Fic: "Back to Earth" (8/8)
Title: Back to Earth
Author: trovia
Pairings: Helo/Gaeta, Helo/Sharon. Can be read with the occasional Gaeta/Baltar undertones.
Genre: It's a gen story overall but with some slash and het b-plot. So it's kind of a gen hybrid.
Rating: PG-13 for some sex, PTSD, bad language in the face of danger and, ya know, people killing robots.
Characters: Gaeta, Helo and Athena (minor characters are Anders, Dualla, Zarek and Hot Dog as well as some Eights and Sixes)
Spoilers: up to 4.10
Beta: ebuchala did great beta for the the whole fic. Thank you so much. :)
Summary: The Cylons find the fleet just when all high-ranking personnel is off ship. Galactica's b-team has to execute a rescue mission but Gaeta is depressed, Helo feels guilty, something's going on with Sharon, and everybody knows the plan is suicide anyway.
Chapter summary: Adama lies and the Agathons talk.
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Helo had been tasked with calling everybody to the debriefing whom he considered to have been instrumental in the mission; when Bill had entered the conference room coming directly from sickbay, he had been pleased to be greeted by a surprising number of people. Racetrack and Skulls were there, Figurski, Anders, Dualla. Captain Kelly had been escorted back to the brig, of course, but they would see about that later. Exchanging a look with Saul, Bill had sat down without commenting and listened.
Tyrol had already handed in a first report on the landing deck’s condition, requesting Figurski to come down right after the debriefing to explain to him the ‘frakking changes’ the Chief of Deck had instituted to make things go ‘faster’.
Starbuck had not yet reported in on the air wing’s situation which Bill knew to read as a good sign. Judging by how Hot Dog was fidgeting in his chair, their temporary CAG did not.
For the first time after long days of hiding out while Cylon raiders chased across the sky and Laura growing weaker by the day, Bill felt his lips twitch.
“I’m impressed and I’m proud of you all,” he said when Helo had finished his report by giving a short recount of the current CIC stats. This meeting was for an overview so he could take over, as well as covering any pressing issues that might have come up. There were almost none of these. “And I’m not surprised. All of you have always been valued in the positions you have usually been in.” And would go back to being in, of course. “I hope you’re aware of that. When Galactica jumped away, there was no doubt for me that you would make the right choices. You did good.”
Bill paused, having a look at them all. Helo looked like he hadn’t slept in days, dark circles under his eyes. Lt. Gaeta was obviously in pain. And it seemed that Racetrack was still going through her post-mission jiggles, as she was known to do for hours. “However. There will be time for appraisal later. I think you should leave command to the rest of us for awhile. You all deserve it, and you’re all relieved. Mr. Gaeta, Dr. Cottle is expecting you in sickbay.”
Dismissing them, Bill waited while everybody cleared out, shaking Racetrack’s hand when she told him how good it was to have him back on board, receiving a brilliant smile from Dee who had already hugged him when they had stepped out of the raptor.
Bill knew he’d always played favorites, it was a weakness of him. And even if he weren’t, there were always people who were overlooked, too many people on a battlestar to keep in sight. It was all the more gratifying to see the unexpected, knowing that these people, some of which, like Figurski, he barely knew by name, had done their part just as well as Starbuck or Tyrol would have done in their place. He was pleased to see that Agathon had held up well in command, and he knew he shouldn’t be surprised that Gaeta had done so as well, but he was. All the better for it.
It was good to realize, if these people could hold up in a situation like this, it meant that there had to be people behind them in line who could do so as well, and people behind these who maybe couldn’t yet, but still could be trained. It was good to know that all their future didn’t depend on a few old men and Starbuck.
Bill chuckled when Hot Dog stayed behind to say that he’d heard a rumor that there was talk of promotions and please, he really didn’t want one, he was perfectly fine as lieutenant.
Then he cleared out, too, and Bill took a deep breath, looking around. He was itching to get back to Laura’s bedside but he knew that it would be some time before he could do so. She was weak but alive for the time being. It was all he could ask for. And he wanted to get back to his office, too, needing to assure himself that all was still like he had left it, knowing that things were changing. Bill had never liked change, but still it was the way things should go.
