Author's note:
My sincere thanks to all that have posted reviews thus far. I'm always worried when I try to put together a story with action and an extensive plot, and your encouragement and approval have meant a great deal to me. Many of you I cannot thank individually, but please know just how important your feedback is, and how grateful I am to receive it.
Crystal Wimmer
Chapter 5
Kara held on tightly as they emerged from the jump. "Status?"
Sharon looked over the panel before answering. "Lower than I planned," she grumbled. "Definitely in the atmosphere. I'm setting down."
Kara took a deep breath and tried to keep herself under control. She couldn't think about the fact that she hadn't really slept in days. She couldn't think that she was defying the Commander and committing treason. The only thing she had room for was finding Lee. She had to think like him. She had to find him. Where would he go? She couldn't consider that he'd been captured - there was no way they'd get into and out of the complex in time - so she had to believe that he was out there somewhere. Waiting.
The jolt as they hit the ground was startling. She stood immediately, checked her sidearm, and then went to the hatch. Her watch said they had ninety-two minutes before the jump. They didn't have time to play around. "Any life signs?"
"Lots," Sharon told her. "But not close. There's something faint to our South, but it can't be a person. Maybe an animal?"
The words gave Kara hope. The hatch descended to reveal moderate darkness. They would need lights if this took more than a few minutes. What really hit Kara though was the cold. It had to be below freezing. She could feel the wind cutting through her flight suit, and it was designed to manage temperatures from flaming to freezing. They had to find him fast.
"Stay or go?" Sharon asked.
Kara thought for a split second. It would be safer if Sharon stayed - they could keep the Raptor ready and take off in a blink - but she needed help looking in the darkness. She wished that she'd thought to grab some cold- weather gear, but it hadn't occurred to her that the temperature would drop so much once the sun set. "Go," she finally said. "I may need you."
Sharon nodded and quickly shut down the most vital systems. Leaving the Raptor was a hell of a risk - if the Cylons found it before they could get back, they were done - but she couldn't think of any other way to manage.
The two of them hit the ground at the same moment, Sharon leaving the hatch down on the Raptor. At Kara's look, she told her that it would be faster. Kara couldn't argue. "South?" Kara asked, gesturing the way that she and Lee had run to the depot.
Sharon nodded as she checked her wrist. "That's south," she confirmed.
Kara took off at a jog. She had to slow a bit so that Sharon could keep up with her, and the rocks gave her some difficulty in the dim light. "How far?" she asked briefly, needing all her breath to keep moving.
"Nearly a mile," Sharon reported, her breathing more difficult than Kara's. "But that can't be him. It's too faint."
"Not if he's half-frozen," Kara corrected.
Sharon didn't say any more, and Kara was glad. She just wanted to get to Lee. She didn't want to talk about it.
When Kara estimated that they had gone about a mile - give or take - they began to search the area. It was slow going. They couldn't get a fix without the equipment on the Raptor, and they couldn't bring that with them. Sharon was going from memory, and Kara was moving on pure instinct. Where would he go? And if it was Lee, why hadn't the Cylons tracked him down the same way?
They had been looking for more than thirty minutes when Sharon slipped and went down on her knees. Glancing over at her, Kara noted that she had fallen in the same place when they'd run to the depot. The memory sparked a thought, and she ran over next to Sharon to start searching.
"I'm okay," Sharon announced as Kara shoved her out of the way and began moving around on her hands and knees. The light was nearly gone, but she didn't have an extra hand to pull out her lamp.
"It was here," Kara muttered. "Like a hole. I saw it when I." She felt around a moment more, and her hands found nothing but brush. Beyond that, she found only air. "It's here," she announced triumphantly. "Please be here!"
Kara reached back through the brush, only to close her eyes in grateful relief. She'd know the feel of a flight suit anywhere. "Lee, we're here. Come on, wake up."
"He's here?" Sharon said in surprise, coming over next to Kara as though she hadn't thought it was possible.
"God, wake up, Lee," she whispered desperately. She could get her hands around an arm, but it was awfully cold. She ignored the brush cutting into her face as she shoved through, trying to get a better grip. He had his arms locked around his legs, and he wasn't helping her. He wasn't moving. She couldn't tell if he was breathing or not. "I can't do this alone," she whispered tightly. "Give me some help, here."
