Chapter 3
If Dooler had been indifferent, then Cops was absolutely confrontational. Despite a pleasant attitude and more experience with diplomacy than he cared to admit, Lee could not get past the living mountain's open hostility.
"We ain't military," the huge brute argued. "No reason for you to be here."
"The Tylium is for the fleet, which is indirectly military because it falls under the Galactica's protection. That places it of utmost importance to us, and so it follows that we need to see to the efficiency of the operation."
"We're efficient enough," Cops growled. "And we got our own security here, don't we guys?" The last was said with a leer towards a couple of private security guards that were supposedly under Dooler. They seemed even less inclined to provide support, and if Lee had to put money on it, he'd say that they were more than just impassive. Most likely, they were actively involved in whatever was going wrong on this planet. His father had told them that the security officers were military, but no one was in uniform and Lee hadn't heard a single reference to rank. Frankly, he had his doubts. The few names he had been supplied with containing ranks and positions simply hadn't popped up. Lee didn't know if they were missing, or if they had never been sent in the first place. He planned to pose the questions just as soon as he was able to contact the Galactica.
"Perhaps," Lee said in his most tolerant voice, "But there has already been one death among your team. Surely you would like to see that investigated."
"If she'd been in my bed instead of out in the woods, wouldn't no one of got her," Cops reasoned. "She got what was comin' to her."
Lee took a deep breath, held it a moment, and then silently released it. He had dealt with more imbecilic people, he was sure; he just couldn't remember when. "No one deserves to be beaten to death," he said quietly. "Regardless of whose bed she was or wasn't in."
Cops shrugged again, as though the matter meant nothing to him. Likely it didn't. "How about that girl of yours?" he asked with an open leer at Kara. "Whose bed she sleepin' in?"
Lee didn't think he reacted, but he noted that Kara's hand had gone to her side arm. She didn't like these people any more than he did. And she was in considerably more danger than he had first anticipated. Yes, there were women among the miners, but they were as coarse and rude as the men, and even less inclined to speak with Colonial Warriors. Lee suddenly realized that he might just have as much trouble protecting the miners — potential sources of information if nothing else — safe from Kara as he would keeping Kara safe from them. It might come down to brawls and guns after all. Lee couldn't even find it in him to mind. Truthfully, diplomacy wasn't getting him very far.
"My own," Kara told him firmly. The look on her face proved to Lee that he did have something to worry about. Damn-it Kara, he thought. Why can't you shut up and follow orders just once?
There was laughter among the men, but most of it was more threatening than humorous. He really wished his father hadn't chosen Kara for this mission. He didn't know if he was going to be able to protect her without extreme measures, and he didn't want to resort to that just yet.
"So these are Colonials?" another man asked. Lee thought he'd been introduced as Sanders, but he couldn't remember. That in itself was fairly unusual, and an indication of how preoccupied Cops had him. Remembering names and addressing people appropriately was a primary rule for establishing diplomatic talks. All that really registered was that the guy apparently didn't know a Colonial uniform on sight, and that didn't speak well of the possibility that the security people here possessed them. It worried Lee more than anything else had so far. His father wasn't nearly as well informed about the security as he had hoped. That meant that someone higher up was probably involved, as military security had apparently never made it to the planet. Great.
"We're not here to cause problems," Kara said stepping forward from her place at the wall. He would have preferred that she stayed there, because there was no possibility of anyone getting behind her, and she could guard her front more than adequately with the gun. "We're here to help solve them. Our only goal is to be sure that you are able to do your jobs and that nobody else gets hurt."
Many of the men openly laughed. Lee had expected it. Here, the women were valued according to how productive they were in the mines, and that was about it. Apparently they were treated more as property than people, which bothered Lee on a level he didn't have time to address. He watched as fury climbed up Kara's face in a flush of red. She was an officer, and used to be taken seriously. She wouldn't accept being laughed at.
There were reasons that the miners didn't value women, though. Part of the issue was that most of the miners were from isolated locations back on Gemini, with a culture and value system of their own. They were used to living in the heavy, mountainous regions of the planet, digging in the nearly limitless mines of Tylium. The geologists had determined that Gemini was primarily made up of Tylium beneath the surface, woven through the rocks and caverns. It had made the colony a bit of an enigma in that there were two distinct classes. One class was rich from the sale of the plentiful fuel, and the other was a working class that existed below the poverty level, living and dying in the mines of the planet.
