Hearts and Fates Entwined

By: Fairedust

Part three

Chapter 18

The two boys sat huddled closely together against the wall. They cautiously eyed the young soldier left to guard and protect them. Each of their minds filled with fear not only for themselves, but their stolen sisters as well. For the soldier's part, he looked the two boys over critically. After he realized neither were going to try and run from him, he began to realize the Commander's daughter had not placed them in his care due to any offence they may have done; but to ensure their safety from the other people aboard this vessel. Once he came to this conclusion, he began to look them both over more carefully. He took in their dirty and ragged appearances, their hollowed out cheeks and haunted eyes. Stepping closer to the two boys, he tried to assure them both he would keep them safe until she returned or he placed them onto her Raptor. When he was close enough to touch either of them, he heard both of their stomachs grumble. Taking a quick look around, he decided it was time for his meal break. Signaling both of the boys to follow, he brought them with him to one of the booths. In short order all three were back by the wall, food in hand; awaiting the time to go down to the hanger deck.

Oooooooooooooooooo

George was standing outside one of the Pilot bunkrooms, when Kara came around the corner. Seeing him there, she gave him her customary greeting while playfully punching him on his shoulder. When he didn't respond with his standard pretend agony, she finally noticed the concerned look on his face. Before she could begin to question him, he started to speak.

"Ah, Kara lass. I be wondering if ye could bring out the wee lassie for me? I'm afraid she be a mite angry with me and she won't come to the door."

"George, did you ever think that was because she's not in there?" she said with a playful grin.

"But she has to be. She pulled the late shift last night and looked all but dead on her feet when I spoke to her this morning. I already checked the mess, the gym and all the other places she likes to be; but she wasn't in any of them. I be figuring she finally decided to do the smart thing and catch some rack time."

"I thought she was scheduled to go on one of her medical assignments today?" Kara said with her brow crinkling in confusion.

"It's true, the Lass was scheduled to go to the Promethious today. But I pulled an emergency shift, and told her I couldn't go until late this afternoon. After I explained to her she couldn't go to that ship all alone, she told me she understood but. …To say she was disappointed would be like calling a cast iron pot dark grey. She don like being told what she can and canna do. I managed to finish up the repair early and I've been trying to find her for the last two hours; to let her know I can accompany her there now.''

"You're definitely right about that, she doesn't like being told what she can and can't do. But I agree with you. She shouldn't be on the Promethious all alone. I'll go tell her you can take her there now. That ought to put you back into her good graces." Kara said looking back at George, as she stepped into the bunkroom. When she turned to face the room proper, her eyes reflected her confusion at finding the room empty. George had seemed so sure Tabby'd be in here. Calling over her shoulder that there was nobody else in the room, George instantly entered and moved over to what had to be her bunk. Kara noted that he seemed to be looking for something on her shelves and came to stand next to the man. When she did, she once more noticed how very large he was. She didn't even come to his armpit. When he suddenly turned around to face her, she took an instinctive step back.

"Which one be her locker?" he angrily demanded. Kara didn't even hesitate, before she pointed at Tabby's locker. When George snatched the door open roughly and began to rummage around inside, Kara took a curious step closer. "Damn the wee woman!" he growled, as he slammed the door closed and turned to glower down at Kara.

ooooooooooooooooo


Lee had been having a very long day. His day started out with having to deal with Tigh's snide comments in regards to his paperwork and his scheduling decisions. After he had defended himself on those fronts, he was then scheduled to see the President. She still insisted on him being her military adviser, or as she called it her adviser on the military. When he returned to the Galactica, the Chief had cornered him in regards to how some of the pilots seemed to be mistreating his planes. As if the planes were the Chief's personal babies or that any of the pilots would intentionally mistreat any of them. Only after assuring the Chief that in his next pilots briefing, he'd be sure to bring up the Chief's concerns, did the man seem satisfied. Next he'd spent a mind numbing few hours in his office, going over the paperwork Tigh had questioned. Once he was finally done, he realized the time he'd just spent had been wasted. There was nothing wrong with his calculations. They had been accurate. Full of righteous indignation, he'd just left the Colonel's office after returning said paperwork to Tigh.