Sharon moved forward to help tug away some of the brush. Kara made it as far into the tiny cave as she could, but it was too tight to do anything once she was there. She moved back out and looked around in desperation. He was tucked in tight. It explained the low life signs. Part of it might have been the rock around him, but most of it was that he was well and truly out.
She reached back into the cave, following his arm up to his face and patting lightly. "Lee," she said into the hole, as loud as she dared. "Lee, get up!"
He didn't really move, but she felt a shiver travel through his body. It was a start. She continued patting and continued calling for him until his grip loosened from around his legs and she could yank one arm free. "Sharon, help me."
Moving aside, she handed one arm to Sharon and grabbed the other herself. It was like trying to move a stone. He was dead weight. Together, the two of them managed to get him out through the brush and onto the ground, face down. Kara was shivering, too. They had been relatively still for too long, and the cold was getting to her.
"Get under that arm," Sharon suggested. "If we can get him up, it might help him wake up."
Sharon slid her fingers around his cold neck, feeling for a pulse. She knew he was alive - she knew it - but she needed the confirmation of the slow, faint movement of his blood. Too slow.
"Okay, ready?" She asked Sharon, tugging one of Lee's arms around her neck.
"Ready," Sharon echoed, doing the same.
She was grateful for a daily routine of weight training as she held tightly to Lee and used her legs to lift. Once he was up, it was easier than she had hoped, but their progress was painfully slow. It had taken them a good hour to get this far, so time had to be getting tight. She wanted to stop long enough to see how badly he might be hurt, but there wasn't time. They had to get back to the ship, and they had to get him warm.
Weights or not, Lee was getting heavy. They weren't more than half-way back to the Raptor, and Kara was ready to drop. She was breathing hard, and getting clumsy. Lee had moved a bit, but not enough to help. Sharon wasn't doing as well as she was. By mutual consent, they stopped and knelt down to catch their breath.
They didn't wait long - maybe a minute or two - because it was just too damn cold. When they stopped moving they began to shake. What little light they had started with was fading, and Kara really needed to get the lamp out, but she couldn't figure out how she would carry both Lee and the lamp. It was hard enough negotiating the uneven terrain three-across.
The next twenty minutes were painful. It got to the point where she and Sharon didn't speak, and didn't stop. It was too hard to get him back up when they did. Kara's back was burning with exertion, and her arms were rubbery. Her hands had been numb for quite a while, but now they were beginning to hurt. By the time they saw the Raptor, Kara was a long way beyond miserable. Lee had stopped shivering and she couldn't hear his breathing, but she had to believe it was still happening. They couldn't have made it this far only to lose him now.
It took what little strength they had to make it up the ramp and into the Raptor's cockpit. Sharon immediately closed the hatch, and began warming up systems for takeoff. Kara knelt on the floor of the spacecraft to try to get Lee awake. The light around her revealed that he was completely white, his lips a frightening blue. "Come on, Lee," she muttered, as close to crying as she had ever been. "Open your eyes. Do something. Anything."
"I need help," Sharon called over her shoulder. "Get in the back."
It was all Kara could do to leave him laying there, but she managed it. She went to the back panel of the Raptor and began mechanically flipping switches in preparation for takeoff. As before, just as soon as they were clear of the ground, Sharon jumped. Kara held her breath, hating the sensation, but grateful just the same. When the world around her righted itself again, she looked at her instruments to confirm that they were where they were supposed to be. They had jumped from within an atmosphere, which was never a good idea, but they appeared to have managed it. It wasn't as dangerous as jumping into an atmosphere - which they had also done to avoid scanner detection - but it was definitely unsafe.
Kara gave a sigh of relief, then dropped back down onto her knees to work with Lee. She was in the process of checking for a pulse - and this time not finding it - when Sharon called back. "We have a major problem," she announced.
Kara looked up, already overwhelmed, and saw the problem immediately. There were four Vipers surrounding them. "Use the wireless," Kara yelled.
"I have. They want you."
Scrambling forward, she grabbed the headset from Sharon. "Raptor four to Galactica," she said quickly. "This is Starbuck. Sending colonial codes now. Do not attack. Repeat, do not attack."
There was a long and painful pause before Adama's voice came over the headset. "What do you hear, Starbuck."
She gave a sigh of relief. "Nothing but the rain, Sir," she answered in time. It was an old sign - one they had used for years - and she knew it was his way of finding out if it was really her, and if they were really okay.
