A Book By Its Cover
This story and all themes and ideas contained in said story are the sole ownership of J.L. Scott. Any copyright infringements can be prosecuted in a court of law.
To borrow a phrase: Battlestar Galactica no mine...no money, no sue, please?
"All right people, let's give these raptors some cover" Lee said over his comm. to the rest of his pilots. He was keeping an eye on the raptor that was already carrying a precious cargo: Ariel Nimon. The basestar was throwing raiders at them like it had an endless supply and the vipers were having a hell of a time batting them away from the raptors. The attack on the planet had ceased, at least. Lee dodged a raider's fire and was gratified to see it explode under Starbuck's return.
"Thanks, Starbuck" he said.
"Anytime" she replied. She would be revved up when this battle was over and they were all back on Galactica.
"They're coming in hot, Apollo!" another pilot cried.
"All right, all right, just try to keep them off the raptors!" Behind him, the rest of the Fleet was starting to jump away. Within a matter of minutes, the only ship left was the Galactica.
"Apollo, what's your ETA?" Lee heard his father's voice over the comm.
"We're just heading into the atmosphere now, Galactica" Apollo responded. The raiders were following them, too. The vipers were continuing the fight in the atmosphere of the planet, but that's not what they were built for.
"Damn those things can move!" Starbuck swore over the comm. The raptors were landing on the patch of packed earth that Lee had told them about. To his surprise, there were villagers waiting already, and he could see others running from the tree line.
"Starbuck, let's cover those people" he said and dipped the nose of his viper down to fly over them. He could see them duck and cover their heads. There were children running between adults and they all looked rather battered. Lee followed the line of people all the way back to the village. It had been entirely destroyed. In fact, all that was left was a smoldering black gorge in the earth. Nobody who had been in that town would have survived.
"They must've been in the fields" Lee said, mostly to himself, thinking about the survivors. He wondered how many were left.
"Apollo, watch your tail!" Starbuck yelled in his ear, but it was too late. He hadn't noticed the raider behind him.
"I'm hit!" he shouted, struggling to keep his viper from tail spinning out of control.
"Get back to the ship!" Starbuck cried.
"It's too late!" Apollo replied. He was heading back toward the raptors. He would have to land and take a raptor back up to Galactica. Lee tried to decelerate as he flew over the grass plain, and ended up skidding to a halt, gouging a long streak in the grass. Two raptors were lifting off as he popped his hatch.
"Starbuck, you make sure those ships get back to Galactica!" Apollo ordered.
"What about you?" she asked.
"I'll take the next one up" he replied. He was already running for the last raptor. Ariel was there, helping people up into the ship.
"Ariel, what are you still doing here?" he asked.
"This is all of them" she replied, "Not even a hundred. The rest are gone" Only two vipers were left above their heads to escort the last raptor back to Galactica. And it was likely that the Galactica was sustaining heavy damage while it waited for the return of its service men.
"That's it!" the pilot was standing by Ariel's side, helping to load people, but he stopped, "That's it, that's all we can take" There were two children still waiting for rescue.
"What do you mean that's all?" Ariel demanded.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but that's our weight limit" the pilot answered, "Any heavier and we won't be able to lift off" Ariel glanced at the pilot and then down at the children. She stepped down from the ship and lifted the first one up.
"What are you doing?" Lee demanded, yanking at her arm just as she released the child into the pilot's care.
"The two of them probably weigh about as much as me" Ariel answered. She lifted the second child with a smile and handed her up.
"Madame President…." Lee started.
"These children are not going to die so that I can live!" Ariel stopped him with a hard look. The pilot waited for Lee to say something.
"Captain?"
"Go" Lee finally ordered, "I'll stay here with her" It wasn't really a sacrifice. They didn't have room for him either.
"We'll be back for you, Captain!" the pilot cried as the raptor door closed and Lee and Ariel backed away. They watched as the ship lifted off, its viper guard close by still fighting off raiders though the enemy were fewer now. When it was too high to see anymore, Ariel grabbed Lee's hand and yanked him toward the tree line.
"Come on, there may be another way off this planet" she said and began pulling him.
