Celeste stomped down corridors. No particular corridors, just corridors. She scared several of the crewmembers as she went by, scowling with fire in her eyes. As they jumped out of her way, she didn't care. Nothing mattered anymore, there was nothing left, and someone was responsible. Someone had ruined her life, and someone was going to get a loud reminder of that fact. Whether or not it was the someone who was actually to blame who got the loud reminder depended on who got in her way.
The first someone happened to be Sheba.
"We've got to stop meeting like this!" Sheba yelped as Celeste nearly ran her over, "Where are you going in such a hurry?"
"I don't know; I don't have anywhere to go now, do I?" Celeste growled.
Sheba blinked at the malice in the other pilot's words, "What?"
"Your daddy's equipment testing goes wrong," Celeste stormed, "And all I get from him is a message saying, 'oops, sorry about destroying the only home you'd ever known'."
Sheba grabbed Celeste's arm, "We're all mourning the loss of the Galactica. But you know, they're not really gone as long as we remember them."
"Oh that makes me feel better, thanks for sharing that gem of wisdom!" Celeste yanked her arm out of the other woman's grasp, "But I can't even remember my quarters back into existence, let alone my family!"
Sheba shook her head, "They told me you two were related, but I didn't realize just how related."
Celeste glared, interrupting Sheba before the other woman could make any further comments about her lost brother, "I'm not related to anyone, anymore." She turned and stomped off again.
"Have it your way," Sheba called back, "sister of Starbuck." She saw Celeste flinch, wave her hand dismissively, and continue her rampage down the halls.
Okay, that was low, Sheba admitted to herself, regretting her mention of Celeste's sibling, She's got to be hurting badly, underneath all that shouting and anger. And I'm not helping at all. Poor thing. I've got to make more of an effort to be sensitive. After the stories I've heard, I can't even imagine how she must be feeling. I don't feel like I can trust her though. What's she hiding?
Celeste found herself stomping less energetically into the Pegasus' officer's lounge. She regarded its very few occupants with a cold and polite loathing as she took a seat and ordered a drink. Several people looked at her curiously. She'd never been in there before, and they saw the Galactica insignia on her jacket.
"Hey, you're that pilot, the famous one everyone's been asking about!"
Celeste tried to ignore the bartender as he set her ambrosia down. She'd had enough recognition for one lifetime.
"Hey, do you mind?" she sighed, "just leave me alone."
The guy continued staring at her with a strange sort of dark grin, "You're Lt. Celeste, aren't you? Oh, the things I've heard about you! Is it true you were a Cylon once?"
Celeste closed her eyes, sighed again, opened her eyes, and rolled them, wondering if it was even worth the trouble to correct him.
He didn't wait for an answer, "People have been asking if you died when the Galactica went."
The table creaked a little under Celeste's grip.
"You're a real legend with the survivors, from what I hear."
Celeste whirled and stood up, her chair toppling over. "First of all," she roared, "I renounced my legendary-" she paused for a micron, "…ness…sectons ago!"
The man backed away.
Celeste stepped toward him, "Second of all, have you ever seen a Cylon drink ambrosia?" She swirled her mug in front of the man.
This caused a titter around the room.
The guy shook his head, "Whatever you were, you're the most famous of the Galactica survivors, I can tell you that."
Celeste roiled, "I should have died on that ship, along with the others!" She glared intensely, "but instead I was trapped here on this one against my will!"
The man suddenly shoved her into a wall, pinning her down, "You're right. You should have died on that ship," he grabbed her hands and held them against the wall. Leaning close, he breathed into her face, "but then I never would have met such a famous pilot. And so attractive, too."
The other occupants of the room decided it was getting too hot for them and exited.
Celeste pushed back with her knee, shoving the guy into an empty table. He crashed into it, blinking and gasping back at her in surprise. Then he plunged forward and wrestled her to the floor. She flipped him off of her, sending him tumbling into the bar. He stood up and grabbed a chair, thrashing it around in an attempt to hit her with it.
"What is your problem?" she cried, dodging under a table.
The guy turned the table over and whacked what was left of the chair into the floor that had moments before been where Celeste had sought refuge. She rolled out of his way, only to find too late that the edge of a toppled chair was in front of her. She plowed into it and sat dazed for a few microns before dodging another chair, thrown this time.
The man laughed as he advanced toward her, "I don't have a problem, I just don't like anybody coming in here and threatening my commander. I know what you Galacticans have been planning, and your little horde won't get away with it!"
"What in Hades are you talking about?" Celeste yelled, pausing unwisely in her escape attempt to stare at the guy.
He glared back, wielding part of a chair leg, "If you and your friends even attempt to assassinate Commander Cain, the Pegasus crew will retaliate, I assure you!"
Celeste's mouth dropped open, "That's felgercarb!"
"I bet!" the man stood. He struck at Celeste with the chair leg as she kicked his own legs out from under him.
Trembling with fury and adrenaline, Celeste stood up and grabbed the man up by his collar, "Listen, you! Neither my friends, nor I, have any plans to kill anyone…though I'm getting less and less concerned for your well being!"
The man just struggled as Celeste's grip tightened. He started gasping and turning purple.
Celeste growled, "You'd better stay away from us! Don't come near my friends!"
"Celeste!" Boomer's voice cut through her rage, "let him go!"
She did, and as Boomer's hands pulled her away, she yelled back, "Stay away from them!"
