TITLE: Performance Test
AUTHOR: DramaLexy
SUMMARY: There she goes again, was the first thought Lee Adama had...There she goes again, dancing on that thin line
between danger and death. L/K. One shot for 'Flight of the Phoenix'
DISCLAIMER: Not mine, don't sue.
There she goes again, was the first thought Lee Adama had as he saw his best friend emerge from the launch tube in the Blackbird and begin an erratic flight pattern that had to have her reeling from the G-forces. There she goes again, dancing on that thin line between danger and death.
"Hey! Hey, will you take it easy?" he called over the wireless. "Start slow. You're testing the ship; it's not about the pilot showing off."
"Who's showing off?" Kara shot back.
"Gods damn it, what is this?" Lee asked as the Blackbird continued to tumble around wildly in space. "What are you trying to prove?" Why couldn't she just do things by the book, just once? Why did she always have to be pushing the limit?
"I'm not trying to prove anything!" Kara called. After a moment, the Blackbird leveled out, and Lee let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Maybe this test would turn out okay in the end. "Okay, let's see what this baby can do…" With a shout of excitement, the ship throttled up, shot forward – and disappeared. Completely.
"Starbuck, where are you?" Lee asked, his heart speeding up a few beats when he didn't get an answer. "Starbuck, do you hear me? Starbuck!" No, no, no, no, no… "She's gone," he called in over the wireless. "Galactica, Apollo, I've lost her. I've lost her!"
Space was a big, dark place, and Lee couldn't make out one little shape among the ships of the fleet. There was no sign of the Blackbird…or debris. He shook his head, as though to clear that thought from it. They weren't going down that road, not yet. "Starbuck, where are you? Starbuck, come in! Starbuck, do you read?"
She couldn't be gone, not now. It was inconceivable. He had just gotten her back from the wasteland that had formerly been their home. This was just supposed to be a test, a stupid frakking test. What had they overlooked in construction? What had gone wrong? And why the hell couldn't she have just ONCE let someone else risk their lives for the advancement of the fleet?
"Kara, are you okay?" he called, knowing how close to tears he must have sounded. Suddenly he noticed something in front of him, moving. A shadow…with wings.
Kara grinned as she turned the cockpit lights back on. "Of course you lost contact," she told him. "It's a damned stealth ship, remember?"
Lee wasn't sure whether, upon landing on Galactica, he was going to hug her or deck her. "Oh, you – " Kara's laughter drowned out whatever else he might have had to say as they flew nose-to-nose through the fleet.
Once his Viper was secure on the hangar deck, Lee climbed down the ladder and headed over to where Kara was getting down from the Blackbird. Not caring about all the deckhands and other enlistees and officers that had gathered around for her flight, Lee stalked towards the group in such a manner that they automatically parted for him out of fear. He walked straight over to Kara until they were toe to toe and just stared at her for a minute, his blue eyes cold as ice.
She had a not-yet-lit stogie that someone had given her hanging from between her teeth, and a grin on her face that was slowly fading the longer he stood there without moving. Something in the back of her mind told her that it might be a good idea to come to attention, and she did so after taking the stogie out of her mouth with her left hand. After an endless moment, Lee raised a hand – to shake hers. The group around them resumed their celebration.
"You scare me like that again," he quietly told her, "And I'll kill you myself." They both knew it was an empty threat – it was almost certain that she would continue to scare the crap out of him on a daily basis until they were both past his father's age – but in their complicated little game of what they said actually meaning something else, that let Kara know that her performance test had gone a bit too far.
Kara put her stogie back, her grin returning. "Yes, sir," she said around it. His whispered warning had told her something else as well, something unintended. The 'no-take-backs' rule with respect to declarations of love need not apply with Lee; chances were that he wouldn't take it back if he could. And because of that, maybe Kara would someday get the courage to make a declaration of her own.
"We've got a christening to get ready for, people," Tyrol called to the group, and everyone began to scatter in order to prepare. Lee looked to the nearest wagon and retrieved a paint pen from among the various tools inside.
"Here," he told Kara, handing the instrument to her. "You should sign her. Seems to me that the first test was a big success."
"Everyone worked hard on this ship, not just me."
"Yeah, but you bet your life on it. You're first." Smiling, Kara took the pen and signed.
"I should go get Tyrol," she said when she was done. "He's definitely got rights to be second."
"Yeah, and I should go start the paperwork for this little jaunt. I'll see you in a half hour?"
Kara grinned, "I'm not going anywhere." Lee returned her smile as he walked away. Both of them being fighter pilots in the middle of a war, he knew there was a good chance that one day one of them wouldn't be there anymore, but he made himself a promise that he'd stop wasting the time that they had.
FIN. (see the blue button? You know what to do!)