Future, Part VIa (6a/6)
Title- Future (Part 6a/6)
Rating - PG-13
Pairing- Lee/Kara, a bit of Helo/Boomer
Archiving- BSG 2003, Lee/Kara mailing list, Fanfiction.net, my lj, all others please ask
Warnings- Some very minor sexual situations, violence, language, angst
Spoilers- Seasons 1 and 2 (however, the spoilers are interspersed with lots stuff from my brain so… ;-)
Disclaimers- I don't own these characters and I am not making any profit off them. I’m just borrowing them for fun (well, maybe not the poor characters’...). ;)
Many thanks go to Audrey for the great beta:-)
*****
-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
45 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica
Helo smiled as he took in the card that had just been dealt to him as another round of betting began. Next to him, Gaeta matched and raised the bet, and it was Helo’s turn. He didn’t hesitate.
“I’ll call it,” Helo said as he threw a brand new nail clipper into the pot and laid down his cards.
“Frak!” Someone at the table cried out. Helo had won yet again.
Helo smiled. He was having a nice lucky streak at the triad table today. He began to hum a little ditty and reached out to gather his winnings.
“Well frak this.” He heard Crashdown say, and he raised his head briefly to watch as the other man threw down his cards and stood to leave.
“There’s no way I sticking around to lose to some frakking toaster-lover. Or to some asshole who fraks around with toasters. Same thing, really.” He said, as he grabbed his uniform jacket from the back of his chair.
Silence suddenly descended on the rec room.
Helo stood. “What did you say?” He asked softly.
Crashdown turned to face him. “You heard me. Didn’t think you were deaf on top of everything else.”
“You got some kind of problem?” Helo asked him.
“Yeah, I do, actually.” The other man replied, “I-” He was interrupted by a voice coming from behind Crashdown.
“Sir, I’m sorry to bother you…” Chief Tyrol began. Crashdown turned towards him.
“What?” He snarled.
“We need your help down on deck, sir. Seems there’s something with raptor two’s electronics panels that seems to be affecting the communications, and we were wondering if you could give us a hand figuring what the problem is -it’d be a lot easier to nail it down with someone actually using the equipment, sir.”
“And this couldn’t wait until later?” Crashdown asked rudely.
Tyrol shook his head. “No sir, not really. And since you’ll be on duty in an hour, we thought it’d be best to ask you.”
Crashdown rolled his eyes. “Fine. Whatever.”
“Thanks sir.” Tyrol said calmly. “Just tell Cally I sent you -she’s taking care of it.”
“Yeah, fine.” Crash said, giving Helo one last dirty look before leaving. Turning on his heel, Tyrol followed him out.
Obeying an impulse he couldn’t explain Helo ran after him, catching up to him in the corridor. “Hey, Chief!” Tyrol stopped but didn’t turn towards him.
“Yes sir?” He asked.
“I just wanted to ask if… I mean… Is Cally really waiting for him?”
Tyrol shrugged, not replying to his question, which was answer enough for Helo. “I just came over to pass on a message to you, sir.”
Helo frowned, puzzled. “So why didn’t you? Pass it along, I mean.” He asked.
“She’s asked to see you.” Tyrol replied quietly.
There was a sudden, awkward silence before Tyrol began to speak once again.
“Anyways, about the LT… I know I could be buying myself all kinds of trouble by saying this… But the fact is that he hasn’t seemed all right since we came back from Kobol.”
Shrugging once more, he turned to leave. Helo watched him walk away.
*****
-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
47 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica
Aside from the occasional medical emergency, one could have said there was a certain routine to life in the Galactica’s Life Station. Patients were bandaged, fed, washed and assessed at routine intervals. Medications were administered, and personnel relieved one another in a never-ending series of shifts.
Someone who was not Sharon Valerii, after remaining for some time in the Life Station, could have expanded at length on these patterns. In her case however, despite nominally being in the Life Station, she was set apart from the rest in her isolated ‘room’ -a structure that had been created as a separate unit containing a small number of beds near the Life Station, built to avoid contagion and to otherwise isolate those who presented a danger to the rest of the ship. Aside from a separate air filtration and recycling system, her cell was delimited by reinforced transparent walls, and the only entrance was a single fortified door, the key to which was in the hands of a heavily armed guard -part of a contingent posted to keep watch on her at all times. Her guards and her cell were separated from the main part of the Life Station by a set of curtains which in other circumstances would have been used for patient privacy, and which were almost always closed.
The only activity other than the rotation of the guards assigned to her cell was that of the Life Station, which she occasionally glimpsed despite the walls and curtains surrounding her. In fact, the only exception to the routine and uselessness of her life in this place was when she was taken for yet another round of tests -also the only time when she wasn’t utterly alone.
