Out of the Black- Chapter 5
Title: Out of the Black
Chapter: 5/8
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica/Firefly
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Ensemble, both shows. Very Kara-centric and Lee-centric, somewhat Roslin-centric
Pairings: Mostly gen, with canon pairings (Kara/Lee primarily, with mentions of Kara/Sam, Lee/Dee, Adama/Roslin, Helo/Athena) and Kaylee/Tyrol
Summary: Just before the jump to Earth, the Fleet comes into contact with a small transport ship of non-Colonial origins. (AU after Revelations)
Spoilers: Up to and including Season 4.5 for BSG and the Big Damn Movie for Firefly.
Author's Note: I wrote the original Out of the Black over a year ago, and looking back was not pleased with it at all, there was so much I wanted to do with the story that I just didn't pull off and so I decided to rewrite it, do more justice to both of the stories I wanted to tell. The original story is still archived at ootbverse and will remain there. If you have read the original, I welcome you to read this new version of the story as it does take a different direction from the original. Beta'd by taragel . All information on the 'Verse detailed in this fic has been taken from the Map of the Verse poster and the Atlas of the Verse booklet.
(Apparently I've given up my once-a-week posting schedule.)
Previous Chapters Here
The beeping alarm cuts through the fog of sleep and drags Lee back into reality. He groans as he rolls over in his bed, arm slapping out to turn off the incessant noise. He lies flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling, scrubbing a hand over his face. Eventually, he finds the energy to drag himself out of bed, shuffle over to the window, and draw back the curtains. Below his window, shuttles and hovercrafts whiz by, people shuffle and shout on the sidewalks below-just another morning in Capitol City.
Lee has his morning routine down to a science. Routine keeps him going, keeps him feeling sane; it’s something he can hang on to from his old life. Alarm at 7, out of bed by 7:03, showered by 7:18, dressed and dry by 7:24, and grabbing a meal bar and cup of coffee on the street corner at 7:31 exactly. All that means he gets to the government office at 7:55, with five minutes to make himself look busy by the time his boss gets there.
One year of working for the central offices in Osiris, and Lee’s barely managed to get out of the mailroom-he never thought he’d miss the piles of paperwork from running the air group. He knew his decision to try to make an impact on Alliance government-trying to get representation for the planets and moons that were now home to thousands of Colonial citizens-was going to be a long, arduous process. He’s had no delusions about that at all. But he hadn’t realized how mind-numbingly tedious the days were going to be until he finally had enough pull to make something happen.
Last month, Lee had the luck to get promoted as assistant to Lawrence Colby, one of the lower level officials who dealt with the Alliance-appointed governors out in the Kalidasa star system. For the first week or so, Lee’s work mostly involved sorting requests for supplies, but ten days after he took the new position, a request for military backup had crossed his desk, and since then everything’s been utter chaos.
Lee gets to his desk at 7:54 this morning, with a whole minute to spare, when he notices the door to Colby’s office is ajar and there is a soft blue light and a low rumble of voices coming from within. Lee casts a brief glance at his watch, his boss is never in this early. Dropping his briefcase by his desk, Lee walks up to the door, knocking against the doorframe before peering into the room. “Mr. Colby?”
Colby is sitting by his desk, eyes fixed on the large holo-screen on the far wall. He jumps a bit, hearing Lee’s voice, and hits a button, pausing the footage he’s been watching. “Lee, what are you doing here so early?”
“It’s eight o’clock.”
Colby looks at his clock, startling when he confirms the time. “Gorram it!” he groans, fist striking the desk.
Lee raises an eyebrow. “Have you been here all night? What’s going on?”
“Trouble.” He gestures towards the screen with the remote. There is a single figure on the screen, backlit and blurry, so Lee can’t make out any of the features. “The trouble on Severance is completely out of hand. Now we’ve got a group coming forward and taking responsibility for the Severance Riots. I don’t think the media’s gotten a hold of it yet, the tech people are trying to shut down their signal but they’re having a hell of a time.”
Lee folds his arms across his chest; there’s something about the on-screen silhouette that looks strangely familiar. “What is the group saying exactly?”
“Oh just some bullshit about how Severance is only the beginning, that they’re not going to stop until the citizens in the rim worlds finally have a say in how they’re governed.” Colby just shakes his head. “They don’t get how hard it is to make the system work. The ‘Verse is so big there’s no way to make sure that the government can run smoothly without the Alliance-appointed officials. Anything else would be chaos. They have no appreciation for the work we do down here.”
“Maybe… maybe they have a point. Maybe there’s another way to organize the local and universal government system.”
