Of course, Gaeta thought as he spotted Smash, of course I couldn't just be locked in to the life support hub during a Cylon attack. He doubted that Smash just wanted to talk. He glanced at Kara, and was surprised to see her look as worried as he felt. Then again, Kara Thrace was just as likely to be on Smash's list of enemies as he was.

Kara stepped forward. " Smash, we are under attack right now. This is not a good time for whatever you've got planned. In fact, now would be a really good time for you to consider how badly you want to be a Viper pilot."

Smash merely grinned. From one of his coverall pockets, he pulled out a gun. " You're on my list, bitch. But he's at the top."

" Where did you get a gun?" Gaeta asked suddenly. Out of all of the people who had access to guns, it seemed like Smash should have been the last person with a code to the weapons lockers. Then again…

"I'm still an officer, no matter how hard you tried to frak me over." Smash snarled.

" I didn't frak you over!" Gaeta shouted, feeling every last shred of calm leave him. " You hit me in the head with a chair because you lost a frakking game! What did you think was going to happen, you'd get a medal for that?"

The ship rocked just as Smash fired the gun. Gaeta stumbled against the shaking but still felt the bullet whiz by his head. Kara grabbed him and pulled him down the corridor. They ran down the corridor and turned into the main corridor that led to life support. Kara ducked into an alcove, and he followed her.

"That son of a bitch tried to shoot me!" Gaeta said between breaths. He felt almost blind from rage and fear. He slammed his fist into the wall. " Ouch! Dammit!"

Kara grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed him into the wall. " Listen to me very carefully," she whispered, her face grim and her eyes alive with anger, " Calm the frak down. This is not the time to debate with the crazy man on how you have had the moral high ground in your little tiff with him. It's also not the time to flip out." The ship rocked again, and he could feel the weapon impacts vibrate through the metal of the wall. He could also feel the white hot rage slipping away with every rumble. Kara shook him again. "Now, have I got the calm, rational Felix Gaeta back? The one that doesn't argue with crazy people? Because I need him right now."

Gaeta took a deep breath. " Yes, I'm all right." He willed his hands to stop shaking.

"Good." Kara let go of him. " How soon do the barriers come up once a battle is over?"

" As soon as the commander gives the all clear. Unless we're boarded. Then they stay up and the Marine units spread out to search and destroy the Cylon boarding team." He hesitated. " This is all theoretical, we've never had opportunity to test this."

" What other changes were made?" Kara asked quickly.

"If the Cylons get past the corridor barriers, there's a final barrier that cuts off their access. In theory, the time it will take them to take that down will give the remaining Marine units time to encircle the Cylons and destroy them." Gaeta said. " All the corridors leading into this area are blocked. There are two weapons lockers within the quarantine area. Again, in theory, people caught inside the quarantine zone are supposed to try to defend the life support core." The ship rocked hard, knocking both of them to the floor.

Kara looked over at him, her eyes twinkling. " You designed this frak up, didn't you?"

He nodded sheepishly. " I have my regrets now." Kara started to get up but he remained on the floor. The ship's walls and floors always seemed to hum with rhythm, it was something he had noticed when he was first been assigned to the Galactica. He knew how the ship felt when it was idling, when docking with another ship, when Vipers landed hard… and especially he knew what the ship felt like with a Cylon boarding party stomping through it.

That particular vibration had been burned into his brain. " We've got a bigger problem, Starbuck."

Kara resisted the urge to kick Gaeta up off the floor. Instead she grabbed him by the collar and hauled him up. " Yes, we do have a bigger problem, and he's probably looking for us," she hissed. She didn't expect Gaeta to suddenly turn into a hardened marine, but she also didn't expect him to be a useless wreck. " We have got to find a weapons locker."

