As he headed for the men gathered below, Starbuck sent another silent plea out to the heavens, "Apollo, old buddy, old pal, we could use you right about now." Then he muttered, "What the frak are you waiting on?"
He didn't entertain for even a micron that Apollo was dead. He wasn't. It wasn't an option. His friend was just taking his sweet time getting here, and because it was Apollo, there would be a really good reason for it. A virtuous, selfless reason. Something worthy of . . . oh, maybe a Gold Cluster. "I don't mind sharing the medals with you," he generously added as mentally adjusted his attitude while he motioned for Avery's men to gather around. He didn't enjoy leading these men into such a potentially deadly situation. For a brief moment he was glad he didn't know them well. He'd get to know them if they made it, on the Galactica with a drink in one hand and a fumarello in the other.
He roughed out the plan for them. It was a simple one, create as much mayhem as possible to draw the cylons away from the enclosures full of kids while he and some of the other men charged the fences. While chaos reigned, he would get the kids to the transport. Simple, right? He'd done this drill a hundred times in the academy, okay, maybe a dozen. It wasn't much unlike Attilla.
He couldn't even kid himself. This was different in a million ways. For one, there were no secret passages, columns and walls to hide behind. Between him and his objective was an open hillside and an empty field. Unlike Attila, he wasn't rescuing one man. He was trying to get out young children and he had no idea of how many. He didn't even try to count them. There were too many crowded together in that enclosure, more than he had men. He suspected most of the kids would need to be carried.
He did have help at least. Avery's men were eager. Okay, that was the wrong word he realized, they were desperate and he was hoping that emotion could bring about a few miracles. Then there was the fact that he had Boomer along. He trusted that Boomer would do his part and take down the communications. When it came to communications and electronics, he knew what he was doing.
Starbuck even trusted that Jake would get to the transport and get it in the air. His irritation with Jake had nothing to do with the young man's competence. He'd sat in on their trainings and study sessions. He knew Jake wasn't stupid. Lazy and motivated for his own pleasure, definitely, but the same could be said of himself so he didn't fault the kid for that. Jake just lacked discipline and more importantly motivation. But Starbuck had assigned the warrior the one task he knew the young man had plenty of experience with. Jake along with Rene had spent yahrens perfecting their invisibility skills. The kid could disappear in an empty room. He had done it numerous times when it was his turn to take over childcare or dishes. Jake wouldn't have a problem sneaking past the guards. The problem was timing. Once those engines fired, the cylons would turn away from the mischief Starbuck was up to and probably protect the ship. He and Avery's men would have to move fast once that happened.
The only wild card in this plan was the buildings between the fences and the ship. Starbuck hoped that the cylons would follow the same kind of procedures Colonials would in the event of explosions and mayhem and lock down the buildings. He was on his own to clear a path between the enclosures and the ship. He tagged the big guy who had carried Rene to cover his back. He doubted the man would be able to keep up with him, but the rifle he carried looked lethal enough to take out any problems that might creep up on them.
He divided the men, gave them their objectives and reminded them to be ready to sprint for the ship once the engines fired. He hesitated searching for something motivational to say to inspire them, but the hardened faces around him looking grim and desperate extinguished the glib comments he was about to utter. He opted for practical and obvious advice.
"Be careful. Use what cover you have and watch your aim. Take out the enemy, not the children. Grab a kid with one hand, save the other hand for your weapon. Let's go."
Starbuck took a pulse rifle from a man who seemed to have two, and with a rifle in one hand and a blaster in the other he headed into the danger. He called upon his own evasion tactics as they crept into the darkness towards the mining operations. He moved slowly down the hillside, using what boulders he could find for cover. It was hard to be silent as each step seemed to send dirt and rocks sliding down, but things were quiet at the edge of the mining operation. There were no centurions anywhere near the equipment that was scattered around the mine shaft opening. He quickly scrapped his plan for trapping centurions in the mine. They may need it as a backup escape route, assuming it had openings elsewhere in the hills.
