Lee was adamant. "I didn't do anything, Starbuck."
"You talked to the doctor." She grinned.
"I mentioned that he might want to check on the crewmember who was in the brig. I believe he thought it was going to be you when he went down there. But his actions were his own," Lee corrected. "I wasn't exaggerating before – we have been negligent with the galley crew. It never should have come to this." He checked the flight schedule he had reworked. "By the way, you're back in the flight rotation as of tomorrow."
"I am?" She knew she had been hiding the pain from her crewmates but she was surprised to have fooled even the medical personnel.
"According to the recommendations, your leg is healing and you're able to handle the discomfort well enough to fly. Besides, we're short on pilots until the food poisoning issue is resolved. Someone's got to pilot the vipers we have left."
Kara grinned and started to leave the CAG's office when her friend stopped her. "The Commander was wondering…"
"Yeah?"
"I remember the name Jenna Harris from the academy. What's she doing in the galley?"
Kara shrugged. "She was training to be a pilot when a piece of equipment landed on her leg and crushed it. When she was able to get around they stuck her in the mess hall and she learned that she loved to cook. She has a talent for making even the most inedible dishes taste good. Her leg never healed quite right so there wasn't any complaint from the instructors that she chose to remain in the mess."
Lee nodded thoughtfully. "First shift tomorrow, Starbuck."
"First shift," she agreed.
The next morning, after an unbelievable hour in hisoffice, Lee was much less thrilled with the prospect of having to track down Kara. She had been pleasantly surprised to see him waiting for her at her locker, until she learned what had drawn his presence.
"I don't frackin' believe this!" Kara shouted and slammed her locker shut with all the strength she could muster. The room reverberated with the noise. "Jenna's suspected because she accidentally gave the crew food poisoning. We'll just ignore the fact that she was so exhausted she couldn't remember the last time she had been allowed to sleep for more than an hour at a time. And we'll close our eyes to the fact that she's slowly being starved to death. Now I'm under suspicion because I can make that damned raider fly and the Chief can't?" She kicked the lockers in fury before reason could prevail.
Lee watched Kara's complexion blanch first white and then a greenish gray as she crumpled to the floor. An exaggerated intake of breath was the only sound she made but tears of pain shone in her eyes. He tried to break her fall before she did her knee any more injury and she did not try to stop him as he ended up sitting on the floor beneath her.
"Starbuck?" Her body was taut against his and he could feel the minute trembles that coursed through her muscles, but she kept silent. "Talk to me, Starbuck."
She shook her head jerkily. She hurt too much to talk – her body and mind had both been through too much. If she opened her mouth she would scream and so she kept her jaw clamped firmly shut.
The door opened and Boomer stopped on the threshold. She only took a moment to assess the situation. "I'll contact Life Station," she told Lee and ducked back out of the room.
Kara shook her head again but Sharon was already gone and Lee was almost certain she would not have obeyed anyway. He tightened his hold on his friend as her trembles increased. He waited for Life Station personnel to arrive and wondered if Kara would be able to hold it together until they did. The med techs were quicker than Kara's crumbling control and had her back in Life Station before she lost her tenuous hold.
Lee's first stop, once Kara had been seen to, was to his father's office. The no fly list had been posted directly to his own office and had been awaiting his arrival at the beginning of first shift and he had been given little time to track down Starbuck and tell her personally she had been pulled from rotation again, much less present his concerns and frustrations to the Commander. Now that Starbuck was incapacitated, he had ample opportunity to do so without worrying with trouble she was getting herself into with the Tribunal.
To be continued…
