Title- Future (Part 4b/6)
Rating – PG-13
Pairing- Lee/Kara
Archiving- BSG 2003, Apollo/Starbuck Fan Fic, Fanfiction net, all others please ask
Warnings- Violence, language, angst
Spoilers- Seasons 1 and 2 (however, the spoilers are interspersed with lots stuff from my brain so… ;-)
Disclaimers- I don't own these characters and I am not making any profit off them. I'm just borrowing them for fun (well, maybe not the poor characters'...). ;)
Many thanks go to Audrey for the great beta:-) And for her help with other stuff for this...
Summary part 4b- More about what happened to Apollo and the fleet after Starbuck jumped to Caprica.
NB: Italics indicate characters' thoughts.
-Colonial Fleet-
33 days after attempted assassination of Cmdr. Adama
The space around them was crowded with the fleet's many ships as Lee piloted the raptor towards the Narcissus, yet despite it the stars lit the space around them as they always had, shining brightly regardless of human woes and cares.
He was here because he was currently in charge of a mission to retrieve some supplies from the civilians –supplies to be used by the military. In the two weeks or so since Colonel Tigh's declaration of martial law, relations between civilians and military had steadily deteriorated to the point where it was a useful safety precaution to send an armed escort when requisitioning supplies for military use.
He docked the raptor to the larger ship's airlock with precision, adjusting the fit until both ships were exactly aligned. When his board showed him the green lights of a firm air seal he rose from his seat, motioning the marines under his command to follow him. Before opening the airlock, he turned to his three man and one woman team.
"Until we've had the go-ahead from the Captain here I want you all to stay with me." He said quietly. "And I'm sure I don't need to remind you to be on guard at all times. It's pretty clear nobody here is overjoyed to have us pay them a visit –so things might become unpleasant pretty fast."
The four nodded. "We can handle it sir." One Private named Jensen, replied with assurance.
Lee nodded. "I'm sure you can, but let me also remind you that your primary purpose here is to help us avoid any entanglements. Therefore I want you to keep your wits –and your heads- about you. Is that clear?" The private didn't quite roll his eyes, but his expression belied his requisite polite tone when addressing a superior officer. "Yes sir." He said.
They stepped through the airlock and headed off to meet with the ship's captain.
The Narcissus was a freight carrier who had been carrying a full load of foodstuffs at the time of the Cylon attacks. It was an ungainly looking ship, with many patches on its elderly hull which showed even from the inside. Obviously, its owners had been more interested in turning a profit than in repairs and maintenance.
"Captain Sawyer?" Lee called out as they reached the main control room. The Captain, a short balding man somewhere in his middle years, crawled out from under a control panel.
"Over here, Captain Adama." The man called out, his tone verging on unfriendly.
Lee sighed. "Hello Captain. We're here for the food, as we said?"
"Yes, well, I'm sorry Captain, but I'm afraid there's been a change of plans." The man replied, not meeting his eye.
"Oh?"
"Yes. I'm afraid I've decided to refuse the Galactica's latest request. It's not like we couldn't use the food ourselves, you know. I could even trade it –money may not be worth much these days, but food certainly is."
Lee's face tightened as he stepped towards the man. "May I ask the reason for your refusal?" He asked. "Other than making a profit, of course." He finished bluntly.
"Well now Captain, there's no call to-" The other man began, only to be interrupted by the sound of a shot in the corridor behind them. A second shot caught one of the marines standing behind Lee in the chest.
"Down!" Lee yelled as he moved, shoving Sawyer to the ground behind one of his control panels and diving towards cover himself as a third shot hit the ceiling. Then, looking up and around the corner of his temporary hideout, Lee surveyed the situation.
The three other marines had taken cover, sending out a few shots of their own in an attempt to distract the shooter from their wounded comrade. Motioning to one of the three, Lee indicated they should cover him while he checked on the man. The woman in question's face wore an expression of consternation as she watched him begin to crawl towards the door of the main control room.
The crawl seemed to take forever, with the floor taking on gargantuan dimensions. He managed to reach the marine's side as the others released a volley of shots above him. The man was bleeding substantially from a chest wound. Reaching into his pockets he drew out a handkerchief and pressed it to the wound, then focused his thoughts on trying to draw the man with him to safety –and on trying to control his breathing.
Suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps through the gunfire and rolled onto his back, pointing his sidearm at the intruder. He found himself facing the barrel of a gun held by a tall, slim, dark skinned young woman, as a few more shots were sent into the room by her fellows.
"Hold your fire!" He told his men as they stared at each other. The shooting from the entry to the control room stopped as well after his order was obeyed.
"Put it down." She said to him firmly, despite the fear lingering in her eyes.
