Fic:Epoch of Night: 7-8
Chapter 7- Battlestar Galactica
Leading us to the war room of the Galactica, Captain Adama kept sighing and rubbing his temple.
“You seemed stressed, Apollo.” Nyx said putting a hand on his shoulder, and giving a smile.
“Oh, you could say that. My father is going to freak when he finds out what we did, and that I’m actually alive.”
“He’ll be glad you’re alive, Captain. And as for what “we” did, he’ll understand. We didn’t have much time to do anything, and we can always blame the president.” Nyx looked back and gave Roslin a smile.
Roslin rolled her eyes. “I did not order anyone to fake our deaths. It’s on you.”
“Madam President, Captain Nyx, Lee. Nice to see you alive.” Came the gruff welcome of Colonel Tigh.
“You as well Colonel,“ Roslin said, shaking his hand. “Where is the Commander?”
“He’s on the station. There’s a bit of a situation, but nothing to worry about. He’ll be back shortly.”
“We’ll since you’re in charge, I’ll jump straight to the point. We need some men and medical supplies to start helping and caring for our wounded.” Roslin ordered.
“You’re joking.” Tigh rebuffed.
“I’m not big on jokes today, Colonel.” She said seriously, clasping her hands together.
“We're in the middle of rearming and repairing this ship. We can't afford to pull a single man off the line to start caring for refugees. It’s out of the question.”
“We’ve got fifty thousand people out there, some of them are hurt. Our priority has to be caring for refugees.”
“My priority is preparing this ship for combat. In case you haven't heard, there's a war on.” He said sarcastically.
“Colonel the war is over. We lost.” She said taking a step towards him. Adama and Nyx watched the back and forth between the two, remaining silent.
“We’ll see about that.”
“Oh, yes, we will. However as President of the Twelve Colonies I’m giving you a direct order…”
“You don’t give orders on this ship,” Tigh turned back on her.
“Hold on, Colonel. At least give us a couple of disaster pods.” Nyx spoke up, trying to ease the tension before an even bigger argument broke out.
“Us?” He asked, giving Nyx a questioning glace.
“Sir, we have fifty thousand people out there. Fifty thousand. Some are sick, some are wounded. Two disaster pods, Colonel, you can do that.”
He looked at Captain Adama and pointed at him. “Because you’re the Old Man’s son and he’s going to be so damned happy to see you alive. Two pods… But no personnel. You get them yourselves, you distribute them yourselves, and you're all off the ship before we Jump back.” He looked back at Nyx. “Do you remember how to fly?” He asked sarcastically.
“Like riding a bike, sir.” Nyx said, standing up a bit straighter.
“Then report to the flight deck. You're senior pilot now, Captain.”
Nyx saluted, “Yes, sir,” and walked out.
>><<>><<
Nyx walked towards the flight deck, but first had to make a pit stop at uniform storage.
“Alexa, wait up.” Roslin called from behind. Jogging towards her, not an easy feat in heels, Nyx turned around just as she stopped beside her. “Where are you going?”
“Flight deck, until the commander gets back, I’m senior pilot. After that, I’ll have it switched off to Lee. Those are my orders.”
“You said if I asked you would stay. I’m asking, Alexa. Will you please stay with me?” Roslin asked, sadness in her eyes.
“I will, after my roll as senior pilot gets taken care of. Tigh doesn’t have the authority to do that, and right now, they need all the pilots they can get. You will be safe, Laura. I promise.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about, Lex.” Her eyes grew big and serious. “What if you…”
“And what if you die tomorrow, Laura? You don’t know how much time you’ve got left. None of us do. Whether we’re at war or not, there is a fight to be fought, and I’m going to have to be in the middle of it at this point in time. We’ll figure it all out later, OK?” Nyx tried to reassure her with a soft squeeze of her arm.
They continued walking towards the gear storage wing. When they got there, Nyx opened the hatch, and held it open for Roslin to enter in front of her. She flipped on the light, before closing the hatch behind her.