Starbuck dashed from the cover of the hillside towards a large dumping landram. Several of the men followed him, gathering in the cover provided by the vehicle. He shook off his pack and removed the charges, handing them out like they were a treat to be devoured. He motioned for two of the men to peel off and head for the equipment near the mine entrance. He motioned for two more to head for the tanks closer to the encampment that he hoped held fuel and would provide a wonderful distraction.
Starbuck peered around the vehicle at the enclosures, getting a better look at the terrain he needed to cover. It was an open field he would need to sprint across, completely exposed. "Time to find out how fast you can go," he reminded himself, knowing that being shot at was a great motivator for besting his previous track record. "When I get back to the Galactica, I think I'm going to spend more time on the treadmill," he mused to himself knowing full well that when he got back, he was going to try to spend at least a sectar in bed drunk on all that liquor Rene had stolen from Caprica.
From the protection of the landram, he took just a moment to look up to the ridgetop. He couldn't see Rene and Wyatt, but he imagined his wife there waiting for the signal to begin firing. He hoped she'd follow his orders and would know when it was time to take off. He had no idea how he was going to find her after this was all over. He dismissed the thought. The cylons would be focused on the camp and the transport. She'd be safer alone in the darkness. Like Jake, she knew how to disappear, plus he would be right behind her. He could easily catch up to her and the two of them would disappear into the wilderness. In the light of day, they could meet up with the others.
A niggling thought wormed its way into his head, "what if she doesn't go?" He shook the worry away. He wasn't going on that transport. He was going over the ridge and he would drag her off into the darkness. If they got lucky, the enemy would be eliminated and they could just stroll down that ridge to the transport.
But his luck had seemed to abandon him the moment he set foot on Caprica. Had the cylons killed their gods along with their population? "Gods don't die, and neither does your luck. You've just used more than your quota lately and now you're stalling Bucko," he chastised himself as he realized he was still trying to catch his breath from the climb up and down the ridge. "You're lucky you're still on your feet because face it, you're ill." He shook his head to get the sweat out of his eyes, wincing at the pain in his temples at the movement. He was relying on adrenaline to help him to ignore the symptoms and get through this.
An explosion behind let him know it was time to make that run. He nodded to the men near him pointing to their next possible cover before he placed the solenite charge on the vehicle, triggering it to go off in only five microns.
He took off running, trying to crouch low as he headed for a stack of processed ore. "There you are, lady luck," he muttered aloud as he observed the laser fire from the top of the ridge taking out the Centurion guards in the tower nearest to him. He only hesitated for a moment to ensure that he was not in the direct line of scanning by a red eye before he motioned to the man with him that he was going to make a run for the fences. He scanned the area again, wanting to cheer as he saw the communications tower topple to the ground. He felt the impact through his boots and used it as an extra push to leap into motion.
To be on the safe side, he ran in a serpentine pattern toward the back of the fences where the light was dimmer. His heart was pounding hard and his lungs burned, but reaching the enclosure unharmed was as sweet a victory as if he had won the triad tournament. He gripped the fence shaking it to test its strength, but the interlocking wire held firm. The man with him, Wylie was it or…Starbuck couldn't remember his name and at the moment it didn't matter as the man shouted in his ear above the din of explosions and rifle pulses, "The opening's over here!"
Starbuck cocked his head, hoping to hear the sound of engines firing, but all he heard was the rifle blasts and the screams of children.
"Where?" he shouted and the man pointed around the corner of the enclosure, closer to the buildings. "Frak," he uttered. He didn't know if he should deal with the buildings first, or get the kids out. They might be safer behind the fences. The man with him made the decision, sprinting down the fence line firing to take out a centurion guarding the opening. Starbuck followed spotting another cylon coming around the corner rifle raised. Both Starbuck and the man fired, taking the enemy down before turning to the gate. Starbuck was prepared to blast a lock, but there wasn't one, just a simple latch like the ones found on any animal corral. "Cover me!" he shouted as he easily flung the gate open and yelled at the children to move. Instead as a group the kids seemed to recoil from him farther into the enclosure.