"Miss…" Lee began, just as she trained her weapon on the fallen marine beside him.
"Put it down or I'll shoot him. Not that he doesn't look dead already, but still-" She sneered.
He put his gun down, and she motioned him back before bending down to pick it up.
With his hands free, Lee reached over to try and staunch the man's bleeding once more. The woman turned the gun towards him. "Easy." Lee said in his calmest sounding voice, bringing his hands up. "I'm just trying to help my man, here." She shrugged and motioned to him to continue.
As he pressed down on the wound, he turned towards her again. "Can I ask you a question?" He said quietly.
"Whatever." She responded sarcastically.
"Why are you doing this?" He asked.
She snorted. "Shouldn't I be asking you that? You people keep coming here, telling us you need this or that, and you just take… And I have to wonder if there'll be anything left for us once you're finished. And what are you taking it for? So you can protect us? Give me a break." She snorted. "We can't even frakking sneeze without asking you for permission. You say you protect us from the Cylons –but I have to wonder if it's bloody well worth it."
"And do you really think this is going to help?" He asked, and watched as she looked away.
"Let me tell you what's going to happen once what just went on here becomes known on the Galactica." He continued. "They're not going to let you get away with it –they can't, because they'll have to figure that if they do it'll invite everyone else to do the same thing. So they're going to send more troops, with bigger weapons." He paused for a moment to look at her. "Do you really want that to happen?" He asked.
She shrugged mutely.
"Listen to me." He said, knowing that despite her attitude she was listening to him, and paused until she turned to look at him. Making his voice sound as calm and earnest as possible he continued, "This man is injured. We need to get him to our medical facility. One of my marines over there, Raynes, is capable of piloting our ship back to the Galactica. Letting them bring him back would go a long way towards proving you're willing to talk. There will have to be charges laid for what happened to him, but-"
She looked at him with frightened eyes. As he'd thought, it appeared none of them had truly thought this through.
"What would we have to bargain with if we let them go?"
He looked her in the eye. "You let them go, and I'll stay to make sure they listen to your concerns."
"And how could you get them do that?" She asked doubtfully.
He smiled self-deprecatingly. "I'm high enough in the food chain over there that I can make sure they at least listen."
"All right." She said tightly. "But I need a few minutes to clear it with my friends over there." Lee nodded.
He watched her back away, then waited until she returned. When she did, she gestured towards the three marines behind him. "All right, they can go with your wounded man."
Standing, Lee waved the marines out of hiding. "Bring him to the ship." He ordered the rather nervous looking man standing closest to him. Bending down, the man took his place beside their wounded comrade, keeping the pressure on his wound.
There was a sudden scuffling sound as they stepped towards the control room door, and one of the marines raised his weapon and fired.
"Hold your fire!" Lee yelled as he rushed ahead to forcibly push the man's weapon down towards the ground. "Damn it! These are civilians, not frakking Cylons! So you hold your fire until you're frakking well sure they're threatening you, you idiot!"
"But sir, I thought…" He didn't have time to finish his sentence as they heard a scream come from somewhere nearby.
Running out into the corridor, Lee stopped in his tracks at the sight that faced him. At his feet was a little girl, lying in a pool of her own blood. A somewhat older woman, apparently the child's mother, sat beside her, cradling the girl's head in her lap as she alternately cried and screamed.
"Oh my Gods." The young woman he had talked to before whispered behind him. "She was always hiding in corners to see what was going on…" Lee stepped up to the little girl and felt her pulse –weak, but still there. Raising his head, he turned towards the young woman.
"I can get us to the Galactica and our medical facility in a few minutes. And I happen to know our doctor is there right now, and that you don't have anything of the kind on this ship." He said urgently. She looked at him.
"It'll take you more than that to negotiate your way around the other ships." She said finally. "She'll probably be dead by then." She continued, indicating the child with a thrust of her chin.
"Not for me, it won't." He urged again. Bending down, he carefully picked the child up in his arms. "Look. There's no time to argue about it." He said to the two women before him -and to the several other civilians with weapons presently trained on him. "If you want to, you can come along. But this is her only chance." Not even waiting for the woman's nod, he hurried to the docked raptor, checking only once over his shoulder to make sure the marines were transporting their injured man behind him.
Once inside the raptor, he set the child down gently beside her mother and his would-be captor, and watched as his people got them squared away before hurrying to the pilot's seat. He gestured to one of the uninjured marines to follow him.
"You contact the Galactica." He told the woman as he indicated the communications equipment. "I want you to let me handle explaining what just happened, but tell them about the two injured we're bringing in." She nodded, and he got the ship underway.
He was true to his promise, and a mere few minutes of careful yet quick flying later, they were setting down in the Galactica's landing bay. He quickly opened the hatch, clearing the way for the medical team to take the wounded away. The two women were about to follow when Lee stopped them.