He grabbed her hand and pressed it to the metal wall. " Feel that," he said intently. She started to pull away but stopped. The angry, irrational stranger of seconds ago was gone, replaced by the cool, collected, and scarily intent tactical officer. She knew that version of Gaeta and she bit back her sharp retort and let the ship's rhythms flow up through her palm.

"What is that?" she asked after a moment. "It" was a strange rhythmic thumping that she couldn't connect to anything she had ever felt before. It seemed to get stronger, tickling her senses. It wouldn't be long before they would be able to hear it as well as feel it.

"It's a Cylon boarding party. I remember. We could feel it in the CIC." He looked into the corridor quickly and then back at Kara. " We're the last line of defense. They'll be coming here. If they gain access to the controls, they'll kill us all and destroy the fleet."

" Well, we can't have that," she said breezily. She eyed Gaeta carefully. " I have to get Smash on board and fast. So you'll need to shut your smart mouth." And she would have to kiss the ass of a domineering idiot who had delusions of grandeur. She had done it before. Smash at least wasn't a drunken XO.

The two back out into the corridor. Kara could feel the metallic stomp of the Cylons rumbling through the floor. She also heard sporadic shots, which seemed to be getting closer. They didn't have much time at all, she realized. Ah well, she though suddenly, the gods hate cowards. " Hey Smash! Get out here! I want to make a deal!" To Gaeta she whispered, " Just follow my lead, and don't worry."

"What? Can't you hear the Cylons coming?" Smash entered the corridor. Kara spotted explosive grenades hanging off of his pockets. He apparently knew where the weapons locker and had picked up as much as he could carry. She sniffed critically. It was obvious that Smash had a lot of adolescent fantasies and issues surrounding guns. His eyes were glowing with excitement, another bad sign. She liked to fight, there was no denying that, but she fought to win. Smash reeked of being a glory hound.

" I hear them coming. I want to make a deal." She carefully stepped in front of Gaeta. " We both know that the Cylons are coming for the life support. You can't use all of those guns yourself, and believe me, if that's more than one centurion, you'll want the extra firepower."

" Yeah… " Smash nodded at that. " I'll give you a gun, but not him. There's going to be at least one casualty on the day I save the fleet from the Cylons." He started to unsling a rifle but hesitated. " How do I know I can trust you? Seems like the two of you are frakbuddies these days."

She grinned at him. " This is all between Viper pilots today, Smash. Your problem is that you don't get that being discrete sometimes gets you into less trouble. Do you think any of us like all the shit he's caused? He's a staff officer, it's not easy to get away with fragging him. Give me a gun, let's kill the Cylon and then I'll let you kill him."

Smash considered it for a moment. The pounding in the corridor grew louder. Finally he nodded agreement. " I'm the one that's gonna kill the Cylon though, understand?"

She smiled as she nodded. " Sure." He handed her the rifle. It held four explosive rounds only but she didn't complain. Lee had told her that they had rationed the heavier ammunition. Smash had the real prizes, four explosive grenades hanging off of a heavy-duty flak vest. Seeing that, she had an idea. Her plan was pretty solid, but there was always a chance that she would be killed, leaving Gaeta defenseless. " Say, why not give the deadwing the automatic pistol? It's not like it can penetrate that vest of yours, and we'll need something to draw their fire."

Smash's eyes narrowed but after a moment, he handed the pistol and it's ammunition to Gaeta. " Yeah," he said, " I can't imagine you're much of a shot."

Gaeta took the gun easily and began loading it. " I haven't fired a weapon since the Academy." Beads of sweat dotted his forehead.

It was a lie, Kara knew it, and Gaeta knew she knew it. Commander Adama was old fashioned in a lot of ways, and he insisted on his officers practicing with their side arms frequently. She was the best shot, followed by the small marine contingent, but Gaeta wasn't one of the chronic non qualifiers. It was useless against a Cylon, and he would have to get a head shot if it ended up a fight between Smash and him, but it was better than nothing.

Not that she planned to let it get that far. Smash wasn't going to leave the life support hub alive.