AU Bingo Ficlet: "So Say We All"
This is both my response to the au_bingo prompt "Future: In Space" and a kind of Christmas prezzie for the faboo sunshine_queen. Hope you enjoy!
"So Say We All"
Commander Bristow looked out over the Viper pilots, weighing each of them in turn. Oracle was a good kid - too new, only promoted to fighter pilot because of the catastrophic situation they found themselves in, but proving herself daily. Houdini never stopped cracking wise, which was annoying as hell; thank God he was good. Outrigger was the steadiest among them, and never alluded to his seniority, though by rights he ought to have been a commander alongside Jack by now. Fate had a different plan for him, for all of them. Merlin needed to be in the command center, not out in a Viper getting shot at by Cylons, but so far he’d done double duty with a smile on his face. Shotgun got the hell on Jack’s nerves, for no good reason except his relationship with Phoenix.
Phoenix, of course, was the best of them. Jack knew this to be objective, verifiable fact, wholly independent of the fact that she was his daughter.
“Are we dismissed, Commander Bristow?” His daughter’s voice was slightly sharp, not beyond the line of protocol, but still - something she wouldn’t have pulled on anyone else. Then again, he wouldn’t have lost his train of thought and kept good pilots waiting considering the fate of any other person.
“Dismissed,” he said, and instantly they broke up, laughing and talking. Dog tags jangled as Oracle loped toward Merlin, probably to talk about the holovids they were reconstructing from data fragments. Shotgun, of course, was instantly at Phoenix’s side, the two of them trying to feign only casual pleasure. Were they fooling anyone? Not him.
“You watch them like a hawk,” said the president.
Jack turned to see President Derevko standing next to him, only a few paces away. “You’re as quiet as a cat,” he said.
“Hello to you too.” She tucked a lock of her burnished hair behind one ear as she watched Phoenix walk away with Shotgun. “They seem happy.”
“Seem,” he replied, the repetition meant to indicate doubt.
“I don’t trust him.” That startled Jack, who disliked Shotgun’s influence on his daughter but had no reason to doubt his loyalty. “Watch them, Jack.”
“I always do.”
“I know.” Her smile might almost have been friendly. Many in the Fleet, who believed that Commander Bristow and President Derevko were forever at odds, would have been startled by that smile. A minority, who believed that their public sparring was merely cover for an affair, would have felt vindicated by it. The number of people who knew that she had, in another life, been his wife - that she was in fact Phoenix’s mother - could be counted on one hand, and thus far, did not include Phoenix herself.
The president’s hand rested briefly on his arm before she turned and left without another word. She liked to keep him guessing.
Jack made his way back to the CIC, where Lieutenant Calfo was hard at work, but not so caught up in it that she couldn’t spare him a smile. Everyone else acknowledged him only officially - except, of course, the Fleet’s eccentric, and the greatest scientist among them, Arvin Sloane. As usual, Sloane stared into the distance, as if at a point only he could see, or as if listening to a voice only he could hear. The inevitable tics of genius, Jack supposed. “Sloane?” he said. “Do you have something to report?”
“Oh. Yes.” Sloane stirred himself. “I’ve made some progress on the Cylon detection grid. It’s not quite ready yet, but tomorrow, perhaps - ”
As if it would require some special scheduling for Jack to be available for this, the single most important priority they had besides staying one step ahead of the Cylon armada. “At any hour. Just let us know.”
“Of course. I ought to have - of course.” Sloane wandered out. Jack sighed, half in exasperation, half in amusement, until a warm cup of tea was placed into his hand.
“You’re bucking for a commendation, lieutenant,” he said, as he began to sip his drink.
“You bet your life, sir,” Lieutenant Calfo said. She was already back at work.
**
As Sloane walked away, Nadia said to him, “He’s starting to suspect you.”
“He wouldn’t if you’d leave me alone.”
“The daughter you left behind on Aerilon? The one who had only just found you on Caprica in the months before the planet’s destruction? Do you really want me to go so soon? To go forever?”
“You aren’t my daughter. You’re - a dream. An illusion.”
“There’s more truth in dreams than you know,” Nadia said, and then she was gone, as if she had never been.
