THE FLIGHT OF BELLEROPHON
Chap. 4
The Galactica's landing bays were much more chaotic than those of the Pegasus, with shuttles coming and going from the port side bay and Vipers launching from the starboard side, to act as escorts for the civilian ships, which were being moved to the planet's exosphere. The Pegasus' Vipers were also being moved to the Galactica for retrofitting. But Lt. Athens spared little of her attention for these activities, as she made her way from the shuttle in the direction she assumed would take her to CIC. She had never been on the Galactica before, but assumed its design was similar to the Pegasus.
She had no idea where Commander Cain might be, but figured that CIC was the best place to start. As she made her way through the congested hallways, she kept peering at the people she passed, looking for a familiar face, but she saw no one who could help her. Arriving at the bridge, she again cast about, looking for someone from her ship. Commander Cain was not here, that was readily apparent. The tall, dark-skinned woman tended to stand out in any setting.
"Excuse me, can I help you, lieutenant?" a slight, pretty, female petty officer asked her.
"Uh, yes, I'm looking for Commander Cain."
"I'm sorry, sir, she's not here. I haven't seen her for a while now. Is this something important, sir?"
"Yes, it is, actually."
"Well, then you might want to try Commander Adama's office. I think that's where he is. Maybe they're discussing the upcoming mission."
"Yes, thank you, I'll do that."
Finding the commander's office proved to be a bit more of a challenge. On the Pegasus, it was located on the starboard side of the ship, on the Galactica, it was on the port side. When she did find it, the hatch door was slightly ajar, so she knocked firmly as she pushed the door open. Inside, she found, not Commander Adama, but a dark-haired woman in a pale lavender, civilian suit, who was standing in front of the large desk. The woman turned to look at the lieutenant as she stepped nervously into the room.
"Oh, uh, excuse me, ma'am," Athens said. "I was looking for Commander Adama."
"Yes, so was I. I'm Pres. Roslin, by the way, and you are...?"
"Oh, uh, Lt. Athens, sir, f-from the Pegasus. You haven't seen Commander Cain around, have you, sir?"
"No, actually, I haven't seen Commander Cain in quite some time. But I do expect Commander Adama to return shortly, if you'd like to wait with me." Roslin turned and seated herself on the long, leather couch that was built into one wall. She evidently felt quite at home in this office.
Athens did not. She continued to stand and fidget, wringing her hands together nervously. Her anxiety was only partly due to being in a superior's office, alone in the presence of the president. She was also anxious to return to the Pegasus. She was not comfortable with the thought of Dr. Baltar being alone and unsupervised on the ship. There was no telling what sort of mischief he might be up to over there.
Seeing the younger woman's obvious discomfort, Laura tried to draw her into a conversation, hoping to calm her. "So, Lieutenant, do you like serving under Commander Cain?"
"Oh, yes sir. It's quite an honor to serve under her. I mean, she's one of the main reasons I decided to join the military... She's a legend."
"Yes... She seems a little intense."
"Yes, sir, she can be, but that's part of what's made her so great."
"I see."
"Uh, I'm sorry, sir, but I really do need to get back to my duties," Athens said abruptly, unable to stand any more of the waiting. "I'm just going to leave this for Commander Adama."
The young woman pulled a few sheets of folded paper from the pocket of her uniform. Unfolding the papers and walking to the desk, she grabbed a pen and scrawled a hasty note on the pages.
"If you could, please, give this to the commander, I would greatly appreciate it, sir," Athens said, handing the sheets to the older woman.
"Absolutely, Lieutenant, I'll make sure that he gets it."
"Thank you, sir. I have to go now. It was nice to meet you."
Laura watched the young woman leave, then turned her attention to the pages she had left behind. At the top of the first page, she had written, 'Dr. Baltar's Cylon detector program'. Laura scanned through the pages. She was by no means an expert computer programmer, but she did know how to read one and even she could see the obvious flaws in this. The program was completely useless. With a sigh, she folded the papers and tucked them into the waistband of her skirt. She was just straightening her long jacket over her hips again, when she heard the sounds of movement behind her. She turned to see Adama enter.
"Ah, there you are," she said, smiling.
"Yes, here I am. I thought you'd be on your way to the planet by now," he said, seating himself at his desk.
"Yes, Colonial One will be leaving within the hour. I just wanted to speak to you for a moment before I left... You're still determined to go through with this, aren't you?"
"Yes, we've been through this," Adama said gravely. "And Cain's right. It's better to deal with this basestar now, rather than later. We have the advantage of surprise and right now, we still have plenty of ammunition in our magazines. Later, we may not."
Roslin nodded, but said nothing for a long time. After several minutes, she spoke again, "There's something I'd like you to do for me."
"Yes?"
"Go and kick some Cylon ass for me, would you?" she said smiling.
"Yes, ma'am," he said with a chuckle.
That woman will never cease to surprise me, he thought, still smiling as he watched her leave the office. With a sigh, he reached into the breast pocket of his uniform and pulled out his glasses. Slipping them on, he turned his attention to his paperwork.
~*~*~*~
The sound of movement awake Gaius Baltar with a start. He sat up quickly and looked around to find the young, dark-haired lieutenant, who's name escaped him at the moment, who had previously helped him in the Galactica's CIC. The young man was watching him expectantly.
"Uh, yes?" Baltar asked, self-consciously.
"Are you okay, sir?"
"Yes, yes...tired... just, uh, taking a little break, is all."
The young man looked around, where it was obvious that no work had actually been done yet and asked, "Wasn't Lt. Athens supposed to be helping you?"
"Yes, she was, but I sent her to find you, to get the rest of the hair samples."
"I sent her back here over an hour ago, but maybe she got called away on another matter. Anyway, I have more samples for you to test. I have to get back to the Galactica now, but I've left Lt. Atlan in charge of getting the rest of the samples... Uh, sir, you might want to get started on those tests. I think Commander Adama and Commander Cain are expecting some answers here, soon...."
"Yes, yes, I am on it, really. Don't worry, Lt. ...?"
"Gaeta, sir."
"Gaeta, yes, sorry! Ter-terrible with names... So, you say that you sent Athens back here an hour ago?"
"Yes, sir, but she must have gotten side-tracked."
"Yes, yes, I'm sure that's it. Well, thank you. You run along back to the Galactica and I'll join you shortly with your answer."