So the rules of civilized society didn't necessarily apply to them, or at least they hadn't applied previously. Before the war, the military had stayed clear of Gemini except for the few individuals that enlisted or applied to the academy, or for the purchase of the fuel it needed to keep things running. In fact, if the situation were more normal the Galactica would simply purchase the Tylium from the land owners and probably never even be aware of the culture that existed to mine the ore in the first place. It was sad, but it was a reality.
But things weren't normal, and they did have to deal with what few miners were left to do the job. Unless the fleet was to come up with some completely efficient form of solar fueling — not a likely solution due to both the irregular occurrence of solar bodies in the system and a lack of scientists for the technological research — they were stuck with Tylium. It was the only ore that burned hot enough and long enough to power the majority of their ships. Anything else was too heavy and too inefficient to be useful. Tylium wasn't optional, and so dealing with the miners wasn't either.
"I understand that you don't want us here," Lee put in, trying to divert the attention that Kara had brought to herself by speaking. If she wouldn't do it for herself, he'd have to keep her safe on his own. "But we don't have any more say about it than you do. Like it or not, the military is running this and we're under orders to make sure that things hold together down here. Now, you can look at it one of two ways. You can see us as here to help, and willing to solve whatever problem is causing people to get attacked and murdered in the middle of the night, or you can look at us as an interruption to your schedule and your lives. The choice is yours. The bottom line though, is that our fleet has no place for murderers unless you count the Astral Queen. So you can either help us out or you can make this harder, but either way we're going to get it done or none of you will be returning to the fleet."
Cops took a step forward, his demeanor clearly menacing. "You sayin' they'd leave us behind just because there's been a little trouble on the site?"
"I'm saying that we will find out what's going on. One way or the other. Period."
"That went well," Kara said blandly as they walked back into their unit and Lee carefully locked and double-checked the door behind them.
"Right," he muttered sarcastically.
"Maybe we should just leave them here," she suggested. "Tylium notwithstanding, there's not much reason to have people like that around. If they kill each other off, it's better for all concerned."
"You believe that?" Lee asked her.
She glared at him a moment, then sighed. "Did you see how they looked at me," she mumbled, running her hands up and down her arms as though she were cold. "I felt like a piece of meat. Just give me ten minutes with any one of them and I'll give them a definite education."
"I noticed," Lee admitted, walking over to add his hands to hers, rubbing warmth into her arms. "You cold?" he asked when he felt her shiver even through the material of her uniform.
"Not exactly," she admitted. "I'm just pissed off. They reminded me of some of the imbeciles that I've dealt with over the years. Just having them look at me made me feel dirty. I didn't know whether to hit them or hide. It was the damnedest feeling."
"It won't get better," Lee told her. "You can take the Raptor back up to the Galactica if you want to. There's no way my father knew what it was like when he assigned you down here. We haven't even come across the military security that was supposed to be watching things."
"And leave you? I don't think so," she argued. "You're barely on your feet, and quite frankly I'm better in a fight than you are. Something tells me it may come to that. Lords I hope so; I'd really love to hit somebody."
"I've got a better chance of finding something out than you do," he argued. "For that matter, they might be more open with you not around. They don't have a lot of respect for women."
"Really?" she asked with a glare.
"I'm not agreeing with them," he told her softly, moving in closer as his hands slowed on their path up and down her arms. "I just worry about you. It's allowed. I've been keeping you out of trouble for most of my life. Don't expect me to stop trying now."
She didn't move away from him, and he considered that a good sign. She seemed annoyed, but not really angry. "You've been watching me get into trouble most of my life," she admitted. "I don't remember you doing much to keep me out of it."
His hands eased from her arms, sliding gently around her back to hold her in a loose hug. "I don't keep you out of anything unless you let me," he admitted. "You're as stubborn as they come."
"Me?" Her voice was more sarcastic than either innocent or offended.
"Yes, you," he said with an unwilling smile. Her arms had slid around his waist, and he liked the way that she stood almost, but not quite, eye to eye with him.
They looked at one another for a long moment before she spoke. He had a feeling before he even heard the words that he wouldn't like what she was going to say. "We're going to have to talk about this eventually, you know."
