A/N: Once again I must apologize for the long wait. My family has just returned from an extended vacation after a very painful loss. During this time the desire to write was just not there, but now it is time to move on and get back to everyday activities. We are nearing the end of this story, maybe just two or three more chapters. Please hit that review button and let me know what you guys are thinking, feedback is always welcomed and appreciated.
Chapter 20: Avenging Goddess
Kara stares not at the picture she is holding in her hand, but at the machines that were trying to convince her that her life was worth something. Her life was worth a child that she may or may not be carrying. Apollo's child, the child of the Sun God; the man she loved, a man she wanted to join in death.
"It won't bring him back," she says vehemently, her voice strong in her conviction.
"But it will give you a piece of him," Leoben counters.
"You think that is enough," she snarls at him. "When nothing less than everything he was is all I want. I DON'T want his child, I DON'T want a consolation prize."
"Is that how you see a child created by the two of you," Sharon interjects. She can almost understand Artemis' grief; it is so palatable that it seeped into your bones.
"Does it upset you all that I didn't fall down on my knees and thank the Gods for leaving part of him here with me?" She asks them bitterly. "Did you believe that knowing that I carried his child would renew my desire to live? Without him I am NOTHING!"
"Artemis the child you carry is important..." Leoben began before she cut him off with an impatient shake of her head.
"Why, because it could save humanity as we know it?"
"No, more so because it could destroy everything we all know and understand," Leoben says surprised that he has managed to silence her briefly.
"Why would you want to help us then?" She asks suspicion creeping into her voice.
"The cylons are heading for something that they have never faced before. Dissension, division of the whole, where individual desires have more importance than collective need." Simon answers.
"In other words," Leoben interjects. "We are headed for a civil war."
"And is this child suppose to prevent that?" Artemis asks snidely.
"There is no force in the universe that will be able to prevent us from going to war with each other," Leoben says shaking his head in resignation. "But the child you carry will possibly hold the answers to healing the breach that will not only divide cylons, but humanity as well."
"So you really don't know?" Kara asks enjoying watching them sweat. This was the first time in weeks that she felt something stir within her, and it might just be enough to sustain her. The cylons at war with each other gave her an unusual amount of pleasure.
"No Kara, we are shooting in the dark here," Leoben replies. He watches her, knowing that she is calculating, plotting something in that blond head of her's. It should worry him, but it doesn't, for the first time in a while he sees life flare within her beautiful eyes.
"I'm assuming you have a plan, after all you're cylons, you always have a plan," she smirks.
"Actually we were going to take a page from your book Captain, and fly by the seat of our pants," Doral says with a smile.
"Thinking outside the box," she says with a smirk. "I think I may be rubbing off on you guys."
"Does this mean you won't be slipping back into a catatonic state?" Leoben asks.
"Oh yes, I wouldn't miss this for the world," she replies an almost unholy glint entering her eyes.
"Well the most important thing is to get you and that baby off this basestar," Sharon tells her.
"No the most important thing is to find out if Apollo is not only alive, but being held somewhere on this pile of junk," she snaps.
"Artemis, the others want to terminate your pregnancy," Leoben says trying to reason with her. "The sooner we get you out of here the better for both of you."
"You still don't understand," she snarls at them. "This baby is not my priority, Apollo is. If he is alive there is no way in hell I will leave him here at the mercy of any of you fuckers."
They all were taken aback by the vehemence in her voice. It shocked them that she cared so little for the life currently growing inside of her, it was testament to the fact that they did not completely understand human behavior. As a whole they believed they were going to have to force her to their way of thinking.
"Unfortunately for you Artemis, your baby is a priority for us," Leoben replies in a voice laced with steel. "We have risked our lives in keeping that child alive within you."
"Don't hold your breath for my thanks," she says to him viscously. "And I won't apologize for not feeling the same way that you do."
"Artemis I need to ask this, I need to know," Sharon says taking a deep breath. "If we don't find Apollo alive, what will you do? What will you do about the child you are carrying?"