As soon as the hatch door had closed behind the younger man, Baltar began frantically searching the lab for the program. He couldn't find it anywhere, but he did find more samples piled neatly beside the first set collected. Evidence that Athens had, in fact, returned to the lab. He could feel the beginnings of panic flare in the pit of his stomach. All of his careful lies, all of his work, all of it undone, simply because he had fallen asleep, it was so unfair.
"Face it, she has the program." The blonde was back, voicing aloud the words that he had been too afraid to even think.
"Oh, my dear Lords, what am I going to do?" he whispered, unable to think clearly.
"First of all, we need to find out what she did with it."
"I'm sure she's already shown it to Cain or Adama."
"Maybe, maybe not. There's no point in panicking right now. We don't have all the facts. Calm down, Gaius, and let's just wait and see."
"Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down w-?"
"Who are you talking to?"
At the sound of this new voice, Baltar whirled around to find Athens standing in the hatch doorway. She was looking at him in concern and even a little fear.
"N-no one," Baltar whispered, unable to think of anything else to say.
"Okay..." she said as she stepped cautiously into the room and closed the hatch door.
"So, where did you go? Lt. Gaeta was just here and he said that he sent you here with more samples over an hour ago. I found them," Baltar said, holding the samples up. "Where did you go after you dropped them off?"
"I went to the officer's mess. I saw that you were sleeping and I didn't want to disturb you. I figured you must be really exhausted, so I thought I'd give you an hour or so to sleep. I see we're both ready to get started now."
"Well, not quite. The program seems to be missing. You wouldn't happen to know what happened to it, would you?"
"Uh, no. Missing? That's terrible," the girl said, but Baltar wasn't fooled. She was a very bad liar. She was twisting her hands together in obvious nervousness.
"Well, I don't know how we're going to test all these samples without that program."
"Maybe, you could write another one," Athens said, slowly moving to stand beside him. She picked up one of the small plastic bags and gazed at it thoughtfully. Each sample bag was labeled with a number. Elsewhere, Lt. Gaeta had the master list with the names that matched those numbers.
"She read the program. She knows." The blonde had moved to stand on Baltar's other side.
"What did you do with the program?" he asked Athens, his voice very quiet.
She looked up at him quickly, her eyes very wide. At first he thought she was going to deny taking it, but then she said, "I went to the Galactica and left it in Commander Adama's office."
"Did you?"
"Yes, I did," the girl said defiantly. "It was all a lie! The whole thing was a hoax. You let them leave that man to die and you knew he was innocent! Why?"
"Oh, there's a very good possibility that he was guilty. He was up in CIC, for no apparent reason. He was acting suspiciously. He could very well have been a Cylon."
"You don't know that! You had no proof that he was guilty."
"You know you're going to have to deal with her." That honey-sweet voice whispered in his ear. "If you eliminate her and get to the program before Adama does, no one would ever know that it was fake."
Baltar turned to look at the blonde with a look of horror on his face. She couldn't possibly be suggesting that he murder this girl in cold blood, could she? While it was true that his actions and his lies had sentenced Aaron Doral to die, Gaius himself had not performed the actual deed. And as for the destruction of the Colonies, that had been the unforeseen consequence of, what should have been, a simple indiscretion. He was a liar and a fool, yes, but he was not a murderer. His hands were clean of that crime.
"You know that I'm right, Gaius."
He looked at her for a long moment. It was as if he was only now seeing her for what she truly was and he was amazed that he had never seen it before. She was so unspeakably beautiful and yet was utterly devoid of compassion and humanity. He couldn't help but wonder if this was what it was like to look upon the face of a god.
Athens, who had been standing and watching the strange play of emotions on the man's face, started to slowly back away. It was rapidly becoming apparent to her that this man was not stable. She had seen a few of the Pegasus' officers lose it in the past few days and eat their service sidearms. Their eyes had held the same desperate look she was now seeing in the doctor's eyes.
Looking over at her, he asked softly, "Where are you going, Minerva?"
"I-I have to go and check on the rest of the team and see how they're coming with those samples." She turned and started towards the hatch.
"She's going to alert security, "the blonde said.
Panic, wild and desperate flared in his brain, threatening to choke off all coherent thought. It was almost as if his mind momentarily left his body. He was seeing himself act without any conscious thought or will involved. He saw himself grab one of the microscopes from the table. It wasn't a particularly large piece of equipment, but its base was weighted so that it wouldn't easily tip over if the ship were forced to abruptly change course. He saw himself move to intercept the girl, grab her arm and swing her around. He saw those lovely green eyes widen in fear as he swung the microscope down.
She never screamed, never cried out. She just made this small sound, almost like a sigh, as her body crumpled at his feet and lay still in an ever-widening pool of her own blood. And, like a jolt of lightening, Gaius seemed to return to his body and he stared down, appalled at what he had done. He jumped back quickly, horrified at the thought of that blood touching him, staining him, marking him forever as the murderer he was.
The blonde moved to stand beside him. She stared down at the dead girl in fascination. "It's so amazing that you humans were able to survive for so long. You break so easily."
"W-what did you do to me?" he whispered, terrified. "You made me do that. You controlled me. I would never kill anyone."
She turned to face him and stroke his face and hair lightly with her graceful fingers. "Ssshhh. It's all right. Whatever you need to tell yourself, that's fine. You can believe whatever you want."
"N-no, no, it's true. You did this, not me."
"That's fine," she said smiling benignly. "You're still going to need to get rid of the body and the murder weapon. Your fingerprints are all over it."
Looking down and seeing the blood covered microscope still clutched in his hand. Baltar dropped it with a strangled cry. As if to add insult to injury, it landed on the dead girl's body with a soft thump. He felt the bile rising in the back of his throat and he pressed a hand over his mouth in an effort to maintain control of his stomach.
"There's a toxic waste incinerator over there," the blonde observed calmly. "I think it's big enough to fit her body in."
Later, Baltar would be amazed at how quick and easy it had been to clean up the mess. Athens had been a slender woman and it had not taxed him too much to carry her body and stuff it into the incinerator, along with the microscope and all the towels he had stolen from one of the shower areas and had used to clean up the blood. The incinerator was not large, so it was a tight fit, but once the door was closed and the red light that indicated the unit was operational was glowing, he found that he felt much better. The unit was small, but powerful, it would reduce the body to little more than ash within a few minutes.
"What now?" he asked his tall, blonde companion.
