Chapter 6
"Somebody tell me where is the closest emergency locker!" Damn civilians, unable to take any initiative, always depending on the military to save their sorry ass. Finally a guy pointed toward a door. Thankfully it was not stuck, she grabbed the fire extinguisher and run back to where she had left Kacey. The smoke was getting thicker and people were panicking. Not good. Kacey was still with the nice old lady they had friended during their stay aboard.
"Hey kiddo. How are you doing?"
"Fire!!" She was terrified, big fat tears running down her checks. Kara could only imagine what was going through her head, her mother had perished in a fire and the girl herself had been injured. She knelt down and took Kacey's face in her hands.
"Look at me baby." She waited until the child did so. They did not have much time but it was imperative for Kacey to be calm.
"That's my girl! Now listened carefully. Yes there is a fire and yes it's scary. But we're going to be fine, I promise." Her tears stopped, replaced by occasional hiccoughs. "I want you to do exactly what I tell you. I am going to tie this close around your mouth to help with the smoke. After that we're going to go over here and take the stairs toward the next compartment." She was talking loudly so that the people who were around her could understand the plan. "In the next compartment we'll be able to take the corridors leading us to the surviving pods. Hopefully there'll be no reason for us to take them but if we have to there is nothing to fear it'll be like taking a small plane. A lot of fun! Ok honey?"
"Ok."
"Alright people let's get moving! You there take that pile of covers, you take the bottles of water and you take the extinguisher!"
She did not wait to see if the men obeyed her orders, she picked up Kacey and started running. The explosion had occurred about twenty minutes ago and the fire was spreading quickly from the area of the impact. There was no system of depressurization aboard Cloud Nine, so if the fire-fighting doors were unable to contain the fire in that area until the arrival of the rescue teams they were all screwed.
The more they progressed in the corridors the more people they encountered. Some were injured, some were simply choked. It was a sad scene to witness and it was infuriating. She grabbed one of them, he had apparently come from the crash site and she needed information.
"What's happening back there?" The man stared at her with a blank look. She told Kacey to close her eyes and punched him.
"Hey, why did you do that?" At least now she had his attention.
"I repeat, what is going on back there?"
"A cylon raider crashed itself right in the middle of the restaurant… there was blood. Oh my god, so much blood…" Suddenly he gripped her arms "My wife, have you seen my wife? Helena!!! Helena!!!" The poor man had lost his mind, it was no use. In her experience people who found themselves in danger could either react as heroes, in their own special ways, or could become dangerous, loosing their mind or wanting to survive even if it meant killing to do so. At that moment she would have given anything to have her side arm with her but she had left it on the Galactica thinking that having a gun in a room where a toddler lived was not a very good idea.
They needed to reach the surviving pods, quickly. In her estimation they were halfway to their destination, she prayed that the explosion had not occurred close to the fuel tank.
"I want a raptor ready in five! Prepare the rescue pods!"
"Yes sir!"
He had managed to convince his father of letting him take control of the rescue operations. They needed to save the ship, it was one of their biggest as well as one of the most populated. The captain had reported severe damages to the engines, a fire was spreading and their FTL was in need of serious repairs. He swallowed the lump in his throat. Kara was military, she would know what to do to keep herself and Kacey safe.
"Commander, the captain of Cloud Nine is on the line"
"Commander Adama speaking."
"Sir, we have another situation on our hands here." Damn it! What more could go wrong?
"Go ahead captain."
"We're in need of crowd control, several riots have already occurred. Ten people are dead and thirty severely injured. Things are getting out of control here."
"Alright, we'll do what we can captain but our first priority is to contain the fire!" He hung up and yelled "We need a squadron of marines ASAP!"
Hours latter the fire was under control. The crowed however was not. Somehow a group of religious extremist had managed to pirate the ship's internal communication system thus broadcasting their message through the speakers.
"We have sinners among us! The cylons are not our enemies. They have been created by the gods to punish the sinners. Our worlds were destroyed because we had lost our way. We became selfish beings who did not lived has the scrolls taught us to, but only sought our own personal pleasure. But the Gods are good and will forgive you if you reform your ways. Come and join us. We'll leave the sinners behind and start a new life in peace following the Gods teaching."
Already a large group of people had gathered in one of the ship conference room, and with each minute their number increased. They were exhausted, scared and thus dangerous. These people would do anything to prevent the horrors they had gone through from happening again.
