"…well, you wouldn't believe the number of frakkin'- pardon the language, ma'am- you wouldn't believe the number of hoops I just jumped through in the past fifteen minutes trying to put that fire out. It's getting a little more complicated than not, but if you need an excuse to be at the party, you can ask Lee if you can be there to sort of, I don't know, maybe thank Sammy for making the choice to serve and protect the fleet? Though if the Old Man's gonna be there, you don't really need an excuse, I guess."
For the past five minutes, Starbuck had been talking mostly to alleviate the tension that seemed to travel between the President and her security guard. She had never seen Reynolds so on-edge, not even on Kobol with Zarek and Sharon around. She suddenly wondered if there was something going on that she wasn't aware of. She doubted it, but she had been known to miss some pretty obvious things.
As they approached the hangar deck, most of Starbuck's senses went on alert when she spotted most of the deck crew filing outside in a hurried manner. Most of them looked extremely unnerved and Starbuck knew this group of people. Nearly all of them had fought in the resistance and there wasn't much of anything left that could faze them.
"Everyone out! Everyone out!"
All three of them recognized Chief Tyrol's voice and as Starbuck skidded to a halt, unsure of what was going on or what she should do, Laura noticed that most of the people coming out of the hangar deck were crowding around the exit, almost as if they were waiting for someone else. Given the fact that she could hear the Chief's voice, but couldn't see him anywhere, she assumed it was Tyrol himself they were all waiting for.
"Stay here." Starbuck commanded Jack and the President, then broke into a jog. "Make a hole!" she shouted, barreling into the crowd at full speed. "Chief! Sit rep!"
It was Cally, however, who answered her. Biting her lip, yet remaining remarkably calm (probably due to the presence of her little boy in her arms), she turned to address Starbuck. "Chief found a bomb." she informed Kara softly, trying to calm an increasingly fussy Nicky. "It's okay, Daddy's coming out." She bounced him several times, trying to soothe his whining. Looking around at everyone else, she summoned every bit of authority she could muster and shouted, "You heard the Chief! Everyone start moving down the corridor!"
"Chief!" Starbuck roared, careening through the group of knuckledraggers scurrying along in an attempt to follow Cally's order. She made a grab for the nearest telephone. "Starbuck, get me CIC right now! Chief, get out of there! That's an order!"
"We lose the hangar deck, we lose every Viper we've got!" Tyrol's voice roared back at her. "Is everyone out?"
"Yes!" Cally called back immediately, in an attempt to reassure him. As badly as she wanted him in front of her right now, she knew that he'd be better able to concentrate on doing what needed to be done if he knew everyone else was safe.
She just wished that he was out here, safe and sound with the rest of them, and someone else was in there trying to diffuse the situation. Looking at her son in her arms, she couldn't even bring herself to feel a modicum of shame for her selfishness. Gulping down a few breaths of air, she tightened her arms around Nicky, praying to the gods to see Galen through this.
Without even realizing she was doing so, Laura was moving forward. Barely hearing Jack's squeak of protest, she laid her hands on Cally's shoulders, squeezing reassuringly. Cally looked back at her and though her eyes were terrified, when she spoke, her voice was calm.
"He's good." the specialist murmured, as if it was a mantra. "He's good."
"Yes, he is." Laura leaned in, dropping a kiss to Cally's forehead. "All those bombs he put together for the resistance? Of course he knows how to take them apart without getting anyone hurt." If anyone could see this crisis through to the best possible conclusion, it was Galen Tyrol.
"Madam President, you should-" Starbuck shut up abruptly as someone finally picked up the phone in CIC. "This is Starbuck. We've got a bomb down in the hangar deck. Everyone's been evacuated and Chief Tyrol's in there right now trying to disable it." She stopped and listened for a moment. "The President is right here." Then her eyes lit up. "I've got an idea!"
"Starbuck, what are you doing?" Seelix yelped as the blonde pilot shoved past her, running in a dead heat straight into the hangar deck. She quickly picked up the phone. "Actual? Specialist Seelix. Starbuck's pulling one of her crazy ass stunts again."