"Now, I suggest you make a hasty, but dignified, exit back to the Galactica, where you need to find some way to get into Adama's office and find that program."
"And if he's already found it? What then?"
"One crisis at a time, Gaius, one crisis at a time."
"You're right. I need to stay calm."
"And I highly doubt Adama would have had time to actually do anything with the program yet. So, if you can catch him alone, you may have to deal with him the same way you dealt with Athens."
"What? I can't just kill Adama!"
"Why not? You're not afraid of him, are you?"
"That's not the point! Athens was a nobody lieutenant that no on is going to miss, at least not for a while. Adama is the commander. I think he'll be missed."
"That just means we may have to be a little more creative. After all, accidents happen all the time..."
~*~*~*~
From where she was sitting, on edge of her bunk, Kara could see through the open doorway of the pilots' quarters to the closed door of Lee's room, directly across the hall. That door had remained closed since she had left the room over a half hour ago. She knew this, because she had been watching it the entire time. What are they doing in there? She asked herself for the hundredth time. And for the hundredth time, she immediately changed her mind and decided that she'd really rather not know. Her mind had been doing this flip flop-thing for a half hour now and it was starting to give her a headache.
"Hey, Starbuck! Me, Boomer, Saxon, and Crush are heading to the ready room for a game of pyramid. You in?"
Kara looked up to see David "Speed" Mercury standing beside her bunk. She had been so preoccupied with her thoughts that she hadn't even heard him approach. It was so not a good sign when pilots allowed themselves to get distracted by things that were beyond their control.
"Uh, no thanks, Speed, not in the mood right now."
"You sure? We're playing for personal hygiene products..."
"Is that a hint?" she asked laughing. "Nah, thanks anyway. Maybe next time."
"Alright..." he said with a shrug as he walked away.
What is the matter with me? She asked herself. You know it's bad when I'm turning down pyramid so I can baby-sit Lee. And I really could use some more shampoo. And it's not like he even knows, or cares, that I'm trying to keep him from making another very big mistake... If he hasn't already, she thought uncomfortably.
What is it about the woman that gives her the power to turn a normally intelligent and deeply repressed man into a hormone-enslaved moron? Okay, so she's beautiful, has all that hair, and legs up to her armpits, but it's not like Lee hasn't seen beautiful women before. And okay, so she's sexually aggressive and some men really like that kind of thing. Kara wouldn't have thought that Lee would, but she was beginning to realize that maybe she didn't know him as well as she had thought.
Kara had known Lee and Zac since secondary school, when the Adama family had moved to Caprica from Scorpia when William Adama had been given command of the Battle-cruiser Camelot, which docked in Caprica City. As if somehow sensing some kindred spirits in the two new boys, Kara had instantly become fast friends with the brothers. Like many children who had parents who were authority figures, like priests, civilian peacekeepers, and prominent military officers, the Adama brothers had definite streaks of rebellion. But while Zac's form of acting out consisted largely of childish, but harmless, pranks, Lee's less frequent flashes of rebellion tended to have a more worrying self-destructive element that Kara had never quite understood. She wondered if his affair with Cain wasn't somehow part of that.
It also occurred to her that considering how, almost obsessively, Lee tended to over-analyze everything, it was not surprising that he had had so few lovers. He was simply too uptight to make the first move. So, perhaps, that was where a woman like Cain would have the advantage. She would make the first move for him and perhaps that's what he really wanted. Unfortunately that gave her even more power in an already unequal relationship. In a healthy relationship, both partners should be relative equals. This had never been the case with Lee and Cain. Because nothing changed the fact that she was his commanding officer. She held all the power. It had taken nearly a year for Lee to figure this out and almost another year for him to get over it. And now Cain was back and seemed intent on dragging him back into it. And Kara wasn't sure that he even realized what was happening.
Why am I doing this? She asked herself, abruptly standing. This isn't any of my business. Lee's an adult. He can make his own mistakes. I'm not sure why I even care. Knowing there wasn't much chance of getting any sleep any time soon, she decided to go for a run. That always helped to clear her head. Changing out of her duty uniform and into her exercise gear, she pulled on running shoes and headed out to pound the corridors.
It was hard to actually build up to a decent pace while dodging people and coordinating stairs and corners. There were a couple of long, unbroken, seldom used hallways where one could sprint for a good stretch, but most of the time it was just light jogging. It was better to run very early or very late when the halls were less congested. But, with so many extra people from the Pegasus milling around, it was even worse than usual. Finally she gave in and settled for a brisk walk.
As she approached the commander's room, she noticed that his door was wide open. He often left it that way when he was in the room, to let his people know that he was open to interruption. Kara slowed her pace as she neared the doorway, but whether this was in the hopes that Adama would not notice her or that he would, she wasn't quite sure. It was with an odd mixture of relief and dread that she heard him call out to her as she passed.
"Hey, Starbuck, what to you hear?"
Stopping and stepping back, she peered into the room. He was sitting at his desk, obviously reading through reports. The desk that, prior to the destruction of the Colonies, had always been neat and orderly, but was now perpetually in disarray and buried under a layer of paperwork.
"Hey, sir," she said flatly, without her usual cheerful response to his customary greeting.
"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" he asked.
"Oh, not tired, sir."
"Come in and close the door behind you," he ordered. When she had done so and had seated herself on the long couch, he asked, "Now what's bothering you?"
"Nothing really, just a little worried about this mission," she said evasively.
"About the mission or about Bridget Cain?"
How does he do that? She wondered for the thousandth time. How does he always seem to know exactly what's going on in my mind? Kara had always prided herself on being difficult to read, and yet Adama seemed to do so with ease. Was he naturally psychic or did the Fleet give its higher-level officers intuition implants upon promotion? If it was a natural talent, it was not one that he had passed on to his eldest son. Lee could be downright clueless at times.
But, in fairness to Lee, she supposed that most of it had to do with maturity and experience. Lee had moved up the ranks fairly quickly, faster even than his father had. William Adama had not made captain until he was 33. Lee had done it at 28. But he had been promoted because of his hard work and talent, not his people skills, which were somewhat lacking.
