Chapter 52 Sentinels
Sergeant Erin Mathias sat in a chair unobtrusively off in one corner of the curtained enclosure and watched her charge toss restlessly. She'd been gratified at the Admiral's confidence in choosing her to act as Captain Thrace's personal armswoman, as she thought of herself. Her glow at the Old Man's approval had dissipated when he'd explained in full what her duties would entail and why they were necessary. The Admiral hadn't held much back once he'd impressed upon her his expectation of discretion.
She liked Starbuck, had every since they'd met on the Raptor that delivered them to their new duty station on the Galactica the same day some four years ago. When the Admiral filled her in that she was basically on a suicide watch for the younger woman, it had touched a sore spot in Erin's own life. She'd lost a close cousin many years ago when the teenaged boy had hung himself. Many times in the years since, she had gone over all the little signs she hadn't recognized until it was too late.
Now, learning that the cocky Starbuck was at risk of taking the same route was an unexpected shock.
Having settled on New Caprica, she had already known of the Captain's imprisonment and had felt an uneasy concern for the volatile woman since their return to space. It hadn't seemed her place to approach Thrace or the Admiral about her erratic behavior at the time; looking back, though, Erin saw the glimpses of the similarities to her cousin.
She quietly rose, careful not to cause the chair to scrape and disturb the sleeping figure. The Sergeant stretched and glanced at her watch, resisting the urge to tap it to make sure it was running. She let a breath out on an quiet sigh. Just two hours into her twelve hour shift and already bored. Course, that was the life of a Marine on Galactica, ninety percent of their time bored nearly to tantrums and the other ten percent fighting for their lives.
Should have listened to mom when she said the administrative side was the way to go.
At least reading reports would've given her something to do. Of course, if she'd followed dear mom's sage advice, one Erin Mathias probably would be among the billions of dead now instead of standing a boring shift on the last surviving battlestar.
Life's a bitch and then you die, right? So bite her first and don't ever let go.
That was her drill instructor, Sergeant Horatio Bartholomew's favorite quote whenever something had gone sideways on them in training. She wryly grinned at the image of one Sergeant Bart barking out orders and turning green kids like her into professional soldiers. Her grin quickly faded though as the figure on the bed started to whimper and thrash, obviously within the grip of another nightmare.
The first time she had been present during one of Thrace's more violent dreams, she'd made the mistake of trying to shake the pilot awake. The bruise on Mathias' left cheek was a tender reminder that that fell under the heading of a 'bad idea'. She didn't blame Starbuck. It was her own fault and she'd even known better than to touch a soldier without warning when they were sleeping. Erin had let herself be lulled into forgetting that rule by how fragile the tormented woman had looked in the sickbay bed.
Fragile maybe, but her right hook still packed a wallop. A fact that Mathias already knew from the many sparring sessions the two of them had engaged in over the years. She and Thrace were pretty fairly matched in the ring. As a result, they'd faced each other's gloved fists on multiple occasions.
Bare knuckles made a big difference, though, she thought, gently probing her sore cheek.
Another moan drew her to the bedside, but she was careful to stay just out of reach as she spoke soothingly to the agitated woman. Sometimes that was enough. Not this time, though.
Deepening her voice while still keeping it low, "Captain Thrace, eyes forward," she snapped out and was rewarded when the green eyes popped open and Kara looked around in confusion. When her gaze met Erin's, coherence settled into them, along with a deep pain that was quickly shuttered away.
"Mathias," Kara said in acknowledgement.
"Sir. Can I get you anything?"
"Outta here?"
Erin gave a regretful headshake in answer. The two of them had had the identical exchange four separate times now since her being assigned this post two days ago. And like each of the previous occasions, Thrace rolled onto her side away from Mathias and resumed her silence. Those few words were the only ones Erin had heard the other woman utter in her entire time watching over her. And she'd even been in the room during each of the visits by those approved by Doc Cottle.
She had listened to Captain Agathon prattle on and on, then had watched Major Adama awkwardly apologize, and had even witnessed the Admiral practically beg Kara for forgiveness. Seeing the Old Man humble himself had been decidedly uncomfortable, and she'd had to remind herself that it wasn't her place to judge her charge's decision to remain impassive in the face of the Admiral's pleas. And once he'd left, she'd seen Kara curl in on herself as if having just been beaten. Erin acknowledged that there were a lot of factors at work here that she wasn't privy to, and her job was to make sure that her charge didn't come to any physical harm, self-inflicted or otherwise. There just wasn't much she could about the emotional damage Thrace seemed to be experiencing.
With a silent sigh, Erin Mathias returned to her hard seat and resumed her vigil.
[ I I I I I ]
Fourteen hours later Corporal Alex Paulson stood before his Admiral and his Sergeant trying to explain why his charge was laying in sickbay heavily sedated while a nurse was in a another bed recovering from a concussion, and he was both bloody and battered.
His shift had begun like the previous two days and he hadn't given it much thought when the night nurse, Patty, had come in several hours later. She was pretty in a curvy way and they'd shared a few flirty moments the night before. It was a pretty poor excuse, but the two of them were distracted by their mutual attraction and neither remembered Cottle's standing orders not to touch Captain Thrace without first waking her.
Alex only realized that there was a problem when Patty squeaked and tried to jerk her arm free from the hand that was clamped about her wrist. The young woman panicked and tried to jump back, only to slip and tumble hard to the floor, inadvertently pulling her patient with her.
The Corporal related that his charge, woken by the insertion of a needle into her arm, had reacted by locking her hand about the nurse's arm and jerking upright in bed. When Patty's weight had pulled her off balance and onto the floor with her, Starbuck had apparently reacted on pure instinct, releasing the downed woman and leaping at Alex as he moved to help the fallen women.
It had taken two orderlies, and all the Corporal could do, to subdue Starbuck until Ishay could sedate her.
As he faced his superiors, Alex was careful to let them know that Captain Thrace never actually struck the nurse, Patty's injury was a direct result of her fall. His own wounds were a different matter entirely, but he was fully willing to take responsibility for them and said as much.
The Admiral fell silent after asking a few clarifying questions, and he almost wished the man would lay into him as he knew he deserved. When he glanced at his Sergeant Mathias, he knew she was only waiting until she had him alone before flaying his hide with the tongue lashing of the century.
"Sirs, I know I screwed up royally. You have my absolute guarantee that it won't happen again," he said, hoping that they'd give him a chance to redeem himself.
After Admiral Adama dismissed both Marines, Paulson accompanied Mathias and prepared to take his licks, just thankful that the Admiral had seen fit to keep him on Captain Thrace's detail.
An hour later, face red from more than just the marks left by Starbuck's fists, Corporal Paulson reported to sickbay to get patched up and finish his shift.
