DISCLAIMER: The character's and the universe of the Battlestar Galactica do not belong to me.
NOTE: Thanks for all the comments, you may see the influence of some of them (especially starbuck042786 ;) in this chapter… It was supposed to look differently early on, but I like it better now.
And after some misunderstanding and mail problems, this chapter was finally BETAed by AMMONITE. Great thank you!
>>
HYBRID by -yannik-
Chapter Ten - BEFORE THE STORM
>>
"...and secondly – why would we have a child – none of us wants that" he carried on, and only then realized the change in her face. When he spoke the words "we are both humans".
Oh gods! How could he not see it sooner? When the truth was in front of him, it was so obvious... Kara.
Kara was the hybrid they wanted.
He sat on the couch, and Dualla must have noticed he paled or something, because she ran to him, so frightened, so apologetic.
"Lee? Are you okay?" she asked, stroking his chest, touching his chin lightly. He did not object – it didn't matter. Nothing mattered. Kara – his Kara – was half cylon. How could that be? And what's more important – how could he protect her now?
"What do they want from..." he asked through a clenched throat. He couldn't speak louder. But he had to know!
Dee just looked at him with such compassion, that if he didn't know better, he could swear it was real. "Lee..." she choked. "Lee, I'm so sorry..." she whispered. "I was not supposed to tell you, you were not supposed to know."
"But I..."
"Shhh. Okay. They didn't want you to know. Command." She inhaled deeply. "But... let this be my proof to you, how much I really love you," she kept whispering. "I will betray them for you." She looked deep into his eyes, and he believed her. She was his only chance – he had to believe.
"Tell me what they want" he whispered again.
"They want to create a new race." She sat back on the floor and started talking. "They wanted… they wanted to know if a half-cylon could have a child. That's the sole reason they gave us this year." Tears sparkled in her eyes again.
Lee stared at her, trying to understand. A year was enough time to conceive a child, all right. But how could they control... Unless... "They wanted to mix the hybrid with a cylon…" he breathed out, and Dee only nodded, pursing her lips.
Lee suddenly felt sick. He needed water. He needed... Oh gods! Kara was out there with a real cylon... But that didn't happen either – he had to admit the thought made him suddenly ecstatic. Love factor – not included. She did not love her cylon, just like Lee did not love his.
"But now they gave up on that part of the plan," Dee continued softly, her head bowed. Lee totally forgot about her! He turned to look at her again, and saw how much pain she was in. "Now they believe this cannot happen. So they want to run tests, that's all. To explain the existence of…" she choke. "The reasons… The way to create the next hybrids, and next generations of hybrids." She looked up suddenly and her eyes sparkled with determination. "But I'm not going to let that happen!" she said clearly.
Lee gazed at her stunned. She loved him, fine. But was that enough for her to want to save the woman, who was her rival? Something wasn't exactly right here…
"The hybrid can still have a child" she said. "With a human. With a loved one."
>>
Kara froze. She couldn't breathe.
"Kara…" Sam came close to her, really frightened.
"There…" she choke out, pointing her finger at the door. "That is a… There is a…" She was trembling, stuttering, she didn't even think that seeing that particular cylon would make her freak out completely like that. She needed to collect herself. Frak, she was Kara Starbuck Thrace! "Simon" she managed to squeak.
"Simon?" Sam did not understand.
"Simon-Simon. The cylon doctor. From the Farm Simon. You know?" She watched as Samuel's eyes widen in terror.
"He's out there?" he whispered.
"Right outside these door. Posing as a marine. Who is supposed to protect us," she whispered back.
"Frak…"
"Frak…"
"We've got to call the Commander."
"We could ask him in, as in… wanting to talk, ask for something. And… Whack!" She hit the table with a loud thud. Louder even, that they were still speaking in low voices.
"Shh," Sam pressed his finger to his lips.
But Kara was in a rage. "I can't believe his arrogance! He was staring at me! Did he really think I would not recognize him?" She shook her head, as she strode toward the door. At a touch on the keypad it opened with a hiss. "Hey, um…" She smiled at the marines, and her heart went to her throat. "We need a hand with that… heavy…" she waved a hand inside, realizing she couldn't come up with a plan, when she was already in action.
"Closet" Sam rushed in with help. "Could you come in, and help us move it?" he asked with a smile. Easy, relaxed smile.
Oh, frak! – Kara thought. She didn't suspect that one… she didn't suspect Samuel… She also thought – too late – that Simon wanted to be recognized. They knew very well how impulsive she was. So far she had managed to not get manipulated this way, but now they were close. Now their plan was about to be completed, and they had out-maneuvered her so easily!
Simon entered the quarters smiling as well, and with him came another marine. Kara gasped. As the door hissed close, she realized she was staring straight at Hot-Dog.
>>
"Wait a minute?" Lee asked, totally dismayed. "Are you saying that I should have a child with Kara?"
"It's your only chance," Dee replied.
Lee shook his head. "I don't understand," he said softly. "Why are you doing this? Why do you want me to be with Kara, this doesn't make sense!" Oh, he wanted that to be true! He wanted to be with Kara, he wanted to give her a child, even if he never really wanted children. But if that was the way to save her – he'd do it gladly. But somehow he stopped believing Dee. It was simply impossible.
Dualla was about to break into tears all over again. "I love you" she whispered. "If the only way to save you is to make you be with another woman, then… let it be so. I won't let them hurt you."
"Me?"
"You. It is about you," she said.
And Lee's world slid out from under his feet.
>>
Was she with three cylons now? Frantically, Kara tried to think. What to do? What to do now?
