Disclamer- I don't own any material from the show. Publicly recognisable characters and work is not mine. No monies are being made by this story.
Repercussions
"My daughter was on that ship!" He shouted, irate and grieving. "Did you think about that before you blew it out of the sky?" His voice breaks on the last word and he sinks into the seat behind him and sobs with his face in his hands. Watching him, Lee felt a stab of the same angry guilt that had been with him since he fired the shots that damned the Olympic Carrier to oblivion. It was the right choice to make. He knew it was the right choice to make. That didn't make him feel any better.
"Sir, I'm sorry for your loss. I really am. I don't have anything to tell you that will make it right." Lee paused, trying to meet the man's eyes. "It had to be done." He pats the man's shoulder in an awkward attempt to comfort him. It is the wrong thing to do. The man strikes out blindly, shoving Lee's consoling hand away from him. His hands hang in tense fists at his sides. This man and grief are not happy bed mates.
"Don't your dare touch me." He spits with such venom that Lee actually steps away from him.
"I'm sorry Sir." Lee's tone is sincere, his face like an open book. You can tell that he really is sorry. Gods know, Lee knows loss like the back of his hand. It is something which he wouldn't wish on anyone. The fact that he was the one to perpetuate the man's grief is upsetting enough.
"Yeah, well it won't bring my daughter back!" The man snaps. A tear trickles unnoticed down a hollow cheek.
"We have a priest and a councillor on board if you'd like to speak to them." Lee offers, already expecting his offer to be rejected. He is not surprised when the man shakes his head vehemently "No." He states flatly. "What I want is to speak to the other pilot who murdered my daughter."
Lee almost winces. He can imagine Kara's reaction to the man, whose name he still doesn't know.
"Sir, can you tell me your name?" Lee asks carefully.
Grudgingly, the man tells Lee "I'm Andrew Castlegate. My daughter was called Amy."
"Lieutenant Thrace isn't…" Lee stopped. Kara had just appeared around the corner of the hallway.
"I'm not what?" She asked innocently. Inwardly, Lee sighed.
"Kara, this is Mr Castlegate. His daughter was on the Olympic Carrier." Lee thought that she paled, but he wasn't sure. It was hard to tell under the florescent lighting of the ship's hallway. She wished that'd she had never asked.
"Sir. I'm sorry for your loss." She offered, trying a slight smile and hoping it wasn't inappropriate. He didn't seem to notice and brushed the words aside with an angry snort.
"Did you think of the people on the ship when you chose it for target practice?"
"Sir, I assure you it wasn't like that." She quietly assures him.
A flashback.
"The Cylons'll be here any second. If we're gonna do this, then just do it. Starbuck, form up with me. We'll make one pass, from the stern." Apollo sounded unsure of himself for once.
"Lee, what if you're wrong?" Her thumb tenses on the trigger "Lee, come on. Lee." Please, she prays, don't make me do this. She doesn't think she can handle any more death.
"Okay, fire on my mark." His voice is set now. He knows it must be done, regardless of the cost. To them or to anyone on the ship.
"No frakkin' way, Lee. Lee! Come on!" She protests, once, loudly even as her hand finds the firing control. She knows the same as him. This ship has to be destroyed.
"Mark." He fires on the ship. Reluctantly, she fires, too.
"We had no choice but to destroy the ship." Again, the stab of regret she feel every time she thinks about the Olympic Carrier and her passengers. How long do you think we could have lasted, jumping every thirty three minutes with the Cylons on our tails? She thinks, but doesn't voice the thought.
Lee breaks into the conversation, steering it back to safer waters before any of them can get into trouble.
"Mr Castlegate. If you'd like to talk to a councillor, we can take you to one. If not, you'll have to excuse us for our duties."
Castlegate shakes his head sadly, with his chin on his chest. Without any warning he explodes, punching Kara so hard that she collapses into the bulkhead behind her. Blood flows from her nose and lip. She is so surprised, she doesn't even thing about hitting him back. Castlegate tries to hit Lee next, but Lee gets lucky, catching hold of the swinging arm before it can do any damage.
Still, he knows it's only because of Castlegate's attack on Kara that gives him the warning he needs. Lees eyes find hers, even as he struggles with her attacker. A tiny nod is all he gets from her. It's all he needs to see. The message is just as clear. She'll be fine. A smear of the blood shows up on her bare arm, where she has wiped her face.
Kara has stood and is phoning for security. A team appears within seconds, subduing Castlegate with brute force.
Somehow, he gets an arm free and suddenly, he has a gun in his hand. He has no interest of using it to harm anyone else. His motivation is much darker than that. He turns the gun on himself. It fits neatly behind his ear.
It speaks once. Once is all it takes to cut a life short. It's all over so quickly, no-one has a chance to stop him. The gun lies next to the body, the barrel still smoking slightly. They gather around the body on the floor and mourn the loss of another soul.
They learn a lesson that day, one this is already worn hard into their sprits. Every action has repercussions. Some of them just take longer to come around than others.