Fic - " By The Book"
Woo! Its part 46 of Alpha and Omega, the near endless Kara/Gaeta fic. Its AU after Epiphanies and somewhat implausible but fun fun!
Title - " By The Book"
Fandom - Battlestar Galactica
Characters - Kara Thrace/Felix Gaeta
Prompt - Star - 045
Word count - 1551
Summary - Flying over Caprica, Felix begins to wonder about his feelings
Author's note - Gloriously AU set after Epiphanies, I am writing the prompts in order so reading in order might help but the tales stand alone for a bit. Big Damn Table here http://rapfic.livejournal.com/8449.html#cutid1
He held his breath as they silently flew through the debris field surrounding Caprica. It was the sort of scene that he had never expected to see in his life. The planet itself was almost overshadowed by the floating dead hulks of ships and space stations. He tried to keep his eyes on the computers as they flashed readings at him. Still, it was hard not to look as dead ships and battlestars loomed up out of the darkness, lit only by the light of the stars.
“ That’s the Atlantia,” Kara said softly as the Raptor drifted. “ That’s the ship I was being reassigned to. Where were you supposed to go, Gaeta?” She didn’t turn her head, her eyes were on the debris and the Raptor’s navigation display. Once the jumps were done, the main job of flying and landing on Caprica was hers and he had to admit, it was impressive to watch.
“ I was being reassigned to Picon Headquarters for War College,” he said after a moment.
“ Doesn’t that usually come with a promotion, Lieutenant?” Kara managed to make it sound snotty, as usual. He almost didn’t respond.
“ Yes, it does. And before you ask, yes, I was supposed to be promoted to Captain. And I wasn’t. Because the world ended.” He tried not to sound hurt, but it was hard. The promotion was supposed to wash away the stain on his record, and Admiral Adama had just… forgotten about it. At the same time, he could hardly complain. It would just look petty.
“ You should say something. When we get back. The Admiral probably forgot.” Kara didn’t look back at him. “ Besides when we get back, you’ll be a hero. Think about it. That’s worth a bump to major at least.” She snickered. He could see why. Rank was important, but since the destruction of almost every single human being in existence, getting promoted had hardly been a priority. They didn’t even get paid any more.
As they flew through the debris field, they were both silent. It was too overwhelming, especially as they passed the space stations that he knew so well. He tried not to let on how he felt. It was hard, incredibly hard, to see places he had been to that were now essentially graveyards. He could remember the weekends, when he was in high school, where he and his friends would dare each other to try and get to every public station in orbit on one ticket. It had been fun. Exciting at times, and now all of those friends were dead and all of those stations were dead as well. Dead like Caprica and that was hard to think about when he didn’t have to look at the dead hulks of space stations that he used to roam.
He kept his eyes on the ECO station, and tried to ignore the ping of debris hitting the Raptor. He focused on the scans of the planet. The surface was radioactive, and that wasn’t a shock. They both had taken radiation meds before leaving and there were boosters but… He looked up at Kara. She didn’t have the same scans, as the pilot and she wouldn’t want to know the harsh reality.
Caprica was inhabitable for human life. It looked all right, but there was little chance that anyone could live long on the surface. He was no doctor, so he couldn’t be certain, but it was unlikely that they were going to find any humans alive that weren’t near death from radiation sickness. Gaeta did the math in his head. If someone had access to anti-radiation meds, they might be alive, but they probably wouldn’t live long lives. Radiation meds only worked for a short period of time. He and Kara were protected, they both had implants put in to assure a constant dosage and shots, and extra shots in case of higher than expected levels. Technically they were both able to survive in a hot spot for ten days, and Caprica over all was not uniformly hot. The cities were the worst.
Any survivors though, even if they did have a nine month supply of meds, were still taking in too many rads to live long. He considered saying something, and then closed his mouth. If they found anyone alive at all, and he rather had his doubts on that to begin with, they would at best be riddled with cancer already. Kara was going to see it, and have to deal with it, and he preferred that she do that on land and not while she was maneuvering the Raptor through Cylon held space.
She had been all business on the flight. Gaeta wasn’t ashamed to admit that he was impressed. Kara was flying the hell out of the Raptor. The transponder was keeping the Cylons off them, but she was deftly avoiding the metallic debris that seemed to make a dark ring around the planet. It was risky. Raptors were durable but debris fields were dangerous. As she took the Raptor into Caprica’s atmosphere, he kept his eyes on the read outs and tried not to think of just how incredibly dangerous it was. If a Cylon patrol spotted them, even with Kara’s skill, he was certain they would be killed. Or worse. Still, as the Raptor slipped into the atmosphere, he felt the icy fear in his gut unfreeze just a little. Once they were through the atmosphere, they could dive down under dradis contact and as long as no one visually spotted them. The Raptor was still a dangerous target but once they were on the ground, they would be using commandeered vehicles.
“ Where are we going?” he asked as he looked at the computer readouts. He knew where they were going, he just wanted Kara to admit what she had been planning almost from the start.
