Title: Through the Winter (1/?)
Author:
phoenixstormPairing: Cain/Gina
Rating: G (for now)
Word count: 2,865
Summary: Another 'What if' fic. This time: What if Gina was a sleeper agent cylon?
Chapter One
I’ve never been much for nostalgia. Sometimes my friends would hear songs on the radio and get excited by them, launching into stories about what they were doing when they first heard it. Sometimes my boss overheard one of us talking about our latest projects, and that reminded him of the days before he ran Integral System Engineering.
Myself, I’ve never cared much for things that have already happened. I find it distracts me from what’s happening in this moment, and what will happen shortly in the future. Better to have well laid out plans for tomorrow then spend that time thinking about what happened yesterday, is what I always say.
Still, Helena’s encouraging me to let go of that habit, a little. She says that the best plans for tomorrow incorporate what happened yesterday, and the most successful people learn to find a balance between the past, present and future without focusing on any one more than the other. I suppose that’s why for the first time I’ve started a journal, so that I can keep track of...well, myself I suppose. It does make sense though, because although no one’s future is set in stone because of their past, it certainly does help you at least make an educated guess. So this is it: the story of Gina Inviere.
I was born on Gemenon and attended a nice school, as my parents were fairly wealthy. When I was fourteen I lost both of them in an accident, and so I was sent to live with my only surviving relative, an aunt, until I could finish school and college. Having gotten my degree in IT, specialising in network systems, I got a job and started saving so that I could afford to move out and leave her to her retirement in peace. I think the main reason I don’t like thinking about the past so much is because of my aunt. I got a call saying she’d passed away not a week after I’d moved out, and I don’t like it when I start to wonder if my staying home could have prevented that.
I never felt at home on Gemenon afterwards. I was in relationships with a couple of men and women in the years following my aunt’s death, but when I saw a better paying job become available that required me to move to Scorpia I didn’t feel like there was anything holding me back. The staff at work threw a nice farewell party for me, and as I was single at the time I didn’t have to worry about breaking any hearts when I packed everything I owned into a few suitcases and relocated to a new colony.
Gina stepped through the hatch and smiled at the stewardess wishing her a pleasant stay, trying to ignore the fact that she was being shoved in all directions as business men and women hurried past her through the terminal. She took the walk slower, as she was in no rush to get anywhere quickly, so that she could enjoy the thousand and one emotions flooding through her as everything finally started to sink in. She’d never left Gemenon before even on a holiday, and now here she was, Gina Inviere, ready to live and work in a brand new colony.
It took longer than expected to collect her luggage, but she managed to get directions to a bus that could take her into the city centre where her apartment was located, rather than attempting to give directions to a driver. This also gave her an opportunity to stare out the window as they drove along, and it was strange the way that things weren’t really all that different from Gemenon, but it was the smallest and most insignificant changes that Gina found the most unsettling and she began to feel just the slightest pang of homesickness.
She was dropped off outside a very flash looking set of apartments, and Gina’s jaw dropped a little as she quickly reminded herself that she’d already checked with the landlord and she could in fact afford the place. Rather than release all of the large inheritance to a fourteen year old who would probably have gone out and blown it all in a month, Gina’s parents had stipulated in the will that Gina was to receive a percentage of it each year for twenty-five years, and at the start of every year money would turn up in her account. It wasn’t long after the latest percentage had been added, and add to that her new, increased income and Gina was far from hard off, but she’d gotten used to living modestly when she’d been with her aunt and had then continued that habit after she’d moved out. Still, working with a more expensive and successful company now required her to keep up appearances, and she wanted to impress her new co-workers if any ever came around for drinks or to drop off work for her.
The new job had given Gina a week to unpack and settle into her new surroundings, so she dropped off her luggage inside the door and decided to go take a walk around her new home.
---
Eighteen months later
The computer monitor flashed green to indicate that the installation had been a success, and Gina laughed in delight as the man next to her shook his head in disbelief.
“The specifications said that they weren’t compatible!”
“The specifications said that the old edition wasn’t compatible, you just can’t read the fine print!” Gina retorted, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms behind her head. “Which means, Simon, that you lost and need to pay up.” She smiled to let him know that there were no hard feelings about the argument they’d had earlier, but also raised her eyebrows to say that she still definitely expected him to cough up the money he now owed her.
