The Scientists Symposium was a huge event for the scientists of the twelve colonies. Every three years, they would gather to have experiments, demonstrations and share data. And every three years there would be smiles, heartaches, blood, sweat and tears. For the die-hard scientists there were hardcore studies, years of work condensed into three inch thick, almost incomprehensible, reports. For the less involved - more playful - scientists there were fun, bars and 'games'. For scientists like Gaius Baltar there were women. Lots of women.
And it was women he was watching at the bar that night. A cocktail in one hand and a copy of 'George B. Stein - Cylons; our wayward children' being held open on the bar-top with the other. Every few minutes someone would stop to greet and congratulate him on his latest piece of work, something he had thrown together in the few weeks leading up to the symposium so that no-one would focus on his work on the defence mainframe. This year it had been a behaviour chip, which claimed it would have prevented the cylons from turning on their creators. It might have been a pile of bullshit but Gaius Baltar was brilliant at bullshitting.
"Hello Gaius." The voice was gentle although there was a slight rough edge on the 'G' which almost made him shiver. The book closed and he picked up his cocktail as he pivoted on the barstool.
"Hello." He gave that charming smile that had gotten him through many an interview and took in the woman before him. Blonde, amazing figure, pretty with a dark red dress that clung and showed a hell of a lot but still managed to keep him guessing. She was nearly beautiful. "Can I get you a drink?"
The woman sat on the opposite stool, one arm casually resting on the bar. She nodded, that hand sliding along the bar-top to pull his book towards her. "Wayward children." She read, a brief smile crossing her lips. Gaius, totally oblivious to what she found humorous, smiled along with her, taking in the way she looked. "Cylons aren't wayward. They have their own reasons for their course of action."
"Ah yes, but until we know their reasons we will continue to call them 'wayward'. It's like 'innocent until proven guilty'. We humans categorise things, and until the cylons tell us otherwise, we will categorise them as wayward. After all, they are indeed errant and in some twisted way they are humanities children. Don't you think Miss…ah…?"
That small smile returned again as 'the woman' held out a hand. "Naomi Six." Gaius kissed her knuckles and turned to the barman, ordering offhandedly "Another Blue Gemon cocktail and whatever Miss Six would like."
'Naomi' smiled. Secretly she liked the way he said 'Six', the way he looked, the way he casually finished the cocktail he'd been drinking when she had arrived and set the glass down. But Six knew it wasn't right to 'like' anything. She had no emotions or so she had been told. "Red Flame" She ordered, her gaze firmly on Gaius. "Errant?"
"Well they did try and kill us all, did they not?" Gaius chuckled.
"Maybe they had reason."
"Maybe they did. They still need to capitulate or be destroyed. I doubt the Cylons - unlike most humans apparently - believe in 'let sleeping dogs lie'. If we leave them they will surely attack again. As fascinating as Cylons are, I vote we destroy them."
"If Humans want Cylons destroyed, who's to say that your 'God' doesn't want you destroyed? What if Cylons are - essentially - his creation, his tool to wipe out the human race. Humans have done wrong in the past, it is plausible their creator would like to destroy them. Purge the evil and corrupt from the universe." Six was finding all this terribly amusing but she kept that to herself. He'd find out soon enough.
Gaius' brow visibly creased as he thought this one over for a second. The conversation was getting too deep. Way too much thinking involved for a conversation with a beautiful woman. But she was…intriguing, he had to admit. Without looking, he picked up the cocktail the barman had set down and took a sip. "How can someone as beautiful and intelligent as yourself believe so wholeheartedly in a God and his plan for mankind?"
Six mimicked Gaius' movements, smoothly lifting the glass and taking a sip without glancing down once. Tracing a finger around the edge of the glass, she raised a brow slightly. A puzzling human habit. "I never once said I believed in a god Gaius."
"You didn't have to. It's evident by the way you talk about 'Him'."
"You don't believe in a God at all?"
"No. I don't believe that one superior, all powerful, master creator can exist. Who would be his creator? Who could create the most powerful being in the universe? For there to be someone more powerful would be a contradiction, then you would never truly have THE most powerful being because there would always be someone stronger. It's an unending circle. It's totally implausible."
"And yet billions believe in him. They pray to him and to his children - humanities forefathers - the Holy Lords. How can Billions be wrong Gaius?" Six rested the glass back down on the bar-top and leant one arm against it, one leg crossed over the other, trying to look both interested and casual at the same time. She was quite proud of herself. He seemed to like her. Had he not, they would have had to bring in someone else. Possibly Nine. Although, Baltar didn't seem the type to be attracted to vulnerability, which Nine 'specialised' in.
