CHAPTER 7

"I mean, we only just found out that the cylons look like humans. How could they possibly expect me to already have a detection device made?" Baltar continued his rant as Six circled the table, which was filled with miscellaneous lab equipment that had been delivered to him after the mob. Once next to him, she put her hands on either side of his face and stilled his jaw.

"By we, you mean them, right Gaius? Because we both know that you knew about humanoid cylons before anyone else in the colonies did," she gave him a devilish smirk as his eyes widened.

"Of course. Of course. Well I don't know what the hell I'm suppose to do with all this...all this...equipment. It's utter madness! Not to mention, there's no way I'll be able to work in this...this cramped space!"

Six stilled his movements again, this time more forcefully. She pushed him into his chair and straddled him.

"Pull it together, Gaius, you must complete this device."

"Oh and why should I do that? Lemme guess..."

"God's plan," Six finished for him. Baltar threw his arms in the air, his eyes still wide with frustration.

"God's plan. Right. The cylon god wants me to make a cylon detector so that we can find all the cylons in our fleet. Is that what God's plan is?"

Six pushed out her bottom lip at him. "It's not as cut and dry as that, you know. God's plan is intricate, constant, and correct."

"There's a very important piece of information that you're missing, darling. I don't believe in God. Or the Gods. Or anything. It just isn't..."

Just then, the cylon hallucination swiftly rose from her position and slammed Baltar's head into the table. "It doesn't matter what you believe in, because no matter what, God's plan will unfold."

Baltar lifted his head off the table. "I guess this would be a bad time to ask you how the hell you're so sure of all this? I mean, what if I'm right, and there's nothing? That would make you look pretty stupid, wouldn't it?" He immediately got another mouthful of table.

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Adama walked over to one of the drawers and pulled it open, revealing the body of Leoben. Chaos was at the Commander's side, examining the cylon. She reached inside the top part of her flight suit and pulled out a small scalpel. Adama gave her a sideways glance.

"Don't tell Cottle," Chaos stated with a smile. She then skillfully incised a square of skin from the dead cylon's left pectoral. Adama watched intently as Chaos freed the skin from the body, and lifted the cut out to eye level.

"I have a theory," she began, gazing with rapt concentration at what was in her hand, "if the cylons were smart enough to perfectly copy human form, and elitist enough to throw a hissy fit and destroy humanity, then maybe they were dumb enough to include regenerative properties in their models. Thus, making it simpler than we thought to distinguish them from us."

Adama nodded imperceptibly, following her gaze to the slab of skin. "And what if they weren't dumb enough?"

"Then we'll just need to search for another flaw in their design. They can't be perfect replicas of humans, because...well, they aren't humans."

"So you're banking of the fact that cylons are dumber than us? Because they've frakked us over multiple times already, and right under our noses," Adama pointed out. Chaos simply smirked.

"No, I'm banking on the fact that they're dumber than me. And the chances of that are very high." Her smile was so warm that he couldn't help but return it, though at a lesser intensity. She stowed the scalpel and skin inside pocket of her jock smock and left Adama alone in the morgue. He then looked back down on the cylon, observing the deep bruises and cuts scattered across its face. The Commander was admiring his own work, he realized, for this was the cylon he fought at Ragnar Station. Touching the cold skin of the Leoben model's cheek, Adama was taken aback at how similar to actual human skin it felt. He sincerely hoped that the young, eccentric doctor would be able to find some differences between the cylon and human skin. Though Baltar, too, was working on a detector, he felt more comfortable with the idea of Dr. Aerugo holding the key to cylon detection. He had only just met her, but Adama trusted her a hell of a lot more than that whack job scientist.

Before returning to his quarters, Commander Adama decided to turn on the morgue's wireless in order to check the progression of the tribunal. He switched it on, expecting to hear Sergeant Hadrian's accusatory voice, but instead his surprised ears caught the serious cadence of President Roslin's.

"We know that Galactica needs all of its deckhands on duty in order to ensure the safety of the hangar deck, but I regret to inform you all that Specialist Socinus has been relieved due to dereliction of duty. He has admitted to negligently leaving the Causeway C door open, which, as you all know, allowed a cylon to penetrate the battlestar..."

Adama switched off the wireless with a bit more force than he intended. He didn't know whether his anger was stemming from the fact that one of his own men caused the death of three others, or from the suspension of his inferior without his knowledge. The whole idea of the tribunal was starting to seem ludicrous to him. He pushed the body back into its place, and left the morgue, intent on disbanding the tribunal. But not before he had a little talk with his deck chief.