Feeling a headache coming on, he took a quick glance at his watch. His shift had ended hours ago. He decided it would be a good idea to try and lay down for a little while, before going to the mess. He really didn't think his head would be able to take all the noise that room was always filled with. When he rounded on the bunkroom, he was surprised to see the door standing wide open. As soon as he heard a loud banging noise and an angry male voice saying '….wee woman' Lee raced the final distance to the hatch. This was the time Abby usually took her rack time, and it was clear to Lee that that voice was surely directed at her.

Grabbing the hatch jamb as he rushed to the opening allowed him to all but sling shot himself into the room. What he saw brought him up short. It was George who'd obviously just slammed into something. Frak, but that man was big. Lee quickly began to scan the room for Abby, but the only other occupant he saw was a startled Kara. When the two in the room had spun around to look at Lee as he entered, they both had inadvertently obscured the view of Abby's rack. Without thinking, Lee continued into the room and pushed them both aside to find the rack empty. Something was wrong here. It was quickly becoming clear that these two were not threatening or yelling 'at' Abby, as he'd initially assumed. They couldn't be. First, she wasn't even here. Second, these two would be the last who'd attack Abby, physically or verbally. So what the Frak was going on here?

"Lee?" Kara said in a quiet voice, for once afraid to set him off. Rarely had she seen him act out so rashly. He usually always thought every angle thru before reacting. The only two people who could make him lose his control were herself and Tabby. She knew she only did so when she made him angry. Tabby seemed to do it all the time, but in a good way. Tabby usually seemed to bring out the best in Lee; made him feel. Well Tabby used to anyway. Ever since his 'space walk' Lee had pretty much ignored Tabby's very existence. It was as if he couldn't stand to be around her. Kara always felt that couldn't be true, knowing Lee the way she did. She'd noticed the sad or self depreciating looks Lee gave Tabby, when he thought no one would notice. But she also couldn't bee 100% sure it wasn't true, that Lee now seemed to hate Tabby. For the very same reason, she knew Lee. He'd never before been intentionally mean or cruel to anyone. His recent treatment of Tabby seemed to be just that.

After seeing Lee charge across the room and push not only herself but also George back away from Tabby's rack, had at least answered one of Kara's internal questions. Lee couldn't hate Tabby. The fact that he was willing to come not just to Tabby's defense, but had been willing to go thru George to do so; was very telling as far as Kara was concerned. What she couldn't figure out was why he'd tried to cut himself off from Tabby so completely. When Lee didn't initially answer her unspoken question, she placed her hand on his shoulder to gain his attention. Kara had never liked being ignored, after all.

Lee finally turned to face Kara. "What the Frak is going on here?" When he saw Kara look towards George, he turned to face him. "Well?" George saw the potential powder keg brewing in the Captain's eyes. George swallowed hard and took a deep breath.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooo

FRAZZLEWARTS!! She'd lost sight of the bastards. Spinning around in an effort to catch sight of them once more, Tabby's eyes darted around frantically. She was sure they'd turned down this passage. Not seeing any of the men or any sign of the two girls, she began to look at the faces of those sitting or standing around the area. There! She noticed one in particular was doing his best to avoid making eye contact. She badly wanted to race over to the man, but realized that would only frighten him; possibly even making him flee. She knew she didn't have time to chase him down and still have any hope of finding the girls, so she forced herself to walk as casually as she could manage. Placing a smile on her face, she knelt down in front of the nervous man. When he still tried to keep from looking at her, she reached out and placed her palms against both of his cheeks. With gentle pressure, she forced him to look at her directly.

