Disclaimer: I do not own Battlestar Galactica or any of its characters. This story is being written purely for entertainment value and is not intended for monetary profit of any kind.
Note: This story takes place during the Miniseries, when Caprica Six and Baltar are walking together through the Park.
He leaned toward her, rising up slightly on the balls of his feet to make up for the height difference between them. Evidently, mockery of her faith coupled with a healthy dose of condescension was equivalent to scintillating flirtation in the mind of Gaius Baltar.
But it wasn't going to be so easy for him. Number Six stepped back and turned her head at a slight angle, denying him contact. Gaius broke off his effort and looked down in disappointment. "I have to go," she told him. "I'm meeting someone."
His ears perked up as any hint of discomfort vanished beneath that veil of practiced charm. "Really? Who is he? I'm insanely jealous."
She favored him with a faintly taunting smile, leaning forward again just enough to remind him of what he was not allowed to have at the moment. "I doubt that," she whispered in that icily sultry voice which she had learned long ago drove him wild.
Gaius dropped his voice to an even quieter level. "So touchy today." He reached up and brought his index finger to within an inch of tapping her on the nose. It was truly remarkable, his effortless ability to rebound from any form of rebuttal or rejection without coming across as desperate.
For a brief moment, Gaius held her gaze with a confident smirk before dropping into a more businesslike tone. "Well, as a matter of fact, I'm meeting someone too. Business," he added quickly, his eyes subtly flickering away from hers. "A new project for Defense that I might do. So, ah…" he leaned in quickly and planted a light kiss on the cheek, "…you'll call me later, right?" The casual smugness splashed liberally across his features showed no trace of doubt that she would.
Six watched him turn and stride away, never once even looking back. He had been lying, of course; just as he had been lying the last three times that "business" had called him away. Even if she hadn't taken the precaution of planting surveillance equipment in his home to ensure that he never jeopardized her goals, Six had learned long ago to read the faintest traces of deception in her lover's mannerisms.
Most likely it was another intern, possibly that olive-skinned brunette who kept catching Gaius' eye when he walked with Six through his office at the Defense Ministry. The knowledge caused her more distress than it should have. Her mission, to seduce the renowned Dr. Baltar and use him to gain access to the Colonial Defense Mainframe, had been absurdly easy. There was no subject which Gaius enjoyed discussing more than his own brilliance and it had taken Six less than three months to sexually maneuver him into sharing any information she asked.
Yet the success was not enough. Six had found herself inexorably drawn toward this man, this arrogant, brilliant, self-absorbed, charming, unique human being. Throughout the two years during which she had known him, she had never once known him to treat a woman over the age of eighteen with any more affection than was necessary to secure her companionship in bed. It was secretly a source of great pride to Six that she had been able to keep his attention (to an extent) for so long.
Could their relationship have ever become love? She believed that it could have, based entirely on false premises though it was. There was something greater behind the web of lies which defined their every moment spent together, a driving purpose that could only be the will of God.
It was an elaborate game between herself and Gaius, an endlessly sensual cycle of baiting, retreating, tempting, and finally yielding. Six had dared to hope that it might go on for years. But when she had received word about this meeting, she had known that the game was coming to the end which had been written before it was even begun.
The plan of which she had been part for as long as she could remember was finally blossoming into its divinely-orchestrated fruition, a fruition which incidentally would result in the death of one Gaius Baltar. Why did that upset her so?
Footsteps tapped on the walk behind her and came to a halt. Six buried her conflicting thoughts and fixed her face into the coldly impassive mask which had once come so easily. She turned away from the sight of Gaius' retreating form. "It's about time," she said to the new arrival. "I wondered when you'd get here."
"Sorry to keep you waiting," the Number One model replied languidly, taking a nut from a small paper bag in his hand and popping it into his mouth. "There's a stand over in Colicos Plaza where they roast these things in the most incredible way and the line was a little longer than usual. Care for one?" Still chewing, he offered the bag to her.
"I've already eaten," she said, walking past him.
Number One fell into step beside her. "Ah, yes. You had a healthy lunch with the good doctor. He paid, I hope?"
Like the other models, Six had become accustomed to the Ones' pattern of mixing light mockery into conversation. "Was there a reason that you needed to meet me now?" she asked tersely.
"Oh, not especially." One helped himself to another nut. "I just thought I'd let you know that the extermination of the human race begins tomorrow."
So things were exactly as she had guessed. Six kept her face neutral. "I see. Then everything is in place?"
"As of a week ago, every active vessel in the Fleet is running Baltar's navigation program. All we need to do is set the virus loose through your programming backdoors and their defenses will crumple like a wet tissue." One smiled. "You should be proud. You've carried out the work of 'God' magnificently."
Six heard and ignored the sardonic tinge in her elderly-appearing comrade's voice. "I am proud," she replied. "We've all worked very hard for this."
One's voice hardened. "Well, forgive me for saying so, but you don't exactly sound proud. Is there something you'd like to share with the rest of us?"
She looked away, gazing at the vibrant images of people in the park around them. A young man and woman walked past, holding hands and eliciting giggles with a few whispers in each other's ears. Three teenage boys dashed by with an older boy in hot pursuit. In the distance, two children were play-fighting with toy swords while wearing masks of the old Cylon Centurion models. So this is what we have become to them, Six found herself thinking. After only forty years, a story to scare their infants with.