“Admit it,” Saul remarked when they were finally alone. “When we realized the fleet had jumped away, you thought we were screwed.”
“Maybe,” he answered, eyes lingering on the watch report Dee had left behind so he could take over the CIC from her. “But I was wrong.” He’d been wrong about a lot of things, he had found out on Earth, one of them Saul, who maybe wasn’t that different now that they knew he was a Cylon.
Bill knew that Zarek was with Laura right now, getting instructions on how to handle the public since she couldn’t attend to it herself, maybe wouldn’t ever again. He himself had to talk to Zarek as well. It wasn’t good to see that the man had obviously used their absence to gather support in the fleet. Lee was already back on Colonial One but nobody seemed inclined to reinstitute him as president.
They had lost Earth and they were about to lose their president, their dying leader all the fleet was looking at. Bill was about to lose Laura. They had no place to go and no map to follow. He had observed with worry how people had started looking at Gaius Baltar for answers the old Gods couldn’t provide anymore.
Still, there was work to do.
Saul harrumphed, following his trail of thoughts. “Looks like Earth was a blank. What are we going to do?”
No matter what, Bill thought. It had been five years and they were still flying. They even might have turned the tables in this war, destroying the hub and winning this battle.
That was a good enough start for him.
“We’ll keep jumping,” he said.
“I don’t know what I should say,” Sharon admitted, looking at the uniform jacket laying in her lap. Idly she reached for a sleeve, playing with it. “I was just angry, I wanted to work through it on my own but Gaeta kept talking about the Eights and how they’re all alike…”
“I’m sure he didn’t mean it like that,” Helo interjected, standing with his arms crossed in front of his chest in discomfort. He’d just put Hera to bed, refusing to sit down.
But Sharon just grimaced. “I thought, what if it’s all just coincidence? You and me being together?”
She looked up at him from where she was sitting on the rack cross-legged, still unable to understand how it had all blown up in their faces like that. It was still hard to believe that one minute she had been one of the many mindless Model Eights and the next minute she’d been in love with Helo, pregnant with Hera, and then they’d even gotten Hera back when she’d long thought her dead. It was a little bit too good to be true and Sharon realized she’d kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. No way could it just all work out.
It was sobering to find that it hadn’t been grand twists in the war breaking them apart but just doubts and anger. When she’d come back on board, seeing Helo’s gloomy face she’d known something bad had happened. She’d thought something had happened to Hera in the battle. It had been the only thing she could think of that warranted looking like that.
Helo thought for a moment, blinking. “Well, if it’s just a coincidence,” he decided, “then it’s one hell of a nice coincidence.”
A smile ghosted over her face. Sharon extended a hand, signaling for him to come over and when he did, she drew him down onto the bed. Helo shifted until he was behind her, so she could lean back at his chest, letting him wrap his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder.
“Sharon,” he said. “I’m so sorry for what happened with Felix…”
“It doesn’t matter,” she interrupted him, saying it again, although she did notice that Gaeta had been promoted to ‘Felix’. It had given her a pang when she noticed it the first time but still, in the long run it really wouldn’t matter, she was sure. She didn’t want it to matter. She tried to tell herself that monogamy was a human concept, not a Cylon one and strangely, that made it easier.
After bonding with ‘Doe Eye’, she probably shouldn’t be surprised that she ended up finding comfort in a Cylon notion. Sharon loved Helo for his infinite capability to extend love after all, and that thought was pretty Cylon on its own. How he could have thought that frakking would solve Felix Gaeta’s problems was beyond her but she believed it if he said that he’d honestly thought it would.
“We should talk about things,” she said out loud, deciding that whatever happened now, they could deal with it together.
Helo exclaimed a soft chuckle. “I’ve kept telling you.”
“Yes, you’re wiser than me,” she allowed and this time, he actually laughed.
Still she couldn’t resist the quip, turning around in his lap to look him a challenge.
“So, can I watch the next time? You and Felix?”
Also a Cylon thought, that one.
Helo’s expression turned into open shock.
Sharon grinned wickedly, thinking that she was on the moral high ground here and she’d remind him of that just a while longer. At least she’d tease him mercilessly.
Then she pulled herself up to kiss him.
