For Sorrow Sung, Chapter 6
Title: For Sorrow Sung
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica (new series)
Author: shadowsong26
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings/Warnings: For this chapter: New Caprica Resistance, Baltar, Head!Six.
Summary: Three months into the Occupation on New Caprica, Baltar learns of Atia's existence.
Disclaimer: All characters are the property of their respective creators.
Note: This is a work in progress. It's possible I'll end up revising and reposting this at some point, but it's largely finished. Thank you for your patience, and any feedback is welcome!
Chapter 6
New Caprica
Three Months Occupied
He looked over the photograph. "You're sure she's his kid?"
"Sure as we can be without an actual DNA test, and that's not gonna happen."
"Sure enough to make him believe it, then." He sighed. "I don't like this."
"None of us do. But if it works, we can get some important people out."
"She's just a kid. Doesn't matter whose she is, she can't be more than sixteen."
"She's old enough to have been learning how to use a knife with some of the others."
"Yeah, but Tigh said to teach anyone over twelve who wants to learn. Doesn't make kidnapping one of them any less wrong."
There was a short silence.
"Are we gonna do this?"
He folded up the photograph. "Come up with a list of names. Fifteen important people, then we'll pick the twelve we're most likely to get. I'll start working out how to get the girl."
~~~
One Week Later
During one of his exceptionally rare moments of solitude, Baltar pulled out the message he'd received earlier that day. It contained a single page; one side was a list of a dozen names followed by a few brief sentences, and the other an instant snapshot of a teenaged girl.
The girl was gagged and tied to a chair, staring out at him with some mix of terror and rage. She looked terribly young, and terribly vulnerable. He couldn't see any obvious evidence that she'd been mistreated, but he had no idea when the picture had been taken. Certainly at least the several hours since he'd received it left the people holding her ample opportunity to change that.
He turned the page over again and skimmed the list of names (all recently detained, most in positions of significance to the Resistance) and reread the note at the bottom.
"We have your daughter. Bring us these people in three days, or she will be killed." The note then gave a more specific time, location, and date (presumably in case there was any difficulty in getting it to him).
He folded it again and slipped it in his pocket, leaning back in his chair, trying to process this. Apparently I have a daughter. Or maybe he didn't, but she looked a little like him--her eyes and some other features seemed to be the same shape. What lent even more credibility to the assumption--though the people holding her wouldn't know it--was that she looked a great deal like Melly, and was the right age to be her daughter.
And that might explain why I never heard from Melly after that semester.
None of that helped with resolving this particular dilemma, though. If she is my daughter, I can't leave her there to die. On the other hand, going to rescue her didn't exactly augur well for his own survival.
He hesitated for a moment, then whispered, "Are you there?"
"Of course I'm here, Gaius." She slid over and sat on the edge of his desk.
"What should I do?" he asked.
"I can't tell you that this time." She stroked his hair. "She's your daughter, not ours."
"So...she really is mine?" He looked up.
"Yes."
He looked back down at the girl--his daughter. "They'll kill her if I don't go."
"That's undeniable."
"And they'll...they'll kill me if I do."
"Oh, Gaius. I keep telling you. God has a plan for you." She gave him the knife-smile; the one that scared him most, even when she wasn't throwing him around, it was so sweet and poisonous. "He's not going to let you die ahead of schedule."
"Ah. Well, that's comforting."
She pulled his hair a little and disappeared, leaving him to stare at the photograph.
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica (new series)
Author: shadowsong26
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings/Warnings: For this chapter: New Caprica Resistance, Baltar, Head!Six.
Summary: Three months into the Occupation on New Caprica, Baltar learns of Atia's existence.
Disclaimer: All characters are the property of their respective creators.
Note: This is a work in progress. It's possible I'll end up revising and reposting this at some point, but it's largely finished. Thank you for your patience, and any feedback is welcome!
Chapter 6
New Caprica
Three Months Occupied
He looked over the photograph. "You're sure she's his kid?"
"Sure as we can be without an actual DNA test, and that's not gonna happen."
"Sure enough to make him believe it, then." He sighed. "I don't like this."
"None of us do. But if it works, we can get some important people out."
"She's just a kid. Doesn't matter whose she is, she can't be more than sixteen."
"She's old enough to have been learning how to use a knife with some of the others."
"Yeah, but Tigh said to teach anyone over twelve who wants to learn. Doesn't make kidnapping one of them any less wrong."
There was a short silence.
"Are we gonna do this?"
He folded up the photograph. "Come up with a list of names. Fifteen important people, then we'll pick the twelve we're most likely to get. I'll start working out how to get the girl."
~~~
One Week Later
During one of his exceptionally rare moments of solitude, Baltar pulled out the message he'd received earlier that day. It contained a single page; one side was a list of a dozen names followed by a few brief sentences, and the other an instant snapshot of a teenaged girl.
The girl was gagged and tied to a chair, staring out at him with some mix of terror and rage. She looked terribly young, and terribly vulnerable. He couldn't see any obvious evidence that she'd been mistreated, but he had no idea when the picture had been taken. Certainly at least the several hours since he'd received it left the people holding her ample opportunity to change that.
He turned the page over again and skimmed the list of names (all recently detained, most in positions of significance to the Resistance) and reread the note at the bottom.
"We have your daughter. Bring us these people in three days, or she will be killed." The note then gave a more specific time, location, and date (presumably in case there was any difficulty in getting it to him).
He folded it again and slipped it in his pocket, leaning back in his chair, trying to process this. Apparently I have a daughter. Or maybe he didn't, but she looked a little like him--her eyes and some other features seemed to be the same shape. What lent even more credibility to the assumption--though the people holding her wouldn't know it--was that she looked a great deal like Melly, and was the right age to be her daughter.
And that might explain why I never heard from Melly after that semester.
None of that helped with resolving this particular dilemma, though. If she is my daughter, I can't leave her there to die. On the other hand, going to rescue her didn't exactly augur well for his own survival.
He hesitated for a moment, then whispered, "Are you there?"
"Of course I'm here, Gaius." She slid over and sat on the edge of his desk.
"What should I do?" he asked.
"I can't tell you that this time." She stroked his hair. "She's your daughter, not ours."
"So...she really is mine?" He looked up.
"Yes."
He looked back down at the girl--his daughter. "They'll kill her if I don't go."
"That's undeniable."
"And they'll...they'll kill me if I do."
"Oh, Gaius. I keep telling you. God has a plan for you." She gave him the knife-smile; the one that scared him most, even when she wasn't throwing him around, it was so sweet and poisonous. "He's not going to let you die ahead of schedule."
"Ah. Well, that's comforting."
She pulled his hair a little and disappeared, leaving him to stare at the photograph.
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5