"We have been wrong before…ah….Naomi." She noted how he had to search for her name. According to their records, Gaius Baltar had had many women. Too many to remember immediately.
He would not forget her.
"Six" She watched as he frowned and then nodded, apparently he was used to women requesting to be called something other than their forename. "I prefer Six. Naomi is too…human?" This got a smirk but he nodded again.
"Human. I understand what you mean. Sometimes it's easier to act inhuman than have those feelings and such. I can't help but think sometimes that the Cylons have the right idea. No emotions, no fragile body, no-one superior to you-"
"Except…" Six cut in, half grinning. Baltar smiled back, rolling his eyes and taking a sip from his glass.
"Ah, yes, 'God'. How could I forget?(!)" The pair sat in silence for the next 10 minutes. Six devising ways and means of getting close to someone so cold and…'Cylon-like' as Gaius Baltar, Gaius wondering how he'd possibly get someone as intelligent as Naomi Six to just come home and get into bed with him. That was the problem with intelligent women, they always wanted more. They thought too much and became clingy, demanded love and respect. Pretty girls in expensive bars with their 'boyfriend of the week' at their side didn't want any of that, all they wanted was a ride home in the morning.
Or so Gaius liked to think.
He was just weighing up his options; get her drunk or forget her and move onto another, less intelligent, female, when Six spoke. That low, seductive voice, the edge on the 'G'…
"Gaius? Let's leave here now."
"Twenty four"
"Thirty six"
"Twenty eight, anymore and I'm folding." His gruff voice made Carrie laugh as she nodded and threw in twenty eight 'cubits', which in reality where just matchsticks they had found hidden away in Adama's office. "Come on Sir, you know as well as I do that is not how you raise in this game."
Adama looked over his cards and put down one, slapping another one down on top almost immediately. "New world, new rules." He mumbled, trying to figure out which card to drop next.
It had been five long weeks since they had last encountered any cylons and for the last three everyone had had a large amount of downtime. While everyone else slept or hung out in the recreation areas, Adama had found himself with an office full of people.
Apparently Lee had be the one to tell everyone it was his birthday and a small private party had been arranged. Lee, Kara, Tigh, President Roslin, Carrie and of course Billy, had all turned up in his office. A small cake had been made with the limit amount of food stores available to them and a bottle of ambrosia had been hunted down. Three hours later and everyone was gone, Lee and Kara deciding to check over the vipers after escorting the President and Billy back to their shuttle.
Carrie had stayed behind, cleaning up the dishes and glasses, generally tidying the small office which was all Adama had of a home now. "Ever played Picon Debtmaker?" She had asked, holding up a box of matches and he shook his head, instantly providing a pack of original Geminon gaming cards. "Can't be that hard…"
An hour later and Adama had lost most of his matchsticks, resorting to haggling to try and retain what little dignity he had left. "Full colours. I win."
This had gotten another laugh as Carrie slapped her hand down. "Full colours."
"Is not!"
"Is so!" Pointing to each card in turn, Carrie shrugged. "We're playing Picon Debtmaker, not pyramid Sir. THIS is full colours. In Pyramid you actually have to have full colours, in PDM it's kind of a… Well full colours really means to have at least four cards of the same colour. That beats your Pyramid based full colours. Told you it was a hard game…"
"It's a foolish game." It was a strange sight, seeing a grown man pout like a five year old as he filled his tumbler with a little more of the ambrosia. He held out the bottle in offering but Carrie shook her head, capping it instead.
"So, what did you want to talk about Sir?" He gave her a puzzled look and she gestured to the cards. "You don't learn 'foolish' new games with pilots you hardly know just for the fun of it, do you?" At his silence, she nodded. "Thought so."
"Lieutenant, you were on that recon mission with Lee and Kara three years ago, you saw those human looking cylons… I would talk to Lee and Kara but… Maybe you could tell me whatever I need to know?"
Gathering the cards and reshuffling them, Carrie seemed thoughtful for a moment. She split the matchsticks into two piles, one for each of them, and tilted her head. "Choose your game, Sir."
"Half-Pyramid." Adama answered immediately, taking the cards up as she dealt them out. Half-Pyramid was for two players only, and was almost as intense as it's original parent-game. As soon as they each picked up their cards, the betting started, matchsticks being randomly thrown in with no verbal tallying.
"What do you need to know?"
"Everything. I wasn't told much, they thought I was too close to it because Lee and Zak was there-"
"They were right." Carrie moved the cards in her hand around and put one down, picking up another. "Hell, everyone was too close. The whole of the frakkin colonies were too close. There's not much to tell you Sir. There were Cylons, Me and Kara got out, had to go back for Lee, everyone survived-" She looked up, eyes wide as she realised what she had said. It had only been a week or two later that Zak had died. "Sorry, Sir."
