How to Be Human
By Carolina Blue
A/N: Takes place in Season 4 but AU so I can make the show fit my story, instead of my story fitting in the show, of course. So some things from season 4 will be in here, others won't!
Disclaimer: Anything you recognize is property of the show "Battlestar Galactica," all rights reserved, etc. etc. There is an original character in this- Adelaide Reynolds- but she's not really important to the story, she's not a Mary Sue or whatever, and I didn't base her off myself, so don't worry! Just enjoy (please)!
Thanks for the reviews!
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CHAPTER TWO
It had taken far too long to cut through the ship's hull. Colonial One had just been fortified to protect against hull breach, and while it was a good idea and Helo had fully supported it at the time, right now he wanted to find that genius engineer and shove him out an airlock.
"Chief?" he asked again, gripping his assault rifle, wishing he had room to pace.
Chief grunted, eyes on his work. "Another minute and we'll be through."
Helo nodded in response, seemingly calm, before turning and slamming his hand against the Raptor wall.
"Hey, calm down!" Sharon grabbed his shoulder, gave it a gentle shake. "Focus," she reminded him.
He took a deep breath and stared down at her. "It's been close to an hour. Who knows what's happening to-" he shook his head "-to the people on this ship."
"Apollo will be fine. And he'll look after Adelaide," she tried to sound confident. The look Helo shot her told her she hadn't been very successful.
Anders stretched his shoulders and neck, working out the kinks. "What do you think they want? Why do this now?"
"Don't know, don't care," Helo answered. "I will kill every one of them if I have to."
Chief and Anders locked eyes for a fraction of a second before Chief looked back up and gave a triumphant yell. "We're in!"
Helo turned his comm link back on. "Galactica, Raptor One. We're through to Colonial One."
"Copy that Raptor One," Dee's shaky but relieved voice filtered through the Raptor.
Helo led Sharon, Chief, Anders, and two Marines into Colonial One's corridor. A few moments later, Raptor Two's group joined them. "Okay, Group Alpha with me to the Command Room, Group Bravo to the flight deck. Find their ship and destroy it. No matter what, I don't want an enemy Cylon flying out of here of their own free will, you got it?"
"Yes sir," Hot Dog, Narcho, and four more Marines headed out for the flight deck.
Helo nodded to his own group. "Let's go." He prayed to every god he could think of that Lee and Addy had managed to get to the Command Room or anywhere safe. They forced their way into the sealed causeway, on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary. It was disturbing how quiet and normal the ship seemed. Helo grew more anxious as they went. "Remember, taking one alive is a bonus. Anything shifty happens, you shoot to kill." He sent a look over to Sharon, wondering not for the first time how she felt about hunting other Cylons. Her response was to cock and sight her gun, giving him a firm nod in return. Somehow it made him feel a little better.
They were one corridor turn away from the Command Room hatch when Helo heard movement ahead of them. Silently he signaled the group, himself taking point as Sharon and Anders flanked him, with Chief and the Marines at the rear guard. He wiped a bit of sweat from his face, inching his way to the turn. A quick nod behind him, then Helo swung around the corner, gun raised. And came face to face with a pale and shaking medic, her own gun up and aimed at Helo.
"Corporal Reynolds?" Helo said softly, calmly. Addy was more looking through him than at him, the gun trembling in her hands. There were a couple ugly bruises on the side of her face, a cut along one cheekbone. She took a few steps back, gun still raised and pointed at him. He lowered his own weapon, holding out his hands and slowly taking a step towards her.
"Addy?" he tried again. "It's okay, Addy. We're here."
She shook her head suddenly, eyes widening in recognition. "Helo?" she dropped her gun, letting it hit the floor with a loud clang. Helo reached out and drew her in for a one-armed hug, eyes closing for a second in relief.
"You okay?" he watched her face for signs of a lie. As an afterthought: "All clear!" His eyes were still on her face. She took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and nodded as the rest of the team stepped into view.
Chief picked up her discarded weapon, checking the ammo inside. "Two rounds missing," he quietly told Helo, also pulling Addy to him for a quick hug.
"I killed one of them," she numbly told the team, nodding her head behind her. "She's back there. Got the drop on me, but she didn't see I had a gun."
