Kara Thrace almost ducked and hid in the head when she spotted Billy Keikeya coming towards her in the corridor. She had heard about what had transpired in the CIC. It was unpleasant. She didn't want to be a part of it. She didn't want to spend hours in a jail cell debating humanity with a Cylon. The rumor mill said that Tigh had found a security tape that showed Gaeta giving Sharon a gun. She didn't want any part of it.
Sharon had been bad enough. She personally thought that the best thing anyone had done was put a bullet through the original Sharon. She understood why they were preserving the second Sharon, but it made her uneasy even if the woman had helped save her life. Billy had stopped Tigh from taking care of the problem and she wasn't certain that had been a good thing or not. The fleet had enough problems without another Cylon being found in a position of high command. It was actually worse than Sharon. Gaeta plotted the FTL jumps for the fleet. People were going to panic if it got out to the fleet.
" Lt. Thrace, I need to talk to you." Billy said as he came up beside her.
" I'm not interested," she said curtly. She started to walk off. Billy grabbed her arm.
" Doesn't it bother you in the slightest that you're willing to condemn someone without even considering the evidence?" Billy's voice was filled with anger. " This is someone you worked with, that I worked with. On the word of a man who was drunk?"
" Tigh is always drunk," Kara offered. " But I doubt he would make up having a security tape."
" Have you seen this tape?" Billy countered. " I checked with Dr. Baltar. Gaeta passed the Cylon detection test. How could he have done that and still be a Cylon? Why was Colonel Tigh even watching old security tapes?"
" Billy, if you want to defend Gaeta, go ahead. I am sure he'll appreciate the effort." The real problem was that it made an awful lot of sense to her if Gaeta was a Cylon. It explained a lot.
Billy glared at her. " I can't. I'm not military. Because he's in the colonial fleet, a fleet officer has to act as his legal advocate. If no one is willing to do that, then we might as well just kill him and say to hell with all of our laws." He stopped. Kara was almost amused. She hadn't thought that Billy Keikeya of all people could get so passionate.
" Billy, if he's a Cylon, he deserves to die." She believed that.
" Yes, he does," Billy agreed angrily, " And if he's a Cylon, and we allow him the same rights we would give one of our own, then the worst thing that we've done is wasted our time and just maybe shown the enemy that we're not savages killing them indiscriminately. I'll help you take him to the airlock myself if Tigh's evidence is definitive. But if he isn't a Cylon… We would be saving the life of a loyal officer of the fleet. We would be showing the fleet that a random accusation is not a death sentence, that the government really does exist to serve the people, not to oppress them."
" That's a pretty speech, Billy." Kara said after a long moment.
" Our laws are supposed to mean something," Billy said intently. " If we're willing to throw it all out the window because someone shouts the word Cylon… then there's no point in pretending that we have a government."
" How does President Roslin feel about this?" she asked.
" I don't know. I would hope that she would want to be certain before she ordered a death sentence." Billy said.
Kara thought back to the execution of Leoban. Billy didn't know the president as well as he thought. Then she thought about the interrogation of Leoban. It gave her an idea. She was uncomfortable with executing someone without being sure. " I won't defend him if he's a Cylon," she said thoughtfully.
"If you have a way of proving he is, please, speak up."
Kara smiled grimly. " It won't hold up in court but I'd be certain."
The brig guard hesitated before stepping back from the table that he had chained Gaeta to. " Are you sure you want to be alone with him, sir? The chains may not hold."
"I'm not going to do anything," Gaeta protested.
Kara waved off the guard. " I'm not concerned, Corporal. Leave us. Be sure to lock the door." She turned her attention back to Gaeta who was slumped in a chair, his wrists shackled and chained to a metal table that was bolted to the floor. He was in the standard orange prison jumpsuit, and it was jarring to see him messy and rumpled. It was also jarring to see him with black eyes and dried blood crusted on his face. " You look like shit, Gaeta."
" It's been a rough day," he said after a long moment. He was nervous, that was obvious. " Did the commander send you? I'm not a Cylon… I don't know what the colonel was thinking."
