Chapter Three
As the snick-snick-snick penetrated her pensive musings, it dawned on Kara that she was thumbing the snap open and closed on her left holster. Stilling her hand on the stiff flap, she sucked in her lower lip, worrying it as she realizedthat in the confrontation with Lee she'd totally forgotten that she'd had a second pistol the entire time. With a grimace, Kara shook her head. No. She hadn't forgotten, she'd just subconsciously hadn't wanted was to pull a gun on him.
More telling, Lee hadn't immediately demanded her other weapon either, obviously knowing that he had to convince her or she'd simply get another and be back after he'd left.
And he had.
He'd left with only her assurance that she wouldn't kill the prisoner.
Lee had accepted her promise and handed back her gun, watching silently as she shoved it home into the holster on her right hip. Then, with barely a glance at Baltar where he'd kept his silent position in front of the cell hatch, Lee had strode off, showing confidence in Kara's word.
Now, some ten minutes later, Kara stood before the same cell and put her palm against the sealed door. Her gaze dropped to the deck plating as she tried to marshal some arguments that might—just possibly—convince the Admiral not to line her up right beside the Cylon and shoot them both at the same time.
As she lifted her eyes and saw the way Gauis was standing close to the prisoner and gesturing adamantly, it dawned on Kara that she probably shouldn't have let him go back in. The Cylon wanted to die. She'd been pretty clear on that point. What better way to force her captors to kill her then to threaten the doctor.
Tapping a finger on her holster, Starbuck watched the woman in the cell vehemently shake her head at something Gauis had said. Maybe she could use this. Surely Lee would understand that she'd had to shoot the prisoner if the doctor was endangered. It probably wouldn't take much to get the Cylon to provide the necessary excuse. Through narrowing eyes, she contemplated how to arrange it without Gauis guessing her intent. It wouldn't work if he then blabbed to Lee that she'd set it up.
"Frak!" Smacking her palm against the transparent barrier, Starbuck shoved off and twisted away. She didn't want this. None of it. Put her in a Viper with a clean shot at a Raider and she'd blast the frakker from space with an exhilarated shout. But this skulking about...
She couldn't do it.
She'd made Lee a promise and he'd never forgive—or trust—her again. But what the hell was she going to do, Cain wouldn't let this go. The Admiral would see that she'd flinched and yank her so fast that she'd have set a new record for the shortest term as CAG.
Twisting back towards the pair that were staring out at her now, another thought came. If she could come up with the idea of using Baltar to force a confrontation, the Cylon woman was certainly capable of the same. A snap of the man's neck was all it would take, and Kara was too far away to stop her.
Too far away…
She jerked as an idea came full circle.
Straightening, Starbuck pulled her sidearm again and swiped the door open. Both figures halted mid-sentence as she stepped across the threshold.
"You're right, Doc. I can't risk killing her," the gun waved towards the prisoner, but Starbuck kept it aimed low, "can't risk her downloading."
"Right. Exactly," Gauis said, relief sweeping his features. "Excellent point, Captain Thra—"
Cutting him off, "Fine. Whatever," she said, eyes intent on the other woman. "You need to get the hell out, though, Doc."
Gauis' confusion was apparent as he shifted, twisting slightly towards the Cylon and gaze flickering between the two woman. Starbuck didn't let her attention waver from the prisoner and she saw the moment of understanding sharpen the haunted eyes. Her own narrowed as she gave a nod.
"You try anything, and I'll take out your kneecaps. The guards will have the same orders. Try to use him," with a twitch of the head toward Baltar, "and we'll shoot him first, then your kneecaps." Again she nodded as the Cylon silently acknowledged the warning.
"But…but," Gauis sputtered, shocked gaze flitting back and forth.
A shudder passed through the Cylon before her eyes dropped and she said, "I won't harm him," voice low and defeated.
Grimly looking between the two, Kara decided that the skin-job probably meant it and the way Gauis edged toward the woman, expression solicitous, he believed her, too.
She frowned, trying to decide if forcing him to leave was worth the effort now that she was assured that the Cylon didn't pose a threat. And if she was going to press her idea with Cain, it might actually be better to let him remain.