“They murdered an Alliance-appointed governor. There’s no point they have that’s worth considering.” Colby levels a hard look at him, but Lee stands straight, refusing to cave to the scrutiny. “You weren’t an Independent were you? Because they lost the war.”
Lee feels a prickle of rage-he’s been the commander of a battlestar, a top government representative, he could do Colby’s job with both hands tied behind his back-but he holds his hands up, shaking his head. “I’m just an assistant,” he says.
Colby gives a grunt that sounds approving. “I left some papers on your desk, I want you to get those back to me by lunch.” He sits back in his seat, rummaging through a drawer for a bottle of pills. “And can you get me a cup of coffee? My head is killing me.”
“Of course.” Lee sighs, shaking his head as he walks out of the office. He heads down to the break room, filling up a mug with coffee before returning to Colby’s office. The voice coming from the recording is almost familiar, muffled somewhat by the door, but Lee is positive he’s heard it before. Colby shuts the recording off the moment Lee knocks on the door.
Coffee delivered, Lee sits back down at his desk, unable to shake the feeling that there is something more going on. He reaches down, taking the slip of paper taped onto the underside of his desk and turns it over in his hands, examining the series of numbers written across it. Dee had given it to him a year ago, told him it should come in handy in case of an emergency. Lee supposes that a civil uprising falls well into that category.
One set of keystrokes later, and he’s tapping into an untraceable channel in the cortex, another set and a database pops up on the screen-information on most, if not all, the Colonial citizens living within the ‘Verse, including contact numbers, aliases, and-of most interest to him right now-planet or moon of residence. Lee pulls up a search box and puts in a search for all Colonial citizens on the moon Severance.
He is not at all surprised by the results.
=======================
Even with the bosses in a complete panic, Lee still manages to get the week off that he has so desperately needed. A few weeks ago, he had gotten a wave from his father telling him that Laura’s test results have finally come back clean and her doctors have pronounced her cancer-free. He insisted that Lee come to stay with them for a while and Lee promised he would as soon as he got the chance.
He’s only really had the chance to visit them once before, but he finds the way to their apartment from the spaceport with ease. The door swings open and his father is standing in front of him with a dishtowel slung over his shoulder. “Lee,” he says, pulling him into an embrace. “It’s good to see you.”
“Good to see you, too, Dad.” Lee returns the hug and steps into the apartment. He glances over his shoulder and sees Roslin sitting on the couch, flipping through a book. Lee nods to her. “Laura. Thanks for having me.”
“It’s our pleasure,” she says, getting out of her seat. “How was your flight?”
“It was fine, uneventful.”
He shuts the door behind him, taking a glance around at their apartment. The two of them have really taken to the whole domesticity thing, and both of them seem so comfortable with their retirement. He knows he should be happy for them, really he should, and he is; he’s just having a hard time pushing aside the thoughts of his empty apartment he’ll have to return to in a week.
Lee slips off his jacket and undoes the top button of his shirt. “Something smells really good.”
“Dinner’s almost ready.” His father looks back towards the kitchen like he’s trying to decide how much longer he has before he has to return to his cooking. “How’re you doing, Son? You never call anymore,” he says in that voice that always manages to make Lee feel like an irresponsible teenager, as he returns to the kitchen.
“I know, I know. Work’s just been… really crazy. I haven’t really had the time.” He sets his suitcase by the couch and opens it drawing out a bottle. “I brought some shimmerwine, a little congratulations for your clean bill of health.”
“This is wonderful; thank you, Lee,” Laura says, taking the bottle. “Let’s just get some glasses.” Lee follows her towards the kitchen, but stops in the doorway, just watching his dad working away at the pans on the stove.
“So, what’s been taking up all your time, lately?” Laura asks, rooting through a cabinet. “Does it have anything to do with that governor who was killed out on Severance?”
“You heard about that?” He knows the media’s been having a field day-if it bleeds, it leads-but he’s been avoiding the news since the incident.
“It’s been all over the news here,” Bill says, glancing up from his cooking.
“What’ve they been saying?” Lee asks, finally stepping into the room.
Laura sets the glasses on the counter and presses the small mechanism that allows the bottle to open itself with a pop. “That there was a riot, townspeople stormed the mayor’s home, the attacks have been linked to former members of the Independents, and Alliance officials have not been able to get control of the situation.”