As a diversion from her desire to attack an entire mining colony, it wasn't what he would have chosen. This path had as many mine fields as discussing cultures that had no respect for females in general, and a dislike of strong women in particular. Deciding that an attempt at innocence might at least divert her, he lifted up his chin and tucked her head beneath it so that he wouldn't have to look at her. "Talk about what?"
"This," she repeated, tightening her hold at his waist for emphasis. She wasn't going to drop it after all. "What's going on here."
"I'd rather not," he admitted sheepishly, still not letting her look up at him. "It feels too good to mess it up by trying to figure it out."
He felt her breath against his neck, and held his breath until she laid her head on his chest and slipped her arms fully around him. "I know," she whispered. "But I don't want to mess it up by pretending it's not there, either."
"We'll talk," he finally told her, giving in and letting discussion of the mission slide for the moment. "But can we just enjoy it a while longer, first? This isn't the place or the time to hash out what our relationship is, or isn't, or might be, or whatever."
"You probably have a point," she agreed. "But it won't go away."
He finally released her, looking her in the eye as he did so. "God, I hope not," he said fervently. Then he watched as a wash of read started at her neck and moved steadily upwards. He loved it when she blushed.
"Okay, talk later," she concluded. "Besides, I'm not going anywhere."
"Somehow, I didn't think you would," he told her with half admiration and half disgust. "You never have known what was good for you. Well, if you're staying, we need some ground rules."
"Ground rules?"
"You stay with me," he said firmly. "You go to the latrine, and I walk you. You go for a run, and I'm with you. You need to get something to eat, I'm there. Got it?"
"You have to be kidding," she argued.
"No, I'm not."
"Lee, I can take care of myself! I've been doing it for a damned long time, and I don't plan to start letting others do it now. I wasn't kidding about ten minutes with that guy; I'll bust him in half."
"Or his team would pound you into the ground," Lee corrected. "There's two of us and more than thirty of them. Do the math, Kara, and try to think of this sensibly. We need information, and we won't get it by beating it out of them, as much as you might want to. The best way is to just blend, and to do that you're going to have to keep a low profile. That means I'm with you period. You can either agree to it and follow orders, or we can get back in the Raptor and I'll trade you in on somebody who can listen. I have enough to worry about with them; I won't fight with you over basic security precautions."
Kara glared at him but didn't speak. He watched her as she turned it over in her mind, measured whether he meant it or not, and then finally resigned herself to the situation. Lee found it almost funny that he could read each emotion in the variant shades of her eyes, her expression, and the grip of her arms around his body. He knew her far too well.
"My own armed guard," she said in a fluttery voice, batting her eyelashes dramatically. He almost laughed. Lords, but she was hating this. The one thing that kept his laughter in check was that he wasn't very fond of the situation either. He didn't want to have to guard her any more than she wanted to be guarded.
But at least she wasn't arguing. "If I have to leave you here, you lock the door," he added. "And armed is exactly what you need to be. All the time, wherever you go, don't you dare take that gun off."
Her expression relaxed finally. Giving her some reminder that she was indeed competent had given her back some of her pride. She would need that to get through this mission. "Understood," she said simply.
He looked at her a moment more, but still felt that this had been entirely too easy. She hadn't pressed him for answers about whatever the hell was happening between them, and she wasn't arguing very much about sensible precautions for her safety. It wasn't like her.
"What?" she asked, apparently picking up on his confusion.
"I don't know," he said with consideration. "Waiting for the blowup, I suppose."
She shook her head and released a loud sigh. "Those guys are right out of some stereotypical low budget horror film," she grumbled. "And as much as I'd love to tear them apart, they'd just as soon shoot me as look at me. I've got enough sense to know I don't want to get into the middle of that, or at least to know that I don't want you in the middle of it because of me. Lee, I may be stubborn, but I'm not stupid."
He looked at her a moment more, measuring her honesty, and then nodded his head. At least something was going right on this mission. "Well then, get your clothes together and I'll walk you down to the facilities. If you want to clean up, now's the time. I doubt you'll run into any of them near water, but it could happen."
She glared at him for a moment. "You're turning your back," she informed him firmly.
"So are you," he reminded her.
Smiling, the two of them went about gathering their things to go down to the small washing area that was set up, and Lee doubted had ever been used.