Kara was quite sure that when Commander Westin of the Solaria had given Lee his promotion, it had been with the full knowledge that the young captain would not be assuming a CAG position any time in the immediate future. At that time all the battlestars had that position filled. Lee would have to wait for someone to be promoted, or retire, or die, for a position to open. And even when that happened, more than likely there would have been other captains with more seniority, waiting as well. They would get the job before him. And, in the meantime, Lee would be free to mature and grow into the role. It was only an unforeseen Cylon massacre that had pushed him into the job that he had the skills, if not yet the maturity, to handle.
Realizing that Adama was still waiting for a response to his question, she said, "Both, I guess."
He nodded. "Yes, I couldn't help but notice there was a lot of tension between you two earlier. You don't trust her, do you?"
Kara looked up at him sharply. Did he know about Lee and Cain? How? She knew that Lee had never told his father. Had Zac? She realized that it didn't matter how he knew. She was relieved that he did. Now, she had someone she could voice her fears to.
"No, sir, I don't," she said. "I'm really worried about Lee. I think he's going to make another big mistake. I think he's going to get involved with her again and that would be so b-...What?"
She stopped at the look of complete shock on his face.
"Lee involved with Cain? ...Again?!"
"But you said... I thought you..."
"I was asking whether or not you trusted Cain to lead the mission. What were you talking about?"
"Nothing..." she said in a small voice, sliding down in her seat, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible. Oh, frak! Oh frak! Oh, Lords of Kobol, please let the Cylons come and destroy us all, now! Oh, Lee is so gonna kill me.
"I suggest you start talking, Lieutenant."
She gave a sigh of resignation. "Three years ago, when Lee was stationed on the Pegasus. He and Commander Cain had an affair." She said it with as little emotion as she could, hoping to keep things calm.
"How long did this affair last?"
"Almost a year."
"A year?! ...Lee told you about this affair?"
"No, he told Zac and Zac told me... So, I take it that you didn't know anything about this?"
"No, I didn't."
"I'm sorry, sir. I wouldn't have said anything, but you always seem to know what's going on."
"Yes," he sighed, dismally. Like any good commander, he had his methods of knowing everything that went on, on board his ship. But when it came to knowing what was going on in his own son's life, evidently, he was at a complete loss. How could this have been going on for an entire year, right under my nose, and I didn't see it? He asked himself. Am I that blind? Or do I know my son so little?
"You said that you were worried about Lee?" he prompted, forcing his mind back to the young woman sitting across from him.
"Well, yeah. It really wasn't a very healthy relationship for him. As I'm sure you know, she's kind of a control freak and I just don't want to see him get hurt again."
"She was his commanding officer. Something like that could have destroyed his career. What was he thinking of?"
"You know, I've been trying to figure that one out for four years now. You'd have to ask him about that one."
He nodded, his features set and determined. "Yes, I imagine I will."
He stood abruptly and Kara's heart skipped a beat.
"You're going to ask him right now?" she asked.
"Yes. I think this conversation is long overdue and I think I'd like to deal with it while my blood is still up. Is that a problem?" he asked, seeing the panicked look on her face.
"Uh, no, sir."
"Care to join me?"
"No, I think, I'll just finish with my run," she said. And stay out of the line of fire, she added silently.
"That's probably a good idea," he said. "Close the door behind you when you leave."
She stared after him for a moment. Oh, yeah, Lee is definitely going to kill me.
~*~*~*~
Lee and Cain both lay on their sides, facing each other, on Lee's narrow bed. Lying with his head pillowed on his arm, he watched her, his expression unreadable. She was running one hand over his bare shoulder and arm, enjoying the warmth of his skin and the feel of the firm muscle beneath her fingertips. She had always enjoyed the simple, but visually striking, contrasts of their two skin tones, hers so dark and his so fair.
She also loved the way he looked after sex. It was as if it was the only time he ever truly relaxed and let his defenses down. And despite the glow of post-coital satisfaction, he still somehow managed to look childlike and innocent at the same time. He had that sleepy, contented look of a child who has spent a busy day playing with his birthday presents. Feeling her body respond to that look, Cain slid her hand to his hip and leaned closer to kiss him. His entire body stiffened at this action and he turned his face toward the bed. She pulled back.
"Bridget, I'm sorry," he said softly. "But I have a mission briefing to prepare for."
"Thinking of duty first, as always," Cain said with a smile. "See? Now that's why I need you on the Pegasus. To keep me in line... You're right, I suppose I should get back to the ship and check on my people."
With a sigh, she slid out of the bed and began retrieving her uniform from the floor. Lee watched her in silence. He had never understood how it was that whenever he and Bridget had sex, no matter how willing and eager a participant he had been at the outset, afterwards he always felt somewhat used. He knew that he was not the most experienced person in the world when it came to sex, but somehow he didn't think it was supposed to be like that, at least not every time. He had not felt that way with any of his few other sexual partners, only with Cain. He was sure that this was a significant indication of... something, but frankly, thinking about it too much, made him uncomfortable, so he didn't. He just filed it away at the back of his mind along with all the other things in his life that were too uncomfortable to think about. He supposed that it was getting pretty crowded back there these days, but he just didn't have time to worry about that right now.
Dressed now in her trousers and the two regulation tanks, Cain pulled her shirt on, but left it unbuttoned and untucked for the moment. Looking down at Lee, she couldn't help herself. She moved to the bed to lean down and claim one last kiss.
~*~*~*~
William Adama stalked through the halls of the Galactica in something of a daze. He had just learned some rather distressing things about his son and he wasn't really sure what to do with this information. Did he even have the right to confront his son about a three-year-old indiscretion? In his mind, hell yes. But he tended to think that Lee would disagree. He would probably argue that it was none of his father's business at all and he would have a point. But in the father's mind, all that was important at the moment, was making sure that the mistake was not repeated.
In his preoccupied state, Adama barely paid attention to where he was going. He was navigating the corridors more through habit than conscious thought. Luckily some part of his mind was evidently alert enough to guide him to his intended destination and it was with some surprise that he looked up to find himself standing outside the pilots' general quarters. In all honesty, he really didn't remember any part of the walk down here. This only added to his general state of confusion, which was such that, as he approached the door to his son's office, he forgot himself and simply opened the door without knocking.
The scene, into which he walked, left very little to the imagination. Lee and Bridget Cain were sitting on the bed, kissing. It was quite obvious from the rumpled appearance of the bed, Lee's apparent nudity, and Cain's state of partial undress, what he had just missed walking in on. Adama was sincerely grateful for that small miracle, but he could still feel his anger rising.
"Am I interrupting something?" he asked.
