As he looked over the board, twenty minutes later, Gaeta realized he was being a total asshole, and worse, he was enjoying it. He didn't intentionally trounce people very often. It was rude, and he had been brought up with manners. In a casual game, while he still would have been winning easily, he would have made a few intentional mistakes, not only to let the other person save face, but to see if they would spot the opening. It made a dull game more fun. Experience had taught him not to constantly win, anyway. Then no one would play with him at all. He rarely played at such a low level anymore. Warriors and Sentinels was a children's game only at the lower levels. At the top levels, each move had to be backed up by astrophysics and strategic theory. That usually frightened off people who would otherwise be excellent players.
Like Kara Thrace. By rights, Thrace should be a good player. She was brilliant. The commander had been right to follow her plan to assault the fuel dump. But she liked flying more than strategy, and when she played, she thought in terms of a game and not an actual battle. In reality, partner play was incredibly difficult in Warriors and Sentinels, especially with new partners, but he had spent enough time watching her in battles and in the CIC to anticipate her moves. She had also been willing to listen to his quick lecture on how to win and it showed in her moves.
Pilots always preferred playing on the Warrior side. They understood the strengths on a more intuitive level. They tended to use straight forward attacks, which worked only when the Sentinel player defended in the same way. Smash certainly wasn't a thinker, he had won because Kara had used her pieces like Warriors, not Sentinels, and ignored her more obscure weapon cards. While both sides had an equal chance to win when the players were fairly matched, a stronger player who wanted to win quickly played the defending Sentinel side.
And so in a matter of minutes, he and Kara had beaten Smash and Racetrack in the first round. Racetrack was bright and had picked up on their tactics of swarming their pieces and picking off the opposition, while maintaining the defensive line around their fleet. While Kara and Racetrack had picked up that they were playing the same tactics they used when protecting the Galactica from Cylon attacks, Smash was still using the same blunt mass attack tactics that didn't work unless he could overpower the defenders with massive forces. It was obvious to everyone watching that Racetrack was using her moves to correct Smash's bonehead actions. Kara was clearly enjoying Smash's humiliation.
She was standing over Gaeta's shoulder, smirking and dancing around. He'd seen her do the same thing over winning at triad. He knew better than to try to get her to tone it down, and he didn't really want her to. Smash was a jerk, an ex shuttle pilot who hadn't even tried to get into the Academy, and Gaeta would be damned if he did anything to soften the blow to Smash's ego. He didn't usually get into pissing contests with the pilots, there were too many of them, and he was willing to concede that they did an important job that he couldn't. On the other hand, it wasn't like Smash was a Viper pilot yet. He was a trainee, not a particularly good one by all reports, and pilots were useless without support. Good pilots understood that, and even the ones who blustered the most about their exploits gave a nod to the support team. Smash needed a lesson on why it wasn't wise to piss off the CIC staff.
He set down his weapon card, and gestured to Smash's pieces, which were all clustered around one of Kara's Sentinels. " I just blew up a nuclear bomb that was stored on that defender ship. It took out all the pieces within a thirty hexagon diameter. That's all of your ships, Smash, and all but two of Racetrack's." He allowed himself a smug smile.
Smash looked at the card. Then he glared at Gaeta. " That's not right. You can't use nukes on your own pieces."
" Yes, yes you can," Gaeta said pleasantly, making sure to sound as arrogant as he could. " But more importantly, I can use nukes on my partner's ship as long as she is ok with losing a turn." He turned to Kara and asked dryly, " Starbuck, do you mind if I nuke your ship in order to win the game and save the fleet? I mean, you will lose your turn, so take your time. I know it's a difficult choice." Even Racetrack joined the room in laughing.
Kara stopped laughing after a moment. She sat back down beside him and took his hand. He struggled not to laugh, but her performance was marvelous. Her eyes were brimming with tears, and her expression solemn. " I think… " and she pulled him closer, her hands engulfing his, " It's a hard choice but… I think I'll be all right with losing a turn, Lt. Gaeta." She winked at him again. Then she dropped the act and began to laugh. As did almost everyone in the room. It was going to be a long time before anyone let Smash forget such a humiliating defeat. Kara pulled him to his feet. " Come on, " she said softly in his ear, smiling broadly. " Join the victory dance."
" I don't dance," he protested weakly.
Smash also stood up. " I want a rematch! With someone who doesn't frakking cheat!"
" He didn't cheat," Kara said with a sharp glare. The crowd murmured its agreement. Gaeta wasn't surprised. Smash wasn't well loved by the crew.
" I say he did cheat!" Smash snarled. "He's a cheater and a frakking Cylon!"
That made Gaeta's blood boil. " First, I am not a Cylon. I was one of the first people tested. Second, I didn't have to cheat. You lost because you play like a frakking idiot, which isn't a shock because everyone knows you're a frakking idiot!"
Kara clapped, obviously amused. " Nice one! We definitely have to try this with alcohol sometime, Gaeta."
" No," he said, turning back to her, "I always have watch these days." At the edge of his peripheral vision, he saw something move, but before he could move, a blinding white-hot bolt of pain exploded on the side of his head and blackness enveloped him.