Chapter 37 Here & There
Since she was grounded, Apollo assigned her to a full maintenance shift with the knuckledraggers. She kept to herself, silently acknowledging the Chief's instructions and mostly working alone.
Standing in the hanger bay with all the usual bustle, bodies and noise, Kara thought she hadn't even felt this isolated locked back in that dollhouse. She looked down at the wrench in her hand and over to the row of sleekly waiting Vipers and felt the loneliness shiver aside before her growing anger.
Frakkin' Apollo. Like he's never had an accident before.
She tossed the tool aside with more force then she'd intended and the clatter turned heads her way. Averting her eyes, Kara climbed into the Raptor she was working on and fought to tamp down her building rage. With a sigh, she eventually stepped to the hatch again. That's when she saw the tall crewman walking towards her group of ships, negligently swing a black fan-belt at his side.
Scrambling backwards, Kara pressed herself into the corner of Raptor and shook as a different figure transposed over the image of the young man…
A tall blonde—a Six—coming at her, slapping a belt against her thigh and grinning with anticipation…
Shudders swept a layer of clammy sweat along Kara's skin as the blocked wall of memory briefly lowered and she flashed back to the cell. The images of the crewman, a Cylon and her mother kept superimposing over each other, leaving Kara reeling.
She clamped her eyes shut and bit down on her lip, tasting the familiar flavor of her own blood again. It was enough to steady her. Enough to shut down the overwhelming kaleidoscope of images. She sat for another few minutes, willing her breathing back to normal before dragging herself upright. Steeling herself, Kara stepped out of the hatch and apprehensively looked around, but the young man was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, she saw Cally heading this way with her ready smile and warm eyes peeking beneath brown bangs. The small Specialist was a favorite of Kara's. Her knowledge of Vipers was nearly on par with the Chief's and she was one of the few knuckledraggers that Starbuck trusted without reservation, at least when it came to caring for her bird. She felt ridiculously glad Cally had survived the Occupation, though she'd heard through the grapevine that it'd been a close thing.
The memory of Cally, belly immense at some eight months pregnant, standing alongside her bearded husband and shouting a crowd to silence reminded Kara why she liked the feisty woman. But, despite her feelings, the last thing Kara wanted right now was to chit-chat with the younger woman. She still felt shaken by the violent flashback and just wanted a chance to go off and recover.
So, she was rather abrupt as she greeted the Specialist with a, "What now?"
"Uh," Cally faltered, obviously thrown by the brusque question. She owlishly blinked twice then said, "Just checking on how you're coming along, Captain. Chief said you're changing out the Henderson Shaft on your own, and I know that can be a bitch…uh, sorry, Sir." As Starbuck gave her a wave to continue, "It's a tricky replacement, I meant, on your own, that's all. Thought I'd see if I could give you a hand?"
"Nope. All done." Kara forced her lips into a smile, but had a feeling she wasn't fooling Cally as the younger woman gave her a peculiar look.
"Oh, ok then. Well, Chief said break for lunch once we're finished, so guess that's now. Want to join me?" she asked, tone hopeful with a hint of an undertone it took a moment for Kara to place. Concern. Cally was worried. Frak, had she see Kara's reaction earlier?
With even more reason now to get away from the brunette, Kara said, "No, I've other plans," again more sharply than she'd intended. At the hurt look in the brown eyes, Kara backpedaled some. "Look, maybe tomorrow, ok?"
"Sure, Sir. See you later than," Cally said and turned and walked away, but Kara saw her cast a brief glance backwards before Kara turned to stride off in the opposite direction.