"She?" Sharon asked cautiously, praying that…
"A Six," Addy assured her. "The Command Room was sealed shut, but I got in through the vents. The pilots and everyone in there are fine."
Helo wanted to ask about Lee, but knew he had to get a military report first. "What's the sitrep, Corporal?"
Addy looked up at him, somewhere between dazed and exhausted. "The ship the Cylons used to get here departed about ten minutes ago. Right before you boarded Colonial One. Not sure if they left anyone behind besides their dead, sir."
Helo nodded, turned his comm link on again. "Bravo leader, this is Alpha. You at the flight deck?"
"Yes sir," came the immediate response. "No sight of enemy ship, all other ships present and accounted for. There are a few casualties on the deck sir. No Cylons in sight."
Helo sighed at the thought of casualties. "Okay, start at your location, do a sweep for anyone the Cylons might have left behind. Tend to any wounded you find. Make your way to Command Room."
"Roger that, sir. Bravo out."
Helo turned off the link, nodded to his two Marines. "Go to the Command Room, get a full sitrep from the bridge." The Marines saluted and left. Helo then turned back to Addy who was staring at him with a painfully hopeful expression on her face. "Where's Lee?" she asked. The rest of the team looked up at her words. Helo's blood ran cold at the realization that Lee wasn't in the Command Room.
"Where did you last see him?" he asked, his voice much calmer than he actually felt.
Addy's breath hitched painfully. "He sent me into the vents while he held the Cylons off in his quarters," she began to panic. "That was an hour ago, where is he?"
"Frak," Anders muttered off to the side, his face pinched with worry.
Helo thought for a second, before nodding to himself, decision made. "You said the Command Room was fine, that's not our objective anymore. We go to Major Adama's quarters." He handed one of his spare guns to Addy, pulled her to stand directly behind him, and quickly led the team back the way they had come. Into his link: "Bravo team, be aware. Apollo is unaccounted for at present time. If you find him you tell me, ASAP." He didn't wait for a reply. 'Hang on Lee,' he found himself calling silently. 'We're coming for you.'
As they neared Lee's room, the uneasy feeling in the pit of Helo's stomach grew stronger. At the final turn there was another dead Cylon, a Leoben, shot through the center of his forehead. Lee's work in the firefight, Helo had no doubt. A look to Addy and her answering nod confirmed it. Rounding the corner the team saw the effects of what could only be a short-range grenade, as well as another Cylon body- a Six- that must have been killed in the explosion.
The door to Lee's room was open. Helo halted the group just outside. There was no sound coming from within, and he wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. Sharon came up next to him and with a nod to each other, they moved quickly into the doorway, guns drawn.
The sight of Lee in front of them froze them both. He was lying on a table in the middle of the room, arms and legs tied down. He was shirtless, and every inch of bare skin was covered in bruises and blood. From where he stood, Helo could see slashes and cuts of varying degrees of severity, most of them still bleeding. Trails of blood ran down the sides of Lee's body to pool onto the table and drip off to the floor. Lee's bruised face, one eye nearly swollen shut, was turned towards them. His eyes were closed, and he wasn't moving.
Sharon's gun seemed to lower of its own accord. Helo gave an absolutely terrified "Oh frak!" as he rushed forward. He moved to the table, hesitated for a brief second, and then reached out to check for a pulse. A choking sound by the door interrupted him. Chief and Anders were standing, eyes wide and shocked, in the doorway. The sound was coming from Addy who, hands at her mouth, looked on the verge of passing out. "Sharon, get Addy out of here," he ordered. Sharon was still staring in horror at Lee. She didn't acknowledge him. "Sharon!" he yelled. She snapped out of it, half-hugging half-pulling Addy out the door, shutting it behind them.
Helo turned to the two men who were still standing shocked by the door. "Chief, help me untie him. Anders, sweep the room," he said somewhat dully. Glad to have something to do, both moved quickly to comply. Helo finally turned back to Lee, going to check for a pulse again, dreading the answer. As Chief worked to undo the cords at his feet, Helo felt at Lee's neck, his fingers slipping in patches of blood. After a brief, terrifying moment, Helo let out a shuddering breath. "He's got a pulse," he said quietly. Chief nodded, his own eyes closing momentarily in relief, before working on the ties around Lee's wrists.