They were reaching the moment the president had dreaded: people were loosing faith and trying to find solutions elsewhere. After all if fighting had not worked it did not mean that other things would not. Lee could understand them and in the deepest part of his heart he still believed that each human being should have the ability to decide of his destiny. However he was no longer the young naive idealist he had been not so long ago. Their conditions of life had changed: it was no longer about living, it was about surviving. And the survival of humanity came before everything else. And for humanity to survive they needed hope, for every person hope could take a different shape, for him it was Kara, maybe for those people religion was the last thing that kept them going.
He had been unable to localize Kara, she had not been among the casualties, of that he was sure. He had had to look at every awfully burned, scared and deformed body with the search and rescue team while trying to find survivors. They had found twelve of them but sixty others had died in the flames.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by a marine who was handing him a phone.
"Captain Thrace on the line sir." He could not help the sight of relief that escaped him. At that precise moment he forgot the horrors he had seen during the day. She was alive and if she was calling him she couldn't be severely injured.
"Kara?"
His voice was not quite steady. So he had been worried about her she thought. If she had not been so focus on getting them out of the trap they found themselves in, she might have admit to herself that she was happy about it, it was a proof that he still cared about her. She must have remained silent longer than she had thought because he asked with a little more urgency:
"Kara, are you alright? Is Kacey ok?"
"Yes, yes we're ok. Kacey is a tough little soldier and well I guess I am used to taking care of myself." She said, smiling down at the little girl who was quietly sucking her thumb leaning against her legs. She was tired, poor kid.
"What's your position? Are you able to reach the landing bay?"
"Negative, we're stuck in the emergency compartment with the surviving pods. Right now the only way to get out of here would be to take one of those pods."
"How many people are with you? Is there any injured?"
"We're about thirty. Most of us are in good shape but I am worried about the kids, there was a lot of smoke out there… We also have a man with a broken leg and an unconscious woman."
"Look, I don't know if you heard but the situation aboard is pretty unstable right now. We have a group of extremist makings demands and preventing us from securing the area close to the engines' room. Do you think the pods are functional?"
"Yes, I've checked several of them and everything seems in place."
"Alright, I want you to take one of them. I'll send a raptor to tow you back to Galactica. I'll see you there. Be careful out there."
"We will. And Lee, this goes for you too." She added softly before disconnecting.
"Patch me through to the Admiral." He had been informed of Kara's arrival aboard the Galactica a few minutes ago. At least now if they needed to execute an emergency jump, she would be aboard a ship with a working FTL and would not be left behind. She was safe.
"Galactica actual speaking, go ahead Commander." He heard the com officer saying.
"Commander what's your status."
"We're still unable to perform the necessary repairs. And as long as their FTL is not back on line we're an easy target. We need to consider a passage in force sir."
"Is it possible to negotiate? The president does not want any civilian casualties, and I think she is right. We're in a difficult position here son. There are others pockets of dissidents in the fleet which are waiting to see what we'll do. One false step and we'll have a full fledged rebellion on our hands."
"Their terms are unacceptable. They're asking to be given a ship large enough to accommodate all of them, as well as enough food, water, and fuel to allow them to reach a planet." He paused letting the implication of what he had just told his father sink in. "They're asking us to let them go to a certain death."
"Who are the leaders? "
"We don't know exactly, up until now we've only had direct contact with a man called Cicenon. No last name. From what we've been able do determine he lost his whole family during the first attack, he used to be a professor of theology."
"That's it?"
"Yes."
"Are the rescue operations over?"
"Affirmative."
"We've still not been able to determine how the cylons found us and they could attack at any minute. I want you back on Galactica with your pilots. I'll send someone else to start the negotiations. We will see how the situation evolves before taking extreme measures.
As soon as he stepped on Galactica he went in search of Kara. He needed to see her, touch her, to assure himself that she was really ok. She had been cleared by the Doc and one of his pilots told him that he had seen her heading toward the bunkroom.
The room was quiet, the lights dimmed, her curtains were closed. He opened them slowly revealing two bodies curled up together. They were lying above the covers, Kacey's head resting on Kara's breast, Kara holding her protectively. He took a spare cover, spread it on them and then brushed Kara's hairs away from her face, caressed her check before whispering "I love you."
TBC...