Commander Adama was shocked to find that Chief Tyrol was already standing in his quarters. The man turned around as Adama approached his desk, and he stood at attention.

"At ease, chief," Adama snapped as he stood behind his desk.

"Sir, I came here to talk to you about Socinus, I think..."

"Chief, the first thing I need to do here is let you know that these little trysts you've been having with Lieutenant Valerii need to stop. Now."

The chief swallowed the rest of his words and stared at his commanding officer. His eyes then darted around the room, trying to get his vocal cords to work.

"Sir, I..."

"Don't bullshit me, Chief, I'm your commanding officer, I know these things when I see them. I let you guys have your fun, but now three of my men have died, and I have reason to believe that your negligence caused it."

Tyrol swallowed hard again, cursing himself, but also thanking the gods for having such a merciful commander.

"Yes sir, thank you sir," he saluted Adama, and practically ran out of his quarters.

This whole situation pissed Adama off to no end. Relationships between ranks were blatantly forbidden in the military, and he could get in serious trouble for allowing it under his command. Commander Adama, though, felt that no one got to choose who they fell in love with, so he tended to let these things slide regardless of the consequences. Now, though, he saw the magnitude at which the consequences could occur. He felt betrayed by Boomer and Tyrol.

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To her dismay, Chaos hadn't gotten a chance to examine her skin sample. Two civilians, a man and a woman, had gotten severely injured in some freak accident involving hatchway air vents. Both patients looked positively flustered, their hair sticking out every which way, and their faces completely flushed. When they were both brought into sick bay, Chaos had already drawn her own conclusions as to how the accident happened. Cottle had been helping the woman with her broken tailbone, and Chaos had just begun to treat the man's leg.

"I...I think I pulled my hamstring, or something," the man had sputtered.

"Then you should probably stretch before performing such activities in such a confined space," Chaos responded, and both of the patients blanched immediately.

After that snide comment, Cottle banned her from going near either of the patients. Babysitting the injured and angry Kara Thrace was her job for the time being.

"Come on, kid, isn't there any way you could get me some ambrosia? Or something? I hear the Chief's started some sort of distillery, though, too. Hey, are you listening to me?"

Chaos had been staring towards where the couple was being treated, but she was now turning her head to give Thrace a blank look.

"This is so below not only my ability level, but also my intelligence level," she sighed. Kara scoffed at her comment.

"If you're such a genius, why don't you figure out a way to get me out of here?"

"I'm not gonna risk an angry Cottle just so you can get drunk. You see how Cottle acts normally; you don't want to see him when he's actually in a foul mood."

"Gods, why the hell is Cottle the only person you choose to listen to? What if you let me go for a really good reason?"

"Does this 'good reason' involve seeing Captain Apollo? If so, then no."

Kara's frustration was growing with each word that came out of Chaos' mouth. "What is it with everyone and thinking there's something going on between Lee and me?"

"I was actually referring to the fact that seeing him would somehow mean you climbing into a viper, but yeah, I guess that kind of exertion would be forbidden as well," Chaos said with a completely serious face. Starbuck slammed her right fist on the table beside her cot.

"Godsdamnit, kid, if you don't get me out of here..."

"Why do you always call me kid?" Chaos interrupted, "you don't even know how old I am. For all you know, I could be an old lady who just exfoliates well."

Kara's booming laughter radiated through the entire wing, and possibly throughout the entire ship. She wiped a stray tear from her cheek with her pointer finger.

"I'm gonna save you some embarrassment and pretend you never said that. Really, though, I need to get out of this frakking bed. The deckhands are having a bitch of a time figuring out how the captured raider works. Can't I just go down there and, I don't know, yell at them for being frakking idiots?"

Chaos thought for only a moment. "Fine, as long as you strain your voice and not your knee, deal?"

"Deal," Kara squeaked, suddenly giddy.

"Wheelchair or crutches?"

"Crutches."

"Wheelchair it is."

Once a livid Kara Thrace was wheeled out of sick bay, Chaos was approached by a very annoyed Dr. Cottle.

"As much as it pains me to do so, I'm leaving you in charge of sick bay for the next few hours," he grumbled, uncharacteristically keeping his cigarette unlit.

"Really? Got a hot date on Cloud Nine or something?" Chaos replied as she straightened up the now vacant cot.