To be continued...
The Galactica's landing bays were much more chaotic than those of the Pegasus, with shuttles coming and going from the port side bay and Vipers launching from the starboard side, to act as escorts for the civilian ships, which were being moved to the planet's exosphere. The Pegasus' Vipers were also being moved to the Galactica for retrofitting. But Lt. Athens spared little of her attention for these activities, as she made her way from the shuttle in the direction she assumed would take her to CIC. She had never been on the Galactica before, but assumed its design was similar to the Pegasus.
She had no idea where Commander Cain might be, but figured that CIC was the best place to start. As she made her way through the congested hallways, she kept peering at the people she passed, looking for a familiar face, but she saw no one who could help her. Arriving at the bridge, she again cast about, looking for someone from her ship. Commander Cain was not here, that was readily apparent. The tall, dark-skinned woman tended to stand out in any setting.
"Excuse me, can I help you, lieutenant?" a slight, pretty, female petty officer asked her.
"Uh, yes, I'm looking for Commander Cain."
"I'm sorry, sir, she's not here. I haven't seen her for a while now. Is this something important, sir?"
"Yes, it is, actually."
"Well, then you might want to try Commander Adama's office. I think that's where he is. Maybe they're discussing the upcoming mission."
"Yes, thank you, I'll do that."
Finding the commander's office proved to be a bit more of a challenge. On the Pegasus, it was located on the starboard side of the ship, on the Galactica, it was on the port side. When she did find it, the hatch door was slightly ajar, so she knocked firmly as she pushed the door open. Inside, she found, not Commander Adama, but a dark-haired woman in a pale lavender, civilian suit, who was standing in front of the large desk. The woman turned to look at the lieutenant as she stepped nervously into the room.
"Oh, uh, excuse me, ma'am," Athens said. "I was looking for Commander Adama."
"Yes, so was I. I'm Pres. Roslin, by the way, and you are...?"
"Oh, uh, Lt. Athens, sir, f-from the Pegasus. You haven't seen Commander Cain around, have you, sir?"
"No, actually, I haven't seen Commander Cain in quite some time. But I do expect Commander Adama to return shortly, if you'd like to wait with me." Roslin turned and seated herself on the long, leather couch that was built into one wall. She evidently felt quite at home in this office.
Athens did not. She continued to stand and fidget, wringing her hands together nervously. Her anxiety was only partly due to being in a superior's office, alone in the presence of the president. She was also anxious to return to the Pegasus. She was not comfortable with the thought of Dr. Baltar being alone and unsupervised on the ship. There was no telling what sort of mischief he might be up to over there.
Seeing the younger woman's obvious discomfort, Laura tried to draw her into a conversation, hoping to calm her. "So, Lieutenant, do you like serving under Commander Cain?"
"Oh, yes sir. It's quite an honor to serve under her. I mean, she's one of the main reasons I decided to join the military... She's a legend."
"Yes... She seems a little intense."
"Yes, sir, she can be, but that's part of what's made her so great."
"I see."
"Uh, I'm sorry, sir, but I really do need to get back to my duties," Athens said abruptly, unable to stand any more of the waiting. "I'm just going to leave this for Commander Adama."
The young woman pulled a few sheets of folded paper from the pocket of her uniform. Unfolding the papers and walking to the desk, she grabbed a pen and scrawled a hasty note on the pages.
"If you could, please, give this to the commander, I would greatly appreciate it, sir," Athens said, handing the sheets to the older woman.
"Absolutely, Lieutenant, I'll make sure that he gets it."
"Thank you, sir. I have to go now. It was nice to meet you."
Laura watched the young woman leave, then turned her attention to the pages she had left behind. At the top of the first page, she had written, 'Dr. Baltar's Cylon detector program'. Laura scanned through the pages. She was by no means an expert computer programmer, but she did know how to read one and even she could see the obvious flaws in this. The program was completely useless. With a sigh, she folded the papers and tucked them into the waistband of her skirt. She was just straightening her long jacket over her hips again, when she heard the sounds of movement behind her. She turned to see Adama enter.
"Ah, there you are," she said, smiling.
"Yes, here I am. I thought you'd be on your way to the planet by now," he said, seating himself at his desk.
"Yes, Colonial One will be leaving within the hour. I just wanted to speak to you for a moment before I left... You're still determined to go through with this, aren't you?"
"Yes, we've been through this," Adama said gravely. "And Cain's right. It's better to deal with this basestar now, rather than later. We have the advantage of surprise and right now, we still have plenty of ammunition in our magazines. Later, we may not."
Roslin nodded, but said nothing for a long time. After several minutes, she spoke again, "There's something I'd like you to do for me."
"Yes?"
"Go and kick some Cylon ass for me, would you?" she said smiling.
"Yes, ma'am," he said with a chuckle.
That woman will never cease to surprise me, he thought, still smiling as he watched her leave the office. With a sigh, he reached into the breast pocket of his uniform and pulled out his glasses. Slipping them on, he turned his attention to his paperwork.
~*~*~*~
The sound of movement awake Gaius Baltar with a start. He sat up quickly and looked around to find the young, dark-haired lieutenant, who's name escaped him at the moment, who had previously helped him in the Galactica's CIC. The young man was watching him expectantly.
"Uh, yes?" Baltar asked, self-consciously.
"Are you okay, sir?"
"Yes, yes...tired... just, uh, taking a little break, is all."
The young man looked around, where it was obvious that no work had actually been done yet and asked, "Wasn't Lt. Athens supposed to be helping you?"
"Yes, she was, but I sent her to find you, to get the rest of the hair samples."
"I sent her back here over an hour ago, but maybe she got called away on another matter. Anyway, I have more samples for you to test. I have to get back to the Galactica now, but I've left Lt. Atlan in charge of getting the rest of the samples... Uh, sir, you might want to get started on those tests. I think Commander Adama and Commander Cain are expecting some answers here, soon...."
"Yes, yes, I am on it, really. Don't worry, Lt. ...?"
"Gaeta, sir."
"Gaeta, yes, sorry! Ter-terrible with names... So, you say that you sent Athens back here an hour ago?"
"Yes, sir, but she must have gotten side-tracked."
"Yes, yes, I'm sure that's it. Well, thank you. You run along back to the Galactica and I'll join you shortly with your answer."