For the briefest of moments Artemis looked startled, almost as if she had not thought that far ahead. Without Lee she had no desires, they simply didn't exist inside of her. Without him she was unable to dream, hope, care or feel. She would be numb and any child born to her would suffer the cruelest form of neglect possible. Without him her ability to care about the child they had created simply did not exist.
"As honestly as I can answer, I don't know nor do I care," she states simply.
"Then I hope to God we find the bastard somewhere on board," Doral says finally beginning to come to terms that Artemis could just not see this their way, and if that was the case then they needed to make a herculean effort to find out if Apollo was dead or alive.
&&&&
"We need to think about moving out of this location Admiral," Roslin says addressing Cassandra, and including Adama as an after thought. She was sure that he would agree that they had stayed in one place for far too long and that they were courting another encounter with the cylons.
"I'm not willing to abandon my child," she says trying very hard not to be annoyed by the suggestion.
"If we stay here too much longer, we'll have to deal with the cylons again," she says trying to reason with the distraught Admiral.
"Good, let them come," she snarls. "I want the opportunity to get my hands on one of those fucking toasters so that I can find out what happened to my daughter, and while I'm at it maybe I can find out if the Sun God is still alive."
"Admiral there are a lot of people depending on us to keep them alive," Roslin begins.
"Do you think I don't realize that?" Cass snaps. "Part of the problem you colonials have is that you've been running so long that you don't know how to do anything else. I've been waging war against the cylons long before you ever realized that they had never really gone away. I am not afraid of them, nor am I afraid of what they could do to us."
"Don't you thing they've done enough?" Laura asks desperate to get through to this woman. She knew that Cass was dealing with a lot of grief and a massive dose of guilt. "Don't you think the people we are trying to protect have been through more horror than any one should have to bear. Right now they're terrified, waiting for the cylons to come and finish the job."
"And that Madame President is why I can't leave until I know what has happened to my daughter," Cass says in a very quiet voice. "We left way to many people behind at the mercy of what the cylons might do them once they have been found. How many people did you leave behind on your dozen planets? How many people feel like they have been forsaken not only by their Gods, but by their own people?"
"I left her behind once thinking it was for her own good, I won't do so again," Cass says vehemently. "I have a responsibility to her, to myself and to all the people that we are suppose to be protecting. They need to believe, to know that no one get's left behind, nobody, not now, not ever again."
All the occupants of the room jumped as the door banged opened and Ares staggers in barely supporting the large frame of his brother. Hermes was deathly pale, his eyes bloodshot, tremors racking his body. They could all see that his breathing was labored and that he looked on the verge of collapse, maybe even death. His eyes searched the room frantically until they feel on the face of the person he was looking for.
"He. Is. Still. Alive." He gasps out. "Through the son...the father...shall be born." It seemed as if the words took everything out of him. William Adama looks into the unfocused green eyes of Hermes and realize that he is receiving a message directly from them Gods themselves. Devon Thrace was in the death grip of a vision. Bill rushed over to him and took his weight into his own arms, this young man who was the only link to his son.
"They might be...be too late...to save him...," Hermes stutters, all his strength draining away. His eyes roll back into his head and he passes out. Bill crashes to the floor still cradling Devon's body to him, tears openly streaming down his face.
"Well that's settled then," Roslin says turning back to Cass. "We stay; nobody gets left behind, not now not ever again."
&&&&
"He's still alive," Simon says bursting into the room where they were holding Artemis. "We need to move fast. I don't know what all has been done to him, but we are going to be cutting it close."
Kara jumped up upon hearing that Apollo was still alive, even if it was just barely. That was all she needed, an opening; she'd take care of the rest and make sure he didn't die on her. She thanked the Gods and began pulling on the flight suit that Leoben had returned to her only a couple days before hand. It was a shock to find out that the Valkyrie had not been destroyed but in fact had been brought aboard and completely repaired.
"Get Kara to the launch deck..." Leoben says moving towards the door.
"I'm not going to the launch deck," she says stepping in front of the door to block his path. "I'm going with you to get Apollo; I won't leave his fate in the hands of a bunch of renegade kitchen appliances."
"Artemis, I don't have time to argue with you about this," Leoben says in a deadly quiet voice.
"You're right, there won't be any arguments," she tells him not budging from in front of the door. "I'm going, end of story."