Adama was keeping Galactica on Condition Two for the time being and everybody not on duty was catching up on some sleep, so the few other visitors had cleared the observation deck some time ago. Felix slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke, leaning against the wall behind him, arm propped on his knee while outside, the viper pilots were running a drill like was usual when they lost crew, reorganizing formations.
Coming all the way up here had been a bitch, but Felix decided it had been worth it. Galactica didn’t have many quiet places and incidentally, he felt positive he’d navigated the crutches much better than he would have last week, having spent a lot of time hopping through the corridors as an unplanned work-out recently. He still didn’t know if he’d ever get used to relying on crutches every second of his life but it still was a relief to see progress. Maybe he’d get that prosthetic soon that Cottle was talking about.
“So,” Dee said after the last viper had chased by, comfortably stretching her legs, leaning her head back against the wall. “How does it feel, being addressed by rank like a proper senior officer, Captain Gaeta?”
Felix glanced down at the new insignia on his chest. He had to admit that it felt awfully foreign. “Uhm,” he said after a moment of thinking. “The women like it, I guess.”
He gave her a sideway glance, his lips twitching when she raised an eyebrow. “Women,” she repeated doubtfully. “Like who?”
“Racetrack said it looked good on me.”
“You mean when we met her and Skulls in the hallway...”
“Yes...”
“...and you kept staring at Skulls’ ass.” She wrinkled her nose. “Drooling as well.”
“I did not drool,” he said with indignation.
“Of course not,” she sing-songed sweetly, and he marveled at it for a second. Maybe irony was a special lieutenant power. It could be that it developed only when you made time in grade but didn’t get promoted before it got bad. It could be a way to keep the universe in balance. Felix wondered if he’d earned the right to warn the admiral about the danger but guessed he shouldn’t get his hopes up on that one.
Watching the tip of his cigarette gleaming in the room’s dim light, he took a moment to search for that anger that had been haunting him but it seemed to have retreated, bubbling in the distance but content to stay there for now.
“Isn’t it strange that I actually worried about promotions once?” he asked Dee with another glance. “I mean, it’s not that it changes anything about my job, you know?” He’d still stand watch in CIC, plotting jumps, wherever the admiral would send them. There were rumors already, saying that Adama was planning on flying back home to finish the Cylons off once and for all. Felix wouldn’t know though since he was on his second free shift in a row. He couldn’t say he minded that.
Col. Tigh was covering for him. Felix found that highly amusing.
Dee shot him a surprised look. “Aren’t you proud? I thought you’d be proud.”
“It’s not that it means anything by now...” he tried to explain but she interrupted him.
“Yes, it does.” Giving him a long look, she frowned. “You know it does.”
He shrugged, not knowing if he did but deciding it wasn’t important.
Felix knew all wasn’t well. He knew he might possibly have stopped being everybody’s idiot but it had only been by sheer chance so it wasn’t that it meant anything, and he’d only believe it when he saw it, anyway. Incidentally, he still wasn’t too sure he’d ever get laid again either, since it hadn’t exactly been Helo’s idea to do it, although the one time really had come out to be not a problem and he’d certainly enjoyed it.
Felix had gotten so unused to things working out, he almost didn’t know how to deal with it. Every emotion felt unfamiliar and new, he had to look at it and twist it around a bit before he trusted he could handle it. But he guessed he’d grow used to that, too.
“So what’s up with you and Sharon?” Dee finally asked, explaining when he looked her a question. “Come on. That was a totally sly look she gave you before in the mess.”
“I have no idea,” Felix admitted, thinking it had been ominous and probably one of the things he was better off not knowing. He was just glad that Helo had obviously talked to his wife and she’d decided not to eviscerate him with her Cylon strength.
With an almost straight face, he added, “Told you that women like captains.”
Dee rolled her eyes.
All wasn’t well, Felix decided, stubbing out the cigarette carefully. But maybe it would be some day. After all he had Dee back as a friend, and Helo maybe and even Sharon and Kelly and that was all quite something.
He smiled.
Fin.