Lee was a long way from feeling clean, but he did feel better. He and Kara had taken turns cleaning up at the single water spigot, and while it didn't have the same effect as a shower, it was essentially passable. It would have to do while they were here. She had only walked off on him once, and then she hadn't been far from his sight. He couldn't blame her for wanting to hit the latrine without an escort, but he had bawled her out just the same. Afterwards she'd been more furious than chastened, but he'd made his point that he wasn't kidding.
They had grabbed a couple of nutrition packs when they returned to the unit, deciding that they didn't want to further annoy their reluctant hosts by using up food stores, regardless of the fact that they had been provided by the Galactica in the first place. In all honesty, Lee just wanted an excuse to stay away from them for a while longer. He'd never had to deal with such an uncooperative bunch of people, and he wasn't looking for a repeat performance. If he also wanted to keep Kara out of their sight for a while longer, then he didn't dwell on it. He still wasn't willing to trust her diplomatic skills around them; she was too volatile to take the risk.
Now he and Kara were seated across from one another on the mats and blankets that would serve as their bed. They had a deck of cards spread between them and were playing a noncompetitive game of single pyramid. Lee had no desire to get whipped at cards, but it passed the time to help Kara find patterns in the deck and replace matches when she found them.
"Over there," he indicated, noting a move she hadn't seen yet.
"Got it," she answered. She moved the cards he had mentioned and a few others as well.
"Hey!"
Lee looked up at the unfamiliar voice that was raised outside the unit. He gestured for Kara to remain sitting, but he eased himself painfully to his feet and put one hand on his blaster. When he opened the door slightly to the dim evening, he was surprised to see one of the guards they had been introduced to earlier. "Cable, right?" he asked quietly.
The large man nodded quickly, and kept his voice fairly low. "I just wanted to tell you to watch out for Cops," he said just above a whisper. "He's a mean one. He doesn't make a lot of sense, but he runs that mine with an iron fist. He's not real happy about the government getting into his business, and he's been making some threats around the guys. He'll follow through on them if he gets the chance."
"You want to come in?" Lee asked, realizing the man was taking a chance talking to him at all if Cops was as bad as he said.
Cable shook his head firmly, and lowered his voice further. "He's been talking about the lady," he said quickly. "He thinks she's really something. He was saying he was gonna shut her up if he got the chance. I just thought you should know."
"Is he the one behind this mess?" Lee asked quietly. "If he is, we can have it all done and over with without any trouble. I just need to know."
"He didn't take out Caya, if that's what you man. I don't know about Johnson or Bailey. I was in the mine late when that happened. But I was with him when he found Caya, and he was mad. He didn't have anything to do with her."
Lee nodded his understanding. "You sure you don't want to come in?"
"He catches me, I'm dead," Cable said simply. "But the lady Well, I had a sister, back before the war. I don't want to see anything happen to her."
Lee gave a quick nod of thanks. "I appreciate it."
Cable nodded once more, then slipped off into the woods. Lee watched him a moment more, then went back into the unit and locked it behind him. Absently he wondered just how much good the lock would do if someone really wanted to get in. He also wondered just how loud it would be if he and Kara were sleeping. Would it wake them?
"Problem?" she asked as he moved back towards the mat and lowered himself carefully.
"Not really," he said thoughtfully. "One of the security guards paying a courtesy visit. I guess Cops wasn't too fond of you."
"Gee, I'm sorry about that," she muttered in disgust. "And here I thought he was such a sweet guy."
He couldn't suppress a grin. "Cable may be an ally, though," he said seriously. "He said Cops wasn't responsible for the woman, but doesn't know about the men. So even if he's the ringleader, there's more than one player in this little game."
Kara took a deep breath and let it out on a huff. "We're not investigators," she remarked. "We're pilots. What was your father thinking when he sent us down here? We aren't even trained as guards, really. Just basic self-defense."
"He was thinking he could trust us," Lee suggested. "There isn't much of a civilian police force left, and what little remains is mostly mercenary in nature. Those skills are marketable. That leaves us with a few peacekeepers, but most are pretty low ranking. If they don't' have respect for a Captain, they sure aren't going to listen to a Lieutenant."
"Thanks," she told him with a sideways grin.
"You know what I mean," he said. "I think he would have sent Tigh if he could have spared him. Or even Kelly. But they're so overloaded in CIC with tactical and coordination issues that he can't spare anyone. Hell, the only reason we're expendable is because I'm wounded and you're grounded."
"You're not expendable," she corrected. "Just out of commission."
"Temporarily," he agreed.