But the pause that followed was still too long. "Request permission to land," she finally prompted them. "We have a medical emergency. Commander, I have Apollo."
She still heard only silence. "Repeat," she said clearly. "We have a medical emergency. Permission to land!"
Dualla's voice was clear and decisive. "Permission granted, landing bay two. Welcome back, Starbuck."
The relief Kara felt was draining, but she wasn't home yet. She handed the wireless back to Sharon and dropped herself onto the Raptor floor. "Lee," she told him firmly. "Stay with me. We're almost there."
"I need you in back," Sharon told her again. With a sigh of frustration, she left Lee again and went to the back seat of the Raptor. She made a couple of adjustments, keeping one eye on Lee, to line Sharon up for the landing. It wasn't as smooth as it could have been - she was still out of practice - but it was smoother than the landing they'd made on the planet.
"Lee, we're home," she told him as she knelt next to him again. Again her hand went to his neck, and again she was unable to feel any movement, however faint. "Please," she whispered. "Please stay with me."
She was unprepared for the reception as the hatch lowered. She had expected a medical crew, and what she saw was a line of guards with weapons drawn. She couldn't blame them, really. They had no way beyond the Commander's word that it was really them. But the guns didn't drop when they got a look inside the Raptor. Instead, they changed direction, pointing directly over Kara's left shoulder. They were pointed at Sharon.
"On your knees, Valerii," one of the guards called out. "Cross your ankles, and keep your hands behind your head."
Sharon didn't argue. She dropped to her knees, placed both hands behind her head, and then crossed her ankles. Kara caught the glint of tears on her cheek, but before she could be sure Sharon was crying there were four guards surrounding them, taking Sharon's weapon, and dragging her bodily from the Raptor.
"I need a doctor up here," Kara called out. "Now."
Once Sharon was out of the area, the medical crew came in. She was quickly shoved out of the way as the doctor and his medics began their job. She leaned back against the pilot seat, trying to catch her breath and process what had happened. She had done all she could in any case. The consequences were something she just had to live with.
She heard a lot of medical blabbering, but the only words that really registered were "hypothermia", "shock", and "shot". Shot. She looked around one medic to see, but she couldn't get a look and she didn't want to be in their way. So she sat where she was, listening and worrying, and praying with all her heart.
It was several minutes before they put Lee on a stretcher to take him out of the Raptor. She caught a glimpse of his leg then, where they had cut off his uniform leg, and the red of his blood was stark against his pale skin. She couldn't tell if his lips were blue because his mouth was covered with a breathing unit. She could only hope that he would be okay, because the doctor hadn't answered her any of the ten times she had asked. She was being effectively ignored.
Kara stood up mechanically to follow the medical team, but was stopped as she left the ramp from the Raptor. Tigh was the last person she wanted to deal with, but she figured she had broken enough rules for the moment. There were two guards standing behind him, and she just didn't have the strength to try to go through them.
"Yes, Sir?" she said, more out of habit than respect. He had never earned that.
"You really did it," he said, his voice carrying a tone of wonder.
"I had to," she answered.
"You put the entire fleet in danger for one man," he said simply.
She didn't respond to that. She couldn't argue it, so there was no point.
"Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in," he said softly, his voice almost sounding concerned. At least it didn't carry the note of threat or condescension that it normally did.
"I have a pretty good idea," she admitted.
"This was treason," he said, that same note of wonder in his voice. "Your career is through. You won't fly again."
She looked him in the eye, but she couldn't even summon anger. She had known it when she planned it, but she just couldn't care. "Lee was alive," she said simply. She didn't need to say more.
"Take her to the brig," he said quietly to the guard beside him.
At the very least, they weren't pointing weapons at her. They had marched her about twelve feet when she turned to call back to Tigh. "Can I find out how Lee is first?"
He shook his head, and a guard prodded her with one hand. She jerked away from him, but she didn't resist the command. This wasn't the time or the place. Besides, she told herself. They were right. She had committed treason. If the Cylons had bugged the Raptor, she had brought it right to the fleet. "Colonel Tigh," she called out just as they reached the door that led out of the hanger.
He turned to face her, but didn't speak. "Have them check the Raptor," she called out. He got a slight look of confusion, but he walked towards her. When he was close enough that she didn't have to yell, she began talking. "We had to leave the Raptor to search," she explained. "If it's bugged."