"It's in the past." Adama said simply, throwing in some more matchsticks. "And please, stop with the 'Sir', if I hear it one more time I'll start thinking that was my given name(!)"
"I'll stop if you never ever call me Lieutenant again. Nightsky is fine." She threw in some matchsticks and raised him a few more. "So now that we've established everything about the Cylons is and was too close for comfort, what did you need to know?"
"What happened."
"I told you what happened."
"No," He put down a card and picked another of the pile. "You told me what everyone else told me, Admiral Nagala included. I want to know what they thought so 'important' that they hid it from me."
Carrie stayed quiet for a while as they played, finally speaking when she called the hand. "There was a Cylon copy of Lee. Two pair."
Adama watched as she laid the hand down, putting his down soon after. "Three on the run." He stared blankly at the matchsticks for a while, unsure what to say. A Cylon copy of Lee? That was a terrifying thought. Much too close for comfort. "What about you and Kara?"
"Not that we know of. I don't remember them doing anything but…" She shrugged "Can't be sure." Watching his expression, a mix of worry and fear, Carrie decided to say something to reassure him. "They aren't cylons Commander, trust me…"
"Of course." He gathered the matchsticks and put them back into their box, keeping one out to light the cigar he dug out of the drawer. Taking a puff, he watched Carrie pack away the cards. "Thank you for telling me Nightsky."
"Anytime Commander…"
She was everywhere. Surrounding him, smothering him and yet so far away, all at the same time. She'd been gone for a few hours so far and Gaius had gotten some work done. By work he meant tests on a genuine Cylon detector - one that would actually detect Cylons. Six had found his work highly amusing. 'It will never work, Gaius.' She had told him 'Never. And you won't know why… It's a secret.' When he had asked what she meant, he had only received a smile and the sight of her walking away.
He hoped she would stay away for a while longer. He was expecting a guest anytime now… There was a knock on the hatch and he smiled, looking around the room. No Six, perfect.
"Hello." He said simply, smiling at the woman on the other side of the door. She smirked and stepped through the hatch. "I was wondering when you would turn up…"
"You shouldn't keep 'expecting' me, I'll disappoint you one of these days Gaius." Kara cracked a smile and sat down on his desk chair. "So what are you working on this time Genius?"
Gaius shrugged and closed the folder on the desk in front of her, his other hand turning the chair around so she faced him. "Same old, same old. So have you just come to check up on me?"
"What do you think?"
"I think…" He trailed of and leant down to softly kiss her lips. "What do you say we-"
"Gaius…" He froze. That gentle voice, the edge on the 'G'. He didn't have to turn around to see who was sitting on the edge of the desk behind him. "There's someone coming." She said flatly, though he could swear he heard hurt in her voice.
Another knock at the hatch.
Kara raised a brow. "You expecting someone?" Gaius knew she didn't want anyone to find out about their 'meetings'. He wasn't too sure what their meetings were to be honest. At first it started out as just sex, wondering if they'd get 'caught'. Now it had changed into something…strange.
"No." Gaius went over and opened the hatch, frowning as an ensign shuffled nervously in front of him. "Commander Adama would like to see you in his office…Sir."
"See…ah, see me?" The ensign nodded, looking like a five year old caught scribbling on the wall and glanced around the corridor, waiting. "I'll be there…right away. Yes…" He closed the door before the boy could respond and leaned against it.
"Hmm…" He screwed his eyes shut, not wanting to see which of the women was about to speak. This was wrong, insanely wrong and yet there was something utterly fantastic about having two women who wanted to be with you in some way, whether or not one was only in your head.
"The Commander wants to see me."
"I heard." He could hear the smirk in Kara's voice, the sound of her boots on the metal flooring as she walked up and rested a hand against the hatch, beside his head. "Looks like we'll have to reschedule." She trailed a finger over his lips, almost gently, leaning in to kiss him deeply. "Go! You don't wanna keep the Commander waiting!"
Snorting as he held back a laugh, Gaius grabbed his jacket from the chair and headed out the hatch. He heard the hatch close behind him as Kara headed down the corridor in the opposite direction. "She's bad for you Gaius. And she'll hurt you. I won't hurt you, you know I won't-"
"You are in my head. You cannot satiate my body, you cannot give me anything I want in a woman. You are something to occupy my mind on those lonely nights when I am stressed and want nothing more than a physical release of any kind. Now if you'll excuse me, I have real people in the real world to see." He spoke calmly, waiting until her face fell before circling around the 'woman' and heading up towards the Commanders quarters.
