BSG fic: Through the Years, 4/30? (pg-13)
Title: Through the Years, 4/30?
Author: sabaceanbabe
Word count: 946
Rating: pg-13
Characters: Starbuck, Helo
Setting: still pre-mini, 3 months after graduation
Author's note: Thank you to lizardbeth_j and lyssie for the beta. Happy birthday, poisontaster! If you haven't read the previous chapters, click here to go to chapter 1.
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Kara looked at her cards, carefully keeping her disappointment from her face. What a crap draw. Aloud she simply said, “Two.” A phone trilled at the back of the rec room as Shark, the Triton’s CAG, slid two cards across the table to Kara’s waiting hand. She peeled up the edges to peek at them - both red, that was something - when a man shouted, “Thrace! You’ve got a call!”
Her brows shot up - she never got calls - and her eyes met Shark’s. The older woman shrugged and Trickster, a rook like herself, said, “I need a break anyway. You ladies are cleaning me out.” Kara shot him a grin and slid her chair back from the table, scooping up the rest of her cards to the feigned protests of both her opponents. “I’m not leaving my hand here for you losers to gawk at,” she tossed over her shoulder as she headed over to take the call, cards in one hand, beer in the other.
The face on the view screen was a familiar one and a pleasant surprise as she’d been expecting - dreading - that it would be her mother. As she set her cards on the table and sat with her back to the room, shifting the screen to face her, the man who’d answered the call whispered, “I can have it transferred to quarters, if you’d rather have some privacy.”
Kara just shook her head and grinned at the face on the screen, raising the bottle in her hand in salute and letting the babble of voices fade into the background as Ensign Karl Agathon said, “Well, if it isn’t the one and only Starbuck!”
“Karl! Or should I say Helo? Still splashing in the kiddie pool?” She nodded toward the Raptor patch on his flight suit.
“Ha ha. Very funny.” Karl was more than qualified on the Viper, but he chose to fly Raptors instead, said they had way more leg room than the single-man fighter. Which was true, but that didn’t make it any less fun to razz him about it every chance she got. “And how many times have you been in hack in the three months you’ve been there?”
She heard the laughter in his voice even though he kept his expression serious. “Bite me, Agathon.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Love to, Kara, but you’re a little too far away.”
“And it’s only been twice,” she said and stuck her tongue out at him.
Gods, she missed him. And how in all the Hells had that happened? They’d been at the Academy together for two years and he’d managed to worm his way into her life so thoroughly that almost every day saw something she wanted to tell him about. She’d never had that with another human being before. Never. Everyone else she either competed with or she frakked, but not Karl Agathon. Okay, sometimes Karl, too, but mostly she just relaxed around him. He didn’t have any expectations for her to live up to. Or down to. He just let her be who she was.
She realized that while she’d been distracted, Karl had continued talking. “Sorry, Karl, what did you say? I wasn’t listening.”
He let loose a dramatic, long-suffering sigh and she grinned again at the put-upon expression on her friend’s face. And he was her friend. Probably the only real friend she’d ever had. Had ever let herself have. “I said, Kara, that I have a leave rotation coming up in three weeks. Only a couple of days, but I thought if you could get a couple of days, too, we could meet in the middle. Maybe get together on Picon, check out the playoffs…?”
She shifted a little, looking past the view screen at the other pilots in the rec room without seeing them, and leaned back into her chair, feeling the cold metal on the bare skin of her arms. “I can check.” She glanced over to the Triad table where Shark and Trickster were laughing at something Farmboy had said. “Shark’d probably be okay with it, but I don’t know about the Commander.” Maybe she could get Shark to say something for her. She really did want to spend a couple of days with Karl.
Taking a pull from her beer, she drew her gaze from the waiting Triad game back to the view screen. She almost laughed at Karl’s hopeful expression. Instead, she gave him a speculative look and said, “Make it Scorpia and paragliding and I’ll make it happen, somehow.” She’d been trying to get the bastard to ‘glide off the cliffs of Scorpia’s Thanatos Sea since their first year at the Academy, but he’d always blown it off, usually in favor of some kind of championship or playoff. Kara would much rather do than watch.
Karl’s eyes narrowed and she thought he was going to insist on Picon, but then he shrugged, drawing her eyes again to the blue Raptor patch on his shoulder. “Scorpia it is. But if I break anything, it’s on your head.”
She cocked her head to the left. “Maybe you’d better start practicing your landings, huh?” He opened his mouth to make a retort, but shut it again and Kara heard a voice in the background on his end. “Ensign Agathon, please report to CIC. Helo, report to CIC.”
“Kara, I’ve got to go. But I’ll send you the specifics of my leave. You will try to get the time, right?”
“Oh, absolutely, Helo. I can’t wait to watch you drop your skinny ass into the Thanatos.”
He made a rude gesture and then the screen went dark, but Kara’s grin remained.