"No, the President collapsed at her desk, so now I have to get my ass over to Colonial One. Don't you ever listen to the wireless?"

"No. How are people gonna know that I'm an actual doctor, then, if all I have are these lowly scrubs?"

"I don't know, wrap yourself in a white sheet from the laundry room and slap a name tag on it."

"They'll mistake me for a patient if I wear that," she frowned, "let me wear your lab coat."

"Absolutely not, have you completely lost it? No way I'm gonna let my loose-cannon doctor parade around in my coat."

"You're right, people will just come here with emergencies, looking for the doctor, but I'll just be invisible to them," Chaos stated with mock disappointment.

"That doesn't mean you can't treat them, just assert yourself like you damn well do with everything else," he finally reached into his coat and grabbed his lighter.

"I don't think the President will appreciate that," Chaos indicated his action of lighting the cigarette.

"She'll live," he regretted the words as they left his lips. He looked to the ground for a moment, and then looked back at Chaos with stoic eyes.

"You know, I was suppose to go to the Rising Star in a few minutes. As you know, I have some very important business to take care of. You're gonna have to leave Ishay in charge. I'm sure she can handle it, though. She's only cried twice since we relocated to Galactica. Either than, or…"

"Fine, kid, you can wear my godsdamned coat if it'll make you shut the hell up so I can get outta here."

Chaos smiled so widely that it almost made Cottle return it. He reluctantly peeled off his lab coat and tossed it at Chaos.

"I'm keeping the cigarette, though," he muttered, leaving the wing with his medical bag. Chaos put on the white coat with a victorious smile, and turned around to find Lee Adama standing right behind her. Her face dropped at first, but then quickly turned into an almost seductively warm smile.

"Are you two related?" Lee blurted with a puzzled half-smile.

"No, we aren't, why?" Chaos hummed, still smiling at the CAG.

"I don't know, I guess I figured the only way he'd cave for someone is if that someone were his granddaughter," they both chuckled at the idea.

"How do you know I'm not just an unusually charming person that no one can say "no" to?" she asked once her laughter had subsided. Lee suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable again, and he cleared his throat before stating his original intentions for visiting sick bay.

"I came here to see Lt. Thrace, but her cot's empty. I wasn't aware she would be cleared for duty so soon."

"I didn't clear her for duty, I just told her she could go to the hangar bay and help with the raider."

Lee frowned then, and Chaos decided that the look of a petulant child suited him well.

"Where's Cottle?" he inquired suddenly.

"He's on his way to Colonial One; apparently the President fainted on the job. Any questions you have can be directed to me."

"I really need to speak to a real doctor."

Chaos gave an overly exaggerated gesture to the lab coat she was wearing. "You're speaking to one," before she could hit him with a rude remark, a hysterical mother ran into sick bay holding a toddler. Chaos silently commanded one of the medics to calm down the mother and get the baby behind a curtain. She then turned back to Lee donning an austere expression.

"Lieutenant, this is a serious matter than involves my best pilot. And as one of my pilots, you..."

"Whoa, hold on there, I'm not a lieutenant, do you see any pips on my collar?"

"If you really did graduate from the academy, then that's the rank you'd hold."

"I'm not in the military anymore. And I don't have time to argue with you, Captain; I have more important things to take care of. In this sick bay, I am not your inferior. Now get out of here, you're taking up space." Lee just stood there, rooted to the spot, as Chaos went to tend to the child. He inhaled deeply, telling himself not to let what the girl said get to him. He was failing miserably.

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"If I had a cubit for every time a godsdamned patient thought taking more meds would lead to a speedier recovery..."

"You'd be broke, because all your money would have disintegrated in a nuclear holocaust," Roslin interrupted Cottle. He simply harrumphed. He wasn't sure whether he was pissed that she was so damn stubborn, or that he wasn't currently puffing on a cigarette.

"You need to rest, Madam President, we can't have the leader of our race overdosing on her meds," he stated, deciding not to retort.

"That's simply not an option, doctor, in fact I need to get to Galactica right away," her eyes had softened from the glare that previously covered her face, and she shifted her position on the couch. Cottle released a heavy sigh.

"I guess it would be useless for me to tell you that not heeding my advice is not only irresponsible, but it pisses me off to no end?"

An earnest smile unexpectedly made its way across the Presidents ashen face.

"That would be correct."

He grumbled something unintelligible as he reached into his bag, and began readying the shot.

"That medic of yours, Chaos?" she said in a questioning tone.