"Do you love her Gaius? She doesn't love you. I love you Gaius, I want to be with you." Her words seemed to echo in the corridor as Gaius tried to block her out. She was his poison and his curse. She was the reason he was alive and living this hell.
As he approached the door, it opened, a young woman walking out. She nodded to him in greeting even though her expression was cold. He wondered why she didn't trust him - but then decided he wouldn't trust himself either.
"Doctor Baltar, come in." Adama stood at the hatchway, watching Gaius as he walked in and gingerly sat in a chair opposite the desk. Glancing around the room nervously, he noted that everything seemed the same as the last time he was in here. Why he cared, Gaius wasn't sure but it was comforting to know nothing had changed all the same. Adama came to sit on the other side of the desk, his cold blue eyes seeming to bore into the younger man. "How's it going with the Cylon detector Doctor?"
Pursing his lips a moment, Gaius nodded slowly. "Good. Very good. I-in fact I may have it done as soon as next-"
"Have it done? Gaius, you haven't gotten anywhere. It's all a waste of time." Six said into his ear, looking almost sad for him.
"Uh… A-as soon as next month." He finished, trying not to look at Six but his eyes kept darting towards her. Inwardly he reminded himself that she was only in his head but it didn't help, he had to look.
Adama just shook his head and looked down at his papers. This Baltar really was strange but he was the only genius they had, he'd have to do. "Good. Have you got everything you need?"
"A nuclear warhead would be good…" Six muttered, shrugging slightly when Gaius shot her a look.
"Yes Commander. I-I have everything I could possibly need. Thank you."
"Right, well that's all for now." He really didn't want the man around him. There was something beyond his obvious strangeness that rubbed Adama the wrong way.
"Y-yes Commander. Thank you." Gaius stuttered, scowling as Six laughed. He'd have to work on a way to get rid of her once this Cylon detector was completed.
As he closed the hatch behind him, he heard Six's parting sentence. "You're pathetic Gaius Baltar." She would probably be disappearing for a few hours now.
She did that a lot lately.
Lee looked between Sharon and Tyrol, shaking his head as he tried to fight a smile. The gimbal argument had evolved, varying slightly each time. Sometimes Sharon even threw in something about a fuel line or a damaged console, which always gave the other pilots a kick. Last time she had taken it a notch higher and insulted his ability as a Chief. It seemed the whole deck had frozen for a minute, not moving or uttering a word until the storage room hatch had slammed shut and Cally had taken up her position as guard outside it. Why she even bothered, Lee would never know.
But this time was different. It was after the hatch had slammed shut, the racket resumed and Cally had taken up position, that hatch had suddenly flown open again. Yelping as she dodged out the way, Cally fell into Socinus, both of whom landed in a heap on the floor. Boomer emerged from the storage room, looking down at Cally blankly before walking towards her viper. Frowning, Lee put down what he was working on and turned to her, shoulders set back as he went into CAG mode. "Lt Valerii, I believe an apology is in order."
She turned, her eyes empty, void of feeling and emotion. "They were in the way. I have nothing to apologise for." Lee was struck by just how cold her voice was, matching her eyes perfectly. Lee watched as she pulled a stepladder over to her viper, intent on climbing inside. "Lieutenant, you don't have patrol for another fourteen hours." She ignored him, climbing in and pulling the canopy shut. Did she really think they'd just launch her? If her behaviour wasn't enough, there was also the fact she wasn't meant to be out there and her lack of safety gear. "Lt Valerii, get out of that viper immediately-"
He was cut off by a shriek coming from the direction of the storage room. Cally was sitting by an unconscious Tyrol, blood on her hands. "What happened?" Lee asked, pressing his hands down around the screwdriver in Tyrol's shoulder, trying to stop the wound from bleeding so much. She shook her head, staring down at the blood.
"He was just lying there…" She whispered, looking back at Tyrol for a split second before back to her hands, as if the blood was a more comforting sight. It probably was. "Boomer must have… She was the only one in here with him…"
Calling a few more deckhands in to tend to Tyrol while Doctor Salik and her med techs made their way there, Lee headed back out towards the vipers. Why would Boomer do this? Seeing the dark of her hair against the canopy, he stopped and called out. "Lt Valerii get out of that viper NOW!" No movement. "Boomer, NOW!" he tried again but still nothing. His brow creasing, Lee climbed up the stepladder and looked inside. Boomer was slumped over, her face looking almost serene. He sat her back in the seat and tilted her head back, checking her breathing and pulse. Everything was as it should be.
Standing on the ladder, he watched her until the med techs came for her too, laying the pilot out on a stretcher and taking her away to Lifestation. Socinus stood trying to convince Cally to go along to Lifestation with them but she dismissed him with a wave of her bloody hands and stalked off towards crew quarters.