“What are we doing in here?” Roslin asked.
“I’m a pilot, I need the proper gear.” She scanned the shelves in the long storage room. Everything was in its place, so the essentials were easy to find.
“No one guards this room?” Roslin asked looking around.
“If you need a pair of pants you come in here and get them. It’s a tight ship, but not that tight.”
She reached up and grabbed briefs and a bra and set them on the single chair in the room. Next she grabbed socks and the standard issue tank top and sleeveless shirt.
“What’s with the shirt and tank combo?” Roslin asked.
“Goes under everything; goes with everything. It’s the militaries version of casual clothing.”
She next grabbed some fatigues and boots. Last on her list of essentials was her flight suit.
“Now I get dressed, you can stay here or go, it doesn’t matter.” She said, starting to shed her clothes and kick off her shoes.
“How about if I just turn my back until you’re decent?” Roslin asked, turning around.
“Works for me,” she quickly shed the remaining garment, and started putting on the briefs and bra. “I’m decent.” She said after she had the two articles on.
Roslin turned around, and looked shocked. Quickly recovering she smiled. “I thought you said you were decent.” She playfully accused.
“I’m not naked am I?” Nyx said, bending over to put on the grab the shirt and tank top. Slipping them on, she winked.
“Not, quite.”
Bending back over she grabbed the flight suit and started putting it on. “I hate these things, they make everything either ten degrees hotter or colder, depending on which one way you don’t want the temperature to go.”
“But you do look good in uniform.” Roslin nodded approvingly.
“And you look good as president. It suits you.” She said bending over to start putting on her new boots.
“I don’t know about that.” She turned away, blushing shyly.
“You’ll do great. We just got to get this fleet on a path to, well, to somewhere, and we’ll be fine.”
“But the Galactica wants to jump back into the fight.”
“There is no fight, and when the time comes you’ll be able to convince the Old Man of that.” She said standing up and zipping the front of the flight suit. Securing the buckles she checked to make sure everything was situated in place. Turning around she grabbed a helmet off a top shelf.
“How do I look?” She asked walking towards the door, but before she could open it Roslin stopped her.
“Like you could win the war all by yourself. Don’t be a hero, Lex, come back to me will you?” Roslin asked hugging the women closer to her; draping her arms around Nyx’s neck.
“I’m not twenty anymore, Laura. I have no urge to be a hero anymore. I want nothing more than to come back to you.” She whispered in Roslin’s ear. She pulled back a little bit and kissed Roslin. Quickly, but passionately, it was not a goodbye kiss, but a kiss which promised return. She pulled herself away, and smiled at Roslin.
“I have to go now, Laura. Stay safe.” She said, with another quick kiss that lasted a bit longer than she intended. “Go play the pushy politician; I’ll go play the big, bad Viper pilot.”
Roslin playfully smacked her arm as they walked out of the hatch. “I am not pushy.”
“Yeah, and I’m a kindergarten teacher.” She rolled her eyes.
Roslin laughed. “Be safe, Captain Artemis. “
“Take care of our people, President. And take care of yourself.” Nyx said, waving goodbye, and quickly walking away.
Chapter 8- Battlestar Galactica
She found the flight deck with out any trouble, after ditching her clothes in a locker. She found Captain Adama talking to a young female pilot working on a Viper. They seemed to be having a moment, so Nyx left them alone.
Walking towards one of the old Vipers she touched the wing, and sighed. She never thought she would be getting into a Viper again, not for combat anyway. She saw a young girl working on the ship she was admiring and said hello.
“You’re Alexa Nyx, aren’t you?” the young girl said, scooting out from underneath the ship.
“Captain Nyx, now. And who might you be?” she said smiling as the kid smudged some grease on her face.
“Petty Officer Cally Henderson. Everyone just calls me Cally, though, Sir.”
“Well, Cally, how go the repairs.” She said kneeling to see what the deck hand had been working on.