She shook her head, lying back down on her bed under the watchful eyes of her captors, and closed her eyes. She opened them upon hearing a knock on the door of her cell.
To her surprise it was Rosalie, a young orphaned girl of some sixteen years who was one of the recent refugees from Caprica. Sharon knew she was still spending her time in the Life Station because of a relatively minor case of the radiation poisoning that had affected many of the refugees to varying degrees -not everyone had had access to anti-radiation meds before joining Denn’s group, and some people had been more exposed to the planetwide radiation than the others. Despite having wanted to keep to herself, Sharon had ended up talking to the girl a few times before they left Caprica -Rosalie had been very talkative, and there hadn’t been anyone else around who seemed to have much time for her.
One of the marines stepped up to open the door to Sharon’s cell, and the girl stepped into Sharon’s room. She looked around, and after shuffling around a bit her eyes came to rest on Sharon.
“They say you’re a Cylon.” The girl said bluntly. “Is that true?”
Sharon shrugged. “Is that why you came here? To ask me that?”
Rosalie shook her head. “I did want to ask you, but I guess I already knew from what everyone was telling me.” She moved towards Sharon, who suddenly noticed the glint of a sharp piece of metal coming from within the folds of the girl’s skirt.
*****
Corporal Stanton and his fellow guards had turned their attention away from the prisoner for mere seconds when they heard a series of scuffling sounds, and turned to see the harmless-looking girl who had just entered the prisoner’s cell was now attacking it with a knife.
“Open the door!” Stanton yelled to Private First Class Hoffman, who held the keys to the prisoner’s cell. Rushing inside, Stanton picked up the knife which had just clattered to the floor. The Cylon was holding the girl by the arms, yelling at her as she writhed in an attempt to get away.
“Look, stop it! Calm down! I don’t want to hurt you!” It was saying.
Two more marines stepped up to grab the girl, then backed carefully away from the prisoner. Dragging the girl outside, they locked the cell behind them as the girl collapsed and fell to floor in a sobbing heap.
Looking back towards the cell, Stanton noticed that the prisoner was leaning her forehead against one of the cell walls. He was shocked to see tears in its eyes.
*****
-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
48 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica
Commander Adama was having a bad day.
Despite President Roslin’s ship being overdue back from Kobol, there was still a sizeable proportion of people in the fleet who were of the opinion that her trip to Kobol was the product of true prophecy, and that the mission to Kobol had to be completed. The rest, on the other hand, believed her mission was the result of a mad delusion. With the Quorum of Twelve split along the same lines Adama had found himself caught squarely in the middle -it seemed as though half the fleet wanted him to send a rescue mission to Kobol, while the other half was adamant that such a venture was not to be attempted.
During the past day it seemed the arguments on both sides had only grown more forceful and virulent, and it was for that reason that he now found himself heading for the Life Station. He intended to conclude a bit of business he had been putting off for quite some time, but that he needed to conclude now in order to obtain the information he needed if he was to attempt to deal with the situation and recommend a course of action to the Quorum.
The marines guarding the Cylon’s cell quickly snapped to attention as he walked into their corner of the Life Station.
“At ease.” He told them, gazing at the prisoner. “I want to speak with the prisoner. Alone.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea, sir?” One of them asked.
Adama waved that comment away. “I won’t be going into the cell, if that’s what you’re worried about. Just patch me through to it -and leave us alone.” He ordered, and watched as they complied. He waited until they stepped beyond the curtains surrounding this part of the Life Station.
Her expression was wary as she stood to face him through the walls of her cell and became more so as they stood, facing each other silently.
“What can I do for you, sir?” She finally asked.
“I’ve decided to accept your offer of a deal.” He began reluctantly.
“Oh?”
“Yes.” He replied abruptly. “Is the offer still open?”
She nodded.
“Good. Then there’s something I need to know now.” He watched as she hesitated, and leaned forward. “I know that there’s a part of you that’s the same as the Sharon Valerii that lived here, served here, and who…” He hesitated.
“Shot you.” She finished for him.
He nodded, then continued on determinedly. “That part is the one I’m referring to at the moment.” He paused. “That part knows that when I make a promise, I keep it. Therefore, for the good of this ship and this fleet I promise you that if you do help us I will keep my word and let you see your child.”
She took a deep breath. “All right.” She agreed. “What do you want to know?”
“I need to know what’s happening on Kobol. Can you tell me that -is that knowledge you have access to?”
She walked back to her bed and sat down, facing him. “Yes, I can tell you that.” She finally replied. He waited as she seemed to gather her thoughts.
“We knew you were coming with the Arrow of Apollo. We had… expected it, even before the decision was made on your end.”