“I guess they haven’t said anything about how the governor was forcing a protection tax on the citizens,” Lee says wryly. He shakes his head, unbuttoning the cuffs of his sleeves. “The riots have been a problem, but that’s not really what my boss is worried about.” Laura glances back at him over the top of her glasses, curiosity piqued. “There’ve been broadcasts on the Cortex from Severance, and the Alliance is working very hard to shut them down remotely, but for every frequency they kill, they just keep showing up elsewhere. That is the situation they can’t get control of.”
“What are the broadcasts?” she asks.
“They’re a call to the citizens, that it’s time to stand up for representation, for the people to govern themselves, that what happened on Severance is only the beginning. I haven’t heard much of them, only the top-level clearance officials have heard them, but I caught a bit of a broadcast my boss was listening to and…the voice sounded familiar. So I decided to do a little research of my own.” He huffs a humorless laugh. “Guess who I found was living on Severance.”
Lee can see the wheels turning in Laura’s head, and it takes her all of about five seconds to put the pieces together. “Tom Zarek.”
“The one and only.”
“To be honest, I’m surprised he didn’t start getting himself into trouble sooner.” Bill removes the frying pan from the heat.
“I’ve never been a fan of his methods,” Lee says, swallowing hard. “But in just a few weeks Zarek’s gotten the attention of the ruling officials in a way I wouldn’t have gotten even with years of work..” He shakes his head. “Even something like this isn’t going to change the way the Alliance works, there may be talk for a few weeks, months maybe, about electing local officials. People will pay attention for a few weeks and then something else will happen and everyone will forget the people on Severance who took a stand for themselves. The Alliance will appoint a new governor and everything will just go back to the way it was.” Lee shakes his head. “Something big needs to happen, bigger than Zarek. I just… I have no clue what.”
“We’re just not looking in the right places yet.” She says, holding a glass out to him. “Something will present itself.”
“Doesn’t feel like it right now,” Lee mutters into his glass, before raising it to his lips. He tilts his head back and before he knows it he’s drained the entire glass.
“You’re not having regrets, are you, Lee?” Laura asks, eyebrow raised as she takes a sip from her own glass. “About taking this job?”
“Regrets?” He moves for the bottle of wine.
You’re gonna give all that up so you can bum around some dingy city? Work in a factory? Fade into the crowd?
Lee shakes his head, trying to force the memory out of his mind, just as he has been for the entire year. He just reminded himself that there was no point in thinking about the what-ifs, and what could have been, because none of that matters anymore. “No. None at all. I actually can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing.”
He tacks on a nod for emphasis, pleased. It doesn’t even sound like a lie.
===================
“I thought you were supposed to be at work.”
Kara doesn’t turn around when she hears Sam’s voice behind her, just keeps flipping through the manual she’s looking at. “Yeah, funny thing about getting fired. They don’t really like it when you show up after that.”
“Fired?” he echoes.
“Yup.”
“Again?”
She doesn’t even bother to answer him this time. He knows everything he needs to.
“Frak, Kara.” She hears him coming as he walks up behind her, tries to touch her, and she shrugs him off. “What is going on with you?”
“Nothing is going on. Okay!?” she snaps as she spins around. “It was a crappy job loading up crates for frak’s sake. Besides, I make more money in one night at the card table than a week at that disgusting factory. It’s not a big deal.”
“When you can’t hold a job for more than two months, it’s a big deal.”
Kara swings her arms open wide, gesturing to the room around them. It isn’t exactly the Caprica Grand Towers, but the apartment is a step up from the hotel room they’d lived in for nearly two months. “I haven’t missed my half of the rent once, so just get off my back.”
She shakes her head, feeling her skin practically crawling with the urge to get out. She starts for the bedroom, grabbing her wallet and her keys off of the nightstand.
“This is about more than paying the rent,” he says, taking up the doorway. “We could have more than this, Kara.”
He sounds so frakking earnest that she wants to laugh. “More than this? What? A house with a frakking picket fence?”
“We could have a home.” He’s never said it out loud before, but she’s known this was coming. “This is what our lives are now. You and me. Here. And maybe it’s not the best, but we could make something out of this. We have to, because things aren’t going to change.”
Kara rakes her nails through her hair. “This isn’t my home, Sam. This place is never going to be my home.”
“You’re not even trying!” he snaps. Kara blinks briefly and the anger is gone; Sam is shaking his head. “I know this isn’t easy. It isn’t easy for either of us. But I am trying to make this work, I just want us to have a normal life.”
“Normal?” She scoffs. “You’re a…robot and I’m a zombie and there is nothing in our lives that is normal! Why can’t you get that through your skull?” She shoves right past him heading for the doorway and he doesn’t make a move to stop her.
