we had done it.  We where
saved.  I left her with my neighbor for a minute and went up to the
warrior that was stationed at the door of the ship.  People were still
coming inside, children mostly.  I asked him if we could enter and he
said sorry.  He said that the ship was full. The hope I had in me
vanished.  Tears began forming in my eyes.  Had we survived the attack
only to be left behind to perish?  I glanced back to see her huddled
with Gofo and my heart fell with a loud thump.  A knot formed in my
throat.  I slowly dragged myself to where they were and told my neighbor
the news.  He resigned himself to die and went back to the ruins that
were once his home.  I could not do that.  I could not give up.  I could
not let her down.  No, I could not do it.  There had to be a way.  I had
to do something.  My lack of power to do something angered me.  And with
anger came frustration.  But I could not give up.  I would not give up.
        Then I saw the little girl.  She was one of the last children in
the line.  My mind suddenly became clouded with envy and anger. 
I was about to explode when an idea suddenly hit me.  I called the
little girl.  I stared at her as she came to me.  She was of about the
same height, same hair color.  Both very similar.  I took her little
hand and walked with her around a corner, away from a pair of tearful
eyes and a dirty old toy.  And there, I did it.  It didn't take much
effort, just a snap.  I didn't think I could do it, but I did it.  And
damn, I do not regret it.  I just did it.  I had to.
        I looked at those hazel eyes for the last time and cried.  She
was still holding Gofo tightly .  I waved goodbye to her and she waved
back.  And that was it. 
        Now the end is near.  Cylons are everywhere and Raiders swoop
from the skies.  The Galactica and the Fleet are long gone now, as is
her.  I hear the approaching troops march.  The end is near.  I don't
care anymore.  I can only hope.  By the Lords of Kobol, I hope she is
all right.

The End