"Not on my watch." Laura declared, springing into action. Just barely evading Jack's attempt at a restraining grasp, she also broke through the crowd, jogging into the hangar deck as well as she could in the heels she was wearing. Starbuck was kneeling beside Tyrol, who was shaking his head and concentrating on what he was doing. With a sickening jolt, Laura realized that he was under the Raptor that had brought her to Galactica earlier and was supposed to take her back to Colonial One.
Galen saw her first and groaned. "Don't you people know you're supposed to leave in the event of a bomb? Not come running."
"Come on, Chief, it's me." Starbuck slid under the Raptor with him. Her movements stilled when she caught sight of the President and Jack coming up behind her. "You think we can move this thing without blowing a hole in the ship?"
Galen turned to look at Starbuck suspiciously. "What do you have in mind?"
"One of the President's favorite pastimes." Starbuck replied. "We airlock the bomb."
A snort escaped Laura's nose before she could stop it. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Jack couldn't help cracking a grin.
"I'd rather not send the Raptor out with it." Galen remarked, his eyes glazed with concentration. "I'd like to disable this thing outright, if I can."
"Is there anyone else who can do it?" Laura asked, thinking of Cally and Nicky waiting out in the hallway, then thought of the number on her whiteboard. Shivering at the severe blow losing the Chief would deal Galactica, and his family, she looked back at Jack, who understood perfectly. He licked his lips before stepping forward.
"Chief, I got it." he took his jacket off and unsnapped the buttons on his polo shirt. "Go to your wife and son. They're waiting for you."
"I can get this." Galen waved him off impatiently. "I just need a minute."
"That's unacceptable." Laura said firmly. "Chief, get out from under there and go out to Cally and Nicky. And I'm sure Sam's out there by now, Kara. Both of you, go. Now."
"And that goes for you too, Madam President." Jack remarked as he slid under the Raptor, placing his hands just over Galen's. "I got it, Chief, go."
"But-" Galen was still decidedly undecided, looking down at Jack, who was already completely focused on his work.
Laura nearly groaned. "All right, the two of you. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this, but I'm pulling the commander-in-chief card. As your President, I am issuing a direct order to both of you to get your asses out of here and clear that corridor! If this bomb goes off, I want the casualties limited to the people in this room."
"Ma'am!" Starbuck gasped, even as Tyrol paled. Laura knew him well and she knew that he would never refuse a direct order from the President.
"Kara, I think Admiral Adama would follow me to hell just to bitch me out if I allowed you to remain in here." Laura said coolly, settling herself on the deck with Jack. "Just tell me what to do and I'll do it."
"Madam President, Laura," Kara choked out, shaking her head, "The Old Man would happily send me to hell with a hole between my eyes if I left you in here! And that's if Colonel Mother Frakking Tigh didn't get to me first."
"You're staying, you're going, I don't give a flying frak, just shut the hell up!" Jack exploded, grabbing Laura's hands. "And you and I will have a conversation later about my job description, Madam President. Now hold this and whatever the frak you do, don't drop it."
"I'm not going out of here and facing the Old Man!" Kara exclaimed stubbornly. Crazy she still was, but suicidal? Not anymore.
"Captain Thrace-" Laura started, only to be scared stiff as the device dropped into her waiting hands.
"We got it." Jack scrambled out from under the Raptor. "Easy, Madam President, we'll have that out of your hands in just a second. Chief, where's your closest airlock?"
"Shouldn't you, y'know, disable it before you airlock it?" Starbuck asked, her mouth going dry at the rapidly calming expression on the President's face, which froze again as the device began to beep.
"Frak!" Jack grabbed Laura's arm.
"Launch tube!" Galen shouted, pointing at the closest one they had, several feet away. "Put it in the launch tube and airlock it!"
"Chief, you go to the exit and tell us exactly what we need to do!" Laura ordered, allowing her guard to drag her over to the tube.
"Frak!" Galen had no choice but to stand and watch as the pair made their way over to the launch tube. "Okay, Jack, there's a manual override to the launch tube, the wall behind you! Before you even think about touching it, the President needs to place the bomb very carefully into the launch tube." He felt a small measure of trepidation as he thought of what the loss of a launch tube might do to their chances when the Cylons found them again, but decided that if a price had to paid at all in this business, this was surely a small one.
"I think it's starting to beep faster." Laura remarked, almost calmly surveying the device in her hands.