He just calls after her. “And how exactly is that ‘project’ of yours going to fix that?” Kara feels a prickle of anger along her spine at his words. She knew that’s what this was all about. “You’re throwing your money and your time away on that thing, and for what?”
“You wouldn’t understand.” She shakes her head, her hand gripping the doorknob.
“Well then why don’t you try explaining it to me?”
Kara doesn’t answer, just slams the door shut behind her. He doesn’t follow her, even if he did, she wouldn’t stop. Out in the hallway, out on the street, it still doesn’t feel like she can get enough air to breathe-most of it is toxic as hell, anyway-and her skin just won’t stop crawling. “Godsdamnit!” she hisses, kicking an empty beer can lying on the sidewalk.
Sam should know by now how much she hates it here, how much she hates this life. Stuck. Going nuts from cabin fever and she’s sure that she could go anywhere on this entire world and not get rid of it. She only had one answer, one solution that was going to make it go away. Why the hell couldn’t he understand that?
Kara’s at the Maidenhead bar before she even realizes where her feet are carrying her. She makes her way up to the bar, takes up her normal seat, and orders her usual. So far, she’s found that booze is really the only thing that’ll make her skin stop crawling for a little while. The barkeep hands her her drink and she turns in her seat, eyes sweeping over the crowd.
She nearly chokes a little when she glances at the stairs and Malcolm Reynolds steps into her field of vision. She blinks hard for a second and realizes most of the crew of Serenity has just walked into the bar. Kara practically jumps out of her seat, shoving her way through the crowd and gets to the bottoms of the stairs about the same time they do. “Long time no see, Captain,” she says.
“Fancy runnin’ into you here, Captain.” Mal flashes her a grin.
“What brings you to this shithole city?” she asks, her gaze wandering over the others-Zoë, Jayne, Simon, River, finally settling on Tyrol standing with Kaylee near the back of the group.
“Just some business,” he says. “Got a meetin’ with some suppliers, nowish, actually.” His gaze flicks over to a table by a curtained off area. “We can have words later.”
Kara traces a finger around the rim of her glass. “Mind if I borrow your mechanics for a while?”
“Consider ‘em lent,” Mal says before disappearing into the crowd with Zoë and Jayne. Kara catches Chief’s eye and nods her head towards a corner and sits. The pair join her a couple of minutes later each with a drink in their hand.
Tyrol looks almost tentative as he sits across from her. Kara can’t really blame him. “It’s… been a while, Starbuck.”
She lets out a humorless laugh. “Starbuck. It’s been a long time since anyone’s called me that.”
He cracks a smile. “Well, I guess I can think of a few other things I used to call you but they’re not fit for polite company,” he says, glancing to Kaylee, who swats his arm.
“What didja wanna talk to us ‘bout?” Kaylee asks, leaning her elbows on the table.
Kara gives them a little conspiratorial grin. “I needed help from a couple of good mechanics. Then I saw you two and figured I could settle.” She lets out a real laugh in what feels like the first time in weeks. “A couple months ago, I bought a ship. Not huge, but some independent transport group used it ‘til they got something bigger and better. Turns out she doesn’t run so good, but I’ve been working to get her up again. I figure it’s my ticket out of this place.”
“Anythin’ needs fixin’ Galen and I can get it done for ya.” The girl beams and Kara thinks suddenly that she reminds her a little bit of Cally.
“Yeah,” Kara leans back in her seat. “Well, she’s getting there, slowly but surely. There’s just one part I don’t think I can actually get.”
“What is it?” Tyrol asks. “Captain Tightpants has a hell of a lot of connections.”
“Yeah, well.” Kara rubs at her temples. “Short of flying back to Galactica and ripping one out of a Raptor, I can’t figure out how to get my hands on an FTL drive.”
“FTL?” Tyrol arches an eyebrow at her. “I mean, unless you’re planning on running from something big, there’s not exactly a need for one. What’s going on, Captain?”
Kara shuts her eyes. “Nothing yet. It’s a hunch, but…” she opens them, shaking her head. “I can’t shake the crazy thought that we might need it one day.” She’s pretty sure she sounds completely crazy right now. She’s also pretty sure that Chief is used to it.
Kaylee snaps her fingers, her eyes lighting up. “Oh I got it! Ya’ll split up your ships right? Sent ‘em all out to different worlds? Well, those ships had the drives, right? Find one of those ships and y’ can get the part.”
Kara looks over at Tyrol who’s grinning just as much as Kaylee is. She briefly realizes she’s never really seen him look that happy before-seems like living in the ‘verse has turned out well for some people. “So what’s the going rate on that kind of salvage operation?”