Author's Note: Yaih, I'm done! It was fun, both writing and reading your wonderful comments. Thank you very much for coming back although it took me so long to write the fic. I hope you enjoyed yourself. :-)
Author: trovia
Pairings: Helo/Gaeta, Helo/Sharon. Can be read with the occasional Gaeta/Baltar undertones.
Genre: It's a gen story overall but with some slash and het b-plot. So it's kind of a gen hybrid.
Rating: PG-13 for some sex, PTSD, bad language in the face of danger and, ya know, people killing robots.
Characters: Gaeta, Helo and Athena (minor characters are Anders, Dualla, Zarek and Hot Dog as well as some Eights and Sixes)
Spoilers: up to 4.10
Beta: ebuchala did great beta for the the whole fic. Thank you so much. :)
Summary: The Cylons find the fleet just when all high-ranking personnel is off ship. Galactica's b-team has to execute a rescue mission but Gaeta is depressed, Helo feels guilty, something's going on with Sharon, and everybody knows the plan is suicide anyway.
Chapter summary: Adama lies and the Agathons talk.
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Helo had been tasked with calling everybody to the debriefing whom he considered to have been instrumental in the mission; when Bill had entered the conference room coming directly from sickbay, he had been pleased to be greeted by a surprising number of people. Racetrack and Skulls were there, Figurski, Anders, Dualla. Captain Kelly had been escorted back to the brig, of course, but they would see about that later. Exchanging a look with Saul, Bill had sat down without commenting and listened.
Tyrol had already handed in a first report on the landing deck’s condition, requesting Figurski to come down right after the debriefing to explain to him the ‘frakking changes’ the Chief of Deck had instituted to make things go ‘faster’.
Starbuck had not yet reported in on the air wing’s situation which Bill knew to read as a good sign. Judging by how Hot Dog was fidgeting in his chair, their temporary CAG did not.
For the first time after long days of hiding out while Cylon raiders chased across the sky and Laura growing weaker by the day, Bill felt his lips twitch.
“I’m impressed and I’m proud of you all,” he said when Helo had finished his report by giving a short recount of the current CIC stats. This meeting was for an overview so he could take over, as well as covering any pressing issues that might have come up. There were almost none of these. “And I’m not surprised. All of you have always been valued in the positions you have usually been in.” And would go back to being in, of course. “I hope you’re aware of that. When Galactica jumped away, there was no doubt for me that you would make the right choices. You did good.”
Bill paused, having a look at them all. Helo looked like he hadn’t slept in days, dark circles under his eyes. Lt. Gaeta was obviously in pain. And it seemed that Racetrack was still going through her post-mission jiggles, as she was known to do for hours. “However. There will be time for appraisal later. I think you should leave command to the rest of us for awhile. You all deserve it, and you’re all relieved. Mr. Gaeta, Dr. Cottle is expecting you in sickbay.”
Dismissing them, Bill waited while everybody cleared out, shaking Racetrack’s hand when she told him how good it was to have him back on board, receiving a brilliant smile from Dee who had already hugged him when they had stepped out of the raptor.
Bill knew he’d always played favorites, it was a weakness of him. And even if he weren’t, there were always people who were overlooked, too many people on a battlestar to keep in sight. It was all the more gratifying to see the unexpected, knowing that these people, some of which, like Figurski, he barely knew by name, had done their part just as well as Starbuck or Tyrol would have done in their place. He was pleased to see that Agathon had held up well in command, and he knew he shouldn’t be surprised that Gaeta had done so as well, but he was. All the better for it.
It was good to realize, if these people could hold up in a situation like this, it meant that there had to be people behind them in line who could do so as well, and people behind these who maybe couldn’t yet, but still could be trained. It was good to know that all their future didn’t depend on a few old men and Starbuck.
Bill chuckled when Hot Dog stayed behind to say that he’d heard a rumor that there was talk of promotions and please, he really didn’t want one, he was perfectly fine as lieutenant.
Then he cleared out, too, and Bill took a deep breath, looking around. He was itching to get back to Laura’s bedside but he knew that it would be some time before he could do so. She was weak but alive for the time being. It was all he could ask for. And he wanted to get back to his office, too, needing to assure himself that all was still like he had left it, knowing that things were changing. Bill had never liked change, but still it was the way things should go.
