Chapter 4
I was sitting in a corner of the hanger. All around me mechanics went about doing their assigned duties not paying any attention to me; most didn't even seem to notice me. As I watched them scurry about like ants I began to wonder why I was doing this.
I thought back to when I lived on Caprica. I had enrolled to be a Viper pilot to try and pay my way through college, it was probably not the best decision I had ever made. My girlfriend had been a peace activist and had broken up with me immediately upon learning of my decision. I should have been completely devastated. My girlfriend was perfect, she was beautiful, smart, she understood me. Or I thought she understood me, but after we broke up I found myself wondering if I really did know her. But I decided to put that aside, an officer does not display emotions. I became am empty shell suppressing all my emotions.
I was at the top of my class, the best pilot, but inwardly I was conflicted. I was upset with myself. Even though I was still top of the class I just dropped out of class a week before I would have graduated. The first thing I did was try to reconcile with my girlfriend, but I found out that she had moved on. She had found another guy, she had replaced me. I felt hurt, I had thought that I was irreplaceable.
My anger finally got the best of me and I ended up killing both of them. I shot them in their bed as they slept. That was the day of the Cylon attack. Nobody knew what I had done. I had hidden the bodies in the basement of the house they were staying in and then fled off planet, ending up on board the Cloud Nine. With in hours of committing the crime the Cylons had attacked Caprica effectively eliminating any chance of somebody discovering what I had done. The only person that knew what I had done was me. I looked at the Cylon attack as a blessing. It had given me a chance to start over.
Finally I had decided that I should finish what I had started. I signed up for Viper training and completed the course and wound up being assigned to Galactica. Now here I was. I had flown only two missions and once again I was regretting my decision. After everything I had done I was beginning to wonder if I this was right. If I became a hotshot pilot people might start inquiring into my past. They might find out about what I had done. I thought I'd been careful enough to cover my tracks, and the Cylons had done a good job of removing the authorities on Caprica that would have been after me, but I still had my doubts.
"Are you okay?" someone asked.
I almost jumped ten feet in the air completely startled. I had completely ignored my surroundings instead focusing entirely on my own thoughts not noticing that Specialist Cally had come over to check up on me.
"I'm fine," I replied as I watched a deckhand restock the ammunition of a Viper.
"You don't look fine," Cally said. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I'm just thinking about some of my past decisions," I replied.
Cally looked at me interested to know more.
I decided I should at least tell her something. It would be better than saying nothing and leaving people suspicious.
"I was enrolled to be a viper pilot before this all began." I told her. "But just a week before graduating I dropped out. I was at the head of my class by far."
"Why did you drop out?" Cally asked.
"When I joined, my girlfriend at the time broke up with me. She was a peace activist." I replied. "I felt I had to leave to try and reconcile with her."
"Did you?" Cally inquired.
"No," I answered flatly. "She had moved on. Found someone else. She said that I had betrayed her trust."
"If you knew she was a peace activist then why did you join?" Cally asked.
"I had to pay my way through college somehow," I replied. "Being a pilot seemed at the time like the best way to do that. I was already a decent pilot."
"I know what you mean," Cally said. "I joined to pay my way through Dental school."
"Wanted to be a dentist eh?" I asked.
"Seems kind of silly now though doesn't it?" Cally answered.
"No, the attack caught everyone off guard. I was going to college to be an aeronautical engineer." I told her.
"Cally, get back to work!" the crew chief called.
"Sorry for getting you into trouble," I apologized quickly. "But I really appreciate having someone to talk to."
"It's alright," Cally replied. "This ship is a family; we need to support each other."
I managed to force a smile and nodded. I then leaned back against the wall and slid down to the ground.
"What are you doing Beanpole?" the chief called out to me.
"Just waiting for some action I guess," I replied.
"Well I think you can rest easy," the chief said. "There won't be any Cylon activity for a while."
I nodded nonchalantly and he went back to his work. My eyes quickly picked out Cally. She was gossiping with two other deckhands as they worked on a Viper's undercarriage. My ears were feeling a burning sensation, a sure sign that they were talking about me, their voices drowned out by the noise of the hanger but my subconscious was likely picking it out.
I turned my attention to the goings on of the hanger. A Raptor came into the hanger from space. I watched as it came to a stop. The hatch on the portside opened up and the President of the colonies stepped out. I had met her once before, on Caprica, when she was still the Secretary of Education. She had come to my class about a week before I dropped out. I wondered if she would remember me.
"Hey Beanpole," someone called.
Once again I jumped nervously.
"Does everybody in this ship sneak up on everybody else?" I asked someone angrily.
"Sorry," the man apologized.
I had been introduced to him before, I couldn't remember his name but he was a Raptor pilot whose call sign was Helo.
"That's alright, you just startled me," I said.
"So what are you doing just moping about in the hanger?" Helo asked. "Why are you with the others?"
"Never was much of a fan of drink, smoking and cards," I replied. "I always preferred sports, either playing or spectating. But there's not much in the way of sports on this ship."
"Yeah if you want to play pyramid ball you should probably head back to Cloud Nine," Helo replied. "So instead you watch the mechanics go about their daily duties."