A little too conveniently Andrea, the secretary, chose that moment to poke her head around the corner and inform the two of them that the boss needed to see all of them in his office right away. Simon straightened his tie and Gina fixed her skirt as they walked through the building, joining up with their other co-workers outside the doors to their boss’ office.
“Did he say what this was about?” Gina asked Andrea, though the secretary only shrugged as she knocked on the door.
“Like he ever tells me anything.” Andrea replied, rolling her eyes as she opened the door a fraction and called inside. “Sir, they’re here.”
She must have responded to a wave, because she nodded and opened the door completely, indicating to everyone present that they should enter. It was a little crowded with all the network administrators being brought together in one room (though as far as offices went it was a large one), but they all managed and were in the process of throwing confused looks around at each other when their boss, Bob Steiner, finished the letter he was working on and cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention.
He tried to maintain a serious ‘I’m the boss and you should all be scared of me’ expression, but his lips twitched out into a large grin and he slapped his desk in enthusiasm. “Okay team, I’m going to need 110% commitment out of you in the coming months, so can you guarantee that?”
There was a unanimous noise of agreement from his employees, though with a slightly sarcastic undertone as most people there were keen on maths and knew that their boss was trying to irritate them by using the term ‘110%’. It did tend to mean, however, that he was happy enough to use mathematically incorrect terms and that more often than not resulted in a bonus of some description. Because of this no one felt the need to be a smart ass and correct him.
“We have just gotten the biggest and the best contract that Integral Systems Engineering has ever received. I knew it was a good idea to incorporate the new Gaius Baltar system into our company, because we’re currently the leading experts on it and the military, yes, the military wants it installed on all of its operational Battlestars.”
He paused for a moment to let the impact of this sink in, and Gina was relieved to see that hers wasn’t the only mouth hanging open. Think of the resume opportunities, the extra pay and most of all the chance to work on a Battlestar! Their computer systems were just about as high tech as they came, for the newer models at least, and almost everyone in the room would have pushed aside their own mother for the opportunity to take apart everything inside.
Steiner held up a clipboard with a cheeky smile on his face. “Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, it’s time for Battlestar assignments.” His smile dropped as he ran his eyes once more over the sheet, and with a sigh he continued “Unfortunately there aren’t enough Battlestars for everyone present, so I’ve had to allocate positions based on seniority.”
Gina felt her stomach drop. She was the newest employee here, so she was guaranteed not to get a position. She felt one of the people behind her give her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, and she turned and threw on a weak smile to let them know that she was okay.
“Battlestar Pegasus, commanding officer Admiral Cain” Steiner was reading out, and the word ‘Pegasus’ echoed in Gina’s head loudly, causing the room to spin briefly. She shifted a foot to steady herself and blinked repeatedly as she wondered what in the name of the gods had just happened.
Pegasus.
Pegasus.
Pegasus.
She looked across to Thomas Daley who had just received the assignment and appeared to be trying very hard to not actually leap for joy. She kept her eyes on him as her headache subsided and the rest of the names were called out. She heard Simon’s name called out at one point and was happy for her friend, but that still couldn’t cover the absolute disappointment at missing out on an opportunity like this. Her depression was complete when the list was finished and she realised that she was the only person not assigned to a Battlestar.
“The commanding officers will be arriving tomorrow to go over the specifications with you all, so I expect you all to go home and rest up tonight. No going out for drinks, that means you Geoff, because these military folk have enormous sticks up their asses and will not be impressed by your hangovers and late arrivals. Okay, go on, scat, some of us have work to do now.” Steiner waved his hands at them as he sat back down at his desk, and his employees started filing out, excited chatter following them. Gina started to head after them, but paused when Steiner called out “Oh, Gina, can I see you for a moment?”
When the last of the other people had left the room Gina closed the door behind them, and walked back to Steiner’s desk to take a seat. While his face had been lit up with excitement only moments earlier, now his brow was creased into a look of remorse.
“Gina,” he started, leaning across his desk, “I just wanted to apologise for dragging you in here when you weren’t receiving any of the contracts. I just didn’t want you to feel like you were being completely left out of everything.”
”It’s fine, sir.” Gina replied, flashing her teeth in a smile, “I appreciate the thought, though I’d appreciate it more if you could possibly create a Battlestar Steiner for me to work on.”