“Admit it,” Saul remarked when they were finally alone. “When we realized the fleet had jumped away, you thought we were screwed.”
“Maybe,” he answered, eyes lingering on the watch report Dee had left behind so he could take over the CIC from her. “But I was wrong.” He’d been wrong about a lot of things, he had found out on Earth, one of them Saul, who maybe wasn’t that different now that they knew he was a Cylon.
Bill knew that Zarek was with Laura right now, getting instructions on how to handle the public since she couldn’t attend to it herself, maybe wouldn’t ever again. He himself had to talk to Zarek as well. It wasn’t good to see that the man had obviously used their absence to gather support in the fleet. Lee was already back on Colonial One but nobody seemed inclined to reinstitute him as president.
They had lost Earth and they were about to lose their president, their dying leader all the fleet was looking at. Bill was about to lose Laura. They had no place to go and no map to follow. He had observed with worry how people had started looking at Gaius Baltar for answers the old Gods couldn’t provide anymore.
Still, there was work to do.
Saul harrumphed, following his trail of thoughts. “Looks like Earth was a blank. What are we going to do?”
No matter what, Bill thought. It had been five years and they were still flying. They even might have turned the tables in this war, destroying the hub and winning this battle.
That was a good enough start for him.
“We’ll keep jumping,” he said.
“I don’t know what I should say,” Sharon admitted, looking at the uniform jacket laying in her lap. Idly she reached for a sleeve, playing with it. “I was just angry, I wanted to work through it on my own but Gaeta kept talking about the Eights and how they’re all alike…”
“I’m sure he didn’t mean it like that,” Helo interjected, standing with his arms crossed in front of his chest in discomfort. He’d just put Hera to bed, refusing to sit down.
But Sharon just grimaced. “I thought, what if it’s all just coincidence? You and me being together?”
She looked up at him from where she was sitting on the rack cross-legged, still unable to understand how it had all blown up in their faces like that. It was still hard to believe that one minute she had been one of the many mindless Model Eights and the next minute she’d been in love with Helo, pregnant with Hera, and then they’d even gotten Hera back when she’d long thought her dead. It was a little bit too good to be true and Sharon realized she’d kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. No way could it just all work out.
It was sobering to find that it hadn’t been grand twists in the war breaking them apart but just doubts and anger. When she’d come back on board, seeing Helo’s gloomy face she’d known something bad had happened. She’d thought something had happened to Hera in the battle. It had been the only thing she could think of that warranted looking like that.
Helo thought for a moment, blinking. “Well, if it’s just a coincidence,” he decided, “then it’s one hell of a nice coincidence.”
A smile ghosted over her face. Sharon extended a hand, signaling for him to come over and when he did, she drew him down onto the bed. Helo shifted until he was behind her, so she could lean back at his chest, letting him wrap his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder.
“Sharon,” he said. “I’m so sorry for what happened with Felix…”
“It doesn’t matter,” she interrupted him, saying it again, although she did notice that Gaeta had been promoted to ‘Felix’. It had given her a pang when she noticed it the first time but still, in the long run it really wouldn’t matter, she was sure. She didn’t want it to matter. She tried to tell herself that monogamy was a human concept, not a Cylon one and strangely, that made it easier.
After bonding with ‘Doe Eye’, she probably shouldn’t be surprised that she ended up finding comfort in a Cylon notion. Sharon loved Helo for his infinite capability to extend love after all, and that thought was pretty Cylon on its own. How he could have thought that frakking would solve Felix Gaeta’s problems was beyond her but she believed it if he said that he’d honestly thought it would.
“We should talk about things,” she said out loud, deciding that whatever happened now, they could deal with it together.
Helo exclaimed a soft chuckle. “I’ve kept telling you.”
“Yes, you’re wiser than me,” she allowed and this time, he actually laughed.
Still she couldn’t resist the quip, turning around in his lap to look him a challenge.
“So, can I watch the next time? You and Felix?”
Also a Cylon thought, that one.
Helo’s expression turned into open shock.
Sharon grinned wickedly, thinking that she was on the moral high ground here and she’d remind him of that just a while longer. At least she’d tease him mercilessly.
Then she pulled herself up to kiss him.