Tigh nodded. "I'll take care of it," he told her.
She released a breath and nodded. It was all she could ask, and all she could do to fix what she had done. If there was a tracer, they wouldn't have time to jump. They would all be dead. The consequences that had seemed irrelevant when she had stolen the Raptor suddenly seemed significant. The entire fleet would be in danger until they jumped. She hoped it was soon.
In the quiet of the cell, Kara lay down on the bed, but she didn't sleep. Only now, when it was essentially done and over, did she realize just how stupid she had been. She had put everyone on the line for one man. As Tigh had said, she'd committed treason and effectively ended her military career. She would never fly a Viper again. She would likely spend the rest of her life on the prison barge. Although they were at war, so they could easily demand her death if they desired.
All this was only if the Cylons didn't know where they were. It seemed damn unlikely given the length of time they had left the Raptor alone. For that matter, they might have even put a tracer on Lee; they had obviously gotten close enough to shoot him.
Then there was the Chief, and all the other people she had involved in Sharon's liberation and the theft of the Raptor. What would the consequences be for them? Assuming they all lived, what punishment would they face for being friends, being loyal, and being willing to help?
Where was Sharon? The guards had taken her, but they hadn't brought her here. Was she being transferred to the prison barge? Were they going to forgo any testing and just kill her outright? At least before the escape, she had been given some benefit of the doubt. Had Kara sentenced one of her best friends to death?
What would her Commander say? He was the closest thing to a father that she had ever known, and she had defied his orders. Could he forgive her for leaving Lee in the first place? Could he understand why she went back? Would he be grateful enough that he would override Tigh for Sharon, or her?
And would Lee even live? He had been on a breather, so that wasn't good. She had seen the blood, and had no clue how much he had lost. He might never wake up, and if he did there was no telling what damage the cold had done, much less the gun. Maybe he would have been better off dying in a hole in a rock.
Kara didn't sleep. She couldn't. As the weight of her decision settled onto her, she curled herself into a tight ball and wept. All the things that had made so much sense before seemed meaningless now. Everything that had seemed so clear was now murky and frightening.
And there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it now.
My sincere thanks to all that have posted reviews thus far. I'm always worried when I try to put together a story with action and an extensive plot, and your encouragement and approval have meant a great deal to me. Many of you I cannot thank individually, but please know just how important your feedback is, and how grateful I am to receive it.
Crystal Wimmer
Chapter 5
Kara held on tightly as they emerged from the jump. "Status?"
Sharon looked over the panel before answering. "Lower than I planned," she grumbled. "Definitely in the atmosphere. I'm setting down."
Kara took a deep breath and tried to keep herself under control. She couldn't think about the fact that she hadn't really slept in days. She couldn't think that she was defying the Commander and committing treason. The only thing she had room for was finding Lee. She had to think like him. She had to find him. Where would he go? She couldn't consider that he'd been captured - there was no way they'd get into and out of the complex in time - so she had to believe that he was out there somewhere. Waiting.
The jolt as they hit the ground was startling. She stood immediately, checked her sidearm, and then went to the hatch. Her watch said they had ninety-two minutes before the jump. They didn't have time to play around. "Any life signs?"
"Lots," Sharon told her. "But not close. There's something faint to our South, but it can't be a person. Maybe an animal?"
The words gave Kara hope. The hatch descended to reveal moderate darkness. They would need lights if this took more than a few minutes. What really hit Kara though was the cold. It had to be below freezing. She could feel the wind cutting through her flight suit, and it was designed to manage temperatures from flaming to freezing. They had to find him fast.
"Stay or go?" Sharon asked.
Kara thought for a split second. It would be safer if Sharon stayed - they could keep the Raptor ready and take off in a blink - but she needed help looking in the darkness. She wished that she'd thought to grab some cold- weather gear, but it hadn't occurred to her that the temperature would drop so much once the sun set. "Go," she finally said. "I may need you."
Sharon nodded and quickly shut down the most vital systems. Leaving the Raptor was a hell of a risk - if the Cylons found it before they could get back, they were done - but she couldn't think of any other way to manage.
The two of them hit the ground at the same moment, Sharon leaving the hatch down on the Raptor. At Kara's look, she told her that it would be faster. Kara couldn't argue. "South?" Kara asked, gesturing the way that she and Lee had run to the depot.
