Fic - "Dead Man Walking part 18"
Hey! Part 18 I feel kinda bad because I have been toiling on the next next chapter and forgot to post this one. This is an AU, where the events of late season three, four and 4.5 pretty much only happened in Gaeta's head as the result of Cylon torture. This is tagged ptsdfic.
“So when was I going to be briefed on how your XO is a Cylon?” Laura looked down over her glasses, her dark eyes flashing ominously. All things considered, he would much rather have faced a Centurion. “And why am I only now being briefed on the fact that Lt. Gaeta apparently was given the grand tour of Cylon society? And that he fingered my aide as a Cylon? Were you waiting for Tory to try to kill me?”
“The situation is being handled safely and calmly.” Bill Adama kept his tone reasonable. The reality was that Laura had reason to be angry. He had kept her out of the loop intentionally and she had to know why. “There is suspicion that the people I had arrested are Cylons, but the evidence was not concrete enough to warrant arrests until the last forty eight hours. All five are now in custody and will remain so until we make a decision.” He gestured to Lee and Cottle, who were standing off to the side. “I have Majors Adama and Cottle here to explain just what we have been doing and what we intend to do.”
Cottle nodded. “For starters, Madame President, while I sense you were attempting sarcasm, no, Lt. Gaeta was not given a grand tour of Cylon society. He was tortured. Let’s not be flip about it.”
For a change, Bill was glad that Cottle’s natural setting was to be overprotective. His words seemed to calm Laura down, reminding her just what had happened. The doctor then described what had been going on, starting with his own suspicions about Gaeta’s perceptive nature and Gaeta’s concerns about who he had designated. He wasn’t surprised that Cottle skipped how Gaeta had correctly realized that he and Laura were secretly a couple but he did see Laura take it in. “It was the blood tests that were damning,” Cottle said, “ In my opinion, anyway. Under hypnosis, Lt. Gaeta relayed a conversation that two of the Cavils had while he was tied down in the base star, and the Cavils were concerned that Gaeta had named the final five, knowledge that they don’t want revealed to the other Cylons.”
“That verification is what led to the arrests,” Bill added. She was angry, more angry than he had ever seen her, but she was controlling well. “Before you joined us, Dr, Cottle was briefing me on how hypnosis is not getting us further with Lt. Gaeta.” He was suddenly relieved that her dark glare seemed to shift to the doctor.
“Why isn’t it working?” she asked, her tone coldly efficient.
“I don’t think you have time for the full psychological work up on why Lt. Gaeta is messed up mentally.” Cottle lit a cigarette. “Suffice to say, while Lt. Gaeta has no problem verbalizing under hypnosis how simple it would be for him to take down both the military and civilian government in a hail of gunfire… Deep down, he is agreeing to tell me that. In fact he told me that without hypnosis, although the details are more clear. Most of the new information we got were things that he didn’t recall more due to the drugs the Cylons were giving him, not because he didn’t want to tell me. However, when I pressed him about how he had discovered who the final Cylons were, he shut down completely. He doesn’t want to tell us how he found out… and considering he will tell me every horrible thing he thinks he’s done, it means we’ll have to force him to tell us.”
Bill almost sighed. “I assume you have an idea of how to break the dead lock?”
He was surprised that it was Lee that spoke next. “Actually, sir, Lt. Gaeta gave us the idea for what to do next at the end of our session.” Lee looked at him intently. “Of course, this relies on the idea that Lt. Gaeta does know something that by rights he shouldn’t. Is there a supply of an experimental truth serum on board this ship? That you may have been involved in developing during your assignment on the Valkyrie?”
“Yes.” He was surprised that Laura seemed shocked at the revelation. “Lt. Gaeta is willing?”
“He brought it up,” Cottle said. “My concern is that, if his description of it was accurate, that you’ll break his brain using it. Does it really matter how he found out?”
“We have to be certain,” he said finally. He didn’t like it, but he had to give the people locked in the brig every chance.
“Don’t I get a say in this?” Roslin asked suddenly. “How likely is it that Lt. Gaeta would survive this interrogation without serious damage? Remember, I read the reports on what he thinks happened in the Cylon projection. This drug had Dr. Baltar have a psychic episode and then spend weeks recovering from it. Why are we thinking of putting a loyal soldier and citizen through a brutal interrogation when we have blood tests proving we have five Cylons locked in the brig?”