"Damn it woman it's imperative that you get to that ship safely instead of running around trying to play hero," Leoben all but yells. Simon and Sharon watch the interchange impatiently looking for some way to end the stalemate that was rapidly getting out of hand.
"I'm not going to be playing hero," she snarls. "Us humans are very funny creatures and those of us in the military some of the funniest. We tend to give credence to the idea of leave no man behind. Throw in the fact that he is my man and there is nothing between heaven or hell that will keep me from making sure of that."
"Now if you want to continue arguing with me about this then go ahead. I'm sure that your Aphrodite would be more than happy to have me as a personal house guest for an extended period of time. I'll do anything to be close to him and that is something I am willing to die for." Artemis says with conviction lacing her tone.
Leoben knew enough to know that this was turning into a losing battle. Apollo didn't have much time and even though he could care less wether the Sun God lived or died, Kara would certainly die without him, and that was unacceptable. There was no gracious way to give into her so he didn't even try, he just shrugged and shouldered his way pass her.
Kara knew there was a lot more going on here than these toasters had been willing to tell her, and that was fine by her. She hoped that they managed to destroy one another in their little civil war, and if they needed any help in that direction, she would more than happy to volunteer. They were all being to helpful, to solicitous and that sent warning bells off through her whole body. But right now they were the only chance that Apollo had of getting off this tin can, and damn if she wasn't going to take it.
They moved casually down the hall talking amongst themselves, as if they didn't have a care in the world, or that they weren't about to visit some violence onto some of their own. There was no one around to really pay them much attention, but once they reached and crossed a certain point the whole atmosphere changed. There was something hostile, almost diabolical in the air and it made the hair on the back of Artemis' neck stand straight up. The air was colder, heavier and hard to take into her lungs without causing pain. Her body tensed of it's own accord, anticipation coursing through her veins and setting her heart to racing.
There was quiet, unobtrusive activity in the corridors branching off from the main hall. At first glance Artemis just believed that it was cylons going about whatever business walking machinery had, but upon closer inspection she realized that they were ground troops engaged in silent battle. The cylons didn't fight with guns blazing but in deadly quiet, and probably deadly resolve she thought.
"Where are there no centurions around?" She asks in a voice that some how does break the quiet that surrounds them.
"They have been cleared from this section," Sharon answers simply. "Aphrodite have a couple that have been programed to be completely loyal to her and those are the ones that we will have to deal with directly."
"I'm guessing this is where you'll use some heavy weapons?" Artemis asks looking at them with speculation. As far as she could see none of them were carrying weapons of any kind and the thought of going toe to toe with a couple of centurions with nothing more than her bare hands didn't sit well with her.
"Actually Captain we're going to let you deal with them," Leoben says with a wicked smile. She arches a blond eyebrow at him and gives him one of her trademark smirks. For some reason she almost feels playful and can't help the comment that slips from between her lips.
"I'm not sure they are going to be impressed with me, even if I take the flight suit off and go in buck naked," she drawls as he motions them to a halt and signals for quiet. The malevolence in the air had grown thick and Kara shuddered with the feelings of overwhelming despair that clung within the corridors. She almost felt bowed down with a grief she didn't come close to understanding.
"So tell me Artemis do you feel that?" Leoben asks her mildly.
"Yes Hephaestus," she replies impatiently. "You'd have to be dead or a kitchen appliance not to. What the hell is it?"
"That is what is left of Apollo," he says it so casually that she was sure she had misunderstood him. She looks at him and feels a rage begin to claw it's way through her body, blinding her to almost everything around her.
"What did you say?" She asks in a voice that she was sure didn't belong to her.
"What you are feeling, tasting, experiencing; is what they have been doing to Lee Adama," he repeats. "They have been slowly stripping him of any hope, any salvation, all his humanity and any chance of redemption. They don't just want to kill him, they want to obliterate him from the universe, and when they are done with him they will turn their considerable forces onto doing the same thing to his child."