"Or longer," she said with some genuine concern. "That leg doesn't look much better."
"No, it doesn't," he began, and then stopped and looked up at her quickly. "You looked!" he accused.
"Not really," she said with a slight blush and a huge grin. "I might have glanced"
"You little brat," he said with mock outrage. "You said you'd turn your back!"
"I did," she insisted. "Then I turned back around."
He didn't know whether to hug her or hit her for the clear invasion of privacy, but decided that neither would do the job. Instead he reached over and pushed on one shoulder, effectively sending her sprawling backwards onto the mats and scattering her neatly arranged cards.
"Hey!" she squealed.
"You'll pay," he announced dramatically, pinning her carefully with a hand on each shoulder and his good leg tucked carefully beneath him to keep the pressure off the sore one.
"Fine," she laughed, not bothering to resist his hold. "What's that peek gonna cost me?"
"I don't know," he said as he grinned down at her. "Maybe" He leaned down and his grin faded. Slowly, gently, he placed his lips against hers. It was a tentative kiss, more a question than anything else. Almost as soon as he did it, he felt a wave of panic. What if this was out of line? What if she didn't feel the same way?
But the panic eased as he felt her lips move gently against his. She wasn't acting any more sure of it than he was, but neither was she protesting. They kept the kiss gentle, questing, and just a little uncertain. He was wondering how far he should really take this, and how much would be too much, when the pain hit.
He hadn't been paying attention to his legs. His attention had been on Kara. Somewhere in his lack of attention he'd put his right leg down on the mat and allowed a little too much weight to slip in that direction. The result was a cramp that had effectively quenched any interest in romance and had him firmly believing that there was a knife buried somewhere in this thigh.
He pushed with his right arm, taking all the weight off his leg and rolling painfully off Kara and onto his left side. He still couldn't quite catch his breath, but the pain was easing a little. His eyes were squeezed shut against the agony of damaged muscle and healing skin.
He didn't think much after that. He concentrated on his breathing, in and out, trying desperately to make the pain go away, or at least to ignore it until it did so on its own. It was a few minutes before he was really aware of anything, and that was fine with him. He didn't want to think. More importantly, he didn't want to feel.
Awareness returned a few moments later, as the spasming muscle finally relaxed and he could begin to think. The first thing he noticed was Kara, kneeling at his side with a hand on either side of his face. Her expression was nothing short of panic, but she hadn't left him. "What can I do?" she whispered.
He shook his head, feeling her hands against his cheeks, keeping him focused on her. "It's better," he admitted, his hand coming to rest over one of hers. "I'm okay."
They stayed that way for a few moments more, until finally he couldn't help but laugh. He knew he needed to try to explain it to Kara, but at the moment he couldn't get anything past the humor of the situation. When he finally calmed down and dried his eyes, he saw an uncertain smile on her face.
"That didn't go over very well, did it?" he asked with a smile. "So much for impressing you with how smooth I can be."
Her smile was slow, but gradually she began to see the humor in the situation. "It's a first kiss we'll remember," she agreed. Then, more seriously, "Are you okay now?"
He nodded, taking one of her hands and bringing it to his lips to give her palm a hard kiss. "I'm fine," he said gently. "Or I will be. The doc said it would take time. So I'm just waiting."
"Would you tell me if you weren't?"
There was a long pause before he nodded gravely. "I think I would."
She gave him a sweet smile and ran her thumb across his cheek once before releasing him and sitting back on the mat. "Be sure you do," she told him carefully. "And about the rest, well"
"We have time," he finished for her.
She nodded silently.
He looked at her a moment more before he rolled to the side and grabbed one of the blankets to tug over him. He picked up her cards with one hand and set them aside. It was a little early to lie down, but he couldn't quite bear the thought of trying to stand back up.
Kara raised an eyebrow, but didn't question. She turned herself around so that she was facing away from him and backed into his arms. "I guess tomorrow will be an early one," she acknowledged. "May as well get some sleep before things get crazy out there."
"Sounds good," he agreed. They lay there for a few minutes before he reached up and brushed her bangs back behind her ear and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek. "Do you have any clue how important you are to me?" he said very quietly.
She was silent for a long moment, so long in fact that he thought she might have fallen asleep despite the early hour. Then, he heard her, in a voice as faint as his had been. "I think I do," she admitted. "And it's mutual."