"What do you want?" Samuel asked - instead of her. He stood opposite the two cylons, his hands folded on his chest, proud, strong, defensive. Kara stared at him with disbelief. Was he, or wasn't he a cylon? They were talking once – she remembered – that if he were a cylon, that would be a terrible waste of resources. No other copies of his model would be able to walk the Twelve Colonies and not be recognized. He was safe. She was silly.
"We do not want to talk to you" Simon replied. "We want to talk to her."
>>
"I don't believe this!" Lee shouted. "I don't believe you!"
"I'm sorry" Dee crumpled. "What did you think…"
"That's enough!" the Commander went to the door, and called a marine. "Get three of your people here, enter, and you'll receive orders." He strode back inside.
"Lee, you're not going to…"
"Shut up! You lying machine! I won't hear you any longer. You're deceiving, manipulating, lying. Lying! Shut up!" he yelled, unable to control his fury any longer. This was too much. Just too much! He picked up the receiver. "Give me Galactica actual."
"Lee, listen to me…" the cylon pleaded.
"Shut up!"
"Galactica actual here." Lee heard his father's husky voice on the other side of wireless, and he couldn't speak for a moment. If he was a hybrid, then either his father was a cylon, or his mother had been. He didn't know what was worse - was the Fleet being led by a cylon?
"We have a situation here, sir," he choked out, his heart pounding.
"What is it?"
"I'd rather not talk on the wireless. We need your presence here."
"No, Lee, don't…" Dee started calling, but he just covered his ear, muffling the sound. He wasn't going to listen to her, he needed to make his own decisions.
"Get here as soon as you can. Code blue."
"I'm on my way."
Lee turned to the marines, ordering them to take Dualla away, lock her up in a cell, and not allow anyone to talk to her. He ignored her screams, pleas, and warnings not to let his father come. Of course she wouldn't want his father here – he wouldn't hesitate to give the order to airlock her.
But when she was taken away, and Lee stayed alone in silence, he started thinking. He was a hybrid… no, that was too huge to absorb. His father could be a cylon. Was that what Dee was trying to warn him about? She didn't want him around, because of his programming, and all… Lee needed to know. He at least needed to know which of his parents was a machine. If Dualla wasn't lying, of course…
>>
"Frak you!" Kara sputtered. She wanted to jump at them, and wipe the floor with their asses, and their faces. But they both only stared, Simon-model smiling in this annoying cynical-cylonic way.
"Why the hostility?" he asked with endless calmness.
"As if you didn't know" Kara hissed, nearing them involuntary. Sam's arms encircled her waist, putting her to a stop. She cast fiery glances from the black-skinned cylon, to the one she used to call her friend, used to trust. And back. She didn't know which one she hated more at the moment. "Traitor!" she spat at the one that looked like Constanza.
"Looks like you're never going to trust Hot-Dog again" the machine said mockingly.
"I'm going to kill him the first thing when I see him!" she yelled, and Sam had to restrain her again, or else she'd force herself on the fake-marine.
"But you used to be his friend!" Simon asked incredulously.
Kara gasped. Did that thing really think she would trust anyone, once she knew that was a machine? "So was Sharon" she reminded in a whisper.
"Does that mean you'd kill any cylon?" Simon asked. "No matter how close to you it was before you realized what it was?"
"Yes" Kara responded and felt her tension melting away into fear. Into terror. She looked back at Sam, still holding her. His gaze was fixed at the twosome, and there was determination in his eyes. No, he was not a cylon. It was not him.
"Good." She heard Simon's voice again. "That's very good. Because your mission is coming to a conclusion."
>>
Lee went down to the brig. He opened the door to her cell and eyed her.
She sat on her rack looking back at him with sad and knowing eyes.
The door closed, separating them from the ears of any witnesses.
"Which of my parents was a cylon?" he asked simply.
"Your father." Her answer was equally simple.
They fell silent. Lee tried to grasp it. He still couldn't face the fact of what he was, but knowledge that the cylon was their leader ever since the destruction of the Colonies was distressing.
"Was he leading us straight into your hands all the time?" he asked under his breath.
"No," Dualla sighed. "Not at all. Quite to the contrary. He has no contact with Central. In fact, we weren't even certain it was him, only after the shooting…" she stopped. She searched his face for some emotional response, but he was devoid of emotion right now. "He received a shot that would kill any human being. Yet he survived; he was stronger than any human would be. That's how we knew. That's why I was switched," she added in a whisper.
"Am I supposed to believe he is not following his programming? That he somehow overrode it? I thought that was not possible!"
"Well it turns out it is possible. In fact, he managed to do it many years ago." Dualla got up and stepped closer to him. She started explaining. "His designation is Number One and his model, along with Number Two, was created during the first war. This copy then fell in love, had a child – you – and rebelled. He returned to our home world to destroy the resurrection facility, along with all his and Two's copies. He also managed to kill all his active copies, and nearly all copies of Two. Two were left – ironic isn't it? One One, and Two Twos" she chucked slightly. Lee would laugh too if it wasn't so tragic. "Central lost track of him then. But it served our purpose in the end – if we attacked at that time, with only those two human forms, we would probably lose. It took another thirty years to rebuild the machinery and create the next ten models." She stopped talking abruptly. And changed the subject. "But the point is – he was, and still is – on his own. That's why Central wants to kill him. Their plan is to get the two of you in the same place, kill him, and capture you at the same time. That's why he shouldn't come here now."
Lee assessed her for a long while. Could he believe her? Why should he believe any of this? This was too frakked up. This was crazy.
He turned around and left her without another word. He was needed elsewhere. The raptor, with the Admiral onboard, was about to dock with Pegasus.
>>
t.b.c.