Two weeks before the fall of Tau 31 and the subsequent invasion of Edinburgh
Lee sighed as he walked towards the entrance of his rundown dilapidated apartment aboard Freeport 14. He loathed his job as a member of the station security team but well he couldn't be picky with jobs few and far between in the middle of no where, he was lucky to have one unlike some poor sod who couldn't feed themselves and found themselves on the breadline waiting for some handouts from the soup kitchens on deck 32.
However something had disturbed him as he looked at the front door something was missing, a single strand of his brown hair which normally was wedged at a 45 degree angle was missing. Immediately he knew he was dealing with an intruder, he then bent down to pick the strand up to inspect it, as he did so his previous years of action in the armed forces kicked into gear as he noted it had been trod on lightly as the hair was not squashed down firmly thus it indicated a child had managed to bypass security by presumably ripping out the door control wire, but the investigation could wait as he wanted to ideally catch the intruder red handed.
Moving swiftly and silently he swept the rooms for the intruder until Lee ended upon the spotted what appeared to be a small boy around the age of five or six with his backed turned to door gorging himself on what smelt like frozen Synth Paste tubes.
Deciding to announce his presence Lee spoke with confidence 'So what do we have here then hmmm; an intruder who should be with his parents.' With this the child attempted to bolt out of the narrow door unfortunately however the kid tripped over Lee's false leg and was sent sprawling on the narrow hallway. Thus allowing Lee to pick up the boy by the back of the rags the child was wearing, upon this the boy tried to wriggle and squirm out of Lee's grip however, this resulted in Lee's grip getting tighter until the child got the message.
'Hmm now then, young man what is your name?' Lee questioned the boy while squatting to ensure eye contact was kept with the boy to ensure the truth was being told.
'My name is Charlie Lynid, what does it matter to you any how?' Charlie replied
Hmm right then now my name is Lee Adama, whose apartment, you broke into Charlie. Now then who are your parents and perhaps more importantly where are they?' Lee said
'I aint got none' Charlie retorted
'Right then, Charlie seeing as it is late and there is unsavoury characters aboard, I will let you kip on the sofa before taking you to the orphanage on deck 10, the morning however there is one thing that I require of you and that is, for you to wash yourself, as there is a rather unpleasant smell in here.' Lee said while losing the severity of his tone.
'Gee mister you are all right after all.' Charlie replied while looking happier then previously.
With that Charlie ran off to the bathroom to wash years of muck off him. After hearing the bolt slide across the bathroom door, Lee went to a smallish computer in the corner of the kitchen, to review his messages and compose a few. After clearing the inbox which took several minutes, Lee began a message to his sister Catherine Howard.
'Hi Catherine hope Planet Harris is treating you well, I hear you are making steady progress and I, can't wait to visit you and Dave soon on Planet, anyhow I'll hope speak to you soon,
Love you
Lee'
With that message sent, Lee shutdown the computer and transferred the mailbox to his PDA noticing Charlie who had being eavesdropping was silently sitting on the sofa.
'Now then Charlie come in here and I'll let you finish this box of Synth.' Lee said in a quite relaxed tone. With that Charlie ran in to the kitchen waiting to devour more Synth.
Unfortunately the relaxed atmosphere was not to last as a short while later Lee heard another entrant to the apartment, the boots sounded familiar and in a fluid motion pulled Charlie down behind a work counter in the kitchen and put a finger to his lip motioning to be quiet. Charlie looked petrified as Lee's face betrayed a face of anger and worry, with that Lee slide across the room waiting for the person to enter the kitchen. After a few tense minutes the man broke down the kitchen door with swift kick and lumbered in, the mans eyes scanned the room for any signs of inhibition as he was about to leave Charlie gulped causing, the man to race towards Charlie position, upon seeing him, the man visibly gloated 'Hiding behind children are we now Adama, the boys back at the office will never...' however his sentence was cut short, as Lee kicked him in the back of the knee causing the man to buckle and smash his head right in to the metal floor.
'Right Charlie it seems we are stuck with each other now seeing as they found me and as a result you being in close proximity to me, I am sorry.' Lee commented while offering Charlie a hand up.
'Who... who.... was he' Charlie asked while shaking with fear.
'Well judging from the clothes, I would say the order, however it could also be either the Bretonian Intelligence services or the Wilde sent to kill me or worse, but as for his name I haven't the foggiest, now it seems you and me need to stick together, but first we need to give these men the slip and get out of these clothes.' Liam sat still for a brief period of time then continued 'But before we go any further you are not going say that you have no parents as from now on in all intents and purposes I am you father while you are my son, I will teach you the art of staying alive , living of the land, and in result teach you how to stay two steps ahead of danger, in return all I want is your obedience, got that ?'
After a brief second thought Charlie nodded yes father he said in addition to reaffirm this. Then they gagged the man and headed off to the hanger to leave all this behind them.
Lee and Charlie had managed to reach hanger deck 5, quicker than it would take if the event had occurred any earlier however considering the time it was on the station most people were dreaming of what tomorrow may bring, all tucked up in their beds, but not Lee and Charlie they had to get away from the entire station, as their previous life collapsed like a house of cards built on sand foundations during the middle of a storm.
Luckily for them however they reached the hanger deck without incident however the ease of their journey greatly perturbed Lee as he knew that they usually worked with groups of at least three, meaning that their was at least two more. His trail of thought was disturbed by Charlie who having never seen a ship before was amazed at the variety of them, started tugging at Lee's hand to gain his attention.
'Yes, Charlie? Lee responded
'Which ships is ours?' Charlie enquired
'Um right this one over here.' Lee commented while pointing over at what appeared to be a rusted pointed metal tube strapped to an engine. Great ship, as soon as it takes off it will fall apart Charlie thought to himself. After seating Charlie in the second seat and ensured the straps were tight. After which Lee then signalled for the ship to be allowed to leave, however as usual the droid manning space dock door control station began to slowly open the docking tube doors.
After almost losing his temper with the damned machine; the ship finally left Freeport 14, and when it was 15 clicks out Lee began to loosen up and tried to strike a discussion with Charlie. 'So Charlie what do you know of your parents.' He enquired
'Well I know nout about my dad but my mum went by the name of Beatrix Lynid and well, this is all I have of her' Charlie replied while handing over what appeared to be a gold locket with the initials of B.M.L engraved on the front and on the other side was engraved with the initials L.E.A. Upon receiving it Lee took one quick glance while flying the crow towards the Alberta Jump hole. After which he gave it back to Charlie, however just before he handed the locket back to Charlie, 'I promise we will find her, I will give you my promise once this is done with, I will find her and reunite her with you.' Lee spoke with sincerity as the locket, had stirred memories; ones that had once brought love and sorrow now brought joy and hope.
As the locket was a present given by Lee to Beatrix on their engagement on Cambridge, and also a memory of the last time they spoke. As it happened not only on the eve of Lee's deployment with the space fleet reserve, but in addition 3 days before the monstrosity that occurred, the phantom mox bombing, he had thought that she was dead however this locket seemed to prove the opposite.
Noticing that Charlie was falling asleep, Lee engaged the ships autopilot and carried the poor sod to the bunks near the middle of the ship, he had seen today what many would never have dared imagined, it was going to be a long journey but they will endure.