"You know what I'm looking for, don't you?" She felt him try to make a small nod between her hands. "Do you know where they are being taken?" After hesitating, he again made another small nod. "Good" she said soothingly. Finally she was getting somewhere. She hoped that even though she'd lost sight of them, she'd still be able to catch up to them. This was a very large ship after all. There were plenty of places to hide. Even though thus far he'd been cooperative to her questions, she decided it would be best to make her next sentence a statement. "You're going to tell me where those men are taking them." His eyes grew large and he attempted to shake his head in the negative. She wouldn't let him. "Yes you are. You're going to tell me, now. Don't even think of trying to lie to me, I'll know. If you try lying to me or don't tell me, this will turn out badly." She knew he'd naturally misinterpret her meaning. Even though it pained her senses of right and wrong to take such advantage of this broken man, she was willing to do so. She was counting on him misunderstanding her statement. He'd naturally think she meant it would turn out badly for himself and not realize what she really meant was it would turn out badly for the girls.

Tabby watched the man frantically look about. He soon realized no one would step in to assist him. She watched him close his eyes in seeming defeat, only to open once more with the glimmer of a backbone. Knowing he was finally going to attempt to defend himself, she was ready. She never even gave him a chance. She simply moved her fingers, already against his cheeks, over the pressure points on his jaw and gave him a small squeeze. She'd had no intention of causing him any harm, but felt his current discomfort was justifiable. Feeling a burning sensation race from both sides of his jaw and reach around to the back of his skull quickly took the fight right out of him. With his eyes filled with tears of defeat, he quickly tried to nod his head thru the pain.

Tabby moved her fingers away from the pressure points, but did not remove them from his face entirely. It wasn't that she wanted to hurt this poor man. It was more she knew that by using this same pressure point, if necessary, would cause him much less pain in the long run. She didn't want to try and restrain him here in the passage. There was a much higher chance that she'd really cause him damage, if she needed to do that. Also she didn't want to attract any more attention from those in the passage than she already had. Once she had removed the pressure, the man began to speak. He'd told her he didn't know an exact location of where the girls would be taken, but he knew into which section of the ship they must be headed. It was the very bowels of the ship. A place that the now dead Phalen's group didn't even wander, but had certainly supplied. It was a place for escaping reality for those who stayed there. Where drugs were the order of the day. There you could buy someone to be your sex slave or to torture, depending on whichever fetish was called for. Namely it was a place that had no rules. Tabby closed her eyes as memories of her past assaulted her conscious.

After getting directions on how to get to this Hell, Tabby gave the man's cheek a gentle caress. She felt guilty for frightening him so badly. When the ragged man felt the gentle caress against his cheek, his initial confused reaction caused him to look at her face. What he saw was her soft apologetic smile. Slowly, his eyes widening, his confusion began to change into a new found realization. He suddenly understood she'd really meant him no harm. She wasn't anything like the people he was used to dealing with. Those who liked to bully their way thru and beat on those weaker than themselves for their own amusement. No she had only been looking for a way to help those children he'd seen come thru here earlier. He somehow knew that it wouldn't matter where those children were taken, she'd do everything she could to find and bring them back. Even if it meant wandering into Hell to do so. Suddenly he felt the need to warn her to leave it be. To tell her she wouldn't be safe down there. But by the time he'd come to this realization, she was already gone. Although it shamed him, he knew he simply didn't have the courage to follow her down there. Wandering back to his space along the wall, he tried once more to just blend into the background.

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

Lee had demanded George explain why he'd just heard something being slammed loudly and why George had been barking into Kara's face. At first he didn't understand what all the fuss was about. Abby had to be somewhere else on the Galactica. Surely she wouldn't have been foolish enough to go aboard that violent den of thieves all by herself. True, many of the crew found their way aboard that ship all the time. But they all went in groups of at least three. Some of the larger members had been known to go there in pairs. As it was, the Galactica and the Pegasus sent their Marines to monitor only the main levels. None of them were to wander about the ship at random, alone. Abby had been on that ship several times and was well aware of what it was like. She couldn't be that foolish. But Lee hadn't counted on how stubborn she could be, until George continued.