"You idiot," he cursed to himself. The kids were probably terrified, and that was before the explosions started. He tried to smile, to look reassuring in an effort to calm the group, but the grin turned into a grimace when his radio squawked loudly from his belt.
"Abort, abort abort. Transport a no go. Repeat, transport a no go." Boomer's words halted his steps into the cage.
"Frak!" he screamed in frustration looking to the man beside him. "Get the kids, grab them, we need to go the way we came. GO!"
Avery's man dashed into the enclosure, reaching the children and dragging the first few towards the opening, then pushing the group as a whole. Starbuck only wondered briefly what had gone wrong, then his panic chilled him with the realization his wife had lost another friend. It was the only answer, Jake didn't make it. Starbuck contemplated heading for the transport himself. He'd flown a raider, he could figure it out. Was there time? Could he make it?
He abandoned the plan. If Jake couldn't do it, and Boomer wasn't trying, it had to be a lost cause. He had to trust Boomer's call on this. It was now time to get out of here before they all lost their lives. He reached out grabbing children, almost herding them like a bunch of bovines away from him. The children were scared and they should be. He instilled more fear in them, hoping that fear would get them to run as far away as they could. He tried not to think too hard about how small they were. The arms he grabbed at were mere twigs in his grasp. But they were on their feet, and now they were moving. "You get worn out chasing after toddlers. These kids can run," he reassured himself pulling out another and propelling the child into the darkness hoping like hades Avery's people were out there to retrieve them.
As the last of the children streamed from the opening, Boomer and Avery burst out of the haze of darkness. The man in the fences was trying to coax the last of the children to let go of the fence they seemed to be clinging to in fear. Avery brushed past Starbuck to race into the enclosure, grabbing up several of the smaller children, and racing back for the opening.
"What happened? Where's Jake?" he shouted at Boomer as he felt Boomer's hands pushing at him to get away.
"Transport for troops," Boomer gasped.
"Yeah, we knew that." Starbuck watched Boomer trying to suck in air realizing the man was just as sick as the rest of them, he'd just been hiding it well.
"Well, it was full of troops. They're coming, close to a ..," Boomer's words were cut off by the sound of more centurions marching. They began firing, but the shots were over their heads, directed up to the cover fire that had been coming from the ridgeline. Starbuck could swear he heard a loud crack above the screams of the children and the blasts of pulse rifles. He looked up in time to watch the top of the ridge break off and come tumbling down. In the mix of rocks and dirt, he thought he saw the greens and browns of the sweater Rene had been wearing.
He seized Boomer's arm, pulling him close, shouting to be heard over the din of battle, "Get the kids and get them out of here. Don't wait for me. That's an order!"
"Starbuck," Boomer questioned, but Starbuck cut him off. He knew what he would say, it was pointless, she was gone, he could come back for her, he should save himself. "Never again," he thought to himself, "Not since Cree." He'd witnessed first-hand what came of saving yourself and coming back for anyone in Cylon captivity. It wasn't worth the wait. Now or never and he couldn't deal with a never that would be forever and empty.
"GO! Find Apollo. Have him come back for me if I don't make it, but I'll make it. Call it a sealing gift. Now go!"
He didn't waste the precious time to see if Boomer would agree and do as he had commanded. He took off running, firing the rifle wildly hoping like hades any humans were out of his path.