“ We’re stopping at Delphi,” Kara said, her tone clearly indicating that he had no place asking such a question. “ We’ve got ten days to find the scepter. Stopping at Delphi isn’t going to screw the mission. It’ll help. Sam will have intelligence on the Cylon positions. We need that if we’re traveling over land any distance at all.”
There was no point in arguing. He could hardly wrest control of the Raptor. “ If the resistance isn’t in Delphi, we can’t afford to go looking. Not until after we find the Sceptor.”
At that, Kara glanced back at him, obviously surprised. “What?”
He rolled his eyes. “ I’m not an idiot, Starbuck.” Gaeta used her call sign intentionally. She wasn’t interested in him, after all. She had willfully engineered a mission solely to rescue Sam Anders and she did resent the fact that her chosen partner in crime Helo got pulled. Felix wasn’t exactly pleased either, to be in a flight suit acting as an ECO on a mission that was at best insane, and he wasn’t even going to try and think about the strange fact that he was actually jealous of Sam Anders. Sam Anders, who was most likely dead, and if he wasn’t dead, he was dying, and unpleasantly at that.
“The only reason you wanted to come back here was to rescue Sam,” he said. “ I’m fine with that. It shouldn’t take ten days to get the Scepter.” He had assumed it would take three at the most, if the monastery wasn’t rubble. “ The mission is important. As soon as I am certain we can’t retrieve the Scepter, or as soon as we’ve got it, we can spend every second looking for Sam. Fine, we’re stopping in Delphi, and if Sam is there, he’ll be a help. But you need to face facts. We might not find Sam in Delphi. If he’s not where you think he is supposed to be, then we move on, and get the Scepter and then come back for him.”
She turned her attention back to flying. “ You are not in command of this mission, Lt. Gaeta.”
A bad sign. “ We only have ten days. We can’t miss our return window unless you want to live here. We’ll look for Sam… but we can’t skip the mission.”
“ The mission,” Kara said darkly, “is what I say it is.” After a moment though, she added, “ but the scepter is important. I want to stop in Delphi because we need intelligence. I know the hideouts. We’ll stop in Delphi because the sun is coming up and we can’t risk flying in daylight. We can look for the resistance on foot. But you’re right. The scepter is the priority. But if we find it quickly…”
“ We’re coming back to find Sam.” He realized suddenly that she expected him to disagree with it more. “ I don’t mind,” he said, although he did mind a great deal, and on several levels, not the least of which was that it was incredibly dangerous.
“ I thought you would, to be honest.” There was a note of hesitance in her voice, and he was certain he heard relief as well. After a moment she laughed. “ You’re kind of by the book, Gaeta.”
“ Someone has to be,” he muttered.
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Title - " By The Book"
Fandom - Battlestar Galactica
Characters - Kara Thrace/Felix Gaeta
Prompt - Star - 045
Word count - 1551
Summary - Flying over Caprica, Felix begins to wonder about his feelings
Author's note - Gloriously AU set after Epiphanies, I am writing the prompts in order so reading in order might help but the tales stand alone for a bit. Big Damn Table here http://rapfic.livejournal.com/8449.html#cutid1
He held his breath as they silently flew through the debris field surrounding Caprica. It was the sort of scene that he had never expected to see in his life. The planet itself was almost overshadowed by the floating dead hulks of ships and space stations. He tried to keep his eyes on the computers as they flashed readings at him. Still, it was hard not to look as dead ships and battlestars loomed up out of the darkness, lit only by the light of the stars.
“ That’s the Atlantia,” Kara said softly as the Raptor drifted. “ That’s the ship I was being reassigned to. Where were you supposed to go, Gaeta?” She didn’t turn her head, her eyes were on the debris and the Raptor’s navigation display. Once the jumps were done, the main job of flying and landing on Caprica was hers and he had to admit, it was impressive to watch.
“ I was being reassigned to Picon Headquarters for War College,” he said after a moment.
“ Doesn’t that usually come with a promotion, Lieutenant?” Kara managed to make it sound snotty, as usual. He almost didn’t respond.
“ Yes, it does. And before you ask, yes, I was supposed to be promoted to Captain. And I wasn’t. Because the world ended.” He tried not to sound hurt, but it was hard. The promotion was supposed to wash away the stain on his record, and Admiral Adama had just… forgotten about it. At the same time, he could hardly complain. It would just look petty.
“ You should say something. When we get back. The Admiral probably forgot.” Kara didn’t look back at him. “ Besides when we get back, you’ll be a hero. Think about it. That’s worth a bump to major at least.” She snickered. He could see why. Rank was important, but since the destruction of almost every single human being in existence, getting promoted had hardly been a priority. They didn’t even get paid any more.
As they flew through the debris field, they were both silent. It was too overwhelming, especially as they passed the space stations that he knew so well. He tried not to let on how he felt. It was hard, incredibly hard, to see places he had been to that were now essentially graveyards. He could remember the weekends, when he was in high school, where he and his friends would dare each other to try and get to every public station in orbit on one ticket. It had been fun. Exciting at times, and now all of those friends were dead and all of those stations were dead as well. Dead like Caprica and that was hard to think about when he didn’t have to look at the dead hulks of space stations that he used to roam.