Commander Adama took his glasses off his face and wiped a hand across his brow. The ship rocked from another blow from the basestar. The raptor would be safely on board by now, with all the vipers. The rest of the fleet was already gone. All he had to do was give the order. He couldn't do it.
"Commander?" Colonel Tigh said softly beside him, "There's nothing we can do now" Adama put his glasses back on his face. His son was not dead.
"We'll have to come back for them" he said. He heard Tigh give the order to make the jump and he heard Roslin say something about being sorry. Their words drifted through his head without him really grasping them. He was wondering why he'd bothered to get out of bed that morning.
Lee sank into the dirt and twigs and tried to catch his breath. Ariel had had him running through the trees faster than he'd even thought possible. She was breathing hard but not as hard as he was. It was suspicious, but Lee didn't have time to notice.
"You should drink" she whispered, "The stream trickles down to almost nothing further up and you need the water" She brushed long strands of auburn hair that had escaped her braid as they ran away from her face. She had been running so fast through the trees there had been no time to push away the branches and her face was scratched and bleeding in several places. She had ripped the bottom of her skirt away, showing off her sleek claves and dainty ankles. The extra material was tied around her waste. Lee rolled over and cupped his hands into the stream. The water was cool and felt wonderful as he splashed it over his lips and let it trickle down his throat.
"You're bleeding" he said, looking up at Ariel. Strange, she didn't look like a girl anymore. Her face held the same hardened look that Starbuck's had, a woman soldier. A survivor. She lifted a delicate hand, with strong fingers, to her face.
"They're just scratches" she said, "I'm fine. How're you? Do you feel lightheaded or does your stomach feel queasy?" Lee thought they were odd questions.
"No" he replied. She nodded. She wasn't looking at him, she was looking across the stream into the woods, as if she was watching something. Lee turned his head but didn't see anything.
"I was afraid I was running you too hard" she said. Lee was indignant. He was the trained soldier, he should be worrying about running her too hard. In fact, he should be the one in charge, deciding where they were going and what they were going to do.
"I'm more familiar with the territory then you are" she told him as if she'd heard what he was thinking, "You can be in charge later" Finally, she looked at him, and smiled at her own joke. The soldier faded for just a second and Lee found a new side of her, the beautiful young woman he was strongly attracted to. He wanted to know how she could be so many people all in one. He had a hard time just being CAG and a son.
"You said there might be another way off this planet" he said to distract himself. She returned her eyes to the trees.
"I saw your ship go down. It didn't look like the damage was bad. I can probably fix it if we can get back to the village"
"The village was destroyed" he said, "There's nothing left" And then he thought of something else.
"What do you mean you could fix my ship?" How would she know how to fix a piece of technology that she'd never even seen before? She didn't spare him a look.
"My father liked to tinker with ships. He taught me" she answered, still watching the trees as if she could see something. It was starting to bother Lee.
"You're father? I think I'd like to meet this man" A look a pain crossed her eyes. He thought. Was pretty sure.
"He died two years ago" she said quietly, "He was…old"
"I'm sorry" Lee replied. She grabbed his hand, her eyes floating over him swiftly as if checking to see if he was healthy.
"Come on, there's something else we can do"
"I don't understand!" Gaius cried to an empty room. Not completely empty.
"Think about it Gaius" Six ordered him. She never asked him, never suggested. Always ordered. And she made it seem like he had a choice in the matter, when he never really did. Somewhere within himself, somewhere Six couldn't reach, he knew that. He knew he was being manipulated. He was a genius after all.
"The Cylons want…what? The girl?" he was trying to wrap his mind around her. Trying to guess the answers to a game he was being forced to play without all the rules. She kept her secrets, kept everything he wanted just outside of his reach. She taunted him with it, played with his mind until he couldn't stand it anymore and then she'd drop the smallest crumble of it. He hated her. And loved her. She was a drug he couldn't stop taking. She had stripped him of his own mind, from his own mind, in his own mind. And he never thought to turn that on her. If she was in his mind, then he was in hers.
"You said something about her earlier" he continued, "When she was asking all those questions. How does she know all of that?" Six walked seductively around the table, her long fingers trailing the edge, her eyes half open. His mouth watered. He had an addiction, he was sick.
"So what? She's a Cylon?"
"No" Six answered, turning the last corner towards him, "She's not a Cylon"