Click here for chapter 5
Author: sabaceanbabe
Word count: 946
Rating: pg-13
Characters: Starbuck, Helo
Setting: still pre-mini, 3 months after graduation
Author's note: Thank you to lizardbeth_j and lyssie for the beta. Happy birthday, poisontaster! If you haven't read the previous chapters, click here to go to chapter 1.
----------------------
Kara looked at her cards, carefully keeping her disappointment from her face. What a crap draw. Aloud she simply said, “Two.” A phone trilled at the back of the rec room as Shark, the Triton’s CAG, slid two cards across the table to Kara’s waiting hand. She peeled up the edges to peek at them - both red, that was something - when a man shouted, “Thrace! You’ve got a call!”
Her brows shot up - she never got calls - and her eyes met Shark’s. The older woman shrugged and Trickster, a rook like herself, said, “I need a break anyway. You ladies are cleaning me out.” Kara shot him a grin and slid her chair back from the table, scooping up the rest of her cards to the feigned protests of both her opponents. “I’m not leaving my hand here for you losers to gawk at,” she tossed over her shoulder as she headed over to take the call, cards in one hand, beer in the other.
The face on the view screen was a familiar one and a pleasant surprise as she’d been expecting - dreading - that it would be her mother. As she set her cards on the table and sat with her back to the room, shifting the screen to face her, the man who’d answered the call whispered, “I can have it transferred to quarters, if you’d rather have some privacy.”
Kara just shook her head and grinned at the face on the screen, raising the bottle in her hand in salute and letting the babble of voices fade into the background as Ensign Karl Agathon said, “Well, if it isn’t the one and only Starbuck!”
“Karl! Or should I say Helo? Still splashing in the kiddie pool?” She nodded toward the Raptor patch on his flight suit.
“Ha ha. Very funny.” Karl was more than qualified on the Viper, but he chose to fly Raptors instead, said they had way more leg room than the single-man fighter. Which was true, but that didn’t make it any less fun to razz him about it every chance she got. “And how many times have you been in hack in the three months you’ve been there?”
She heard the laughter in his voice even though he kept his expression serious. “Bite me, Agathon.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Love to, Kara, but you’re a little too far away.”
“And it’s only been twice,” she said and stuck her tongue out at him.
Gods, she missed him. And how in all the Hells had that happened? They’d been at the Academy together for two years and he’d managed to worm his way into her life so thoroughly that almost every day saw something she wanted to tell him about. She’d never had that with another human being before. Never. Everyone else she either competed with or she frakked, but not Karl Agathon. Okay, sometimes Karl, too, but mostly she just relaxed around him. He didn’t have any expectations for her to live up to. Or down to. He just let her be who she was.
She realized that while she’d been distracted, Karl had continued talking. “Sorry, Karl, what did you say? I wasn’t listening.”
He let loose a dramatic, long-suffering sigh and she grinned again at the put-upon expression on her friend’s face. And he was her friend. Probably the only real friend she’d ever had. Had ever let herself have. “I said, Kara, that I have a leave rotation coming up in three weeks. Only a couple of days, but I thought if you could get a couple of days, too, we could meet in the middle. Maybe get together on Picon, check out the playoffs…?”
She shifted a little, looking past the view screen at the other pilots in the rec room without seeing them, and leaned back into her chair, feeling the cold metal on the bare skin of her arms. “I can check.” She glanced over to the Triad table where Shark and Trickster were laughing at something Farmboy had said. “Shark’d probably be okay with it, but I don’t know about the Commander.” Maybe she could get Shark to say something for her. She really did want to spend a couple of days with Karl.
Taking a pull from her beer, she drew her gaze from the waiting Triad game back to the view screen. She almost laughed at Karl’s hopeful expression. Instead, she gave him a speculative look and said, “Make it Scorpia and paragliding and I’ll make it happen, somehow.” She’d been trying to get the bastard to ‘glide off the cliffs of Scorpia’s Thanatos Sea since their first year at the Academy, but he’d always blown it off, usually in favor of some kind of championship or playoff. Kara would much rather do than watch.
Karl’s eyes narrowed and she thought he was going to insist on Picon, but then he shrugged, drawing her eyes again to the blue Raptor patch on his shoulder. “Scorpia it is. But if I break anything, it’s on your head.”
She cocked her head to the left. “Maybe you’d better start practicing your landings, huh?” He opened his mouth to make a retort, but shut it again and Kara heard a voice in the background on his end. “Ensign Agathon, please report to CIC. Helo, report to CIC.”
“Kara, I’ve got to go. But I’ll send you the specifics of my leave. You will try to get the time, right?”
“Oh, absolutely, Helo. I can’t wait to watch you drop your skinny ass into the Thanatos.”
He made a rude gesture and then the screen went dark, but Kara’s grin remained.
Click here for chapter 5