“Slow and steady, but we’ll have her up and flying in no time. She took a shot to the fuel line, so part of the hose needs to be replaced. It’s an old bird though, so the parts we do have, have to be rigged to fit into the older model. But she’ll fly soon, Sir.” She mumbled on, bending back down to continue working.
“Cally, it’s OK to breath sometimes.” Nyx smiled, reassuringly.
“Yes, Sir. Its just that…” She trailed off.
“It’s OK, go on.”
“I signed on thinking there would never be a big war again. We were at peace. Everyone was at peace. The Cylons were no where to be seen, I never expected to be in this position.”
“Have you been well trained?” Nyx asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I know these things inside and out, Sir.” She said pointing at the Viper.
“When crunch time comes, then, use your instincts. You’ll know what to do.” She advised.
“Thank you, Sir.” Cally said, calming visibly and smiling.
“Hay, Nyx!” she heard a male voice call. She stood up and looked around. Captain Adama was waving her over.
She walked towards the two pilots and smiled at the new face.
“So, you’re the new CAG. Before you were ‘Doctor’ you were the great, wise Artemis, welcome back to the dark side.” The girl said, giving a grin.
“That’s what they called me. And I will be the new CAG, at least for a little while, so next time I expect a nice salute to go with your smart ass remarks.” Nyx said seriously.
“You’re joking, right?” Apollo said.
Nyx cracked a smile. “Not quite, the whole ‘being saluted to’ thing sounds kind of catchy. But not for long, the whole ‘CAG’ thing, I don’t know…I don’t think I have a big enough dipstick for the job.” She winked at the girl, as Apollo blushed, embarrassed.
“Oh, I like you already. Lieutenant Kara Thrace. ‘Starbuck’ is the call sign your father gave me.”
“You’re Starbuck. He told me about you. Said you were crazy as hell, always getting into trouble, had a problem with authority…” She ticked off the demerits on her fingers.
“He would know, he’s the one that threw me in the brig… on multiple occasions. But what did he say about my flying.” She puffed herself up.
”That you were almost as good as me in a Viper.”
“Almost?”
“I didn’t become ‘Artemis’ for nothing you know. Goddess of the hunt. Best shot this side of Kobol.” She smiled.
“Well Arti, I could show you the ready room if you’d like. Show you the pulpit that you will use to preach your wisdom to us. I will of course be in the front row, listening intently.” She smiled sweetly, yet somewhat mischievously.
“Quit flirting, Starbuck, you have to put your Viper back together. You break it, you fix it.” Apollo butted in. “I’ll show her where the ready room is, give her a chance to stretch her legs a bit on the ship, get used to the flight suit again. Besides, this way she knows she won’t be sexually harassed all the way.”
Nyx blushed, but rolled her eyes. “And here I was thinking I had a chance with the great Lee Adama. I couldn’t get the father so I was hoping for the son. Damn the bad luck.” She snapped her fingers.
“You’re joking, right?” He repeated. “Cause I thought you were…you know, that you liked…”
“Relax, one of these days I’ll teach you how to have a sense of humor. So you taking me to see my pulpit or not?” she smirked at him.
“Not doing anything else. Follow me.” They started walking away when Starbuck called after them.
“Hay,” they turned around.” Does your father know you’re alive?”
“I’ll let him know.” He said, before continuing to walk away.
>><<>><<
They walked into the ready room, and Nyx chuckled.
“What in the hell could you possibly find funny about a ready room during a war?” Apollo asked.
“Just never thought I’d be in one again, let alone the CAG of it” She said walking towards the podium.
“It’s been a weird twenty-four hours, hasn’t it?” He said taking a seat in the front row.
“You’re telling me. Twenty-four hours ago I was teaching a class about how the Cylons started the first war. Now here we are, right in the middle of the second one. Have you had time to breath during all this yet?” Nyx asked, leaning against the podium.