He barely registered that he had taken down two centurions in front of him. He leapt over the sparking hunks of metal as he rounded the corner of the fences closest to the hillside. He poured on the speed, thinking he could see a body in the dirt and rocks. The ground beneath his feet was littered with debris and his left boot landed on something that cracked and collapsed, causing him to stumble. He landed on his knees catching himself with his blaster hand. The debris beneath his hand gave way, and he nearly fell face first into what he quickly realized was a body. He hastily examined it, worried it was Rene he was stepping on, but the cloth beneath his hand was rough, the features small, the smell putrid.
"They dump them outside the fences," he remembered back to Avery's words. He'd found himself in the Cylon's makeshift morgue. He swallowed hard and pushed himself up to his feet. He had to keep moving or it might be his own resting place. His boots slipped, but he was able to move away from the body and reach his feet. He surveyed the ground before him in the dim light. He didn't have time to dig through all the dirt in the hopes of finding the right body. "Just look for a bigger one," he told himself, knowing that wasn't the best advice. Rene was short and small, almost a kid herself. "Okay, then look for the fresh body," he cringed at his own advice, moving forward, trying not to look too closely at the corpses. He knew he'd be having his own nightmares after this and there wasn't enough alcohol in the twelve colonies to drown them.
The voice in his head kicked up the volume a notch or two, "Move Bucko or you won't need to worry about getting some rest. You'll be taking your own dirt nap!" He fired instinctually as another centurion turned his way. He took it down, but he barely registered it as he scanned the pile of dirt and rocks that had landed near the fences. There were two centurions on the ground, their chests plates ripped apart by laser fire. One of the centurions had a splash of gold reflected in the silver. He raced to the mound, hoping that was the right patch of blonde hair he spotted amongst the rocks next to the tinhead. He dropped to his knees beside it, pushing away the dirt.
He wanted to give a cry of victory as he found Rene's features just below the surface. The triumph was short-lived when he realized she wasn't moving. He hastily dug, pushing away the dirt and the large rocks that covered her. He hazarded a quick glance to her face as he got her chest uncovered. She was more than still. Her chest did not rise nor fall. He reached for her neck with one hand while still digging with his other. Her skin was pale and he didn't find a pulse. He turned away from digging the rest of her out. There might not be a point of disturbing her grave. "No, no no," he muttered, focusing on her face, his fingers still searching desperately for that reassuring beat.
"Come on, come on," he found himself mumbling aloud as his mind went back to the moment he had realized that it was Ari on the ground bleeding out from a grenade to his chest. There had been nothing they could do for the young man but put him out of his misery. He realized he may not even have that option with his wife. She may be gone already.
"Come on!" He reached for the other side of her neck with his other hand, cradling her head. He tightened his grip on her gazing at her face for a moment. "Why couldn't she have just followed an order for once!" The sound of his own voice startled him. "Ah Rene, don't do this to me. I'm only with you because you told me you couldn't die. Don't die on me now." He grasped her by the shoulders, roughly shaking her before dropping her back to the ground. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind he knew he should be starting chest compressions, calling for a med tech that they didn't have. His chest felt tight, his eyes pricked with tears. The sounds of the skirmish disappeared around them as he leaned over her, his hands lightly on her chest. "Please Lord …I'll do anything…"
He thought he felt a heartbeat beneath his hand, and he again checked for the pulse in her neck. It was there, but it was weak, irregular, fluttering like a trapped and dying avian. He stopped trying to search for it. He moved his hands from her neck, tilted her head back and sucked in deep breath of air. Sealing his lips with hers, he forced life into her. He sucked in more air, exchanging it with her, wishing he could exchange his life for hers. She had kids to live for, friends, a home to build. She had a future ahead. She was young and this couldn't be how it ended.
He briefly thought of the baby inside her. He wasn't leaving her or the baby behind. Even if it was gone, he wanted to see the baby, had to see it. Was it a boy or a girl? He didn't know but he guessed that she knew. He had to see it. Could it survive if Rene didn't? Could he do that, get the baby out, and would it make it? He knew it was a crazy thought, and he pushed his mind from it, focusing on helping her breathe. He reached for the pulse again. Had he imagined it?