Steiner laughed and shook his head. “Well, it probably doesn’t mean much but if anyone gets sick or for some reason doesn’t get along with the commander, and with Geoff you know it’s possible, then you’ll be the first person I come to.”
As she stood Gina smiled at her boss again. “Then I’ll try very hard not to voodoo an illness onto anyone tonight. Thank you, sir.”
She managed to keep the smile on her face all the way into the bathroom, and only when she was behind the closed door of one of the cubicles did she allow it to fall. She must have the worst luck in the universe, to be the only one missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime. She was only employed three weeks after Jane, too, the second most recent employee who didn’t even have a degree like Gina did. But it was pointless thinking like that as it wasn’t going to change anything. If Gina managed to grab a position based on her degree then arguments would erupt between everyone as to who deserved which Battlestar based on all of their multiple skills and degrees. Steiner was doing the only fair thing he could, and she couldn’t hate him for that.
Gina still couldn’t manage to explain the sudden headache she’d had earlier when Daley’s assignment had been called out. The word ‘Pegasus’ just seemed to echo in her head, almost like the cheesy effect they’d used in the cartoons she’d watched when she was growing up.
Twenty minutes passed before Gina finally left the cubicle to head back to her workstation, but the whispering in her head started up again when she sat back down at her desk. It was only on the very edge of her consciousness, like a conversation being held at the other side of the room that she kept picking up slight pieces of. Mostly it was a low murmur, but every so often she’d catch fractions of words like ‘Peg’ or ‘miral’, and she didn’t realise she’d been acting jumpy until she felt Simon’s hand on her shoulder. The surprise shut up the whispers, or at least shoved them back into her subconscious, and she calmed her face when she saw the concern in his dark eyes.
“You all right, Gina?” He asked.
Gina nodded quickly, and reached up to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “Fine, Simon, just a little disappointed about missing out on a Battlestar.”
With a sigh he sat down beside her and took her hands. “That was some very bad luck, I have to admit. But, I can promise to bring you home all the schematics and test results to look over at least.” It was clear from his voice that he knew he was offering a pretty lousy compromise, but there wasn’t a lot more he could do.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true. “That would be great, Simon, but there’s one more thing you could do for me, too.”
“Name it.”
Gina smirked. “You could pay up for that bet you lost earlier.”
---
The lock clicked as Gina opened the door to her apartment, and after tossing her keys into their bowl and dumping her briefcase she dropped ungracefully onto her couch. A magazine lay open on the coffee table, but otherwise she always kept her home very clean. A few books were stacked on the small bookshelf, mostly textbooks from her university days, but the rest of the space there was filled with frames containing the last photos she had of her parents and her aunt. A ratty stuffed tiger sat next to the photo of her parents in party hats, holding a cake with five candles next to a young Gina who grinned while holding a new stuffed animal. That was the only photo she had with herself in it, because as she’d gotten older she’d developed a dislike of cameras and hadn’t allowed anyone to photograph her.
Gina knew that she should get dinner started if she wanted to eat at a decent time, but food was the last thing she cared about right now. All afternoon, every time she’d stopped talking or concentrating hard on something her headache and the strange noises had started to return. Now that she was at home by herself without anything particularly stimulating to keep her occupied she could hear those slight fragments of conversation again, but they were still far too distant to actually make out what was being said. She kept turning her head, expecting to see people in the corner talking, and was embarrassed to realise how crazy all this twitching must be making her look.
The room started to spin again as the murmurs got louder, and Gina slowly lay down on the couch before she lost balance and planted her forehead into the coffee table. For some reason she vaguely felt a tear travelling down her cheek as the murmurs gradually built into a loud roar, almost as if the crowds at a Pyramid game were all screaming in her head. She could still only hear slight fragments of word (ill...da...sus...al cai...lon...vic) but the sheer volume now was causing the edges of her vision to turn white, and when the noises hit their crescendo and just when Gina thought she was beginning to understand them she fell into unconsciousness.
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Author note: Okay, so I still owe a Cain/Gina for the promptathon (and this isn't it) but I've had the idea for this one for months, so it ended up taking priority. |D; I will post that one soon, too!
And don't worry, Cain comes in next chapter. ♥
Chapter Two