“Not yet, I don’t think it’s registered.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Nyx saw a figure slowly walking towards them. Apollo got up quickly, and Nyx stood up straighter.
“I, ah, gotta go.” Apollo said starting to walk out. The commander grabbed him, and pulled him into a hug. Apollo slowly accepted the embrace and the two held tightly to one another for a few moments. Nyx turned her head to give them some privacy.
Soon the moment was over, and Apollo walked away. The commander looked at Nyx.
“So, you’re alive.” He said smiling.
“Yes, Sir.” Nyx said walking towards him.
He pulled her into a hug, and again Nyx was shocked by the gesture, but she welcomed his warm, fatherly embrace.
“Do you want to tell me what the frak happened that made me think my son was dead?”
“We faked a nuclear signature so the Cylons would think we had been blown up. It broke communications with you, so we couldn’t tell you what had happened.”
“Long story short?” Adama smiled.
“That about covers it. Thought it had given me a heart attack though. Not as young as I used to be, shocks to the system kind of take it out of me. Looks like you got a little banged up too.” She said pointing to the left side of his face. Bruised, bloodied and bandaged, he looked like he had been in one hell of a fight.
“Those shots to the head really get to me. So, you wanna hear the good news or the bad news?” Adama asked, taking the same seat his son had recently vacated.
“Good news first.”
“The good news is we now have all the artillery we could want. We could use a few more nukes but I’m not going to complain too much.”
“And the bad?”
“The guy who hit me in the head; he was a Cylon.”
Nyx looked confused. “Huh?”
“They look like us now, Alexa. They evolved. Right down to their blood, they look like us.”
“How…How can you be sure?”
“Not back in the military one day, and you’re already questioning authority?” Adama smiled.
“Sorry, Sir, but….Huh?”
“I don’t know, but they do. So, that’s the bad news.”
“That’s some pretty bad frakking news? How many people know?”
“Me, Tigh, Baltar, a few marines, you, and I guess I should tell the president.”
“You think?” She said gruffly.
“Give me a break, Alexa; she’s a frakking school teacher!” He argued, beginning to raise his voice in frustration.
“So am I, Sir.” She repeated her earlier argument.
“Yes, but you have a military back ground. You know how to lead a squadron. You know what you are doing. This is a military situation now and she’s way out of her depth here.” He argued.
“She has twenty years experience in politics. She is one of the smartest people I have ever met. She’ll do better than anyone left alive.”
“You like her, huh?” He asked, tilting his head to the side in a questioning manner.
“I trust her to lead. She’ll be a good president.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I trust her.” She said getting up.
“Yeah, but she’s so…pushy.” He said, getting up as well.
Nyx laughed. “That’s not such a bad quality in a politician if you ask me.”
“OK, down to business. I want you to send out a pilot to check out the area. I want to get out of here as soon as possible. We can’t jump in this radiation so we need to get out of the cloud. Get someone to check if the coast is clear, then we’ll go from there.”
“Yes, sir. You know I can’t be CAG for long, right? We need to talk about my role on this ship.”
“Can you fill the position until we get the civilians to a safe place?” he asked rubbing his temples.
“Yes, after that, Lee can do the job.”
“That he can. Oh, your friend Aaron Doral?”
“What about him?” she asked with a raised eyebrow at the word ‘friend.’
“He’s been accused of being a Cylon by your other good friend Dr. Baltar.”
“And do you have reason to believe the accusation. That’s a pretty serious one.”
“His argument against Doral makes sense. I don’t trust that guy anymore than you do, but he’s the smartest guy we have right now, and we’re going to need his help if we want to make a feasible plan.”
“I trust your instinct Commander. If you agree with Baltar that’s enough for me. What are you going to do with Doral?”
“Question him.” He said bluntly.
“I see.”
“From there it’s probably out the airlock with him, or we might just leave him on the station. There’s no way out and the radiation surrounding the station kills their kind.”
“I’d leave him here. Sounds like a more acceptable punishment for a Cylon.” She said bitterly.