It was there, stronger, but she still wasn't breathing. He forced more air into her lungs and pulled back as he felt her chest rise and push back the air on its own with a cough. Her coughing was the sweetest sound, and he reached to wipe her face, to get the dirt out of her mouth.
"That's it, come on, pretty lady. You can do it. Live, god dammit!"
He listened for her to pull in a breath. Instead of an intake of air, he heard the footsteps and drone of a centurion as the battle around them intruded. Quickly he turned, reaching for his blaster in the dirt, firing. He took the enemy down, and turned back to frantically give Rene another breath. This time she expelled the breath and sucked in one of her own. The air left her body in a low moan. It was all the encouragement he needed as he registered the stomping of a group of centurions headed his way.
"That's it. Time to go, beautiful." He reached for her shoulders, trying to pull her out of the pile of rocks that had come to rest on her legs. She was still trapped and he was reaching to dig when the cold robotic voice cut through the night.
"Halt, Human."
The voice from right behind his back made him flinch. How had they gotten that close, he wondered? He anticipated the laser bolt that would follow the drone, and renewed his efforts to remove Rene. With one hand he dug while the other reached for his blaster, turning to fire. The weapon was knocked from his hands by the saber of a cylon rifle as another metallic voice joined the other.
"Surrender or die."
He felt Rene come alive as she started to weakly scramble away from the debris covering her legs. He reached for her, gripping her shoulder tight in an attempt to stay her. He turned his attention from the enemy to gaze with relief into his wife's blue eyes. They were wide in confusion and shock. He squeezed her shoulder tighter as he concocted a hasty plan that included her playing dead. The centurions might only take him, and leave her behind. He tried to transmit that thought as she looked up to him.
He released his hand from her shoulder, raising both of his hands in the air, "She's dead! You killed her!"
Her soft "No," was drowned out by the scrape of steel. He turned to the sound and saw the glint of cylon sword raising. It was not aimed for him, but rather to come down to severe Rene's head from her body. He screamed, "NOOOO!" as he flung his body across her to block the blow. He waited for the bite of the blade into his back, breathing hard. He was flooded with a mix of fear and relief as he felt Rene's body beneath him, very much alive as she too breathed hard.
They were frozen in the horrific moment, grateful she was alive even as he knew they were both moments from death. He held on tight as he waited for the pain, but he didn't feel a blow. Instead he heard a strange whirring and a chuckle emanating from behind him.
A melodic voice called out, "If she is dead, then she doesn't need her head. Move away, human."
He cursed before he whispered to her, "Follow my lead and we will survive." Her hands reached for him, gripping his arm as he moved away from her to raise his hands in surrender.
"Take me. Leave her. She's unconscious and can't tell you anything." He looked over his shoulder to the flashing lights of an IL series. It wasn't a red cape like Lucifer or Specter, but a yellow cape glowing in the dark.
"Her? Interesting. We find so few adult females of your species. What a wonderful opportunity you have given us. I hear much happens after the pupa stage. Dead or alive, she is of value to me."
Starbuck cursed as he looked off into the distance. If the ILs were out and about, that meant the Cylons had secured the area. Had Boomer gotten away with the kids, or were they all captured or worse dead? Rene must have had the same thought as she was moving her legs, kicking them to get free of the debris.
The IL's voice stilled her movements. "Of course, it is your choice which it will be as she seems alive at the moment, but my centurion could remedy that condition."
"NO!" he shouted, but it was not just at the cylon. Rene's hand was reaching for the rifle lying on the ground beside them. "Stay alive. They will come for us. Don't do anything stupid."
"I'd rather die," she spoke to him, her voice low and raspy.