“I could talk it over with the Captain, but I think we can get you a friends discount.” Tyrol takes a sip of his drink, he sets it down on the table before his gaze meets Kara’s. “That is assuming we’re actually friends.”
“Why wouldn’t ya’ll be friends?” Kaylee asks. “You worked together and lived together so long, I figured all ya’ll on Galactica were practically family.”
Tyrol reaches out, closing his hand over Kaylee’s. “Where I’m from, most people don’t really take as well as you do to the whole cylon thing.”
“But I don’t see how that changes anythin’. Yer still a person, Galen, and-”
“Look,” Kara cuts in. She clears her throat, trying to force words out. “It’s… I don’t know. Living with Sam… he’s… still the same Sam I met on Caprica, no matter what he is. And that makes you the same Tyrol you always were so… yeah, I guess that makes us friends.”
“And you’re not just saying it to get cheap parts for your ship?” he asks with a grin. “So… about you and Sam…” he trailed off, his eyes focusing on something over Kara’s shoulder. She turns in her seat, above the din of the bar, she can hear screams. “What the frak is going on?”
Kara jumps out of her seat, shoving her way through the crowd, and dodging a flying body as she does so. Where the people have parted, River stands, her eyes blank, looking like she’s completely freaking out. Gods, the kid is going to get herself into trouble, the way she’s lashing out. Kara rushes forward, grabbing her by the arms. “Hey, hey! Calm the frak down!”
With what seems like no effort at all, River breaks out of Kara’s grip. She spins, her leg connecting with Kara’s torso and sends her flying back into the crowd. Kara feels a sharp pain as her head connects with the floor, then the world goes black.
=========================
When consciousness comes filtering back to Kara, everything is just bright shapes. She groans, lifting her head despite protests from her aching body. As her vision clears, Kara realizes she’s lying in Serenity’s infirmary.
“You’re awake.” Simon appears at her side.
“Guess so,” she says, propping herself up on her elbows with some difficulty. “Mind telling me what the frak happened back there?”
Simon takes a steeling breath, his eyes shut. “I don’t know what happened exactly. I was up on the balcony, but I saw her staring at the television screen, the news was playing and something in that story must have… triggered something in her, a memory, something that caused her great distress, and she lashed out.” Simon hangs his head. “I don’t know what caused it exactly. We’ve got her sedated for now, she’s sleeping mostly but she keeps muttering something about… Miranda? I don’t… I don’t know what she’s talking about…”
“What I still don’t get is how a stick like that has the muscle to knock me out, let alone throw me across the room.” Lords, her head is throbbing. She hasn’t felt a blow like that since she fought that cylon in the Delphi museum. It occurs to her suddenly that there’s still one cylon left, Kara briefly wonders if it could be the girl-it’d explain a lot, the strength, the prophecy crap. But one look at her brother, and she knows that can’t be right.
“I don’t either,” he says, turning back to the papers he’d been going through. “But I’m going to find out.” He looks up suddenly. “Oh, you’re free to go by the way. No concussion, but you bruised a few ribs and you’re going to have one hell of a headache.”
“Thanks, doc,” she groans, getting to her feet, then pauses and turns back to him. “For what it’s worth, hope you figure out what’s going on with her.”
Kara’s head doesn’t stop hurting the entire walk back from the docks. She fumbles in her pocket for her keys and manages to jam them into the lock and get the door open before stumbling through. The apartment is dark, and even though she’s far from quiet when she slams the door shut, it doesn’t seem to wake up Sam. Good thing, she doesn’t think she’d be able to take it if he decides to start in on her drinking habits right now. She makes it as far as the couch before she just collapses, shuts her eyes tight, hoping for sleep so that this day can just be over already.
Morning comes way too early, and Kara is woken abruptly by the incessant beep of an incoming wave. “Sam,” she groans, not bothering to open her eyes. “Sam.” No reply. “Godsdamnit, Sammy, pick up the frakking phone already!” Still nothing.
She lets out a frustrated huff of air as she rolls off the couch, brushing her hair out of her face. “Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” she hisses under her breath as she shuffles towards the blinking telephonix screen. A few keystrokes and suddenly Karl Agathon’s face is staring at her from the screen. His eyes are wide, panicked; he’s either panting or hyperventilating. She feels the fog and the dizziness fading away, replaced with a rush of adrenaline. Something isn’t right. “Karl? What’s going on?”
He swallows hard, like he can’t get the words out. He takes a few shallow breaths and then a deep one before trying again. “Sharon and Hera are gone.”
---To Be Continued---