TM 188: Write two letters.
OOC: Cally's first letter is not based in canon. The second letter contains spoilers for the season three episode Dirty Hands.
The first letter is short and to the point.
Hotdog:
I'm sorry I accidentally knocked you over during the evacuation drill last week. I didn't see you and we've been a little on the slow side lately, so I wasn't as careful as I should have been. I'm apologizing even though you're not hurt because you were so sweet about apologizing to me when you accidentally snapped me in the face with the rag while my jaw was still wired shut.
Frankly, I think we're all still surprised I was able to knock you over.
Cally
She leaves it taped to his locker.
The second letter, on the other hand, is more problematic. So much so that she doesn't even know if she's going to send it when she sits down to write it.
[locked to Admiral Adama]
Dear Admiral Adama,
I forgive you. I know you did what you thought was best and I forgive you.
That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt like hell. The hurt hasn't even really gone away, even after a few days. I guess that's because there's more hurt piling on top of it, now that everyone on the frakking ship knows exactly how much my life is worth to the chain of command.
I know that's not fair. I know you were boxed into a corner and threatening me was the only way to get through to the Chief. But it hurts because every last human left alive knows that the Admiral of the Fleet does not bluff. He says something, he means it. You said you were going to have me killed and you would have. And everyone knows it and they've all let me know, in their own little ways, that they know it. I have a son and you were going to let him grow up without a mother, without even remembering me.
I wish Galen hadn't told me the truth. I'd rather be a blind fool than feeling what I'm feeling right now. It probably doesn't matter to you what I'm feeling right now, because I am one of the easily replaceable ones. It probably shouldn't matter what I'm feeling right now, anyway.
The CO's always right and this is no exception.
I forgive you.
Crewman Specialist Tyrol
[unlocked]
After an hour of contemplation, she decides to either burn it or deliver it straight to its recipient.
She then proceeded to go over the pros and cons through her shift, picking up Nicky at day care, steering clear of the CIC officers, and finding something to feed her husband and son.
Right after they've gone to bed, she gets up again. Claiming call of the wild, she grabbed the note and slipped it into her robe.
She doesn't know if the guards will even give the letter to the admiral, considering the rank of the person who left it, but she burrows into her husband's warm embrace and listens to the soft, rythmic sounds of her family. As she closes her eyes, a tear slips out from the corner of one and dissolves into the pillow.
Crewman Specialist Cally Tyrol
Battlestar Galactica
511 words