As Leoben was talking he was carefully getting out of her way. Artemis hadn't noticed that the others had left going off to tasks that they needed to complete if they were to have a chance of getting her off the basestar. She didn't notice the centurion that was guarding the door that she was sure Lee was behind. She was completely unaware of anything but the red hot rage and colossal anger that coursed through her. Her vision was blurred and she had no control over her own thoughts or actions. Her desires played against her and before she could think through the folly that was her plan, she was in motion.
And what grand motion it was. Leoben watched in fascination as she charged the centurion and cry of pure emotion being ripped from her throat, just as she ripped the blaster she hadn't realized he had strapped to her waist from it's sheath. Her movements were flawless and the centurion never stood a chance, and neither had the door that she had managed to some how completely kick in. He hadn't been prepared for that, and he was going to need to be careful the next time he incited her blood lust.
Artemis stood in the door way, a vision of violence and beauty that froze all the occupants of the room. At first no one moved, riveted by the sight of what was no less than an avenging goddess. Then as a cylon she had not encountered before rushed her, Kara reached out casually and tossed the model bodily into a wall, the satisfying sound of bone cracking music to her ears. She pivoted quickly not leaving her back to the room and scanned what was before her.
The sight of a number six model left her wanting to do more violence, but it was the sight of the man that was crumbled on the floor that damn near sent her into an abyss she was sure she would never return from. As far as she could see there was not a single mark on his flawless skin, no signs of torture or beating; nothing marred the perfection that was Apollo. But what caught her was the eyes that looked at her, through her into nothingness. There was no life in his blue gaze, no brilliance of life, no care of anything beyond what they had made him into. He wasn't there anymore, all that was left was a shell, one that breathed and lived, but not one that felt. It tore her into fragments and she died a little standing there looking at him, knowing that she had failed him.
"He is beyond salvation," Aphrodite crooned. Artemis' eyes never wavered from the man curled into himself on the floor, but her attention was riveted to the blond goddess who had dared such an atrocity.
"And of that you will truly be sorry," Kara replied in a voice she was beginning to think of as her God voice. It was deadly quiet, like the night, smooth and full of shadows and mystery. It suited the mood she was in, embodied the violence she was feeling.
"Why fight over him now Artemis, I'm pretty much through with him and you don't want to do anything to jeopardize the child you're carrying," she says in a silky smooth voice that promised reason would prevail if Artemis was of a mind to give in.
"You seem to have made a grave miscalculation Aphrodite," Kara says moving closer to Lee. She needed to be near him even if he was completely unaware of her presence.
"What would that be Artemis?"
"You seem to believe that I would do anything to ensure the safety of the child that I carry. That I would not do anything that would put this baby at risk," she replies finally turning her blazing green eyes onto the woman. "That is where you have miscalculated. He is all that I care about, and if all of us should die here today, then I can live with that."
Before anyone could react or even blink for that matter, Artemis was in motion streaking across the room, barreling towards Aphrodite. When she was just a hairs breath from colliding with the beautiful cylon, she pivoted on the ball of left foot spinning around and grabbing the blond woman by her throat, and locking her other arm around Six's torso immobilizing her against Artemis' chest. Aphrodite clawed at Kara's hand that was clutched around her windpipe cutting off the oxygen she was desperately trying to get in. There was no budging the hand that was slowly, cruelly crushing the life from the cylon goddess; even as blood ran down Artemis's arm from the nails raking her flesh her grip never loosened.
"Don't worry Aphrodite," Kara crooned into her ear. "You'll be back in a few hours, and even though I won't be right here waiting for you, I will be out there, somewhere waiting for the opportunity to permanently remove you from this universe. So please make sure all of your models aren't destroyed in your coming confrontation with your fellow appliances."
Artemis felt the muscles in Aphrodite's body go lax and even then her grip didn't give. She wanted the woman more than dead, but dead was all she was going to get at this moment in time. She barely registered the gentle hand closing over her's.
"She's gone Artemis," she heard Leoben say to her as he tried to pry her hand from around Aphrodite's throat. "And if you want to get Apollo out of here you got to let go, and get a move on it."
Kara looked up with eyes still glazed and burning with fury. She glanced at the crumbled form of Lee and felt the anger moving to claim her sanity again. It took all her willpower to overcome the desire to rip Aphrodite's windpipe right out. She managed to let the woman go and watched dispassionately as the body slipped to the floor with a quiet thump. She shoved Hephaestus out of her way and crawled over to Apollo.