Sharon nodded as she checked her wrist. "That's south," she confirmed.
Kara took off at a jog. She had to slow a bit so that Sharon could keep up with her, and the rocks gave her some difficulty in the dim light. "How far?" she asked briefly, needing all her breath to keep moving.
"Nearly a mile," Sharon reported, her breathing more difficult than Kara's. "But that can't be him. It's too faint."
"Not if he's half-frozen," Kara corrected.
Sharon didn't say any more, and Kara was glad. She just wanted to get to Lee. She didn't want to talk about it.
When Kara estimated that they had gone about a mile - give or take - they began to search the area. It was slow going. They couldn't get a fix without the equipment on the Raptor, and they couldn't bring that with them. Sharon was going from memory, and Kara was moving on pure instinct. Where would he go? And if it was Lee, why hadn't the Cylons tracked him down the same way?
They had been looking for more than thirty minutes when Sharon slipped and went down on her knees. Glancing over at her, Kara noted that she had fallen in the same place when they'd run to the depot. The memory sparked a thought, and she ran over next to Sharon to start searching.
"I'm okay," Sharon announced as Kara shoved her out of the way and began moving around on her hands and knees. The light was nearly gone, but she didn't have an extra hand to pull out her lamp.
"It was here," Kara muttered. "Like a hole. I saw it when I." She felt around a moment more, and her hands found nothing but brush. Beyond that, she found only air. "It's here," she announced triumphantly. "Please be here!"
Kara reached back through the brush, only to close her eyes in grateful relief. She'd know the feel of a flight suit anywhere. "Lee, we're here. Come on, wake up."
"He's here?" Sharon said in surprise, coming over next to Kara as though she hadn't thought it was possible.
"God, wake up, Lee," she whispered desperately. She could get her hands around an arm, but it was awfully cold. She ignored the brush cutting into her face as she shoved through, trying to get a better grip. He had his arms locked around his legs, and he wasn't helping her. He wasn't moving. She couldn't tell if he was breathing or not. "I can't do this alone," she whispered tightly. "Give me some help, here."
Sharon moved forward to help tug away some of the brush. Kara made it as far into the tiny cave as she could, but it was too tight to do anything once she was there. She moved back out and looked around in desperation. He was tucked in tight. It explained the low life signs. Part of it might have been the rock around him, but most of it was that he was well and truly out.
She reached back into the cave, following his arm up to his face and patting lightly. "Lee," she said into the hole, as loud as she dared. "Lee, get up!"
He didn't really move, but she felt a shiver travel through his body. It was a start. She continued patting and continued calling for him until his grip loosened from around his legs and she could yank one arm free. "Sharon, help me."
Moving aside, she handed one arm to Sharon and grabbed the other herself. It was like trying to move a stone. He was dead weight. Together, the two of them managed to get him out through the brush and onto the ground, face down. Kara was shivering, too. They had been relatively still for too long, and the cold was getting to her.
"Get under that arm," Sharon suggested. "If we can get him up, it might help him wake up."
Sharon slid her fingers around his cold neck, feeling for a pulse. She knew he was alive - she knew it - but she needed the confirmation of the slow, faint movement of his blood. Too slow.
"Okay, ready?" She asked Sharon, tugging one of Lee's arms around her neck.
"Ready," Sharon echoed, doing the same.
She was grateful for a daily routine of weight training as she held tightly to Lee and used her legs to lift. Once he was up, it was easier than she had hoped, but their progress was painfully slow. It had taken them a good hour to get this far, so time had to be getting tight. She wanted to stop long enough to see how badly he might be hurt, but there wasn't time. They had to get back to the ship, and they had to get him warm.
Weights or not, Lee was getting heavy. They weren't more than half-way back to the Raptor, and Kara was ready to drop. She was breathing hard, and getting clumsy. Lee had moved a bit, but not enough to help. Sharon wasn't doing as well as she was. By mutual consent, they stopped and knelt down to catch their breath.
They didn't wait long - maybe a minute or two - because it was just too damn cold. When they stopped moving they began to shake. What little light they had started with was fading, and Kara really needed to get the lamp out, but she couldn't figure out how she would carry both Lee and the lamp. It was hard enough negotiating the uneven terrain three-across.
