New Life New Caprica (ch 11)
SOMEONE bribed me with an update for their own fic so here is chapter 11 early. Warning, though, there will be NO NLNC next week or the week after due to the fact I have finals, and there will be nothing prepped for the week after as a result. So bear with me, and enjoy.
Chapter 11: A Committed Front
Despite her hopes that the resistance would build slowly, Laura found that news of what was going on in the detention center-most talked about being what happened to Tom and herself-spread faster than dessert sands in a windstorm. More suprising to her was how angry it made them. It humbled her to know how central to the people's faith she'd become.
Her desperate protection of her husband's whereabouts had become common knowledge, making her even more beloved, mostly by the wives of the fleet who emulated her as a few of them-Ellen, Cally again for examples-were stolen away. All returned emotionally broken but resolute, and it gave everyone around them strength and anger at the injustices of their occupation under Cylon law.
She had to smirk. No longer thought of as a scary, yet calm coexistence, life on New Caprica was a war waiting to erupt. It worried her, but she also came to see how much control she had over the whens and hows if she'd agree to lead this.
During her internment, the though hadn't hit her just the one time. Over and over her reluctance had warred with her desire to fight their oppressors. But there was plenty of fury there, too. Fury at her own people for falling for this pipe dream, at herself for falling too, but mostly an appalling sense of rage at the fleet. It had kept her from moving in the early days, but now...
Sitting up in bed-for she could fight off Bill's stern instruction, but he, Cottle, Chief, and Ellen were another matter-Laura let her mind wander as she gazed around the tent. There would be many people there once the sun went down. Her stomach clenched in fear. Bill....
Her ordeal had broken something in him. His restraint, his serenity, had been stretched for weeks before she was taken, and it seemed that such a close attack had easily shaken him. The thing she feared most was coming true. Bill was going to head the resistance she'd so often considered. All that was left was to decided whether to stand up beside him.
She sighed. She wasn't afraid to fight, or even to die. But to die with him close by, to know he was dying too, was terrifying.
But wasn't living and knowing he died worse? Was that even living?
No, it wasn't.
Light spilled in like water from the tent flap. Bill threw off the hood of his coat and tossed the whole thing over a chair.
“Did anyone see you?” She asked sharply.
“No. Tyrol had some of his union workers walk with me. It just looked like a bunch of guys. Besides, so crowded out there you'd never notice me,” He replied.
He lent forward and kissed her softly on the lips. She sighed and pulled him in a bit closer, letting him know she wasn't going to break if he put just a little passion into his kisses. He'd been like that since she'd woken, wary glances and chivalrously gentle behavior telling her all she needed to know.
“I'm not glass, Bill.”
“I know...but..”
“No buts,” she admonished. She laid herself back down, patting his side of the bed. He chuckled and took a seat, pulling off his boots and socks to lay down beside her. For a few moments they were silent, enjoying the simple feel of lying beside each other. But Laura knew she had to tell him soon, and so forced herself to lie on her back, away from his arms.
“Laura?”
“I'm joining you,” She said simply. She felt more than heard the sharp intake of breath as Bill tensed.
“Laura...”
“I'm not going to let you go out there and get exposed and then watch them do far worse to you than they did to me. And don't tell me it won't be worse!” She said, catching the look in his eye as he began to form a retort.
“They'll kill you. Publicly. They've given up on any sort of calm, any peace. They'll kill you and make us watch to teach us a lesson. And Bill, it will break your crew. So if you're going to lead them, if you're going to risk yourself, I'm going to be there. They are my people, too.”
He sighed, “You're sure about this?”
She turned back over on her side, facing him,”Yes. We are the leaders of this fleet, elections be damned.”
He blinked a moment at the use of her presidential tone, but schooled his face into one of calm. He spoke as the Admiral.
“Then we have a lot to do.”
Her face softened as he spoke, and he knew her next words were not a command from the president. A part of him wondered when they'd gotten so good at separating themselves from their titles.
“You're my husband, Bill. I'm standing with you, leader or not.”
The streets were deserted like usual. The silence seemed to seep what flecks of color in the land and the tent city that remained, glossing over it all with a gray wash.
Two centurions marched down the city's main road, made into a muddy river by the recent rains. The brown mess splatterd against their steel legs, maring in reverse the sheen of blood on flesh. Behind them, a small group of humanoid Cylons walked together from the Detention Center towards Colonial One. Behind them, twelve new Centurions marched in silent conformity.
They had reached the square, where only months before the entire populace had gathered and gotten terribly drunk in celebration of their Admiral and their hearts's President, when a Two stopped suddenly, eyes focused on a thin silver line in the mud that had nothing to do with the Centurions. He spun around, mouth open to yell out a warning.
It was too late even then.
An explosion burst in the middle of them, tearing a three and a one to shreds and throwing shards of Centurion metal into the Two's back. He flew forward and landed face first in the mud, lying still as the shards slowed in their flight and began to rain down upon him.
The new Centurions were gone when he rolled on his side, sight fading as he died for what must have been the hundredth time since landing on New Caprica. All their work...destroyed.
A boot sunk suddenly into the mud near the Two's head and he struggled to look up. It did him no good, as the person was cloaked in a heavy coat.
“We fight.” The person growled. The Two tried to speak, but found the darkness closing in a bit quicker than usual. He died.
Bill stepped away from the Two and looked around. From each alley, resistance fighters smiled tensely back at him and then dissapeared back to their homes. He saw Laura and Jack turning back towards the medical tent. It was her cover: stay near Jack and have an alibi that the Cylons would believe. He hitched up the hood of his coat and sprinted down a deserted ally, taking the long way back to their tent. He had much more to do.