“Technically, they test more similarly to Hera Agathon than to Sharon Agathon,” Cottle said quickly.
“So what?” Roslin looked over her glasses, intent. “They’re Cylons. We left Doral to die on Ragnor Anchorage with less proof.”
“You may not care about your assistant,” Bill said heavily, “but four of the people locked up are members of my crew and before I toss them out the airlock, I want to be certain.”
Her eyes flashed. Without looking away, she said calmly, almost too calmly, “Major Cottle, Major Adama, I need you to step out for a moment so I can speak to the Admiral privately.”
It was almost amusing, the way Cottle and Lee looked at him with sympathy. He only had a moment to enjoy it. Laura spun at him. “What the frak do you think you’re doing, Admiral?”
Admiral, he thought. That meant she was very pissed off. “I have a duty to my people.”
“No, you don’t.” Her eyes blazed. “You have a duty to *all* of the people in this fleet. Your duty is to obey the law, and at last check, the law says we’re at war with the Cylons. When there is a huge potential threat to the security of this fleet, particularly a huge threat concerning the Cylons, your duty is to keep me informed of that threat. That is not negotiable, Bill.”
“I was concerned that you would overreact.” He eyed her carefully. “I’m not convinced I’m wrong.”
“You wouldn’t have hid this from me,” she said harshly, “if this didn’t involve Saul Tigh and Kara Thrace.”
“Godsdammit! I put Saul Tigh in a brig cell! Do you think that was easy?” He shouted it at her, and she flinched back. But only for a moment.
“No, Bill. I don’t think that was easy for you.” She took a moment to think, he could tell. “You want to give him every chance, you want to give Kara every chance and your… pigheaded loyalty to the people you love is something I admire and love about you.”
“But?” Sometimes it hurt how well he knew her.
“I want you to think about this. While you were investigating this, and giving the people you care about every chance, Tory Foster had full access to me. If you, gods forbid, had keeled over from a heart attack, Saul Tigh would assume ultimate command of the military. Apparently he’s some sort of Cylon. Maybe he’s a sleeper agent and he would control our military. Have you thought about that? What would have happened to the fleet if you had died? Can you imagine what would happen if I had to remove the head of the military because he was a Cylon?” Laura’s anger faded before his eyes, replaced by the stern look he always associated with her role as president. “It would have torn the fleet to bits and we would all be dead. As soon as you suspected that Felix Gaeta had actually discovered that people in the fleet were Cylons, those people should have been locked up for everyone’s safety. And they would have been if Tigh and Kara weren’t among the suspects.” Her expression hardened. “If that happens again, I’ll have you removed as head of the military. Is that understood?”
“Yes.” She had forgiven him, he could see it, but she meant what she said as well. Which meant he had to concede a point as well. “Do you disapprove of the current plan to interrogate Lt. Gaeta with the experimental truth serum? The blood tests would be enough for the Quorum.”
She thought about it for a long moment. “The damage is done. At this point, if you need to be absolutely certain, the fleet is protected one way or another. Lt. Gaeta is your soldier. If you want to interogate him, I won’t stop you. However, I’ve doubt you’ve noticed but there is a growing belief among the civilians that Lt. Gaeta is favored by the gods. He did save us on New Caprica and he did essentially come back to life after we had all decided he was dead on the algae planet.” Her expression grew colder. “The Quorum will accept the blood tests. It’s your call if you need more proof…. You might want to consider how your crew will react to your sacrificing the lieutenant on the off chance doing so saves someone you like.”
“What… I mean, the people think Gaeta is favored by the gods? When did that happen?” Although, when he considered the facts versus how quickly the people tended to latch onto things, Gaeta’s accomplishments and survival must look like a beacon of hope to the people. And that meant he had to factor that into anything he did.
“It was Tory who told me about it,” Laura said wryly. “Apparently its something that started circulating on the Galactica and spread to the civilians. There are many who equate the lack of Cylon activity with both the virus and Gaeta’s miraculous rescue.” She shrugged. “You may not be concerned but I am. Lt. Gaeta, particularly if he’s in a fragile state of mind, would be rather easy for someone to exploit.” She sniffed with amusement. “It’s hard to argue Gaeta isn’t special to the gods when he apparently has known about us since New Caprica.”
“I have Cottle keeping an eye on him, it shouldn’t be an issue.” The anger had passed, she was trying to make light of things. That was a good sign. “Just how do you think you could remove me as head of the military?”