The next twenty minutes were painful. It got to the point where she and Sharon didn't speak, and didn't stop. It was too hard to get him back up when they did. Kara's back was burning with exertion, and her arms were rubbery. Her hands had been numb for quite a while, but now they were beginning to hurt. By the time they saw the Raptor, Kara was a long way beyond miserable. Lee had stopped shivering and she couldn't hear his breathing, but she had to believe it was still happening. They couldn't have made it this far only to lose him now.
It took what little strength they had to make it up the ramp and into the Raptor's cockpit. Sharon immediately closed the hatch, and began warming up systems for takeoff. Kara knelt on the floor of the spacecraft to try to get Lee awake. The light around her revealed that he was completely white, his lips a frightening blue. "Come on, Lee," she muttered, as close to crying as she had ever been. "Open your eyes. Do something. Anything."
"I need help," Sharon called over her shoulder. "Get in the back."
It was all Kara could do to leave him laying there, but she managed it. She went to the back panel of the Raptor and began mechanically flipping switches in preparation for takeoff. As before, just as soon as they were clear of the ground, Sharon jumped. Kara held her breath, hating the sensation, but grateful just the same. When the world around her righted itself again, she looked at her instruments to confirm that they were where they were supposed to be. They had jumped from within an atmosphere, which was never a good idea, but they appeared to have managed it. It wasn't as dangerous as jumping into an atmosphere - which they had also done to avoid scanner detection - but it was definitely unsafe.
Kara gave a sigh of relief, then dropped back down onto her knees to work with Lee. She was in the process of checking for a pulse - and this time not finding it - when Sharon called back. "We have a major problem," she announced.
Kara looked up, already overwhelmed, and saw the problem immediately. There were four Vipers surrounding them. "Use the wireless," Kara yelled.
"I have. They want you."
Scrambling forward, she grabbed the headset from Sharon. "Raptor four to Galactica," she said quickly. "This is Starbuck. Sending colonial codes now. Do not attack. Repeat, do not attack."
There was a long and painful pause before Adama's voice came over the headset. "What do you hear, Starbuck."
She gave a sigh of relief. "Nothing but the rain, Sir," she answered in time. It was an old sign - one they had used for years - and she knew it was his way of finding out if it was really her, and if they were really okay.
But the pause that followed was still too long. "Request permission to land," she finally prompted them. "We have a medical emergency. Commander, I have Apollo."
She still heard only silence. "Repeat," she said clearly. "We have a medical emergency. Permission to land!"
Dualla's voice was clear and decisive. "Permission granted, landing bay two. Welcome back, Starbuck."
The relief Kara felt was draining, but she wasn't home yet. She handed the wireless back to Sharon and dropped herself onto the Raptor floor. "Lee," she told him firmly. "Stay with me. We're almost there."
"I need you in back," Sharon told her again. With a sigh of frustration, she left Lee again and went to the back seat of the Raptor. She made a couple of adjustments, keeping one eye on Lee, to line Sharon up for the landing. It wasn't as smooth as it could have been - she was still out of practice - but it was smoother than the landing they'd made on the planet.
"Lee, we're home," she told him as she knelt next to him again. Again her hand went to his neck, and again she was unable to feel any movement, however faint. "Please," she whispered. "Please stay with me."
She was unprepared for the reception as the hatch lowered. She had expected a medical crew, and what she saw was a line of guards with weapons drawn. She couldn't blame them, really. They had no way beyond the Commander's word that it was really them. But the guns didn't drop when they got a look inside the Raptor. Instead, they changed direction, pointing directly over Kara's left shoulder. They were pointed at Sharon.
"On your knees, Valerii," one of the guards called out. "Cross your ankles, and keep your hands behind your head."
Sharon didn't argue. She dropped to her knees, placed both hands behind her head, and then crossed her ankles. Kara caught the glint of tears on her cheek, but before she could be sure Sharon was crying there were four guards surrounding them, taking Sharon's weapon, and dragging her bodily from the Raptor.
"I need a doctor up here," Kara called out. "Now."
Once Sharon was out of the area, the medical crew came in. She was quickly shoved out of the way as the doctor and his medics began their job. She leaned back against the pilot seat, trying to catch her breath and process what had happened. She had done all she could in any case. The consequences were something she just had to live with.