Adama was keeping Galactica on Condition Two for the time being and everybody not on duty was catching up on some sleep, so the few other visitors had cleared the observation deck some time ago. Felix slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke, leaning against the wall behind him, arm propped on his knee while outside, the viper pilots were running a drill like was usual when they lost crew, reorganizing formations.
Coming all the way up here had been a bitch, but Felix decided it had been worth it. Galactica didn’t have many quiet places and incidentally, he felt positive he’d navigated the crutches much better than he would have last week, having spent a lot of time hopping through the corridors as an unplanned work-out recently. He still didn’t know if he’d ever get used to relying on crutches every second of his life but it still was a relief to see progress. Maybe he’d get that prosthetic soon that Cottle was talking about.
“So,” Dee said after the last viper had chased by, comfortably stretching her legs, leaning her head back against the wall. “How does it feel, being addressed by rank like a proper senior officer, Captain Gaeta?”
Felix glanced down at the new insignia on his chest. He had to admit that it felt awfully foreign. “Uhm,” he said after a moment of thinking. “The women like it, I guess.”
He gave her a sideway glance, his lips twitching when she raised an eyebrow. “Women,” she repeated doubtfully. “Like who?”
“Racetrack said it looked good on me.”
“You mean when we met her and Skulls in the hallway...”
“Yes...”
“...and you kept staring at Skulls’ ass.” She wrinkled her nose. “Drooling as well.”
“I did not drool,” he said with indignation.
“Of course not,” she sing-songed sweetly, and he marveled at it for a second. Maybe irony was a special lieutenant power. It could be that it developed only when you made time in grade but didn’t get promoted before it got bad. It could be a way to keep the universe in balance. Felix wondered if he’d earned the right to warn the admiral about the danger but guessed he shouldn’t get his hopes up on that one.
Watching the tip of his cigarette gleaming in the room’s dim light, he took a moment to search for that anger that had been haunting him but it seemed to have retreated, bubbling in the distance but content to stay there for now.
“Isn’t it strange that I actually worried about promotions once?” he asked Dee with another glance. “I mean, it’s not that it changes anything about my job, you know?” He’d still stand watch in CIC, plotting jumps, wherever the admiral would send them. There were rumors already, saying that Adama was planning on flying back home to finish the Cylons off once and for all. Felix wouldn’t know though since he was on his second free shift in a row. He couldn’t say he minded that.
Col. Tigh was covering for him. Felix found that highly amusing.
Dee shot him a surprised look. “Aren’t you proud? I thought you’d be proud.”
“It’s not that it means anything by now...” he tried to explain but she interrupted him.
“Yes, it does.” Giving him a long look, she frowned. “You know it does.”
He shrugged, not knowing if he did but deciding it wasn’t important.
Felix knew all wasn’t well. He knew he might possibly have stopped being everybody’s idiot but it had only been by sheer chance so it wasn’t that it meant anything, and he’d only believe it when he saw it, anyway. Incidentally, he still wasn’t too sure he’d ever get laid again either, since it hadn’t exactly been Helo’s idea to do it, although the one time really had come out to be not a problem and he’d certainly enjoyed it.
Felix had gotten so unused to things working out, he almost didn’t know how to deal with it. Every emotion felt unfamiliar and new, he had to look at it and twist it around a bit before he trusted he could handle it. But he guessed he’d grow used to that, too.
“So what’s up with you and Sharon?” Dee finally asked, explaining when he looked her a question. “Come on. That was a totally sly look she gave you before in the mess.”
“I have no idea,” Felix admitted, thinking it had been ominous and probably one of the things he was better off not knowing. He was just glad that Helo had obviously talked to his wife and she’d decided not to eviscerate him with her Cylon strength.
With an almost straight face, he added, “Told you that women like captains.”
Dee rolled her eyes.
All wasn’t well, Felix decided, stubbing out the cigarette carefully. But maybe it would be some day. After all he had Dee back as a friend, and Helo maybe and even Sharon and Kelly and that was all quite something.
He smiled.
Fin.
Author's Note: Yaih, I'm done! It was fun, both writing and reading your wonderful comments. Thank you very much for coming back although it took me so long to write the fic. I hope you enjoyed yourself. :-)