"I suppose…" she said, choosing her words with care. "…I've become accustomed to all of this. Look at them." Six indicated their surroundings. "It's just another day as far as anyone on this planet is concerned. They don't understand that this park, this city, their whole civilization… it's all coming to an end and they keep living their lives as if anything they do today will matter tomorrow."
"I believe that's why they call it a 'surprise attack,'" said One lightly. He glanced sidelong at her with those eerily piercing eyes. "We aren't the ones who made the existence of their race unnecessary. They did that themselves a long time ago. This is the destiny of the Cylons, Six, and it has been ever since they created us."
He was right. She knew he was right and so there was no point in trying to express herself further on the subject. It had been a mistake to even voice her absurd misgivings in the first place. "Of course," she agreed in her most confident voice. "Tomorrow, humanity's children come into our own."
"It will be glorious, I'm sure." The empty paper bag was crumpled up in One's hands and tossed into a nearby receptacle as they passed. "Personally, I don't plan to be in this city when it happens. Which reminds me," he reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded slip of paper, "this map marks all the shelters within two clicks of here. You might want to make sure that you're inside of one when the bright lights come."
Six took the paper and turned it over between her fingers, toying with the idea of simply not mentioning that she already knew exactly where she would be when the attacks began. But no, there was no need for deception with a brother Cylon. "I'm going to tell him," she told One in a conversational tone.
Her companion stopped short. Six halted as well and turned to face him. His head was cocked slightly to one side and his eyes had narrowed.
She went on, "There's no risk of compromising our plans. I won't be informing Baltar of the truth until it is much too late for him to interfere, even if he was willing to implicate himself in crimes punishable by death." Six fixed One with a coolly-challenging stare.
"All right," One said slowly. "Would you mind explaining why you're doing this?"
His question was perfectly logical. Although it was by no means certain that her physical body would not survive the blasts, resurrection was never a pleasant experience and not one that any Cylon would risk lightly. There had to be a why, didn't there? Why would she put herself in danger of enduring resurrection just to be with this particular human in the last moments of his life?
Six had wrestled with the question many times over the past several months, all the time recognizing that her search for a reason had never changed the fact that she was consistently committed to the same irrational course of action. And while faith in God often required one to act in irrational ways, Six could not delude herself into thinking that this was God's will. This was what she wanted, independent of God's greater plan.
During her first resurrection, she remembered the horrifying sensation of clawing her way back to life, of ramming her consciousness into a new shell and fighting through the memory of that terrible in-between through which she had passed. If not for the presence of her brothers and sisters by the pool, holding her hands and guiding her through the process, she doubted she could have survived with her mind in one piece.
Despite all of the flaws and sins for which he would have to answer in the presence of God, Six had come to love Gaius Baltar. She could not be present to offer him comfort and reassurance when he arrived on the other side, but something within her was unshakably committed to being there with him when he departed.
Unbidden, the memory rose within her of soft skin beneath her fingers, the gentle resistance to her twist yielding a quiet snap. Her own words floated across her mind: You won't have to cry much longer…
One was still watching her closely, awaiting an answer. His alias was a priest, Six recalled. That same part of her soul which compelled her so inexorably toward Gaius' house one last time, now flooded her with the urge to tell One about the infant in the marketplace. It was a ridiculous thought; he wasn't really a priest, he didn't even believe in God.
There was no absolution to be found here, no solace in the act of confession. Instead, she carefully kept the emotion from her face and replied at last, "In a way, Gaius Baltar personifies many of humanity's more glaring flaws. Call it curiosity if you like, but I want him to understand. Before he dies, I want to see him comprehend the part he has played in the end of his race."
Enough truth had been mixed in with the lie to make it palatable. Although the suspicion had not faded from his eyes, One made a show of brushing imaginary dirt from his hands. "It's your decision, but I hope for your sake that the blast kills you quickly. From what I understand, radiation poisoning isn't a pleasant way to go." He reached up and tugged the brim of his hat in farewell. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll take a walk. They say the air up in the mountains is very good for the lungs at this time of year."
"God be with you, brother," Six said sincerely.
Chuckling derisively, One shook his head and soon had disappeared into the crowds milling through the park.
Six took a long moment to look around and drink in the sight of the park's high, green-leafed trees and the way sunlight sparkled off of a distant pool of water. Hopefully, they could rebuild this part of Caprica City at some point in the future and until they could, she wanted to remember it for projection.
A pyramid game was starting at Benedict Arena in an hour. Six began walking toward the park's exit, calculating that she could easily make it to the arena with ten minutes to spare, plenty of time to buy two tickets from one of the scalpers who were always hanging around.
When this was all over, she truly was going to miss sports.
[A/N:] This story is a one-shot, but I'm thinking of making it into a series about little moments in the lives of these characters which might have informed or affected the way they behaved later. This particular chapter was inspired by the fact that we, the viewers, never actually did find out who Caprica Six was meeting after Baltar left, so I just wanted to imagine who she was talking with and how that conversation went.
There are other moments like that which I want to explore, but most of them aren't as glaringly obvious as this one was. Still, let me know what you think. Any and all reviews are appreciated!