He spoke to the women. "I need to take your guns." Without a word, they handed them over. "Come on." He said. "I'll show you the way." He sighed inwardly as he noticed Colonel Tigh step into the landing bay.
"What the hell just happened, Captain?" He asked angrily.
"It's… complicated sir." Lee replied. "I- these women need to get to Life Station- could we discuss this then?"
Tigh finally nodded, taking in the shock in both women's eyes. "All right. Come and see me in the briefing room when you're done, Captain."
Lee nodded in reply. Setting out again, he brought the women to the Life Station, where Doctor Cottle and his staff were moving frantically around their newly arrived patients.
"I should go." Lee said softly to the distraught mother and her friend, and turned to leave.
"Captain?" The younger woman called out to him.
He turned back to her. "Yes?"
"Thank you." She said finally. The other woman nodded in agreement.
He shrugged self-consciously. "It's my job… But you're welcome."
-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
34 days after attempted assassination
"Hello, Master Sergeant Jenkins." Lee said as he stepped into the cluttered communal office used by their marine detail, to meet with the marine keeping track of his activities. She was an attractive middle-aged woman, with the kind of tough no-nonsense look about her that only comes from real experience.
"Captain." She said as she looked up from the paperwork she had been filling out.
He sat down before her and presented her with a written list of what he had done during this past day. He didn't exactly enjoy doing this, and writing things down beforehand was a way he had come up with to make it all go faster.
Taking the sheet of paper from him, she glanced at it before turning back to her paperwork.
Lee frowned. He did have many other urgent things he could be doing.
He cleared his throat. "Excuse me." He said politely. "I really don't mean to be rude, but I do have a lot of things to do –so if you wouldn't mind…"
She looked up at that. "I'm sorry Captain, but I would mind." She said in a flat tone.
"I…beg you pardon?" He asked, somewhat confused.
She sighed, and seemed to take a deep breath. "What I need to say isn't easy for me, but from what I've heard recently… What I meant to say is… that I happen to mind that our centuries-old democracy no longer exists. I liked being able to vote. I actually liked having a say." She told him, and paused.
"And I… I agree with what you did, sir." She told him, her vulnerable expression looking somewhat odd on such a fierce looking person. "And I heard about what you did on the Narcissus…" She continued.
"Then you heard wrong." He told her firmly. "I didn't do anything."
She shook her head. "Maybe you're not aware of it sir, but you did. The thing you might not have considered, is that you kept your head and you calmed things down. I'm an experienced marine, sir. Or I suppose someone in your position might say –less flatteringly- that I'm 'an old jarhead'." She smiled at her own joke. "I happen to know firsthand just how much a situation like that one might have gotten much uglier than it did, very quickly."
"We lost a lot of people when the toasters attacked, including marines. I know our people, sir, and the truth of it is that you got saddled with some real green hotheads when you went out there yesterday. Besides that, you also found yourself facing a bunch of scared, angry, and gun-happy civilians. However despite that, you kept your head -and at least two lives were saved thanks to your quick thinking."
Lee shrugged, feeling rather uncomfortable. "I-" He began, not quite sure what he was going to say.
She cut him off. "What I'm trying to say sir, is that I have a lot of respect for what you did. And I deeply respect what you've done in other situations as well. And with everything that's happened…" She paused, and sighed. "I've actually never disobeyed an order in my life, and I never thought I'd start now. I always believed in the chain of command." She shook her head.
"Despite that, I just wanted to let you know that… If there are things you do or places you go to which you feel you don't want to bring to my attention, well… As long as you don't write them down and show them to me, I'm afraid I simply won't have the time to take it upon myself to investigate." She smiled at him and continued in a drier tone. "After all, I've never been the best records keeper –and paperwork has a way of pissing me off."
He couldn't quite believe what he was hearing, and he reflexively glanced around the room.
She grinned at that. "Oh come on, Cap. You don't think we'd be having this conversation if there was anyone else in the room, do you?"
He stared at her for a few minutes, his mouth hanging open. "Uhm, I afraid I don't know what to say." He finally admitted.
She laughed. "Might I suggest 'thank you', sir? And of course, if asked I'll deny this conversation ever took place."
He had to smile at that. "I understand, Corporal. And… thank you. I can't say I understand why you're doing this, but-"
She shrugged. "Let's just say I have hope that our democracy will someday be restored, and that I'd like to do my little bit to help those who believe in it. And I happen to know from recent events that you do. And I suppose I also believe in the importance having something worth fighting for." She finished softly.
He nodded as he stood. "Thank you." He said quietly, somewhat stunned by his newfound freedom.