Laura smiled, but her eyes remained flinty cold. “If I understand the problems in the Cylon projection correctly, I would just need to have Lt Gaeta handle it for me.”
~*~
“So when was I going to be briefed on how your XO is a Cylon?” Laura looked down over her glasses, her dark eyes flashing ominously. All things considered, he would much rather have faced a Centurion. “And why am I only now being briefed on the fact that Lt. Gaeta apparently was given the grand tour of Cylon society? And that he fingered my aide as a Cylon? Were you waiting for Tory to try to kill me?”
“The situation is being handled safely and calmly.” Bill Adama kept his tone reasonable. The reality was that Laura had reason to be angry. He had kept her out of the loop intentionally and she had to know why. “There is suspicion that the people I had arrested are Cylons, but the evidence was not concrete enough to warrant arrests until the last forty eight hours. All five are now in custody and will remain so until we make a decision.” He gestured to Lee and Cottle, who were standing off to the side. “I have Majors Adama and Cottle here to explain just what we have been doing and what we intend to do.”
Cottle nodded. “For starters, Madame President, while I sense you were attempting sarcasm, no, Lt. Gaeta was not given a grand tour of Cylon society. He was tortured. Let’s not be flip about it.”
For a change, Bill was glad that Cottle’s natural setting was to be overprotective. His words seemed to calm Laura down, reminding her just what had happened. The doctor then described what had been going on, starting with his own suspicions about Gaeta’s perceptive nature and Gaeta’s concerns about who he had designated. He wasn’t surprised that Cottle skipped how Gaeta had correctly realized that he and Laura were secretly a couple but he did see Laura take it in. “It was the blood tests that were damning,” Cottle said, “ In my opinion, anyway. Under hypnosis, Lt. Gaeta relayed a conversation that two of the Cavils had while he was tied down in the base star, and the Cavils were concerned that Gaeta had named the final five, knowledge that they don’t want revealed to the other Cylons.”
“That verification is what led to the arrests,” Bill added. She was angry, more angry than he had ever seen her, but she was controlling well. “Before you joined us, Dr, Cottle was briefing me on how hypnosis is not getting us further with Lt. Gaeta.” He was suddenly relieved that her dark glare seemed to shift to the doctor.
“Why isn’t it working?” she asked, her tone coldly efficient.
“I don’t think you have time for the full psychological work up on why Lt. Gaeta is messed up mentally.” Cottle lit a cigarette. “Suffice to say, while Lt. Gaeta has no problem verbalizing under hypnosis how simple it would be for him to take down both the military and civilian government in a hail of gunfire… Deep down, he is agreeing to tell me that. In fact he told me that without hypnosis, although the details are more clear. Most of the new information we got were things that he didn’t recall more due to the drugs the Cylons were giving him, not because he didn’t want to tell me. However, when I pressed him about how he had discovered who the final Cylons were, he shut down completely. He doesn’t want to tell us how he found out… and considering he will tell me every horrible thing he thinks he’s done, it means we’ll have to force him to tell us.”
Bill almost sighed. “I assume you have an idea of how to break the dead lock?”
He was surprised that it was Lee that spoke next. “Actually, sir, Lt. Gaeta gave us the idea for what to do next at the end of our session.” Lee looked at him intently. “Of course, this relies on the idea that Lt. Gaeta does know something that by rights he shouldn’t. Is there a supply of an experimental truth serum on board this ship? That you may have been involved in developing during your assignment on the Valkyrie?”
“Yes.” He was surprised that Laura seemed shocked at the revelation. “Lt. Gaeta is willing?”
“He brought it up,” Cottle said. “My concern is that, if his description of it was accurate, that you’ll break his brain using it. Does it really matter how he found out?”
“We have to be certain,” he said finally. He didn’t like it, but he had to give the people locked in the brig every chance.
“Don’t I get a say in this?” Roslin asked suddenly. “How likely is it that Lt. Gaeta would survive this interrogation without serious damage? Remember, I read the reports on what he thinks happened in the Cylon projection. This drug had Dr. Baltar have a psychic episode and then spend weeks recovering from it. Why are we thinking of putting a loyal soldier and citizen through a brutal interrogation when we have blood tests proving we have five Cylons locked in the brig?”
“Technically, they test more similarly to Hera Agathon than to Sharon Agathon,” Cottle said quickly.
“So what?” Roslin looked over her glasses, intent. “They’re Cylons. We left Doral to die on Ragnor Anchorage with less proof.”