He kept his eyes on the ECO station, and tried to ignore the ping of debris hitting the Raptor. He focused on the scans of the planet. The surface was radioactive, and that wasn’t a shock. They both had taken radiation meds before leaving and there were boosters but… He looked up at Kara. She didn’t have the same scans, as the pilot and she wouldn’t want to know the harsh reality.
Caprica was inhabitable for human life. It looked all right, but there was little chance that anyone could live long on the surface. He was no doctor, so he couldn’t be certain, but it was unlikely that they were going to find any humans alive that weren’t near death from radiation sickness. Gaeta did the math in his head. If someone had access to anti-radiation meds, they might be alive, but they probably wouldn’t live long lives. Radiation meds only worked for a short period of time. He and Kara were protected, they both had implants put in to assure a constant dosage and shots, and extra shots in case of higher than expected levels. Technically they were both able to survive in a hot spot for ten days, and Caprica over all was not uniformly hot. The cities were the worst.
Any survivors though, even if they did have a nine month supply of meds, were still taking in too many rads to live long. He considered saying something, and then closed his mouth. If they found anyone alive at all, and he rather had his doubts on that to begin with, they would at best be riddled with cancer already. Kara was going to see it, and have to deal with it, and he preferred that she do that on land and not while she was maneuvering the Raptor through Cylon held space.
She had been all business on the flight. Gaeta wasn’t ashamed to admit that he was impressed. Kara was flying the hell out of the Raptor. The transponder was keeping the Cylons off them, but she was deftly avoiding the metallic debris that seemed to make a dark ring around the planet. It was risky. Raptors were durable but debris fields were dangerous. As she took the Raptor into Caprica’s atmosphere, he kept his eyes on the read outs and tried not to think of just how incredibly dangerous it was. If a Cylon patrol spotted them, even with Kara’s skill, he was certain they would be killed. Or worse. Still, as the Raptor slipped into the atmosphere, he felt the icy fear in his gut unfreeze just a little. Once they were through the atmosphere, they could dive down under dradis contact and as long as no one visually spotted them. The Raptor was still a dangerous target but once they were on the ground, they would be using commandeered vehicles.
“ Where are we going?” he asked as he looked at the computer readouts. He knew where they were going, he just wanted Kara to admit what she had been planning almost from the start.
“ We’re stopping at Delphi,” Kara said, her tone clearly indicating that he had no place asking such a question. “ We’ve got ten days to find the scepter. Stopping at Delphi isn’t going to screw the mission. It’ll help. Sam will have intelligence on the Cylon positions. We need that if we’re traveling over land any distance at all.”
There was no point in arguing. He could hardly wrest control of the Raptor. “ If the resistance isn’t in Delphi, we can’t afford to go looking. Not until after we find the Sceptor.”
At that, Kara glanced back at him, obviously surprised. “What?”
He rolled his eyes. “ I’m not an idiot, Starbuck.” Gaeta used her call sign intentionally. She wasn’t interested in him, after all. She had willfully engineered a mission solely to rescue Sam Anders and she did resent the fact that her chosen partner in crime Helo got pulled. Felix wasn’t exactly pleased either, to be in a flight suit acting as an ECO on a mission that was at best insane, and he wasn’t even going to try and think about the strange fact that he was actually jealous of Sam Anders. Sam Anders, who was most likely dead, and if he wasn’t dead, he was dying, and unpleasantly at that.
“The only reason you wanted to come back here was to rescue Sam,” he said. “ I’m fine with that. It shouldn’t take ten days to get the Scepter.” He had assumed it would take three at the most, if the monastery wasn’t rubble. “ The mission is important. As soon as I am certain we can’t retrieve the Scepter, or as soon as we’ve got it, we can spend every second looking for Sam. Fine, we’re stopping in Delphi, and if Sam is there, he’ll be a help. But you need to face facts. We might not find Sam in Delphi. If he’s not where you think he is supposed to be, then we move on, and get the Scepter and then come back for him.”
She turned her attention back to flying. “ You are not in command of this mission, Lt. Gaeta.”
A bad sign. “ We only have ten days. We can’t miss our return window unless you want to live here. We’ll look for Sam… but we can’t skip the mission.”
“ The mission,” Kara said darkly, “is what I say it is.” After a moment though, she added, “ but the scepter is important. I want to stop in Delphi because we need intelligence. I know the hideouts. We’ll stop in Delphi because the sun is coming up and we can’t risk flying in daylight. We can look for the resistance on foot. But you’re right. The scepter is the priority. But if we find it quickly…”
“ We’re coming back to find Sam.” He realized suddenly that she expected him to disagree with it more. “ I don’t mind,” he said, although he did mind a great deal, and on several levels, not the least of which was that it was incredibly dangerous.
“ I thought you would, to be honest.” There was a note of hesitance in her voice, and he was certain he heard relief as well. After a moment she laughed. “ You’re kind of by the book, Gaeta.”
“ Someone has to be,” he muttered.
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