-Colonial Fleet-
40 days after attempted assassination
Two men and two women in work-soiled clothing waited beside an airlock as a shuttle made contact with their ship. Finally, six men in red prison coveralls walked through the airlock to join them.
One of the four greeted the new arrivals. "My name is Kohl. I'm in charge of the tech side of things here on the Constellation." Turning around, he introduced his comrades with a gesture in their direction. "That's Jeffries, Kim, and Yang. You know, we really thought you weren't gonna show. Lots of you people haven't been wanting to go on the work details any more –not since the martial law decree." He commented, then added quickly. "Um, no offense guys."
The man facing him shrugged. "None taken. I'm Andrews by the way and, well, I guess we just decided we'd come this time. Isn't that right boys?" He asked the men behind him, who made vague sounds of assent.
"That's fine, fine." Kohl said nervously. "This way." He took the lead, after pointing out the direction to the newcomers.
They walked for some time through dark and somewhat dank corridors, passing by a series of closed hatches, until they came to an intersection between two corridors and stopped in front of one particular hatch.
"Well, here it is." Kohl said again, rather uselessly.
Andrews simply nodded, while his men kept to their taciturn, laconic discourse.
"Um, well… What we need you to do is to help us clear the septic tank –it's been backed up for days you see, and it's really getting to be a problem. All you need to do is go in, and make sure the areas around the waste disposal conduits are free. I'll show you where the environmental suits are, and uhm… Well, we do have shovels specifically for that job, as well."
Andrews nodded again.
Kohl provided the prisoner detail with environmental suits –bulky affairs with their own oxygen supply which closely resembled space suits- gave them shovels, and after describing their unappealing task in more detail, let them get to it.
A short time later, the men stood in their environmental suits just inside the hatch, on the edge of the tank.
"Why'd you figure they're not guarding us this time?" One of the other men, a tall thin man aptly nicknamed Reed asked.
Andrews laughed. "Because, dimwit, nobody wants to spend time in a septic tank. They don't figure us as being any different. We're expected to do the job, then get the frack out of there. They don't expect us to do something that'll make us be down there any longer than we have to." He paused. "You do know what a septic tank is, right?"
Reed glared at him sullenly. "Yeah, of course I do."
"Great. I'm so glad I won't have to explain it to you.
"So what are we going to do to this place?" Another man asked.
Andrews turned to him. "Well, we promised Mister Zarek we would do something that would get a little more attention than what we've been doing so far by refusing to work. So, in case you all didn't figure that out then, let me spell it out for you. We're supposed to engage in a little sabotage for the benefit of those friendly people we just met." He shrugged. "It's not what they're expecting, but, well, you can't get everything you want in life."
He smiled. "Let's go boys."
-The Battlestar Galactica-
Colonial Fleet
45 days after attempted assassination
Lee walked into the rec room at the end of a long and tiring day, to find several of his pilots playing cards. Rather than join them, he sat in a chair, and sighed softly at the feeling of merely sitting down for a moment.
"So what the hell happened on the Constellation anyway?" Crashdown was asking Kat as he shuffled the cards.
"Well, looks like it was another of that asshole Zarek's work parties –they were supposed to be working on fixing a septic tank that was backed up… And they blew it up instead."
"Frakking assholes. So now they're not just refusing to work anymore, huh?" HotDog asked.
"Looks like it." Kat shrugged. "I overheard the XO and the old man talking about it, and Lords, were they ever pissed." The others grimaced.
"So, you three gonna play before next year?" Jammer asked grumpily. The three in question gave him dirty looks but complied, and the cards were dealt.
"Hey –you guys ever think about it?" Kat finally asked quietly.
"'Bout what?" HotDog replied.
"About the whole martial law thing… I mean, I wonder sometimes –what happened to us that we got here, you know?" She said.
Crash shook his head quickly. "No. And I don't plan on it either. It's not our place to question orders –remember?" He said firmly, with a pointed glance in Lee's direction.
Kat turned and seemed to notice him for the first time. She stammered. "Um, I'm sorry sir –I didn't mean…"
Lee cut her off with a gesture and stood. He walked out without replying.
"Captain! Captain Adama, sir!" Kat yelled after him, having followed him into the corridor.
Lee stopped and waited, but didn't turn towards her.
"I… I'm sorry sir." She said nervously. "I'm sorry –please don't report me sir."
Lee laughed bitterly. "Don't worry Lieutenant." He said. "I won't report you."
"I don't understand, sir."
He turned to face her. "I said I won't report you. If I did, I'd have to report myself too." He shrugged. "But be more careful of what you say from now on, won't you?"
"Yes sir." She said, sounding relieved and confused at the same time.
For him however, things had suddenly become much clearer.
Continued in part 4c :-)