“You may not care about your assistant,” Bill said heavily, “but four of the people locked up are members of my crew and before I toss them out the airlock, I want to be certain.”
Her eyes flashed. Without looking away, she said calmly, almost too calmly, “Major Cottle, Major Adama, I need you to step out for a moment so I can speak to the Admiral privately.”
It was almost amusing, the way Cottle and Lee looked at him with sympathy. He only had a moment to enjoy it. Laura spun at him. “What the frak do you think you’re doing, Admiral?”
Admiral, he thought. That meant she was very pissed off. “I have a duty to my people.”
“No, you don’t.” Her eyes blazed. “You have a duty to *all* of the people in this fleet. Your duty is to obey the law, and at last check, the law says we’re at war with the Cylons. When there is a huge potential threat to the security of this fleet, particularly a huge threat concerning the Cylons, your duty is to keep me informed of that threat. That is not negotiable, Bill.”
“I was concerned that you would overreact.” He eyed her carefully. “I’m not convinced I’m wrong.”
“You wouldn’t have hid this from me,” she said harshly, “if this didn’t involve Saul Tigh and Kara Thrace.”
“Godsdammit! I put Saul Tigh in a brig cell! Do you think that was easy?” He shouted it at her, and she flinched back. But only for a moment.
“No, Bill. I don’t think that was easy for you.” She took a moment to think, he could tell. “You want to give him every chance, you want to give Kara every chance and your… pigheaded loyalty to the people you love is something I admire and love about you.”
“But?” Sometimes it hurt how well he knew her.
“I want you to think about this. While you were investigating this, and giving the people you care about every chance, Tory Foster had full access to me. If you, gods forbid, had keeled over from a heart attack, Saul Tigh would assume ultimate command of the military. Apparently he’s some sort of Cylon. Maybe he’s a sleeper agent and he would control our military. Have you thought about that? What would have happened to the fleet if you had died? Can you imagine what would happen if I had to remove the head of the military because he was a Cylon?” Laura’s anger faded before his eyes, replaced by the stern look he always associated with her role as president. “It would have torn the fleet to bits and we would all be dead. As soon as you suspected that Felix Gaeta had actually discovered that people in the fleet were Cylons, those people should have been locked up for everyone’s safety. And they would have been if Tigh and Kara weren’t among the suspects.” Her expression hardened. “If that happens again, I’ll have you removed as head of the military. Is that understood?”
“Yes.” She had forgiven him, he could see it, but she meant what she said as well. Which meant he had to concede a point as well. “Do you disapprove of the current plan to interrogate Lt. Gaeta with the experimental truth serum? The blood tests would be enough for the Quorum.”
She thought about it for a long moment. “The damage is done. At this point, if you need to be absolutely certain, the fleet is protected one way or another. Lt. Gaeta is your soldier. If you want to interogate him, I won’t stop you. However, I’ve doubt you’ve noticed but there is a growing belief among the civilians that Lt. Gaeta is favored by the gods. He did save us on New Caprica and he did essentially come back to life after we had all decided he was dead on the algae planet.” Her expression grew colder. “The Quorum will accept the blood tests. It’s your call if you need more proof…. You might want to consider how your crew will react to your sacrificing the lieutenant on the off chance doing so saves someone you like.”
“What… I mean, the people think Gaeta is favored by the gods? When did that happen?” Although, when he considered the facts versus how quickly the people tended to latch onto things, Gaeta’s accomplishments and survival must look like a beacon of hope to the people. And that meant he had to factor that into anything he did.
“It was Tory who told me about it,” Laura said wryly. “Apparently its something that started circulating on the Galactica and spread to the civilians. There are many who equate the lack of Cylon activity with both the virus and Gaeta’s miraculous rescue.” She shrugged. “You may not be concerned but I am. Lt. Gaeta, particularly if he’s in a fragile state of mind, would be rather easy for someone to exploit.” She sniffed with amusement. “It’s hard to argue Gaeta isn’t special to the gods when he apparently has known about us since New Caprica.”
“I have Cottle keeping an eye on him, it shouldn’t be an issue.” The anger had passed, she was trying to make light of things. That was a good sign. “Just how do you think you could remove me as head of the military?”
Laura smiled, but her eyes remained flinty cold. “If I understand the problems in the Cylon projection correctly, I would just need to have Lt Gaeta handle it for me.”
~*~