" Ye don't understand Captain. I don 'think' she may have gone. I ken it, I do. She tol' me she was to meet with a pair o' children on this trip. That she'd promised to get them off o' that ship, on this trip. Knowing how it must a been tearing her up to think she be breakin' her word, I hurried making me repairs. Like I told ye. I already looked everywhere the wee lass coulda been." When Lee moved to interrupt, George stepped forward threateningly. Lee wisely held his tongue at seeing the much larger man's anger appear to be boiling just below the surface. "I'm no grasping at straws here. She's no just off somewhere sulking, no her. Her black bag and her purple pouch be gone, I tell ye. She's gone over to that den of antiquity without me. All we can do is just pray she managed to drag someone else along with her."

As soon as George mentioned Abby's black bag and purple pouch, he too looked for them. He too found the items missing. Then he took a deep breath to calm himself. By the time he looked over his shoulder at the two others in the room, he seemed to be once more back in control. Only Kara's deep knowledge of him, allowed her to detect the strain in his posture. Still she was glad he seemed to be back in control. When Lee was in control, he could figure just about anything out. She was well aware she was more of the reaction and reflex kind of gal.

"OK. Kara, let's go down to the flight deck and see if we can figure out who flew her over there. We should also be able to find out who was assigned to stay with her." Lee said, his voice once again full of authority.

"Hey! Captain ye may be there laddie. But I am coming with ye. Ye ken ye canna stop me right?" George all but growled at Lee

"You aren't scheduled for any duty right now?" at seeing George shake his head "Fine. Even though I'm sure Abby must have an escort with her, it would be helpful to have you come with us. You've been on that ship more than either Kara or myself."

"Lee?" Kara suddenly had a bad feeling about all of this.

When Lee looked over at her, he could see she was becoming worried. It wasn't something she normally did, so he wasn't about to dismiss it. Looking George up and down, he added for all their benefit. " I'm quite sure George will be an asset to locating our girl. I'm quite sure he has some very …helpful skills." With that, they all hurried down to the flight deck. All were aware they were flying this blind and needed more information. All three hoped they'd either find her returning or that she at least had had the presence of mind to request another escort, in place of George. Though Lee admitted having George with her would have been his first choice. Who in their right mind would have tried to go thru that mountain of a man, to get to Abby.

Once they arrived on the flight deck, their worries only increased. From the Chief, they were able to discover that Duck Man had been the pilot to fly Abby over to the Promethious. They found Duck Man doing his pre-flight preparations, in order to pick her back up. He told the small group that Tabitha had been his only passenger on the flight over. When he'd asked about the change in her usual routine of bringing along the 'big man'" indicating George with his hand, " she'd told him she was going solo today, since her friend couldn't get away from work to play today." Since she seemed to be the only one who went on these assignments with an escort, he didn't think there was any reason to be concerned. When Lee barked the question of which other medical staff he'd been dropping of at the Promethious alone, Duck Man said he'd only ever dropped off Tabitha to that ship before. When he'd said that, Kara wisely put a restraining hand on Lee's shoulder. As soon as Lee felt her hand, he managed to regain his self control. It wasn't Duck Man's fault. Like he said, it hadn't really seemed out of order. When he'd questioned Abby, the answer he'd received seemed to clear up the issue.

On Duck Man's return trip he didn't have the empty cabin like he'd anticipated. It was now filled with three very anxious looking people; his CAG, the Galactica's lead pilot and a very large, very powerful looking man. Needless to say, this flight wasn't the comfortable, friendly type flight he'd done seven hours earlier with Tabitha. This flight had him feeling almost as tense as he normally felt during a Cylon attack. Still he managed to execute a textbook perfect landing on the Promethious.