She heard a lot of medical blabbering, but the only words that really registered were "hypothermia", "shock", and "shot". Shot. She looked around one medic to see, but she couldn't get a look and she didn't want to be in their way. So she sat where she was, listening and worrying, and praying with all her heart.
It was several minutes before they put Lee on a stretcher to take him out of the Raptor. She caught a glimpse of his leg then, where they had cut off his uniform leg, and the red of his blood was stark against his pale skin. She couldn't tell if his lips were blue because his mouth was covered with a breathing unit. She could only hope that he would be okay, because the doctor hadn't answered her any of the ten times she had asked. She was being effectively ignored.
Kara stood up mechanically to follow the medical team, but was stopped as she left the ramp from the Raptor. Tigh was the last person she wanted to deal with, but she figured she had broken enough rules for the moment. There were two guards standing behind him, and she just didn't have the strength to try to go through them.
"Yes, Sir?" she said, more out of habit than respect. He had never earned that.
"You really did it," he said, his voice carrying a tone of wonder.
"I had to," she answered.
"You put the entire fleet in danger for one man," he said simply.
She didn't respond to that. She couldn't argue it, so there was no point.
"Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in," he said softly, his voice almost sounding concerned. At least it didn't carry the note of threat or condescension that it normally did.
"I have a pretty good idea," she admitted.
"This was treason," he said, that same note of wonder in his voice. "Your career is through. You won't fly again."
She looked him in the eye, but she couldn't even summon anger. She had known it when she planned it, but she just couldn't care. "Lee was alive," she said simply. She didn't need to say more.
"Take her to the brig," he said quietly to the guard beside him.
At the very least, they weren't pointing weapons at her. They had marched her about twelve feet when she turned to call back to Tigh. "Can I find out how Lee is first?"
He shook his head, and a guard prodded her with one hand. She jerked away from him, but she didn't resist the command. This wasn't the time or the place. Besides, she told herself. They were right. She had committed treason. If the Cylons had bugged the Raptor, she had brought it right to the fleet. "Colonel Tigh," she called out just as they reached the door that led out of the hanger.
He turned to face her, but didn't speak. "Have them check the Raptor," she called out. He got a slight look of confusion, but he walked towards her. When he was close enough that she didn't have to yell, she began talking. "We had to leave the Raptor to search," she explained. "If it's bugged."
Tigh nodded. "I'll take care of it," he told her.
She released a breath and nodded. It was all she could ask, and all she could do to fix what she had done. If there was a tracer, they wouldn't have time to jump. They would all be dead. The consequences that had seemed irrelevant when she had stolen the Raptor suddenly seemed significant. The entire fleet would be in danger until they jumped. She hoped it was soon.
In the quiet of the cell, Kara lay down on the bed, but she didn't sleep. Only now, when it was essentially done and over, did she realize just how stupid she had been. She had put everyone on the line for one man. As Tigh had said, she'd committed treason and effectively ended her military career. She would never fly a Viper again. She would likely spend the rest of her life on the prison barge. Although they were at war, so they could easily demand her death if they desired.
All this was only if the Cylons didn't know where they were. It seemed damn unlikely given the length of time they had left the Raptor alone. For that matter, they might have even put a tracer on Lee; they had obviously gotten close enough to shoot him.
Then there was the Chief, and all the other people she had involved in Sharon's liberation and the theft of the Raptor. What would the consequences be for them? Assuming they all lived, what punishment would they face for being friends, being loyal, and being willing to help?
Where was Sharon? The guards had taken her, but they hadn't brought her here. Was she being transferred to the prison barge? Were they going to forgo any testing and just kill her outright? At least before the escape, she had been given some benefit of the doubt. Had Kara sentenced one of her best friends to death?
What would her Commander say? He was the closest thing to a father that she had ever known, and she had defied his orders. Could he forgive her for leaving Lee in the first place? Could he understand why she went back? Would he be grateful enough that he would override Tigh for Sharon, or her?
And would Lee even live? He had been on a breather, so that wasn't good. She had seen the blood, and had no clue how much he had lost. He might never wake up, and if he did there was no telling what damage the cold had done, much less the gun. Maybe he would have been better off dying in a hole in a rock.
Kara didn't sleep. She couldn't. As the weight of her decision settled onto her, she curled herself into a tight ball and wept. All the things that had made so much sense before seemed meaningless now. Everything that had seemed so clear was now murky and frightening.
And there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it now.