"Doc, you heard the terms. You really staying?" He answered with a jerky nod, focused only on the Cylon woman as she withdrew into herself again.
Cautiously backing from the cell, Kara decided that they hadn't done the skin-job any favors today. With a swipe of the key card, she locked the cell down even as the sheen of an associative shame made her shiver. She holstered the pistol and tried to swallow the bile that seemed a constant in her mouth since getting her orders from Commander Adama.
Kara scrubbed her palms along her side-seams, then turned to move further into the cell block, deciding it was time to pay a visit to Helo and the Chief, knowing that it might be her last chance—regardless of how things fell out in the next twenty-four hours.
But she'd left it too late.
The brig hatch at the end of the corridor hissed open and Kendra Shaw strode through, Marines flanking her with weapons at the ready. Starbuck halted, expression hardening as she saw the smug look on the guard she'd struck earlier. He'd obviously had carried tales to the Admiral. Letting her gaze shift, she saw Shaw purposefully turn to regard the still very much alive Cylon prisoner. As the brunette swiveled back to face her, Kara was surprised to note regret in the brown eyes and expression. Then the smaller woman's features smoothed over into her usual mask of indifference.
"I'm to detain you, Captain Thrace, until Admiral Cain has time to review your…situation," Shaw's words were flatly spoken, no hint now of the brief flicker of discomfort of a moment ago.
Keeping her hands non-threatening out to her sides, Kara allowed the guards to remove her weapons even as her gaze held to Shaw's. She was perplexed by the woman's attitude. Why wasn't she gloating? After all, the CIC officer's subtle derision as she'd questioned every detail about the mission plan throughout their meetings together had set Kara's teeth on edge for the past day.
Not like the frakkin' button pusher knew a thing about real fighting.
Yet now, all Kara could read in the dark eyes was maybe a sad resignation.
Still silent, Shaw stepped forward with palm up.
As Starbuck pulled the key card from her pants pocket, the barest of smirks tugged at her lips as she extended it between two fingers rather than placing it on the outstretched hand.
"Right," Kendra said as she gingerly took the card, obviously tensing for a possible attack. Starbuck's smirk widened, satisfied at having goaded another response from the phlegmatic woman. At this point, she'd take what small victories she could get.
Without resistance, she let the guards direct her into the cell immediately opposite the Cylon's and didn't bother to turn to face them as the door swished closed behind her.
Kara crossed to sit with her back to the wall.
As she eyed her new accommodations, she let her head settle back against the metal plating of the wall and felt the subtle thrum of the behemoth's inner workings. The vibrations setup a discordant irritation in her teeth like a tune pitched just off key. And the smell… Kara's nostrils flared. Maybe it was the crew or just that she was use to the slightly musty odor of the older battlestar, but Pegasus just smelt…wrong.
Observing through the transparent front of the cell the methodical pattern walked by the now two Marines assigned brig duty, she sensed again the turbulence beneath the smooth surface. Despite the tightly regulated order that suffused the ship, there was a discernible undercurrent that was pulling its people into a whirlpool of fanaticism. As Kara fingered the Captain's pins on her collar it came to her that at the center of the vortex stood Admiral Cain.
With that new perception, Kara realized that her own recent thoughts and behavior had started to swirl into the same flow as the rest of Pegasus' crew. Lee had tried to call her on it, asking before how she could just fall in line when the Pegasus' commander planned on executing Helo and Tyrol. Kara had sloughed off his words at the time, the unfamiliar weight of the responsibilities as CAG distracting her from the reality of the power struggle between Cain, Adama and Roslin.
Starbuck surged to her feet, the need for motion overriding her decision to present a disinterested front to the guards. She began a restless stalking of the cell's perimeter.
Again, it came back to the tall woman whose sharp gaze seemed to discern secrets Kara had kept safely hidden from everyone else. She refused to examine closer why she felt compelled to earn Cain's respect and approval. The Admiral's tact promise to arrange a rescue party back to Caprica had provided her with enough of a veil so as to not to have to delve further into her own conflicted feelings.
Well, the past hour had just swept her vision clear.
Now all she had to do was come up with a strategy that kept her from joining the Cylon in the nearest airlock.