Within moments of their landing and disembarking, a Marine began to move forward. George noticed the two children behind him instantly. His sigh of relief instantly caught both Lee's and Kara's attention. When they looked at him in question, George quickly pointed out the children. "If the children are here, then she must be close by." Now both Lee and Kara noticed the children. Looking from the children to the Marine, both began to feel an uneasy feeling in the pit of their stomachs. If Abby were here with the children, where was she? Why would she leave them with a Marine here on the transport deck? Both looked at each other, then back to the nearing soldier.

"Sirs. Private Norman. I was ordered to bring these two to the returning Raptor, Sirs."

"By whom, Private?" It was Lee who spoke. Seeing Lee's rank and hearing the authority in his voice, only made the young soldier more nervous. "She never actually gave me her name, Sir. But I know she was here many times before, on medical duty. I …I believe her to be that woman known as 'Tabitha', Sir."

"Care to elaborate as to why she ordered you to bring them to her return Raptor, instead of doing it herself" Lee prodded.

The young soldier was getting more nervous by the minute. It had just sunk in that not only was the man before him a Captain, but he wore the insignia of being the Galactica's CAG. That had to mean this was Captain Adama, the Admiral's son. If that was so, then the woman he saw take off thru the crowd had to be his….oh my Gods. Trying to look away from the angry superior in front of him, his eyes were snared by Starbuck's. If he thought the look in the Captain's eyes bordered on murder, Starbucks expression made him very glad looks couldn't really kill.

"We're waiting Private. And for some reason I don't think we really have the time to do so." Lee snapped.

"Uh. Right Sir. She brought me both boys here, and ordered I look after them. To see that they were brought to her Raptor." he stammered

Kara reached out and grabbed him by his collar as she seethed into his face. "You already told us that. What the Captain wants to know is why she left them with you!"

"Uh. Well I don't really know all the details Sir. She just ordered me to do as I told you and…." feeling Kara's grip tighten when he paused, he quickly continued. "Well as soon as she did, Sir, she took off thru the crowd like she was chasing something … or someone." Kara thrust the man away from herself as soon as he finished. That's when she finally took note of the two boys and noticed they seemed covered in fresh bruises.

"Lee?" Kara asked, while indicating the boys with her head. Lee looked over to them and realized they were probably his best bet for information. Looking over at Kara, he realized she had already frightened them both too badly to be able to get anything from them. Looking over at George, he figured with his size this was not going to be one of his areas of expertise. Lee pinched the bridge of his nose. The headache that had been threatening him when he'd first entered the bunk room had since exploded into a painful throb. Taking a deep breath, he was about to kneel down to question the boys, when he was startled by George's movement at his side.

George had quickly summed up the situation. He realized they needed to question the two boys. Already knowing that Kara had frightened them and that Lee would be to authoritative with them, he quickly knelt down in front of them. Now that he was closer to their eye level, he used his most lyrical tones to question them. It didn't take them long to answer as many questions as they could. They said they both remembered seeing him here with Miss Tabitha before. They told him what had happened to their sisters. And that Miss Tabitha had brought them to the soldier man, before racing off to find the girls. Both boys tried very hard to show only brave faces, but by the time they were done with their tale they both had tears flowing down their faces.

Lee and Kara both had to admit they were impressed with George's ability to obtain so much information from the children. Once it was clear they had nothing more to add, Lee made sure both would be placed on Duck Man's Raptor. Just before the threesome left in search of Abby, Duck Man had approached Lee. Grabbing his arm, "I'm not going anywhere Apollo. I'll be right here when you find her and bring her back." he assured. Lee gave him a grateful nod, then moved out behind both Kara and George. They had all agreed George would work best on point, due to his size.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Tabby had followed that poor man's directions carefully. She knew she must be getting close to the area, because only half the lights seemed to be lit. Many of the faces she was now seeing had the dazed look of drugs or the lifeless look of no longer caring what happened around themselves. Of no longer caring what could or would happen to themselves. Yes, she thought she must be getting close. Then she heard the sound that could only be the frightened squeal of a child. She began to run even faster, weaving around obstacles and people in her way.

tbc