“I thought you’d agree. And since you seem to be so agreeable with me today, I want you with me when I brief the president about the Cylon situation. You can be an ambassador of sorts between the military and the president, and visa versa. Think of it as your permanent assignment after Lee becomes CAG.”
“Yes , Sir.” She saluted and walked away.
>><<>><<
On her way back to the flight deck she ran into Roslin, walking the gangways aimlessly.
“What are you still doing on board this ship, Madam President?” Nyx asked sneaking up behind her.
Startled, she jumped and turned around. At seeing Nyx she smiled. “I’m leaving soon, I promise, I was just bored. I’m not exactly getting the welcoming committee.”
“Would you like to know why, or would you just like to keep walking.” Nyx asked, walking beside Roslin as a slow, leisurely pace.
“I give up, why?” she smiled.
“You over played your hand with Tigh.” At Roslin’s raised eyebrow she continued. “Don’t get me wrong, you playing the power card is very attractive, but Colonel Tigh is just second in command and you put him in a position where he had to choose between you and his commanding officer. You didn’t stand a chance.”
“So how is it that you have all this diplomatic intelligence, and you’re just now telling me about my frak up as opposed to preventing it? You could have stepped in at any time, you know?” Roslin said, making an annoyed face.
“No I couldn’t have, Laura. I’m military, Tigh is my commanding officer, you are my president; I have no right to come between an argument between the two of you. I was out of line for what I did say. It’s all about diplomacy.”
“You are planning on giving me the run down of the do’s and don’ts of the military eventually, aren’t you?”
“First lesson, military is about three things- tradition, duty, and honor. It’s not just a theory, it’s a way of life for these people, and for me now, too. I have to abide by the rules. If you want people on this ship to respect you as president, you’re going to have to gain their respect on those terms. Show them that you respect the ranks of the military and they will start to respect your role, does that make sense?”
“Wave a flag; sing the national anthem, all that jazz?”
“That’s a part of it; we are by definition a patriotic people. We joined to fight for the colonies, to die for the colonies if necessary, so our place in this fight is going to mean a lot. People tend to look down on military because they get to do the dirty jobs. They do the jobs nobody knows about and sometimes they get to do the jobs nobody agrees with. But they do it because it’s their job; tradition and protocol mean everything here.”
“I’ve never looked down on the military.” She said defensively.
“I didn’t say you did; I just said don’t. More importantly, though, if you want to gain the respect of the military, you have to be the president. Every minute you are in front of people, you have to be that person. You can never loose you cool; but stand up to them. Never lose your temper in front of them; it’s a sign of weakness. If you must yell, do it for effect, not to vent the fact that you’re pissed off.”
“Is that it?” She asked, sounding overwhelmed.
“The most important thing of all- never let anyone think they are your equal. That lowers your position, which makes you become someone who is not the president.”
“But you…” she began to question.
“Not in front of people. It’s the way it has to be. In order for the both of us to gain and keep the respect of the people, we must not be equals.”
“I should have taken notes.” She sighed and Nyx chuckled.
“Learn to read ranks off of uniforms, give more respect to higher rank, but still respect the deck hands and the petty officers; they eat it up. Never confront a commanding officer in front of their charges, should I keep going?” She smiled at Roslin’s wondering look.
“Again, I should have taken notes.” She stated flatly, aggravated that she didn’t understand.
“I’ll teach you, you’ll do fine.” They made it to the flight deck but stopped at the entryway.
“Anything else then?” Roslin asked.
“I have to go play commanding officer to my lowly charges; again you get to play pushy politician.” She smiled. “I’ll be at the briefing with Commander Adama. I’d love to fill you in now, but I just don’t have the time. I have to get a Viper in the sky. But lets just say, soon I won’t be CAG anymore and you won’t be able to get rid of me.”
“Well then, I’m looking forward to getting down to business with you.” She said walking away, smiling.
Nyx couldn’t help but stand there, open mouthed, and stunned.