“How? From the Cylon agents within the fleet?” He asked, somewhat puzzled.
She shook her head. “That I don’t know. I don’t have the entire picture. But I do know that what I just said is true. They knew you were coming, and they were waiting.”
He sighed. “All right. Do you know what’s happened to the people we sent down there?”
She shook her head. “No. But I think… I think the others must know by now that I’ve offered to help you. Or that I’m here somewhat willingly, at least.”
Adama nodded pensively. “And is there anything else you can tell me?”
She shrugged. “Not about the mission to Kobol.”
He nodded again cautiously -one thing at a time, then. “All right. I need to think about this. I’ll come back to speak with you again later.” He turned to leave, then stopped.
“I heard about the attempted attack on you.” He finally said, keeping his back to her. “I changed the security procedures so that it won’t happen again.” At that he left, sending the guards back in.
*****
-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
50 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica
Sharon was silent as Helo was searched, then accompanied into her cell by one of her guards.
“I heard you wanted to see me.” He said without preamble.
She grunted. “Yeah, about a week ago.”
“I had… things to do.”
She shook her head doubtfully at that, but continued. “I just wanted to see how you were doing Helo, all right? I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m fine.” He replied.
She nodded. “I can see that now.”
They were silent for a few moments.
“Are… Are you all right?” Helo finally asked, awkwardly.
She shrugged. “I guess. That’s what the doctor tells me anyway -though there’s not all that much in the way of entertainment in here, you know.”
He nodded, and there was another silence.
“I hear the Commander made a deal with you?” She nodded.
More silence.
“So the Chief came to see you, huh?” He asked.
“He wanted to see if I was okay, I guess.” She hesitated. “Well, that and he wanted to convince himself of -something, I guess. Or to find out something.” She shrugged. “I don’t know what. I just asked him if I could see you.”
Yet another silence stretched out.
“Well, I’ll see you later, I guess.” He said, then left. She watched him go, a sad expression on her face.
*****
-Surface of Kobol-
55 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica
North. They always headed north.
It was getting colder on Kobol as the days passed and the weather quickly changed from unseasonably warm to what was typical for the winter season on this part of Kobol. The first indication of this had been an increasingly strong wind, which had been followed by progressively cold temperatures.
And now, as Lee Adama and Kara Thrace continued onward and struggled to keep warm, the first snowfall was making its way onto the ground.
“Frakking weather.” Kara said under her breath, as yet another burst of cold air and snowflakes made its way under her makeshift scarf. Lee didn’t reply.
Kara sighed -Lee didn’t reply to much of anything she said these days, other than when it was absolutely required.
Of course, she couldn’t blame him for that.
And she slept alone. But that was what she’d wanted, wasn’t it? What had happened between them had been a spur of the moment thing, caused by what they’d just been through stacked right onto the horror of everything they’d experienced in the last nightmarish year. Heck, it had even caused them to let their guard down and forget all about the Cylons that should have been hot on their trail for a while, because life was just too hard to live when it consisted of nothing more than fighting for that same life to continue.
No, what had happened was sex, and it hadn’t wiped away all the things that kept them apart. It hadn’t erased the fact that she’d frakked the man who should have been her brother-in-law, and it certainly hadn’t erased the knowledge that she didn’t want a ‘relationship’. That putting a down payment on a house, picking placemats that matched their tablecloths, and planning the number of babies they wanted to have just wasn’t Kara Thrace’s thing and never would be.
But damn it all, she had to admit that she did want him.
The last fifteen days since that night had been a succession of long days spent hiking over rough terrain, followed by longer nights where they split sentry duty between the two of them. Thus far, they had seen Cylons only once in the distance -five centurions who had been heading away from their position at high speed as Lee and Kara watched. Since then, there had been nothing.
Kara abruptly stopped in her tracks when Lee turned and grabbed her arm. Pressing a finger to his lips, he pointed ahead of them where approximately five centurions seemed to be slowly but systematically knocking down a large stone structure which stood on the flank of a nearby mountain.
Leaving their packs behind, they dropped silently to the ground and began to inch forward up the incline of the mountain. After observing the systematic demolition for a few minutes, they moved back to their original positions, picked up their packs, and began to move away.
“What do you think they’re doing?” Lee asked after they had put a fair distance between them and the Cylons.
Kara shrugged. “With those columns and the markings on the walls of that thing? You’ve got to be thinking what I’m thinking.”
Lee nodded. “It certainly looks like what we came here for -the Temple of Athena. And if they’re destroying it…”
Kara nodded in turn, and continued that thought. “Then it means that they know what we came here for. And that maybe… They were waiting for us before we even got here.”
“And it would explain why they haven’t been all that diligent in searching for us after the raptor crash.” Lee finished.