"She's not my medic, she's a doctor. Dr...Aerugo."

Roslin tilted her head and chuckled slightly through her nose.

"Well I guess the colonial educational programs weren't in as bad a shape as I thought," her chuckle had turned into an infection giggle. One that only Cottle had immunity to. "And is she your granddaughter?"

The doctor let out what Roslin assumed was the equivalent of hysterical laughter for Cottle. His eyebrows were knitted into a frown, and the sound coming from his mouth was somewhere between a laugh and a cough.

"No, Madam President," he was finally able to choke out, "I'm nowhere near related to that lunatic," he pulled some clear liquid into the syringe, fully stifling his laughter so as not to spill its contents.

"But you've known each other for a while?"

Cottle's face suddenly became solemn, and Laura felt as if she stepped over some sort of line. He took a deep breath before he spoke. "Yes, I've known Chaos for quite some time."

Roslin gave him a sad smile before offering him her bare arm. The solemnity of his face dissipated just then.

"Unfortunately, it's not that kind of shot."

The President gave him a calculating look as she lowered her arm.

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Chaos sat in Cottle's office, spinning in his chair. She made quick work of the toddler, who had been running a fever and had bloody urine. The poor kid only had two pairs of training underwear since his family only planning on spending two days on Galactica for the opening of the museum. Chaos had instructed the mother to change and wash his undergarments at a much higher frequency. In the midst of her thoughts about short supplies, and the consequences to come, she caught sight of the skin sample resting on the counter. She had finally had the good sense to take it out of her flight suit and place it in a glass vial. Once she halted her spinning, she picked it up and left the room. One of the medics approached her right as she exited Cottle's office.

"Dr...uh...Chaos?"

"What?" she moaned irked that the medic, Cavay, had interrupted her mission. He was a jittery fellow, and his platinum blonde hair stuck out at every odd angle. Cavay was so tall that Chaos had to squint up at him under the bright lighting in the sick bay.

"Doctor Cottle has asked me to let you know that he has found someone who has chamalla, and that you must fetch it and bring it to the President."

Chaos rolled her eyes like a frustrated adolescent. "She just overdosed on her cancer meds, she clearly doesn't need to add hallucinogens to her system," she was half-joking when she said it, but Cavay didn't smile. What a characterless scrooge. "And why the hell do I have to play the frakking messenger in this? That's your job, you're the medic."

"Doctor Cottle told me that you, specifically, must fetch the substance from Priestess Elosha," he responded hurriedly.

"Of course he did," she sighed. "Ishay!" she called out, causing Cavay to jump back. In an instant, the young Caprican was standing in front of Chaos, next to Cavay.

"Yes?" she asked, her eyes wide. Chaos put the vial between her teeth and shucked the lab coat, shoving it into Ishay's chest.

"You're the boss. Be back later," she said, her words muffled from the vial. As she left the wing, she cursed herself for leaving all her possessions on the Rising Star. She didn't bring much with her, she was only suppose to spend the day on the cruiser. She was tired, though, of wearing her unwashed scrubs everywhere. Luckily, the undershirt she was wearing was black, so no one would really notice the dried blood that had inevitably gotten on it. The precious President of the Colonies would have to wait for her meds, for Chaos was desperate to take a look at the cylon's skin.

As she rounded the corner to storage locker 48-92, she stopped in her tracks. Dr. Baltar was nowhere to be found, and instead there was a dark skinned, curly haired man sitting at his lab bench. She closed the space between her and the man, and leaned in to see what was on the screen. The man sensed her presence over his shoulder, and jumped when he turned to face her.

"What the hell are you doing, this is a restricted area!" he exclaimed, almost falling off the chair.

"Maybe you should have closed the hatch, then," Chaos retorted. She studied the picture on the screen; it looked like Dr. Baltar...but there was something off about the picture. "Is that suppose to be Gaius Baltar?" she continued. The man composed himself, and stood. A lieutenant, perfect. Another military man to be patronized by.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave, ma'am," he told her, his chin high and his back straight. Chaos waved her right hand at him in a condescending manner.

"Ma'am? Who says ma'am anymore? Just answer my question."

Lieutenant Gaeta gave a frustrated sigh. Everyone was always ordering him around, expecting him to do the impossible. He really didn't appreciate being talked down to by some insolent teenage girl.

"Yes," he relented, "this is supposed to be Gaius Baltar."

"Hmm," Chaos pushed her bottom lip out.