Helo gently gripped the wounded man's chin. "Lee… Lee?" he lightly tapped on his cheek, mindful of the dark bruises and cuts there. No response, though Helo hadn't really expected one. He untied the shirt that was hanging uselessly at his neck, obviously having been used to gag his friend, and unraveled it to try and staunch the blood flow on the worst of the gashes across Lee's chest.
Chief approached from the other side of Lee's body, picking up the cut up flight tanks from the floor, joining Helo in trying to stop the bleeding that was coating the former Major Adama. "Frak, Apollo, what did they do to you?" he muttered, eyes concerned and somber. He turned back to the Captain. "We're going to have to get him to Galactica. Soon. He's losing way too much blood and we don't know what else they might have…" he glanced down at Apollo again, swallowing convulsively. "…have done to him."
Helo nodded absentmindedly, staring at bloody fingerprints that had been left on the sides of Lee's face. "Sam," he called out to distract himself. "Is the room clear?"
There was a moment's pause before Anders answered. "No enemy Cylons," his voice was cracked and tense. "But you need to see this."
Helo and Chief both looked up to Anders, who was looking at the door that Sharon had just closed. Scrawled on the back of the door were the words 'soon you will know.' The words were dripping red.
"Gods, that's his blood, isn't it?" Sam asked the other two. Chief only shook his head, reading the words over and over again. 'Soon you will know?' What does that mean? Who is this for? Is it for us? For the fleet? Will they know we're not who we say we are?
Oblivious to Chief's internal terror, Helo pointedly ignored both Sam's question and the obvious answer. He turned back to Lee. "Come on, Apollo. Hang in there a little longer. We'll get you home soon enough," he said quietly, reassuringly, to the man who had become his friend over the last few years. For some reason he thought of Kara, who right now was still probably sitting in the brig, unaware that her best friend was slowly dying on Colonial One. Helo shook his head, ridding himself of that thought. He nodded to the other two men. "Help me out here, we need to triage this as much as we can. Get him stable enough for transport, Cottle can do the rest once we get Apollo on Galactica."
"Helo, maybe Reynolds should get in here and-"
Helo cut Anders off. "No."
Anders shook his head. "We're not medics, maybe she-"
"Sam," Chief interrupted. "She shouldn't see this. Not now, not here."
A look of understanding passed Sam's face. He nodded, hurrying over to assist Chief and Helo. The Captain nodded to the both of them. "Let's do as much as we can, then let Addy look at him once we're in the Raptor."
It seemed like every time Laura received treatment, it wore her out more and more. She was at the point where she needed immediate sleep after an appointment just so she could get through the rest of the day. She was never able to keep track of how long she slept, but today had apparently been long enough for everything in the universe to go to Hell. When she had closed her eyes, only Tory and a medic had been beside her. (Not Addy, because after Cally's funeral Addy had left to join Lee and his campaign of righteousness on Colonial One.) When she awoke, Tory and the medic were joined by four armed Marines, stationed just outside her curtain. For a brief moment Laura flashed back to a few years earlier when Adama had sent Marines after her. It was a small comfort now that the men were facing outward and not at her.
"What's going on?" she finally spoke, voice always sounding stronger than she actually felt.
"Madam President," Tory stood next to her bed. Her face remained stoic, but her voice shook and her eyes were slightly wild. "There was an incident aboard Colonial One."
"What kind of incident?" Laura's mind raced through the possibilities. Another military coup, or Baltar's cult uprising? Zarek? Did Starbuck get free and go crazy(er)?
"Cylons, ma'am," Tory tried to report as calmly as possible. "Some of the human models boarded the ship about an hour ago."
'I've been out for an hour?!' she thought to herself. Outwardly, she remained in control. She nodded, thinking. "What is the latest report? What do they want? How many casualties?"
"Seven casualties, three Cylons and four deck crew. Most passengers and nearly all of the Quorum were off the ship at the time…" Tory hesitated, and in that moment Laura knew. Lee. Something had happened to Lee.
"Mr. Adama?" she asked, wincing at the stammer in her voice.
Tory didn't meet her eyes. "He's unaccounted for, according to Captain Agathon's last transmission. The Cylons are gone, too. Their ship left Colonial One just as Galactica's squad got in."