As soon as the hatch door had closed behind the younger man, Baltar began frantically searching the lab for the program. He couldn't find it anywhere, but he did find more samples piled neatly beside the first set collected. Evidence that Athens had, in fact, returned to the lab. He could feel the beginnings of panic flare in the pit of his stomach. All of his careful lies, all of his work, all of it undone, simply because he had fallen asleep, it was so unfair.
"Face it, she has the program." The blonde was back, voicing aloud the words that he had been too afraid to even think.
"Oh, my dear Lords, what am I going to do?" he whispered, unable to think clearly.
"First of all, we need to find out what she did with it."
"I'm sure she's already shown it to Cain or Adama."
"Maybe, maybe not. There's no point in panicking right now. We don't have all the facts. Calm down, Gaius, and let's just wait and see."
"Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down w-?"
"Who are you talking to?"
At the sound of this new voice, Baltar whirled around to find Athens standing in the hatch doorway. She was looking at him in concern and even a little fear.
"N-no one," Baltar whispered, unable to think of anything else to say.
"Okay..." she said as she stepped cautiously into the room and closed the hatch door.
"So, where did you go? Lt. Gaeta was just here and he said that he sent you here with more samples over an hour ago. I found them," Baltar said, holding the samples up. "Where did you go after you dropped them off?"
"I went to the officer's mess. I saw that you were sleeping and I didn't want to disturb you. I figured you must be really exhausted, so I thought I'd give you an hour or so to sleep. I see we're both ready to get started now."
"Well, not quite. The program seems to be missing. You wouldn't happen to know what happened to it, would you?"
"Uh, no. Missing? That's terrible," the girl said, but Baltar wasn't fooled. She was a very bad liar. She was twisting her hands together in obvious nervousness.
"Well, I don't know how we're going to test all these samples without that program."
"Maybe, you could write another one," Athens said, slowly moving to stand beside him. She picked up one of the small plastic bags and gazed at it thoughtfully. Each sample bag was labeled with a number. Elsewhere, Lt. Gaeta had the master list with the names that matched those numbers.
"She read the program. She knows." The blonde had moved to stand on Baltar's other side.
"What did you do with the program?" he asked Athens, his voice very quiet.
She looked up at him quickly, her eyes very wide. At first he thought she was going to deny taking it, but then she said, "I went to the Galactica and left it in Commander Adama's office."
"Did you?"
"Yes, I did," the girl said defiantly. "It was all a lie! The whole thing was a hoax. You let them leave that man to die and you knew he was innocent! Why?"
"Oh, there's a very good possibility that he was guilty. He was up in CIC, for no apparent reason. He was acting suspiciously. He could very well have been a Cylon."
"You don't know that! You had no proof that he was guilty."
"You know you're going to have to deal with her." That honey-sweet voice whispered in his ear. "If you eliminate her and get to the program before Adama does, no one would ever know that it was fake."
Baltar turned to look at the blonde with a look of horror on his face. She couldn't possibly be suggesting that he murder this girl in cold blood, could she? While it was true that his actions and his lies had sentenced Aaron Doral to die, Gaius himself had not performed the actual deed. And as for the destruction of the Colonies, that had been the unforeseen consequence of, what should have been, a simple indiscretion. He was a liar and a fool, yes, but he was not a murderer. His hands were clean of that crime.
"You know that I'm right, Gaius."
He looked at her for a long moment. It was as if he was only now seeing her for what she truly was and he was amazed that he had never seen it before. She was so unspeakably beautiful and yet was utterly devoid of compassion and humanity. He couldn't help but wonder if this was what it was like to look upon the face of a god.
Athens, who had been standing and watching the strange play of emotions on the man's face, started to slowly back away. It was rapidly becoming apparent to her that this man was not stable. She had seen a few of the Pegasus' officers lose it in the past few days and eat their service sidearms. Their eyes had held the same desperate look she was now seeing in the doctor's eyes.
Looking over at her, he asked softly, "Where are you going, Minerva?"
"I-I have to go and check on the rest of the team and see how they're coming with those samples." She turned and started towards the hatch.
"She's going to alert security, "the blonde said.
Panic, wild and desperate flared in his brain, threatening to choke off all coherent thought. It was almost as if his mind momentarily left his body. He was seeing himself act without any conscious thought or will involved. He saw himself grab one of the microscopes from the table. It wasn't a particularly large piece of equipment, but its base was weighted so that it wouldn't easily tip over if the ship were forced to abruptly change course. He saw himself move to intercept the girl, grab her arm and swing her around. He saw those lovely green eyes widen in fear as he swung the microscope down.
She never screamed, never cried out. She just made this small sound, almost like a sigh, as her body crumpled at his feet and lay still in an ever-widening pool of her own blood. And, like a jolt of lightening, Gaius seemed to return to his body and he stared down, appalled at what he had done. He jumped back quickly, horrified at the thought of that blood touching him, staining him, marking him forever as the murderer he was.
The blonde moved to stand beside him. She stared down at the dead girl in fascination. "It's so amazing that you humans were able to survive for so long. You break so easily."
"W-what did you do to me?" he whispered, terrified. "You made me do that. You controlled me. I would never kill anyone."
She turned to face him and stroke his face and hair lightly with her graceful fingers. "Ssshhh. It's all right. Whatever you need to tell yourself, that's fine. You can believe whatever you want."
"N-no, no, it's true. You did this, not me."
"That's fine," she said smiling benignly. "You're still going to need to get rid of the body and the murder weapon. Your fingerprints are all over it."
Looking down and seeing the blood covered microscope still clutched in his hand. Baltar dropped it with a strangled cry. As if to add insult to injury, it landed on the dead girl's body with a soft thump. He felt the bile rising in the back of his throat and he pressed a hand over his mouth in an effort to maintain control of his stomach.
"There's a toxic waste incinerator over there," the blonde observed calmly. "I think it's big enough to fit her body in."
Later, Baltar would be amazed at how quick and easy it had been to clean up the mess. Athens had been a slender woman and it had not taxed him too much to carry her body and stuff it into the incinerator, along with the microscope and all the towels he had stolen from one of the shower areas and had used to clean up the blood. The incinerator was not large, so it was a tight fit, but once the door was closed and the red light that indicated the unit was operational was glowing, he found that he felt much better. The unit was small, but powerful, it would reduce the body to little more than ash within a few minutes.
"What now?" he asked his tall, blonde companion.
