Sequel to 7 Points
By Chaoseternus
Chapter 11: Starbuck and Training
Adama nodded weary and concerned as the Doctors report slowly registered.
With Kara confirming she had seen another her, even though it was in the thick of battle where such glances were not always reliable, it was easy to be mistaken if you only caught a quick glance after all, they had ordered a second, more intensive batch of tests to prove she was no cylon, just to make sure.
She wasn't.
That they knew for certain, but what she was…
Adama shrugged it off, he knew what kind of person she was, he knew where her loyalties lay and he trusted her.
To him, that was enough.
She had proven herself, she was family and she was trusted, this news was just another aspect to Kara, another addition to the mystery that was his daughter in all bar legality.
It also meant they had another mystery to deal with, how had she arrived at the colonies? Why was she there? And Adama grimaced as he realised how necessary this question had become, who were her parents?
Gaeta whooped, the sound echoing through the simulator bay of RSS Station Ravenbright as he brought the MTB in for a prefect simulated 'hot' landing, single-handed, and without ever encountering the cylon forces that were supposed to be making this Landing Zone a 'hot' one.
Smiling, he turned around to the assembled instructors at the back of the small warships simulated cockpit and froze, the smile vanishing from his face.
"Not again" he cursed, more than a little annoyed at the sight of the instructors holding up a cartoon image of a gravestone, with KIA the only words on the board, "What did I do this time?"
"Check your radiological counter boy"
Gaeta glanced over at the HUD then froze, doing a swift double take.
"When we said the LZ would be hot we weren't kidding " he continued, flatly.
"No frakking shit" Gaeta blurted out, unamused.
"Congratulations, you, your ship and your injured crewmates are now glowing in the dark, and what can we learn from this?"
"Apart from the fact that wherever you go, the instructors are still sadists?" Gaeta muttered to himself.
Not quietly enough, as the instructors amused baritone broke into his thoughts, "Other than that?"
Gaeta thought, then nodded, realizing the lesson implicit here, "Assumption, never assume anything"
The instructor nodded, pleased, "Round here we say Assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups"
Gaeta sighed, and then asked "when will the MTBs be ready anyway?"
"They're laying the keel plates now, so it'll be awhile mainly because of the complexity of forcing so much inside a small hull"
For the first time, the head instructor steps out of the shadows and faces Gaeta, his pale lined face showing the markings of too much hard work and far too little sun, his black hair limp and lifeless, his hands scarred, the result of a number of rushed repairs in dangerous surroundings
"Are you still sure you want to be commanding an MTB boy, because those things aren't exactly for the faint of heart. Forcing eight torpedoes, two gauss rifles and five or so pulse batteries in amongst drives, systems and life support leaves no room for any of the amenities you're used too on a capital ship like Galactica, no beds let alone quarters, no privacy, one small head for the entire crew…
Those things get to be hell after a mere day aboard, let alone on a major warcruise"
Gaeta shot the instructor a direct look.
The instructor just smiled, "Good… now lets do that one again only with a little twist this time…"
Gaeta starred as the instructor disappeared back into his carefully contrived shadows.
"Waiting for something boy?"
"Just the maniacal laughter sir"
"Get on with it boy!" the head instructor shouted annoyed as his cadre of lesser instructors burst out laughing
Kara ran, frustrated as hell, teeth firmly clenched on what she was told was a Cuban cigar, a present from Commander Adama.
She hated this!
Confined to the ground, confined to the compound….
All because she had a twin out there somewhere.
She was no frakkin cylon, the tests had proven that even if they had come up with a few other surprises for her.
So she ran, pounding her frustration into the ground of the track which encircled the twenty or so acres assigned to the first colonial military base on Freedom, charging through the stream which winded its way through the length of the base, the cool water splashing her, cooling her off beautifully.
She ran, skirting the large river which marked the eastern boundary of the base, she ran, passing the crews at work hurriedly putting a prefab dock together on the river, she ran, passing the boundary between the base and the new colonial capital, she ran, skirting the boundary of the forest.
Where she slowed, uneasy, the definite feeling of being watched settling over her like a glove. She glanced around, peering deep into the thick forest of trees, and the heavy cover of bushes and fallen logs.
She saw nothing, but still the feeling of being watched ate at her.
Grimacing, she pounded on to the next guard station, resisting the urge to glance backwards over her shoulder.
Tigh nodded grimly as the report came in.
It appeared he owed Kara an apology, again.
The search parties might not have found anyone in the forest but it was obvious somebody had been there, hiding and watching the base.
He wouldn't have even ordered a search if all the guards assigned to that post for the last two days hadn't came forward and presented their logs, each one showing that they had commented on a feeling of being watched.
Tigh sighed, resisting the faint lingering urge to reach for the bottle of Ambrosia he always kept within reach.
The same one he had kept in reach for three months now.
The same sealed bottle.
He glanced up at the guard, gruffly ordering "Get Kara in here, I owe her an apology. And step up the guard on the planes if you can, most likely it's the missing pilot from the damaged Udajeet "
Gaeta sighed blissfully as he grabbed the sole remaining comfy chair, left open because no one else was willing to sit next to Kara when she was in that kind of mood.
Kara glanced across at him, a little amused, "Brave aren't you? You do know they are already planning a posthumous medal for you for sitting there?"
Gaeta wearily glanced the round the room, and rolled his eyes, "I've had too much of a bad day to worry about where I'm sitting so long as it is comfortable"
Kara snorted, "You've just been in the Sims, how can that be hard?"
Gaeta shot her a hard look, "Did you know Colonel Sumner at the academy?"
Gaeta nodded as Kara's cigar snapped in two, cut by her teeth as she instinctively clamped down at the mention of the Colonel.
"Right, I see you did. The guy I had to deal with wasn't a sexist frakhole but he was far more evil with the Sims he threw at you"
Kara cursed as she glanced down at the still burning remains of her cigar, "frak me" she commented, and then glanced up, "Worse than Sumner? Frak, I have him tomorrow"
Gaeta shot her a sympathetic look, "Have fun" he commented wryly.
Lee walked in, a frown on his face then stopped in shock as he saw Kara, "How did you get here before me? And aren't you confined to base?"
Kara shot him a confused look, "Get here before you? Ive been here for the last half hour trying to cut into a game"
Gaeta smothered a chuckle as the card players at the various tables winched in unison.
"But…" Lee said, confused, "I just met you in town"