They looked at each other, again thinking the same thing.
What in Hades did they do now?
*****
-Surface of Kobol-
57 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica
Lieutenant Raymonds turned to Captain Haynes and waited as she finished her survey of the cold, rocky landscape stretching out on all sides. “What do you think?” He asked.
“I think we should keep moving until we find a better site to stop at. This is a pretty exposed location.” She pointed out, and they both turned to look at President Roslin and Mother Elosha who were standing silently off to one side. Seven other marines stood near the President, while the two techs who had accompanied them down to the surface waited quietly for a decision to be made.
“We need to keep going, ma’am.” Raymonds called out to the President, waving to the marines to pick up their gear.
With a slight sigh, Roslin pulled herself up and began walking, doing her utmost to ignore the fatigue and the pain she was feeling.
“Are you all right?” Elosha asked softly -not for the first time.
Roslin hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. “No.” She admitted softly. “But I don’t see that telling the others would help at this point. As the Captain said, we need to keep going.”
Elosha eyes seemed worried, but she said nothing further as Roslin continued to struggle along. Fortunately she seemed to be the only one who had noticed her growing weakness, since the increasingly cold and inhospitable conditions they now found themselves in made things more difficult for all.
They had had to leave the damaged raptor behind a few days ago in order to escape the Cylons, which had been unfortunate since the techs could easily have repaired the damage with the spare parts they had brought. As things stood now, they could only hope the Cylons would not find the raptor or that they would eventually be rescued, which was not the most reassuring thought.
The sun rose to fill the sky as they trudged along, trying to make as little noise as possible despite the carpet of dead leaves underfoot, crisped with frost.
Raymonds and Haynes suddenly waved everyone to a stop -gesturing to them to find cover. Ducking down, they soon heard the sound of footfalls in the distance.
Raymonds and the marines raised their sidearms in anticipation, then lowered them with a grin as they caught sight of the new arrivals.
“I don’t suppose any of you lovely people’d have an extra sweater, would you?” Kara Thrace wisecracked as she stepped into view, smirking as she held up her hands in the universal language for ‘don’t shoot me’. Lee Adama came into view behind her.
“What happened on your end?” Kara Thrace immediately asked Raymonds, who winced.
“Well, we had to abandon the raptor, but we made it out otherwise. How about you, sir? Where are the others?” Raymonds asked, glancing behind them.
Kara shook her head grimly, and someone gasped in response.
Lee quickly broke into their sad thoughts. “I’m sorry to rush you all,” he said, “but there’s something else we need to tell you.” He turned to Roslin.
“Yes, Captain?” She asked.
“We ran into some centurions two days ago at what we think was the temple of Athena ma’am, and… It looked like they were destroying it.” He sighed. “The short version of it is, Madam President, that they must have known we were coming. There’s just no other explanation for what we’ve seen.”
Roslin nodded, and she was silent for a time as she contemplated their news -the latest in a series of setbacks in a year filled with catastrophes and pain. Finally, she straightened her spine and spoke in a firm tone.
“Then I suppose we should hurry, and make sure we get there as soon as possible.” She smiled. “Thank you both.”
*****
-Surface of Kobol-
60 days since arrival of survivors from Caprica
It was a dark early morning, the sun not having risen yet, the ground blanketed with snow and whipped by the wind. Kara Thrace shivered as she crawled silently up the flank of the mountain. When she had reached a suitable location, she observed the toasters above her for a time before slowly backing away. After a few more minutes of slow and careful movement, she stopped as the land angled beneath her feet into the beginnings of a shallow valley, and stood to head east. After a short walk followed by a short wait, she was joined by Lieutenant Raymonds.
“I see three metalheads near the Western part of the thing… Well, it’s more like a pile of rocks on that side, actually.” She told him.
Raymonds nodded. “I’ve got six to the east, and there’s not much left there either. And there’re two more up ahead of us on the northern side.”
Kara grimaced. “Yeah. It looks like they did a good job on the place, doesn’t it?” She turned and watched as Lee jogged up to meet them.
“I’ve got two on the south side.” He reported.
“Do we have any ideas where the actual tomb is?” Kara asked.
Lee nodded. “Mother Elosha’s been looking through various scrolls since before we left the fleet, and she seems to think it would most probably be on the east side of the temple. Something about the religious significance of being on the same side as the rising sun every morning. She did also say something about a possible passage there but she didn’t seem clear on that though-”
“I remember.” Kara cut in. “All right then,” she went on, looking at Lee as he nodded in agreement, anticipating her, “they’ll probably be expecting us to want to draw them away from there.”
“I guess we shouldn’t disappoint them, then.” She said brightly, as they left to rejoin the President.
*****
Part 6b/6