"It reminds me of an ant colony I had when I was a kid," I replied. "I was fascinated by it. It was mesmerizing."
"Well to each his own I guess," Helo said. "But you're not going to make many friends with the other pilots doing this."
I shrugged. "I'm already making friends with some the mechanics."
I turned to Helo, "So where are you going?"
Helo looked at me with an odd look on his face. I interpreted it as nervousness.
"I'm going to see my girlfriend," Helo replied.
"Is there some reason that you need to go to a specific location to do that?" I asked.
"If you're such friends with the mechanics, why don't you ask the chief?" Helo answered.
Helo turned and walked away. I stared after him somewhat confused, but then I decided to follow up on his suggestion.
"Hey chief," I called out. "What's up with Helo? Is he always so defensive about his girlfriend?"
The chief turned to look at me. "You don't know about Sharon?" the chief asked.
I thought for a second. I hadn't been keeping up with the news, the name didn't really seem to stick out at all.
"Can't say I do," I replied.
"Well," the chief sighed. "You'll probably find out eventually it's better you get it from me. Helo's girlfriend is a Cylon agent."
"What? You've got to be fraking kidding me!" I exclaimed.
"I completely understand how it happened," the chief explained. "There were two copies of the same person. I fell in love with the one here on Galactica."
"What happened to that one?" I asked.
"Cally killed it," the chief said sullenly.
A smile flickered across my face briefly. I couldn't help but be glad that a Cylon was dead, even if it caused someone emotional pain. I glanced over at where Cally was. She was currently bent over working on the inside of a Viper cockpit. I found myself staring lustily at her ass. I quickly looked back at the chief not wanting to get caught.
"When does Specialist Cally finish?" I asked.
"Not for a while," the chief said. "She has to work double shifts as part of her punishment."
"Don't you think that's a little unfair?" I asked.
"Not really," the chief replied. "I'm short staffed as it is."
"Jerk," I muttered under my breath as I walked away.
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"Frak, all I want is one Cylon to appear," I complained.
Our Vipers were patrolling an asteroid belt as mining ships. So far, not one Cylon raider had appeared.
"Stop complaining Beanpole," Starbuck reprimanded me. "Combat in an asteroid belt is a lot more dangerous than in open space."
Up ahead there was a slight flash of light as something reflect sunlight back towards us.
"Starbuck, did you just see that?" I asked.
"Affirmative," Starbuck replied. "Watch my six I'll move in to engage."
I wanted to complain but Starbuck was the senior officer. "Copy that Starbuck."
I go behind and slightly above Starbuck and watched the area as she flew towards the spot where we had seen the flash of light.
"Ha, the bugger is docked to a piece of rock!" Starbuck exclaimed. "Frak he's about to take off."
"Something doesn't seem right," I muttered. "Starbuck don't engage it."
"Why are you giving me orders?" Starbuck demanded.
"Just trust me," I said. "Turn around, fast!"
I had already spun my ship around. Three more Cylon raiders had appeared. Likely they had been hiding attached to asteroids.
"How did you know that?" Starbuck asked.
"Call it extreme intuition," I replied. "Come on let's get rid of these mother frakkers."
I slammed up the throttle and picked a raider.
"Beanpole, slow down," Starbuck said. "There's gotta be at least one more around here."
"Starbuck watch your three," I called.
Starbuck swung her ship to starboard just in time to get off a shot at a Cylon raider that had appeared from behind a chunk of asteroid. The ship had its port wing clipped and it spun out of control and impacted into an asteroid. I kept on going at my previous target keeping a watch on my port side for any other raiders that might pop out in ambush. I suddenly veered off course with my target, aimed just above a nearby asteroid and let off a burst. A raider appeared and ran straight into my fire, exploding in a cloud of debris.
"Nice shot," Starbuck commented.
"Thanks, yours too," I replied.
"You've got one on your tail," Starbuck said.
Weapons fire from a raider flew past my port side confirming that fact.
"So do you," I said noticing a raider following Starbuck.
"Set course for a pass." Starbuck ordered.
I vectored towards Starbuck and throttled up.
"Break to starboard on my mark," Starbuck said. "Mark."
I slammed my control stick to the right and just barely avoided Starbuck's Viper with my own. I then squeezed the trigger and watched as the raider was ripped apart. I glanced behind to see the raider that had been following me break apart and slam into the side of an asteroid.
"Two left," Starbuck stated. "Pick your target."
Cylon weapons fire came flying across the front of my bow and I veered hard into a climb to avoid it.
"I've got the mother frakker that's shooting at me," I said.
More fire came flying past my starboard side as the Cylon was behind me. I jerked the ship around and opened fire. It was somewhat inaccurate but I managed to clip the Cylon enough to send it into a fatal uncontrolled spin. The ship impacted against an asteroid sending chunks of rock flying in all directions. I looked up to the final Cylon ship get torn in half from fire from fire from Starbuck's Viper.
"Good job you two," came Apollo's voice over the radio. "Head back to Galactica. We're leaving the system in a few hours."
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Looks like our hero is now at least getting along with Starbuck. See what new problems arise.