And yet Sloane already knew he had to follow her, forever, no matter where she led.
END
"So Say We All"
Commander Bristow looked out over the Viper pilots, weighing each of them in turn. Oracle was a good kid - too new, only promoted to fighter pilot because of the catastrophic situation they found themselves in, but proving herself daily. Houdini never stopped cracking wise, which was annoying as hell; thank God he was good. Outrigger was the steadiest among them, and never alluded to his seniority, though by rights he ought to have been a commander alongside Jack by now. Fate had a different plan for him, for all of them. Merlin needed to be in the command center, not out in a Viper getting shot at by Cylons, but so far he’d done double duty with a smile on his face. Shotgun got the hell on Jack’s nerves, for no good reason except his relationship with Phoenix.
Phoenix, of course, was the best of them. Jack knew this to be objective, verifiable fact, wholly independent of the fact that she was his daughter.
“Are we dismissed, Commander Bristow?” His daughter’s voice was slightly sharp, not beyond the line of protocol, but still - something she wouldn’t have pulled on anyone else. Then again, he wouldn’t have lost his train of thought and kept good pilots waiting considering the fate of any other person.
“Dismissed,” he said, and instantly they broke up, laughing and talking. Dog tags jangled as Oracle loped toward Merlin, probably to talk about the holovids they were reconstructing from data fragments. Shotgun, of course, was instantly at Phoenix’s side, the two of them trying to feign only casual pleasure. Were they fooling anyone? Not him.
“You watch them like a hawk,” said the president.
Jack turned to see President Derevko standing next to him, only a few paces away. “You’re as quiet as a cat,” he said.
“Hello to you too.” She tucked a lock of her burnished hair behind one ear as she watched Phoenix walk away with Shotgun. “They seem happy.”
“Seem,” he replied, the repetition meant to indicate doubt.
“I don’t trust him.” That startled Jack, who disliked Shotgun’s influence on his daughter but had no reason to doubt his loyalty. “Watch them, Jack.”
“I always do.”
“I know.” Her smile might almost have been friendly. Many in the Fleet, who believed that Commander Bristow and President Derevko were forever at odds, would have been startled by that smile. A minority, who believed that their public sparring was merely cover for an affair, would have felt vindicated by it. The number of people who knew that she had, in another life, been his wife - that she was in fact Phoenix’s mother - could be counted on one hand, and thus far, did not include Phoenix herself.
The president’s hand rested briefly on his arm before she turned and left without another word. She liked to keep him guessing.
Jack made his way back to the CIC, where Lieutenant Calfo was hard at work, but not so caught up in it that she couldn’t spare him a smile. Everyone else acknowledged him only officially - except, of course, the Fleet’s eccentric, and the greatest scientist among them, Arvin Sloane. As usual, Sloane stared into the distance, as if at a point only he could see, or as if listening to a voice only he could hear. The inevitable tics of genius, Jack supposed. “Sloane?” he said. “Do you have something to report?”
“Oh. Yes.” Sloane stirred himself. “I’ve made some progress on the Cylon detection grid. It’s not quite ready yet, but tomorrow, perhaps - ”
As if it would require some special scheduling for Jack to be available for this, the single most important priority they had besides staying one step ahead of the Cylon armada. “At any hour. Just let us know.”
“Of course. I ought to have - of course.” Sloane wandered out. Jack sighed, half in exasperation, half in amusement, until a warm cup of tea was placed into his hand.
“You’re bucking for a commendation, lieutenant,” he said, as he began to sip his drink.
“You bet your life, sir,” Lieutenant Calfo said. She was already back at work.
**
As Sloane walked away, Nadia said to him, “He’s starting to suspect you.”
“He wouldn’t if you’d leave me alone.”
“The daughter you left behind on Aerilon? The one who had only just found you on Caprica in the months before the planet’s destruction? Do you really want me to go so soon? To go forever?”
“You aren’t my daughter. You’re - a dream. An illusion.”
“There’s more truth in dreams than you know,” Nadia said, and then she was gone, as if she had never been.
And yet Sloane already knew he had to follow her, forever, no matter where she led.
END