" The commander didn't send me. Billy wants me to be your legal advocate. To defend you against these charges." Kara leaned back in her chair, and watched Gaeta carefully.
His eyes widened in surprise. " I get a legal advocate? But I thought…" He closed his eyes, and then opened them. His relief was obvious. " I thought the commander sent you to kill me… to take me to the airlock. I didn't… didn't think there would be any trial." He took a deep breath. " Thank you."
" Don't thank me. I haven't said yes." She pulled her service pistol from the holster and pointed it at him. " As a matter of fact, I think you are a Cylon."
" I'm not!" he protested. He began to pull at the chains nervously.
Kara smiled. " I think you are. In fact I think the idea of letting you leave this cell is dangerous. Foolish even. The colonel is getting soft, weak. I'm going to do the fleet and the commander a favor." She pointed the gun at Gaeta's head. " You might want to pray. You've got about ten seconds to wonder what Cylon hell is like. One, two, three…."
" Kara…" Gaeta pulled at the chains more, and then stopped, resigned. He closed his eyes. " Lords of Kobol, hear my prayer…."
" Nine, ten." Kara pulled the trigger. The hammer clicked on the empty cylinder. Gaeta flinched visibly and jerked back, trembling. He opened his eyes.
" You bitch," he said quietly. Then he turned his head and began to vomit.
Kara chuckled. " The good news, Gaeta, is that I'm convinced you aren't a Cylon. This far out, there's no chance to be reborn. A Cylon would have broken those chains and tried to kill me. So let's talk about your defense. When you're done throwing up from terror."
" You utter bitch. Do you have any frakking idea what the last few hours have been like?" Gaeta seemed to froth with rage. " I have been punched, knocked out, accused of being a Cylon, thrown in the brig and you put a gun to my head and pretend to kill me? What the hell is wrong with you?"
" Let's focus on the important issue, Felix. You're an accused Cylon. I have about an hour to figure out a way to buy time so that you aren't thrown out an airlock." Kara put a pad of paper onto the table. " I thought we could start with asking for a full court martial. Ask to see the proof and all that."
Gaeta stared at her for a moment. Finally he said, " Kara, do you have any idea how to be a legal advocate?"
" I assumed that you would have some motivation to help," she said. " I mean, it's your life, not mine. Aren't you the one who normally gets stuck doing this when someone gets in a fight?" She had some idea, of course, but attending a mandatory class wasn't the same as doing it.
" We have to buy time." Gaeta rubbed his head. " I can't even think… you need to ask for a detailing of the charges against me. In writing. We should ask for a hearing of the evidence, and time to examine the evidence… Do you even know what the evidence is?"
" You apparently gave a gun to Sharon before she shot the commander… the colonel says it's on a security tape." Kara said. " Dr. Baltar owes you a favor. I could have him analyze it."
" I shook her hand," Gaeta said incredulously. "We were all excited… because she blew up a basestar."
Kara wrote down a few more things to do, becoming increasingly aware that Gaeta was rambling and incoherent. That was not helpful at all but it gave her an idea. Several ideas actually. First among those ideas was the fact that a concussed Lt. Gaeta was definitely a more chatty and open Lt. Gaeta. " Gaeta, why do you think the colonel went after you and not me? He likes you. You do his job for him. Why would he even think something like this?"
It had struck her as odd, the more she thought about it. If anyone was going to go through old tapes looking for problems, she would have thought it would have been Gaeta. He was like that, methodical and neat. Tigh on the other hand was a sloppy drunk who had no idea what was going on half the time.
" It was his wife, that bitch. He lets her watch the tapes so he can catch people doing things." Gaeta let his head rest on the table. " I can't think anymore. You're not going to point the gun at me again, are you?"
"No, and I'll make sure that the colonel isn't allowed to have one of his little chitchats with you." Although if the colonel did come down to the brig and kick Gaeta around, it was only going to make one of her arguments even better than it already was.