Chapter Four
Kara quickly snapped to attention as Admiral Cain entered the cell. Keeping her gaze firmly over her commander's shoulder, she rigidly waited, this moment like so many others in her past that it almost felt comfortable in its familiarity.
"What the hell were you doing, Captain?" Kara's eyes flicked briefly to take in the anger that twitched at the older woman's mouth before shifting forward again as Cain continued, "I told you to execute the prisoner, not assault one of my guards."
Holding to her silence, Kara knew better than to try to explain. The Admiral wasn't here looking for answers, she was here to punish. Stammered excuses would only made her look weak. So, even as Cain paced a slow circle around her, Kara held her tongue.
"I asked you a question, Captain." The words were coldly spoken despite the heat of anger behind them.
This too followed the pattern. Demand an answer, just to have words to twist and denigrate. But it didn't matter that she intimately recognized the game the Admiral was playing, and how it would end, Kara was obligated to take her turn now.
"Sir, I'm your CAG. I shoot Cylon bastards from the sky, not beaten prisoners in their cell," she flatly said, adding another, "Sir," on the end with the slightest of hesitations. She didn't miss the micro-stiffening of Cain's expression and knew a moment of satisfaction.
Can't resist prodding 'em can you, Thrace?
Moving into Kara's personal space, "You're an officer in the Colonial Fleet. You follow orders and that is all," Cain snapped out. Kara found her eyes pulled to the dark ones, and only years of practice held her steady beneath the quelling glare.
"You wanted initiative, Sir, and that's more than just blindly pulling the trigger. Any grunt can do that, Admiral. You want me to jump into a fire, I'll do it but I'll damned well grab a fire extinguisher on my way in."
"Initiative?" Cain jeered. "I tell you not to flinch, and then you can't even handle a simple order to shoot the enemy."
"Shooting her would've been easy, Sir. It's not doing so that's hard. Doctor Baltar got usable intel from her once, and eliminating a source before a big mission's stupid." Kara inwardly cringed and cursed herself as she realized what she'd unintentionally insinuated. Hurrying to cover the poorly phrased comment, "After the Op, you still want her off the ship, I'll line her up in an airlock and put one through the forehead and gladly hit the button. But now, Sir, now we might be able to use her."
"Lieutenant Thorne already used the Cylon, and got nothing."
Kara swallowed the nausea as Cain's words confirmed she'd known what measures were being used on the prisoner, that she'd probably even suggested them. Hell, considering the crews' general reluctance to do anything without the Admiral's tacit approval, she'd possibly even ordered the assaults. The last veil of denial lifted from her eyes as Kara scrutinized the older woman. Cain's hate toward the prisoner had a personal edge to it, and it was just as obvious that she wasn't interested in considering the value the Cylon had as a military asset.
It was time to lay her hand down and hope it was enough.
"We think we're too far out for the Cylon to download. But what if we're wrong, Sir. If I had executed the prisoner and she resurrected…" she trailed off, letting Cain fill in the rest.
Kara saw the indecision in the dark eyes as the older woman took a deep breath. She continued before Cain could speak. "I destroy that ship, and the Cylon," blonde head twitching toward the opposite cell, "won't resurrect. Might make her more inclined to see things our way. If not," with a nonchalant shrug, "bullets don't rot. Plenty of time afterwards," she said, pressing the point that it was only a delay of her orders.
Hands on hips, Cain turned to give the other cell's occupant a hard stare. In profile, Kara could see the muscle's of her jaw twitch as the Admiral ground her teeth. Keeping her expression neutral, Kara met the shadowed gaze as her commanding officer twisted back to face her.
"Fine… We wait until after," Cain's voice dropping now to a low warning, "then, you, Thrace, will do as ordered…and put that thing down. Have I made myself clear?"
"Yes, Sir," Kara said, snapping her hand up into a parade-correct salute.
Cain negligently waved for the hatch to be opened and stepped through. Turning on her heel, "Attend to your other duties, Captain," she said, then added, "and don't disappoint me again."
As Kara exited the cell, she caught the disgruntled look in the guard's expression. Shifting her gaze to Cain's, she saw the older woman's features tighten as she, too, noticed the man's look. The Admiral's eyes narrowed, then shifted away as she said, "Dismissed," and her long strides carried her from the brig.
Following at a more measured pace, Kara kept her shoulders back. When the hatch closed behind her, she felt the knot in her gut untwist with a lurch that altered her course to the nearest head.
Some minutes later, her rebellious stomach now tightly empty, she walked unsteadily to the sink and splashed water on her face. Raising her eyes to the mirror, Kara's lip twisted in disgust at the hypocrite reflected back. Less than twelve hours from now she fully intended to follow orders and murder her commanding officer. And yet here she was, strangely thankful that she hadn't had to kill the Cylon prisoner.
Letting the water trickle uncomfortably down her neck, Kara realized the difference.
She'd do as ordered…as long as it came from an Adama.