The IL's attempt at laughter, reminiscent of fingernails on a chalkboard, had him contemplating reaching for the rifle himself. Rene might be right. Wouldn't it be better to go down now with guns blazing than by cylon torture? His training forced him to abandon the impulse. He heard Apollo's voice as he lectured the cadets, "Keep calm, try to live for as long as you can. We will come for you." It wasn't the speech Starbuck had heard at the academy. No, back then he knew he was expendable, told to keep any information from the enemy even if it meant your death. But he knew Apollo was out there somewhere and would come for him. If not Apollo, then Boomer, Max or Jake. He just needed to keep Rene alive long enough for that rescue. If not that, then an opportunity would come for them to break free. Lady luck wouldn't abandon him like that. He had survived cylon capture before. He could again.
His thoughts were disrupted as the vice grip of a centurion hauled him to his feet. He fought as he shouted, "No!" but his focus was on his wife at his feet and not on the enemy. The guards clumsily moved the rocks off Rene and pull her out from under the debris. She fought, her eyes those of a panicked animal.
"So, she is alive." The chuckle coursed up Starbuck's spine like an electric shock. He jerked hard and sudden. The move broke him free from the centurion's grip, but he didn't even make it one step before he felt the vice grip of another centurion trapping his arm. A second cylon gripped his other arm and he was pulled from his feet into the air. His right arm was twisted back behind him and he yelped in pain as the shoulder was taken to its limit, his own body weight pulling at his shoulder as he dangled in the air.
The IL's chuckle continued before he ordered, "Bring them to the lab. Their life force will be an interesting contrast to examine."
"What of the larva that escaped?" the centurion with the sword asked. Starbuck stopped struggling and focused on breathing through the pain. There was still hope. Boomer and the others had gotten away.
"We will round them up in the morning. They will be quite easy to herd then as they will be cold and hungry, perhaps dehydrated as well. It will be interesting to see the effects that will have upon the growth of their viruses." Starbuck swore the IL smiled wider as the lights in the head dome flashed faster and brighter. "Begin tracking them, and take these to the lab for scanning."
Starbuck was yanked up higher. "Hey, easy there! You want us alive, remember?" He craned his head behind him to supervise the guards that were hauling Rene to her feet. She struggled valiantly in their grip, but the guards easily overpowered her. Their grip tightened on her. Her cry of pain echoed in the sudden silence of the encampment. She cried out again, and he pitched his voice to her, "Rene, you're just hurting yourself. Save your strength for when it will be useful."
She snarled,"Frak that!" Instead, his words caused her to increase her struggles. He tried to twist away from his guards, but their grip just tightened, threatening to crack his bones. "Be smart," a voice inside his head whispered. "You can't think if you aren't calm." He stilled his movements letting the guards carry him away as he tried to observe where they were going, what was along the way that he might use.
Another cry of pain coming from Rene desperately made him want to yell at her to stop, but she probably wasn't hearing anything in her panic, certainly not his words. Plus maybe she has the right idea, he wondered making his own attempt at loosening the centurion's grip on him. The cylon on his left tightened his hand even more and he was left wondering if losing an arm or two might be his only alternative to cylon captivity.
"Please, please, please," the thought repeated in his head as he tried to broadcast his thoughts out into the wilderness. "Please get Apollo here soon."
As they came into view of the door of the closest building, he felt an intense sense of foreboding. He found himself struggling again, throwing all the energy he had left at preventing them from taking him through that threshold. The centurion on his right gripped him tighter with one hand as the other came across smacking him hard in the face. His head snapped painfully to the side and his vision blurred while his ears rang.
"Frak, that's going to leave a mark!" he blustered at the guard when his teeth stopped rattling, but the red eye just swept over his features, impassive to his pain. The door before him opened, and despite his efforts, he was dragged into the building and down a brightly lit corridor. He didn't need to look behind him to know Rene followed. She was cursing and crying out in pain as she fought. She was alive; there was that on his side of the ledger of luck. What waited for them was on the other side of that ledger? "Just stay alive. Just stay alive." The words repeated in his head as he tried to scheme a way out of there.