"Lords have mercy," Laura murmured. She glanced around at the Marines. "And so someone decided I need extra security?"
"Yes, I did," Adama's voice sounded quietly from the curtain. He and Laura held each other's gazes for a moment, enough time for Tory and the Marines to move a discreet distance away. Bill went to his normal chair next to her and sat down heavily. Laura turned onto her side to regard him. He looked weighed down and worn out. Like she felt. When he spoke, it was a tired, tightly controlled voice. "We don't yet know what their objective was. If it was to attack the President of the Colonies, they may try it here."
"They weren't after me," Laura whispered. When Bill raised an eyebrow at her, she smiled gently. "They know I'm already dying."
Bill just looked at her for another moment, expressionless, before sitting back in his chair, eyes cast down at his hands. Laura reached out, put her own hand on his shoulder, hoping to calm the both of them. "Is Lee…?"
Bill didn't move, just swallowed before answering. "We received word from Athena not too long ago. Corporal Reynolds is okay, as are the pilots and crew." Laura stayed quiet, asking him to continue with her eyes. "They found Lee in his quarters." She sucked in her breath, waiting. "All she would say was that it was critical; we should have medical on standby." His voice was so quiet.
Laura felt her eyes water. "That's all?" she asked.
Before Bill could answer, Gaeta's voice called throughout the ship. "Admiral to flight deck. Admiral Adama to flight deck." Laura flinched at the noise and the implication. Adama stood up quickly, jerkily.
She tried to keep her hand on him. "Bill?" she said desperately.
He squeezed her hand with his own, placing it back on the bed. "I'll be back to check on you soon," he said gravelly. As he opened the curtain, allowing Tory to slip back in, Laura could see Cottle and his trauma team standing at the ready, acknowledging Adama as he hurried past them. Cottle caught Laura's eye and nodded to her before turning back to prep his team.
"Madam President," Tory began as she reached out to pull the curtain shut.
"Tory," Laura's voice was cool and calm. "Leave the curtain open."
Adama was nearing a full-out run by the time he reached the flight deck. Raptor One was just landing, he could see Anders piloting it. Sharon was the first to exit, leading a shaken Addy with an arm around her shoulders. Both looked up at Adama as he approached and tried to salute, but he waved them off. "Get her to Life Station," he ordered Sharon, noticing the blood spatters and bruises on the young medic.
As he turned back to the Raptor, Addy's quiet voice stopped him. "It's not my blood." He froze and looked at her again. She was looking at her hands that were shaking and stained. "I… I tried to help. I don't know if…" she looked up at him then, eyes bright.
Adama softened, placing a gentle hand on top of her head. "Life Station," he told her. Tears finally fell as she nodded and Sharon led her away.
Deciding not to wait for the Raptor to power down, he boarded. Chief and Anders- still in the cockpit- threw him startled salutes, but Helo barely acknowledged the Admiral, focused on the stretcher next to him. Gods, Lee looked like death. Makeshift bandages covered most of his chest, stomach, arms, and upper legs, and most of them were soaked through. He was bruised and battered at every edge, unconscious and unmoving. Bill knelt down next to the stretcher. Afraid to touch Lee in fear of hurting him more- afraid to touch your own son, are you Admiral?- he settled for gripping the edge of the stretcher tightly.
"We managed to stop the worst of the bleeding," Helo spoke up. Helo, who was always in control, fun-loving and carefree, was greatly shaken. His hands and the front of his flight suit were bloody. He opened his mouth to say more, but seemed unable. Instead, he went back to adjusting Lee's numerous bandages, leaving one giant, Helo-sized hand gentle and steadfast on Lee's less damaged shoulder.
Adama looked up as the power down was completed. Chief, his own hands and shirt stained red, moved forward and together he and Helo picked up the stretcher. Adama followed, keeping his hand on Lee's ankle, the only part of him that didn't seem damaged. Anders followed silently.
All sound and movement seemed to stop when they exited the Raptor. The crew and pilots on deck stared in horror at the processional. The last time Lee had been in this spot, they had been bidding him farewell. They had seen him then as Apollo still, the conquering hero. But now… now everyone could see how mortal he actually was.
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TO BE CONTINUED…