She was terrified to touch him, even looking at him was breaking her apart. Kara was not even aware that she was crying and that she was apologizing for letting him down. If she hadn't allowed herself to wallow in grief and self pity, she might have gotten to him sooner; there was no one to blame but her. She was praying, all but begging the Gods to give her the strength to see this through to the end.
"Alright Apollo," she says steeling herself to actually touch him. "We're getting the fuck out of here, and I really don't give a rat's ass where we go, but anywhere else has got to be better." She finally put her hands on his arms and was surprised by the warm flesh that greeted her; she had expected him to be cold, like a corpse.
She grabbed his arms and swung him over her shoulder in a fireman's carry. He was heavy, built solidly and she should have stumbled under his weight, but for some reason she barely noticed.
"It's time for you to lead the way," she says looking at Leoben. "And right now I am not up for any bullshit."
"I'm not planning on betraying you Artemis," he says with a small smile. "At least not today, I can't make any promises about the next time we meet." She could tell that he was serious and not just trying to lighten the mood. After today all bets were off and they were back to square one.
It didn't take long for them to reach the hangar bay where the Valkyerie was waiting for her. There was fighting going on in small groups all throughout the corridors but no one payed them any attention, everyone else was more concerned about being the group to get to the hybrid. She climbed the ladder and secured Lee into the copilot's seat.
"Artemis," Leoben says gaining her attention. "I had your precious bird outfitted with a FTL drive. It was a little tricky, but it will work. I can't tell you where your people are; they are probably still where we left them, but that is several jumps away. You won't have enough fuel to make that many jumps."
The look Kara gave him was enough to make most people cower or beat a hasty retreat, but Hephaestus could not be grouped with most and the look he gave her let her know that. "Don't give me that look, you could just take a heavy raider and that would solve your problem." He told her inclining his head to the side waiting for her answer.
"And how easy would it be for that she bitch to track me in one of your heavy raiders?" She asks him in an acerbic voice.
"That's my girl," he says and burst into laughter when she scowls fiercely at him. "I knew you were smarter than they gave you credit for. She'd be ale to find anywhere with very little effort."
"Then I'll stick to my Valkyerie. I'm assuming that you not only fixed my distress signal but you probably had the strength boosted."
"You'd be assuming correctly," he replies handing her a helmet. "Sharon has scoped out several jumps for you and a few of them may have planets for you to hunker down and wait. I need to go, things here are getting tenuous and I'm needed. We will meet again Kara, this is something I promise you, we are not done with each other yet."
She watched him walk away unsure of what feelings were swamping through her. She hated him on principle, he was still a cylon, but he had managed to not only save her life but her sanity as well. That had to count for something, and he had helped her save Lee, although she was sure he would have rather chewed off his own arm. Thinking of Lee she turned to look at him. His eyes were still open and flat, there was no life in them.
"I'm sorry," she gasps taking hold of his hand, it still startled her that he was so warm. "I should have been there; together we could have beaten that bitch, but you don't need to worry about her, she's unlikely to tangle with us again."
Kara smiled at the thought of having chocked the life out of Aphrodite. She didn't want to examine too closely how good it made her feel, so she began the preparations to get the Valkyerie ready to go. Once everything was in order she climbed back up to put a helmet on Lee and check his harness. She leaned over and lightly kissed his warm lips, gently stroking his cheek. She was startled and damn near fell down the ladder when she felt his head move slightly. Pulling back she looked at his face finding those intense blue eyes looking back at her. There were still deep and painful shadows flitting through those eyes, but she could tell that they were focused on her.
"Hey gorgeous," he said in a voice that was raspy and broken. Pain was also etched in is voice and shuddered through his body as awareness swamped him.
"Hey yourself mister," she replied tears streaming down her face. She wasn't sure exactly what was happening, but she wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
"How about we get out of here," he says in that broken voice and then promptly passes out. Kara smiles and straps his helmet and oxygen mask. That was the best idea that anyone had come up with in a while.