"Now, I suggest you make a hasty, but dignified, exit back to the Galactica, where you need to find some way to get into Adama's office and find that program."
"And if he's already found it? What then?"
"One crisis at a time, Gaius, one crisis at a time."
"You're right. I need to stay calm."
"And I highly doubt Adama would have had time to actually do anything with the program yet. So, if you can catch him alone, you may have to deal with him the same way you dealt with Athens."
"What? I can't just kill Adama!"
"Why not? You're not afraid of him, are you?"
"That's not the point! Athens was a nobody lieutenant that no on is going to miss, at least not for a while. Adama is the commander. I think he'll be missed."
"That just means we may have to be a little more creative. After all, accidents happen all the time..."
~*~*~*~
From where she was sitting, on edge of her bunk, Kara could see through the open doorway of the pilots' quarters to the closed door of Lee's room, directly across the hall. That door had remained closed since she had left the room over a half hour ago. She knew this, because she had been watching it the entire time. What are they doing in there? She asked herself for the hundredth time. And for the hundredth time, she immediately changed her mind and decided that she'd really rather not know. Her mind had been doing this flip flop-thing for a half hour now and it was starting to give her a headache.
"Hey, Starbuck! Me, Boomer, Saxon, and Crush are heading to the ready room for a game of pyramid. You in?"
Kara looked up to see David "Speed" Mercury standing beside her bunk. She had been so preoccupied with her thoughts that she hadn't even heard him approach. It was so not a good sign when pilots allowed themselves to get distracted by things that were beyond their control.
"Uh, no thanks, Speed, not in the mood right now."
"You sure? We're playing for personal hygiene products..."
"Is that a hint?" she asked laughing. "Nah, thanks anyway. Maybe next time."
"Alright..." he said with a shrug as he walked away.
What is the matter with me? She asked herself. You know it's bad when I'm turning down pyramid so I can baby-sit Lee. And I really could use some more shampoo. And it's not like he even knows, or cares, that I'm trying to keep him from making another very big mistake... If he hasn't already, she thought uncomfortably.
What is it about the woman that gives her the power to turn a normally intelligent and deeply repressed man into a hormone-enslaved moron? Okay, so she's beautiful, has all that hair, and legs up to her armpits, but it's not like Lee hasn't seen beautiful women before. And okay, so she's sexually aggressive and some men really like that kind of thing. Kara wouldn't have thought that Lee would, but she was beginning to realize that maybe she didn't know him as well as she had thought.
Kara had known Lee and Zac since secondary school, when the Adama family had moved to Caprica from Scorpia when William Adama had been given command of the Battle-cruiser Camelot, which docked in Caprica City. As if somehow sensing some kindred spirits in the two new boys, Kara had instantly become fast friends with the brothers. Like many children who had parents who were authority figures, like priests, civilian peacekeepers, and prominent military officers, the Adama brothers had definite streaks of rebellion. But while Zac's form of acting out consisted largely of childish, but harmless, pranks, Lee's less frequent flashes of rebellion tended to have a more worrying self-destructive element that Kara had never quite understood. She wondered if his affair with Cain wasn't somehow part of that.
It also occurred to her that considering how, almost obsessively, Lee tended to over-analyze everything, it was not surprising that he had had so few lovers. He was simply too uptight to make the first move. So, perhaps, that was where a woman like Cain would have the advantage. She would make the first move for him and perhaps that's what he really wanted. Unfortunately that gave her even more power in an already unequal relationship. In a healthy relationship, both partners should be relative equals. This had never been the case with Lee and Cain. Because nothing changed the fact that she was his commanding officer. She held all the power. It had taken nearly a year for Lee to figure this out and almost another year for him to get over it. And now Cain was back and seemed intent on dragging him back into it. And Kara wasn't sure that he even realized what was happening.
Why am I doing this? She asked herself, abruptly standing. This isn't any of my business. Lee's an adult. He can make his own mistakes. I'm not sure why I even care. Knowing there wasn't much chance of getting any sleep any time soon, she decided to go for a run. That always helped to clear her head. Changing out of her duty uniform and into her exercise gear, she pulled on running shoes and headed out to pound the corridors.
It was hard to actually build up to a decent pace while dodging people and coordinating stairs and corners. There were a couple of long, unbroken, seldom used hallways where one could sprint for a good stretch, but most of the time it was just light jogging. It was better to run very early or very late when the halls were less congested. But, with so many extra people from the Pegasus milling around, it was even worse than usual. Finally she gave in and settled for a brisk walk.
As she approached the commander's room, she noticed that his door was wide open. He often left it that way when he was in the room, to let his people know that he was open to interruption. Kara slowed her pace as she neared the doorway, but whether this was in the hopes that Adama would not notice her or that he would, she wasn't quite sure. It was with an odd mixture of relief and dread that she heard him call out to her as she passed.
"Hey, Starbuck, what to you hear?"
Stopping and stepping back, she peered into the room. He was sitting at his desk, obviously reading through reports. The desk that, prior to the destruction of the Colonies, had always been neat and orderly, but was now perpetually in disarray and buried under a layer of paperwork.
"Hey, sir," she said flatly, without her usual cheerful response to his customary greeting.
"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" he asked.
"Oh, not tired, sir."
"Come in and close the door behind you," he ordered. When she had done so and had seated herself on the long couch, he asked, "Now what's bothering you?"
"Nothing really, just a little worried about this mission," she said evasively.
"About the mission or about Bridget Cain?"
How does he do that? She wondered for the thousandth time. How does he always seem to know exactly what's going on in my mind? Kara had always prided herself on being difficult to read, and yet Adama seemed to do so with ease. Was he naturally psychic or did the Fleet give its higher-level officers intuition implants upon promotion? If it was a natural talent, it was not one that he had passed on to his eldest son. Lee could be downright clueless at times.
But, in fairness to Lee, she supposed that most of it had to do with maturity and experience. Lee had moved up the ranks fairly quickly, faster even than his father had. William Adama had not made captain until he was 33. Lee had done it at 28. But he had been promoted because of his hard work and talent, not his people skills, which were somewhat lacking.
Kara was quite sure that when Commander Westin of the Solaria had given Lee his promotion, it had been with the full knowledge that the young captain would not be assuming a CAG position any time in the immediate future. At that time all the battlestars had that position filled. Lee would have to wait for someone to be promoted, or retire, or die, for a position to open. And even when that happened, more than likely there would have been other captains with more seniority, waiting as well. They would get the job before him. And, in the meantime, Lee would be free to mature and grow into the role. It was only an unforeseen Cylon massacre that had pushed him into the job that he had the skills, if not yet the maturity, to handle.
Realizing that Adama was still waiting for a response to his question, she said, "Both, I guess."
He nodded. "Yes, I couldn't help but notice there was a lot of tension between you two earlier. You don't trust her, do you?"
Kara looked up at him sharply. Did he know about Lee and Cain? How? She knew that Lee had never told his father. Had Zac? She realized that it didn't matter how he knew. She was relieved that he did. Now, she had someone she could voice her fears to.
"No, sir, I don't," she said. "I'm really worried about Lee. I think he's going to make another big mistake. I think he's going to get involved with her again and that would be so b-...What?"
She stopped at the look of complete shock on his face.
"Lee involved with Cain? ...Again?!"
"But you said... I thought you..."
"I was asking whether or not you trusted Cain to lead the mission. What were you talking about?"
"Nothing..." she said in a small voice, sliding down in her seat, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible. Oh, frak! Oh frak! Oh, Lords of Kobol, please let the Cylons come and destroy us all, now! Oh, Lee is so gonna kill me.
"I suggest you start talking, Lieutenant."
She gave a sigh of resignation. "Three years ago, when Lee was stationed on the Pegasus. He and Commander Cain had an affair." She said it with as little emotion as she could, hoping to keep things calm.
"How long did this affair last?"
"Almost a year."
"A year?! ...Lee told you about this affair?"
"No, he told Zac and Zac told me... So, I take it that you didn't know anything about this?"
"No, I didn't."
"I'm sorry, sir. I wouldn't have said anything, but you always seem to know what's going on."
"Yes," he sighed, dismally. Like any good commander, he had his methods of knowing everything that went on, on board his ship. But when it came to knowing what was going on in his own son's life, evidently, he was at a complete loss. How could this have been going on for an entire year, right under my nose, and I didn't see it? He asked himself. Am I that blind? Or do I know my son so little?
"You said that you were worried about Lee?" he prompted, forcing his mind back to the young woman sitting across from him.
"Well, yeah. It really wasn't a very healthy relationship for him. As I'm sure you know, she's kind of a control freak and I just don't want to see him get hurt again."
"She was his commanding officer. Something like that could have destroyed his career. What was he thinking of?"
"You know, I've been trying to figure that one out for four years now. You'd have to ask him about that one."
He nodded, his features set and determined. "Yes, I imagine I will."
He stood abruptly and Kara's heart skipped a beat.
"You're going to ask him right now?" she asked.
"Yes. I think this conversation is long overdue and I think I'd like to deal with it while my blood is still up. Is that a problem?" he asked, seeing the panicked look on her face.
"Uh, no, sir."
"Care to join me?"
"No, I think, I'll just finish with my run," she said. And stay out of the line of fire, she added silently.
"That's probably a good idea," he said. "Close the door behind you when you leave."
She stared after him for a moment. Oh, yeah, Lee is definitely going to kill me.
~*~*~*~
Lee and Cain both lay on their sides, facing each other, on Lee's narrow bed. Lying with his head pillowed on his arm, he watched her, his expression unreadable. She was running one hand over his bare shoulder and arm, enjoying the warmth of his skin and the feel of the firm muscle beneath her fingertips. She had always enjoyed the simple, but visually striking, contrasts of their two skin tones, hers so dark and his so fair.
She also loved the way he looked after sex. It was as if it was the only time he ever truly relaxed and let his defenses down. And despite the glow of post-coital satisfaction, he still somehow managed to look childlike and innocent at the same time. He had that sleepy, contented look of a child who has spent a busy day playing with his birthday presents. Feeling her body respond to that look, Cain slid her hand to his hip and leaned closer to kiss him. His entire body stiffened at this action and he turned his face toward the bed. She pulled back.
"Bridget, I'm sorry," he said softly. "But I have a mission briefing to prepare for."
"Thinking of duty first, as always," Cain said with a smile. "See? Now that's why I need you on the Pegasus. To keep me in line... You're right, I suppose I should get back to the ship and check on my people."
With a sigh, she slid out of the bed and began retrieving her uniform from the floor. Lee watched her in silence. He had never understood how it was that whenever he and Bridget had sex, no matter how willing and eager a participant he had been at the outset, afterwards he always felt somewhat used. He knew that he was not the most experienced person in the world when it came to sex, but somehow he didn't think it was supposed to be like that, at least not every time. He had not felt that way with any of his few other sexual partners, only with Cain. He was sure that this was a significant indication of... something, but frankly, thinking about it too much, made him uncomfortable, so he didn't. He just filed it away at the back of his mind along with all the other things in his life that were too uncomfortable to think about. He supposed that it was getting pretty crowded back there these days, but he just didn't have time to worry about that right now.
Dressed now in her trousers and the two regulation tanks, Cain pulled her shirt on, but left it unbuttoned and untucked for the moment. Looking down at Lee, she couldn't help herself. She moved to the bed to lean down and claim one last kiss.
~*~*~*~
William Adama stalked through the halls of the Galactica in something of a daze. He had just learned some rather distressing things about his son and he wasn't really sure what to do with this information. Did he even have the right to confront his son about a three-year-old indiscretion? In his mind, hell yes. But he tended to think that Lee would disagree. He would probably argue that it was none of his father's business at all and he would have a point. But in the father's mind, all that was important at the moment, was making sure that the mistake was not repeated.
In his preoccupied state, Adama barely paid attention to where he was going. He was navigating the corridors more through habit than conscious thought. Luckily some part of his mind was evidently alert enough to guide him to his intended destination and it was with some surprise that he looked up to find himself standing outside the pilots' general quarters. In all honesty, he really didn't remember any part of the walk down here. This only added to his general state of confusion, which was such that, as he approached the door to his son's office, he forgot himself and simply opened the door without knocking.
The scene, into which he walked, left very little to the imagination. Lee and Bridget Cain were sitting on the bed, kissing. It was quite obvious from the rumpled appearance of the bed, Lee's apparent nudity, and Cain's state of partial undress, what he had just missed walking in on. Adama was sincerely grateful for that small miracle, but he could still feel his anger rising.
"Am I interrupting something?" he asked.
To be continued...
